Back in the US!

August 5th
      We arrived in Miami at 7:10 in the morning and were able to get off of our plane and to passport control very quickly. Our flight was the only one there and the American citizens’ line was very short, then it was on to baggage claim. Once we had our bags we were able to (almost) walk right through customs and, once we figured out how to get out of the airport (the Miami airport is horrible…), Angelika’s brother and mom picked us up from the airport. Since my flight to Charlotte was not until 3:00 they had kindly offered to let me keep my things in their apartment while Angelika gave me a quick tour of downtown Miami.
      We grabbed a quick snack and re-hydrated (the airplane air had turned us into jerky) before we walked around Bay Front Park and the port. We also stopped by a historic cathedral and both of Angelika’s family’s jewelry stores. At her parent’s jewelry store I had a really great time trying on some beautiful vintage jewelry! Angelika and I got lunch at a Peruvian restaurant where I tried Ceviche for the first time and it was delicious! For others who have not tried this before, Ceviche is a raw fish or seafood dish that has been marinated in highly acidic lemon juices for several hours which renders the food safe to eat and very tasty! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to try and see so many new things in Miami! It was the best layover ever, thanks again Albaladejo family!
       Angelika and her younger brother drove me back to the airport where I was able to check in with relative ease, although security was moving somewhat slow since there was a heightened alert. Once I finally made it out of security and to my gate, I found out that my flight had also been randomly selected for an additional TSA inspection of bags and IDs. I have to hand it to them though, the TSA was efficient and our plane only left 15 min behind schedule.
      Around 5:20 I finally touched back down in Charlotte after almost two amazing months spent in Brazil. Just as with the last time I studied abroad, this experience has been fantastic and completely worth all of the classes, applications, and stress of planning and executing international travels. I am so grateful to the FLAS program that I was able to have this experience. I know that I will be back in Brazil in the future, and I hope that my next visit will be as wonderful as this experience has been!

My Final Day in Brazil!

August 4th
       Today was my last day in Brazil. It was really bittersweet because I was really looking forward to going back to the US to see my family and friends, but I have had such an amazing time in São Paulo and become more comfortable here than I had ever thought possible.
      I spent most of the morning trying to get my things organized for my flight later in the evening, but I had made lunch plans to meet up with Mari at Shopping 3 on Paulista. It was somewhat poetic, eating again in the large mall, because this was the same mall that Angelika and I had eaten at on our first day in São Paulo before I even knew this would be my neighborhood in Brazil. Ordering food in Portuguese was much more successful than that first day, and Mari and I had a good time catching up on what we had been doing for the last week.
       After lunch we walked around Paulista and I tried to drink everything in, the beautiful sunny day, all the different people out enjoying what the city had to offer, and the foods. We went back to the Livraria Cultural to check out some of their specialty bookstores (literally about half of the shopping center is the various departments and sub-stores of the Livraria Cultural), before we met up with Allison in the Artisan market to pick up some Brazilian candies and get our last Açai at the Fruitaria Paulista in Consolação. By the time we had finished it was almost 4:00 and Mari had to leave, regretfully I had to say goodbye to a really good Brazilian friend!
      As I walked back to our apartment I tried once more to engrave the image of Avenida Paulista at sunset in my mind; the road is lined up perfectly with the setting sun and all of the buildings are bathed in golden light making the city seem to actually be city of dreams that immigrants have always hoped it would be. Back in the apartment and Allison and I worked out the last of our travel details with Angelika. Allison, Angelika and I all had flights leaving at 11:30/12:00 from the international airport and had decided to take a taxi together from Angelika’s homestay. By the time we had packed up and said goodbye to Alessandra it was almost 6:30. Getting our bags out of the building and to the ponto de taxi (only a half block from our house) was rather difficult. Allison and I had particular trouble getting in and out of our apartments quarantine box type entry, much to the amusement of our friendly doorman. Of course, being São Paulo at 6:30 there was a lot of traffic and it took us almost an hour to get to Carminha’s (Angelika’s host mom) apartment in Perdizes. We were, however able to successfully get our taxi driver to take an alternative route to their apartment as he was perfectly willing to sit in standstill traffic and watch his car tv while we waited... Allison and I put the kibosh on that.
     We arrived at Carminha’s apartment around 7:20 and she immediately welcomed us into her home and tried to feed us and get us to stay awhile. She was just so kind and generous! I wish we had had time to stay but we were a bit worried about how long it would take us to get to the airport. Carminha had called one of her personal taxi drivers to take us to the airport, and the three of us, plus 6 suitcases were able to squeeze into the taxi for the 45 min drive to the airport. The taxi driver was very friendly and was so helpful when we were unloading, he made sure we all had carts, loaded our suitcases and then pointed us in the right direction for check in. Allison had to check-in with American while Angelika and I were flying Tam. It did not take long to check-in at all, but we waited at security to see if Allison would be meeting us there or at our gate (it was not clear if her terminal was connected to ours behind security). I tried to call her on my phone while we were sitting at a table waiting and, somehow, the person before us had left a Brazilian cell phone that was identical to mine, and without knowing it I picked it up and put it in my pocket.
      After we decided to go through the security line to look for Allison at the gate, while in the line, I realize that I had two of the same phones and had to climb (literally) back out of the security line and run the phone back to the little coffee shop, run back and then duck under the dividers, with the security employees laughing the whole way! Then, once I was finally actually going through the metal detectors my bag was flagged because they thought I had juice…I had to unpack everything only to discover that the ‘juice’ was all of the Bis candy I had stuffed in my bag to take home, this also elicited laughter from the security agents. When we finally arrived at our gate we found Allison sitting at a table waiting for us.
      Since we were still hungry, we all decided that we would spend the rest of our reais (most of which was in change) on the overpriced airport food. Between the three of us we scrapped together 21 reais (almost entirely in coins) to by our last salgados (savory pastries). After we finished our snacks Allison informed us that she was flying business class and had access to the American Airlines lounge that was between our gates and we decided to go check it out. It was a very successful mission! Angelika and I were not allowed in, but Allison brought us each some bottled waters and muffins while we sat in the corridor and used their open wifi! Once Allison had taken advantage of all of her perks we walked her to her gate where they were about to board. It was sad to say goodbye to Allison, we’ve gotten to be good friends and roommates over the past two months, but we have decided that we need to meet up again in New Orleans for Marti Gras!
       After we watched Allison march past the people in steerage with her magic business class ticked to board the plane (right behind the Brazilian women’s volleyball team) Angelika and I headed back to our gate to start boarding. I have decided that I prefer the daytime flights to Brazil over the nighttime ones since you can watch movies and you get frequent snacks. On the overnight flight Tam feeds you dinner (at midnight, although to be fair it was really good) and only turns the lights out after everyone has eaten, then you get a few hours of sleep before they wake you up again at 5:15 to feed you breakfast (which was honestly not that good). I managed to get a few good hours but naps will be needed!

