Vida Boa

This past weekend I had the fortune to visit the amazing little town that is Itatiaia, known mostly for the 300km2 Parque Nacional do Itatiaia down the road. While most gringos head to Ilha Grande if they want to see nature in Brasil, Itatiaia is a relatively undiscovered paradise. Itatiaia is a tiny town of approximately 4k people in the far south of Rio state. Though many of the residents assured me that the town receives many foreign visitors, we encountered no other gringoes during our entire stay. One of the things that I think makes Itatiaia so special is how relatively isolated it is. Residents were unbelievably friendly. When our group of 8 showed up in the middle of the night in the pouring rain with no plans for accommodations (after having left 1 of our 2 tents on the bus), a Brazilian man and his family noticed our plight and walked with us for 40 minutes until we finally found a pousada that would take us in at a price we could all afford.

The pousada that we stayed at was beyond incredible. The owner gave us an incredible rate of only $R15 per person per night when every other place in town wanted to charge at least R$40. Our first morning, the owner walked us into town to the local bakery to buy bread and cheese for our hikes. The rest of the stay was filled with countless other little acts of kindness, even lending out her sandals to my friend. Although she doesn’t have a website, if anyone ever has a chance to go to Itatiaia I would definitely recommend staying at Pousada Itaúna (24) 3352-5879. By far the most incredible pousada owner I’ve ever encountered.

We hiked in the national park our first two days in Itatiaia. Though the entry fee of R$22 is a bit steep for poor students, it’s worth every penny. Each day we did well over 20km of hiking. The first day we hiked close to the summit of the Três Picos mountains, which are among the tallest in all of Southeastern Brazil. The hike that day was along a trail that hadn’t been maintained years and involved obstacles the entire way up. The trail had numerous points where a slight misstep would have resulted in falling off a steep face but luckily we got through unscathed. The trail finally concluded in an absolutely incredible waterfall at the top that produced a view of all of Itatiaia. We tried to continue to the summit, which we had been told was about another 40 minutes up but the trail turned out to be totally blocked and overgrown past the waterfall. We all emerged pretty beat up but I have to say it’s been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done since getting here.

Forest By The Base Of The Park

Our second day in the park consisted of exploring some of the many waterfalls that dot the park. The hikes on the second day were exponentially easier than the day before and gave us all a chance to relax and make some pretty cool jumps. Our last day in Itatiaia was spent down by the river that runs through the park and into town. Knocking back beers by the bar and swimming in the river gave us a chance to relax and really take in the beauty that is Itatiaia.

Just One Of The Amazing Waterfalls We Encountered

Since coming back from Itatiaia I’ve just been going to class. While my Portuguese is coming along slowly, speaking remains my biggest difficulty. Today I learned two new tenses (out of the 18 that some verbs possess!) that I’m excited to start putting into action. Looking to find more Brazilians to practice with so that I can improve my pronunciation. It seems that living in New York these past three years has ruined me accent wise.

Tomorrow I’ll be going on a free trip to Petrópolis courtesy of PUC. Since coming to Rio I’ve heard a lot about the nearby mountain town and it’s history as the former summer residence of Brazil’s aristocracy when Rio was the capital from 1763-1960. Really looking forward to spending the day there.

Also coming up in under two weeks is my trip to Salvador and Itacaré, which I’ve been planning for over three months now. I’ll be gone for ten days from Feb 3rd to the 13th.

I’ll be sure to add some other pics from this trip soon but I guess that’s it for now!

Cheers,

Mike

This weekend I’m going on a 3 day camping trip with a bunch of friends in the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia. Itatiaia is about an hour and a half by bus away from Rio. The park is known for the great number of endemic animals as well as some of the tallest mountains in all of Southeastern Brazil. Really looking forward to finally be able to do some real hiking. Trip has been rather disorganized so here’s to hoping that everything goes off without a hitch!