Return to São Paulo

August 3rd
      Today was the beginning of our great trek back to the US! Brazil has been an amazing experience and I would not trade my time her for anything. I still cannot believe how much I was able to see and do! However, I think I am ready to go back to the US and see my family and puppy! Today was the Salvador- São Paulo leg of the journey. Angelika and I had a flight out of Salvador at 8:40 in the morning so we were up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:00. We had decided to take the city bus to the airport (as we had on the way in) so that we did not have to spend quite as much money on taxis to distant airports in two days. We ended up cutting it a bit close because the bus arrived at 6:30 (they do not start running until 6:00AM) and it takes an hour to get to the airport. Luckily we were able to get through the baggage check relatively fast (it did not feel that way at the time) and run to ‘security’ where there was no a line, throw our stuff though and after a few min… Angelika got caught by her necklace and had to get double checked… took off for our gate and hit the boarding line. Our flight was actually rather inefficient about getting people onto the plane and in their seats, but we somehow still made it to the runway by 8:40! Now that I will not jinx it, I feel the need to acknowledge mine and Angelika’s successful navigation and use of public transport in for our whole time in Salvador. We took buses everywhere and not once got lost (thanks to the help of many kind fellow transit goers) or had the bus just not come, even without google maps (which does not work at all in Salvador)! It was a much better experience than our transit mishaps in Rio.
     On our flight we both napped and ate our little Brazilian breakfast packs that Tam gave us (Tam is one of the few airlines I have ever flown which gives and actual meal on every flight over 2 hours). The breakfast was the favorite little Brazilian toast crackers, a laughing cow type cheese, jam and a fruit bar. It was actually really good as far as airplane food goes! We arrived in São Paulo at 11:30 and were relived to find out that our bags had also made it on the plane with us! From baggage claim we did another successful public transportation trip taking a city bus from the airport to the metro, then the metro back to our respective neighborhoods.
     Since I had been having issues with my planned return stay with my host, Alessandra, and could not get into my apartment until 6:00, I spent most of my day in a really awesome bookstore called Liveria Cultural. It is the same chain as the one I visited in Shopping Bourbon, but the one on Paulista is three stories, with a café and movie theater. After figuring out how to get inside, as there is only one entrance but windows everywhere taunting you as you drag all your stuff back and forth, I went straight to the café and treated myself to a really delicious bagel sandwich (the first bagel I have seen here..) and some strawberry cake as I settled in to read and take advantage of the wifi. It was actually a really nice way to spend the day. I split my time between the café and a reading chair, both of which I was lucky to get. I think this was the fullest and busiest I have ever seen a book store; people were sitting on the floor reading everywhere all day, it was definitely a destination for a Saturday on Paulista. Around 6:15 I decided to pick up some food and head over to Alessandra’s house to eat, repack my suitcases and write.

Salvador Day 6

August 2nd
     Today was our last day in Salvador! Angelika and I decided to continue the easier pace of our travels and we decided to go to an art museum in Graca and to meet up with our friend Jessica from Vanderbilt who has been in a study abroad program here in Salvador. The museum we went to was called Palacete das Artes, and it is a small cultural center and art exhibition space that is in a beautiful old mansion on a tree lined street that made me feel like I was in New Orleans or Charleston. In fact, you really understand how similar the colonial south and colonial areas of Latin America were in their city structures and economic bases. The museum is an interesting combination of tradition, in that the original features and rooms of the house have been preserved, and modernism though the abstract and contemporary art that fills the rooms. The house had three floors of sculpture and photography as well as a sculpture garden, a restaurant in the back and another contemporary exhibition space which was showing and interesting exhibit on video and soccer.
      At 2:00 we met up with Jessica to go by a local bakery known for its cakes (you know you are in Brazil when you only have to walk a few feet and you can find three desert places). I also got a little lunch and we sat on the terrace and talked about our different experiences with the two language programs. I decided that their program was better about giving students a Brazilian host family experience, and our program had better classes, location and exploration of multiple sides of Brazilian culture and history. Our discussion really made me value my time in São Paulo and all of the things we were able to do there so much more!
     Our original plan was that, after we met with Jessica we would go to the Modern Art Museum of Salvador which is supposed to have amazing sunset views. However, by the time we finished our visit it was already rush hour was beginning and we would have needed to take a bus through the center, so we changed the plan. Instead, we decided to go to the historic light house, Farol de Barra that also had a nautical museum of Salvador’s maritime history. We were able to catch the sunset from the top of the lighthouse and got some really great shots and views of Salvador.
      After the sun set we went back down to check out the museum, which actually had some really neat information about underwater archaeology recoveries that have been done on the many early colonial ship wrecks that dot the coastline. They also had some interesting information on slavery and ‘diversity’ in Brazil. It was really interesting to read the panels after having discussed identity and race so much in our culture class. The indigenous placard waxed poetic about the noble savage, and how the children between the Portuguese sailors and the indigenous women were the first true Brazilians. The whole text had a tone of ownership and incorporation, while the text on the ‘African Contribution’ was written as if this group was separate, something that was done to Bahia and Salvador, not something that was incorporated into Brazil and positively diversified the culture. The text spoke about the ‘African Contribution’ as Africa transplanted, not a proud expression of Brazilianized afro-cultural production (the stance the indigenous panel seemed to take) from almost four hundred years of slavery. The museum also had a room that contained old-fashioned lighthouse equipment (I finally get how the lenses work!) and a cartography room that compared maps of the bay from different periods of time.

The Palacete das Artes

Looking through the interior of the first floor of the Palacete

 

The view from the lighthouse

Our final sunset in Salvador!

Praia do Forte

August 1st
     Today Angelika and I got up early to catch a bus to go to Praia do Forte. Praia do Forte is a beach about two hours north of Salvador which is more remote (although still touristy, but in a good way in my opinion). We got up early and caught a city bus to the rodoviaria de Salvador where we got a charter bus (for 8.00 dollars round trip) to take us to Praia do Forte. Once we arrived at the rodoviaria, about 9:50, we were able to buy our tickets for the 10:30 bus to Praia do Forte, so we did not have a long wait. We grabbed some beach snacks from the grocery store (they have a full grocery store in the bus station) and then hit the road. Our bus was not direct and there were many other stops along the way, but luckily there were two other groups that were also getting off at the praia and we were able to ask the bus driver to let us know when we were close. We arrived at Praia do Forte around 12:30. We were warned by several people; our hostel owner, the bus ticket vendor, and the bus driver, to make sure that we knew the last bus returning to Salvador would pass though Praia do Forte around 6:00 and to make sure we did not miss it.
      From the bus stop you walk through a quaint little tourist town to get to the beach. This area most closely resembled a beach town trips that I have taken in the US. The pedestrian street was lines with little hostels and pousadas, restaurants and nice shops. Although it was very touristy, it was a nice, and safer, side of tourism than we had seen in Salvador. Granted the town we visited was much smaller, but there was not the same division between the population and tourist generated business and the people who lived in the town. All of the side streets were lined with local schools and houses, kids were playing soccer in the main pedestrian Avenida. Praia do Forte just had the relaxed, sleepy beach town feel that we needed at this point in our stay.
      After about a 20 min stroll down the pedestrian Avenida we arrived at the historical igreja and the principal beach. In striking contrast to all of the other beaches we have visited in Brazil Praia do Forte was remote, with hardly any people out, and no pushy vendors at all. We walked down the coastline until it bent into a bay where several local fishermen’s boats were anchored,and we decided to walk back about halfway the beach and set up for the day along the palm trees in our own private section of the beach.  We spent about three hours lounging in the sun and enjoying the sheer tranquility of the beach and the lack of people. Now I am, for the most part, a fan of the beach vendors; they bring you a variety of cheap snacks and you do not have to even get up, but the vendors can also be pushy. The busy beaches that we have been to are all full of life and fun activities, but they are more stressful because you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times. It was really nice to have this beach as a contrast to the other beaches we have enjoyed in Brazil.
      Around 3:45 we decided to get up and walk around the area a bit more. Right behind the church is Projecto Tamar which is a sea turtle rescue and support organization which you can pay a fee to visit and feed turtles and tour their facility. Angelika and I walked around the project but decided not to go in since we would not be able to see much before they closed. We decided to change gears and look for some snacks. Ironically for a tourist town we were able to get some great light food, inexpensively, at a little bakery. We both got little sandwiches and freshly blended juice and then decided to split a guava sonho, or ‘dream,’ donut like pastry for desert; all for about 5 dollars each. After we refueled we decided to wander back through the little town and catch the 5:00 bus back to Salvador.
     As we approached the bus stop to wait for the next bus back we were immediately shouted at by 5 different taxi/ private drivers for hire telling us not to get on the bus, that it was not going to come and that it would be much better (and 20 times more expensive) to let them drive us the two and a half hours back to Salvador. I am sure that these guys must make a lot of money off of the people who missed the last bus at 6:00! However, we knew that we were early and so we decided to just wait the 20 min and only pay 3.50 for our trip back, and I think we got the better and more professional deal. On the way back the bus was very full, but it made fewer stops so we arrived back in Salvador around 7:00. On the way we saw the best sunset of all week! From the Rodoviaria we were able to a city bus back to Barra and walk to our hostel. We ended up making dinner and watching a movie since Angelika was still not feeling well and we had been out in the sun all day.

The colonial church on the edge of the beach

Praia do Forte

The view from my beach towel

One of the tourist pedestrian roads in town where we got lunch

Salvador Day 5

July 31st
 Today was our last day together with our São Paulo friends. We decided to go to the Igreja do Bomfim which is a famous historic cathedral in Salvador that is renowned for its healing miracles. The church is located further north on the peninsula, past the city center. We took the bus with Molly (we were meeting Daniel and Olivia there) from Shopping Barra, but since it is a distant area of the city we had to wait almost 30 min for the bus to arrive and it was about a 40 min bus ride to arrive at Bonfim. Luckily, we have had good luck about getting bus directions from people at the stops and the bus ticket clerks have been helpful at letting us know the right stop. Once we finally arrived it was just a short walk up the hill to visit the church.
      The church is not particularly large, and the sanctuary, in both lay out and size, actually reminded me very much of the old church that we had seen in the historic center just days before. However, this church is special because of the many miracles that have blessed those who have petitioned for them there. Like the Basilica that I visited in Costa Rica, this church had a whole room where religious pilgrims would place pictures of the ill or miniatures of their injured area to represent the person that they prayed to be healed. The church is also well known for the ribbon lembrancas, or mementos, that are sold on the steps and tied to the gate (or wrist) with three knots to represent the wishes of the pilgrim. When the ribbon falls off (of the rail or a person’s wrist) it is supposed to mean that their wish has been granted.
      After we visited the church and little square we decided to get one last lunch together at a lunchonete before Molly had to head out to the airport. Afterwards we all said our goodbyes to Molly and sent her off in a taxi to the airport. Then, since it was still early in the afternoon, Daniel, Olivia, Angelika and I decided to go to the Mercado Modelo and the Elevador, two other important landmarks in the old city. We caught a bus that dropped us off only a block from the Mercado plaza. The Mercado was once the commercial center due to its strategic location right next to the marina, but today it is a tourist market. In that way the Mercado was a bit overwhelming. It was full of vendors trying to sell you all sorts of beach-y souvenirs. We walked through the stalls pretty quickly and decided that we wanted to go up the Elevador to take in the sea view.
    The Elevador is a series of elevators which carry people up from the ciudade baixo (the marina area) to the ciudade alto (the Pelourhino). The ride up costs 15 centavos and is not for those who are claustrophobic. Once at the top you have pretty good views of the marina, Mercado and the ocean. Since it was a somewhat dreary day, and we were all feeling run down, we did not stay too long and caught a bus back to our hostel to watch a movie since it was raining. We opted for a classic and watched Casa Blanca, which Angelika had not seen before. At the end of the evening we said our good byes to Olivia and Daniel who were leaving the next morning for Rio, their last stop before returning to the US.

   

Igreja do Senhor do Bonfim da Bahia

the Lembranca wish ribbons tied to the church gate

The room in the cathedral where miniatures and pictures are left as part of the pilgramage

The surrounding mercado and the Elevador

Salvador Day 4

July 30th
    Last night Daniel had gotten some information from his hostel about doing an island cruise around the bay of All Saints, just like the one we all enjoyed so much in Paraty! It turns out that they are pretty affordable here, only 30.00 dollars, so we reserved spaces for Olivia, Angelika, Daniel and I to take the cruise in the morning, with a pick-up from Daniel’s hostel. The pick-up time was set for 8:00, so Angelika and I woke up early to get ready and walk over to Daniel’s, with a pit stop for snacks at the grocery store. Of course we were the only ones early, everyone else (including Daniel) was running on Brazilian time, and our pick up did not arrive until 8:30. However, the later start time did allow for us to see several little monkey-squirrels running across the telephone lines!
     The transport was very nice, an air-conditioned mini-bus, and we were the only pick up on this side of town so we were able to get quickly to the marina meet up point where we only had a short wait before our boat was ready. We walked out onto the pier and joined with the other groups who would be on our boat tour, about 45 in all. Our cruise would ferry us out to two different islands in All Saints Bay, Ilha dos Frades and Itaparica.  The bay is actually very large, and it took us about an hour and a half to get out to the first island, Ilha dos Frades, which was named after all of the friars and priests who arrived there as part of the missionary efforts to Christianize the New World.
      I think that of the two this was my favorite island. It is much smaller, with only 70 full time inhabitants, and it is more of a lounging beach than Itaparica. The beaches there were soft white sand with clear turquoise waters and little construction, it was paradise. We stayed on that beach for almost two hours enjoying the unexpected sun (the forecast, like all this week, had predicted a significant chance of rain, but we out ran the rain clouds on the sail!).
       After the boat sounded the horn for us to leave (I did not want to!) we packed up our things and got back on the boat for another 30-40 min to sail over to the next island. Along the way we listened to the onboard band play samba and bahian-ized Brazilian music until we arrived. Itaparica is the largest island in the bay, and it has a population of 70,000. We stopped at Ponta de Areia beach where there was the options of a buffet lunch on the beach, hiking, a city tour, and horseback riding or more sunbathing. We decided to just get lunch and hang out on the beach some more. There were a few clouds rolling in but it was still pretty nice on the beach. The water was more sheltered by the bay in Itaparica and it was smooth as glass and good for swimming.
     Around 3:40 our boat began to board to head back to Salvador. On the way back the band played again and it would have been another relaxing boat ride back except that the water was very choppy and even with the splash guards down we were all getting soaked! We arrived back in the marina at 5:20 and after forgetting the name of our tour company, and having to back track to find our transport guy (we walked right past him), we made it into the van right as it began to pour.
      Angelika and I could not really avoid walking back to our hostel (stopping to get some dinner supplies from the grocery store along the way) in the rain, but once we showered we felt so much better! After a low-key dinner we decided not to go to the street music festa in Pelourinho that nice due to the rain and the fact that after almost two months we are pretty run down, and so we spent the evening reading and resting.

Ready to set sail!

At sea

My new favorite beach

working on getting rid of my double winter pallor