After coming back from my trip I’m hoping to get my CPF number from the Receita Federal. Getting a CPF will allow me to avoid a lot of the problems with thinks like buying bus tickets and opening a bank account. This week I had my check-in with the federal police, so I should be receiving my temporary ID card in about 3 months or so. Shockingly my check in went pretty quickly taking ONLY 5 hours for the entire group to be processed (as opposed to the 7+ hour waits of some of my friends.)

My Bike!

Well I think that’s it for now, until next time.

Mike

Can’t believe that it’s already been a full 10 days here, so much to write about and so little time to do it. Simply put, my time in Rio over the past few days has been incredible. However, it certainly hasn’t been without a good amount of frustrations. Bureaucracy in Brasil comes close to rivaling that of  even Hunter College. Without a CPF#, the Brazilian equivalent of a US SS#, one will have extreme difficulty doing even basic things like buying a cellphone, booking plane tickets, and opening a bank account. Though I managed to finally buy a local SIM card without a CPF#, I was still required to enter it before I would be able to make calls and texts. Luckily after lengthy discussions with both my host mother and the Claro phone rep I was able to get an in-store agent to help me activate my phone with only my passport#, which still took two hours. Even more disappointing was the discovery that my supposedly GSM ready phone from home is no good for making calls down here. Though it works well for making and receiving texts, the way the phone is programmed prevents me from using local service, meaning that I am charged international rates (thanks a lot Verizon and your proprietary bloatware). Luckily my Belgian friend had an extra totally unlocked european phone that has been working great for the time being.

Nevertheless, I truly believe that I have learned more about myself in the past 10 days than in as far back as I can remember. The past 10 days or so have spent more or less getting settled in Rio. I left the hostel with my friend on my fourth day here and moved in with my host family. The housing situation really couldn’t have turned out more perfect. I am currently living in Leblon, a mere 3 blocks from one of the nicest beaches in the world and a pleasant 15 minute walk from school. My apartment, though small, is absolutely beautiful. I live in a nice super safe building with a building attendant during the day. I have even been fortunate enough to have been blessed with amenities like wireless internet, easy hot water, and a washing machine, amenities that are not quite as prevalent here as they are in US homes.

My Host Mother!

My host mother has been absolutely wonderful. Though very traditional, we have really gotten to know one another over the past 6 days or so. As she really only speaks Portuguese it has been great for helping to force me to practice. My host mother has a son and grandson who live in Sao Paulo. Her other daughter, an oncologista, lives nearby in Lagoa. Since she has an adorable 4 month old baby, though, she pops in almost daily. I have also been extremely fortunate in that my host mother is an incredible cook. I seem to be the only other person in my entire program who is paying for an extra meal a day, though I am quite glad I am.

Just One of my Host Mother's Amazing Meals

PUC-Rio has been absolutely awesome as well. Nestled right against the Tjuca rainforest, PUC has a campus feel that I sadly never really had at Hunter. I have currently had two full days of classes (the first few days being orientation and a city tour), which have gone great. I will be taking Nivel II during the intensive and Nivel III during the semester. The intensive course is split into a morning and early afternoon session with different teachers for each section. The classes are super small and capped at twelve students. The professors have been amazingly engaging and having two different professors really helps to keep the material fresh, four+ hours breezes by in no time at all. Still can’t believe the bargain that I’m getting both in terms of housing and instruction through this program.

We Visited the Tjuca Falls as Part of our City Tour

Apart from the phone I have also purchased a bicycle to help me better get around Rio. Having ridden the buses many times now I have a pretty good feel of the City. Though my bike was supposed to be ready today it looks like I’ll have to go back tomorrow to pick it up.  Really looking forward to having a bike so that I can more easily meet friends who live in elsewhere, especially the abundance of people who live in Copacabana.

Overall Rio has greatly improved since I was last here a year ago. I noticed that there are now little exercise stations with pull-up and push-up bars on the beach as well as a brand new bike sharing program spread all throughout the city. Though I didn’t really get a chance to know the City well last time I have much more enjoyed my time here so far. Without a doubt choosing this program has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Well I suppose that’s all for now, I’m sure I’ll have much more to write about soon.

Cheers,

Mike

Since landing yesterday morning, Rio has proved to be everything I remember it to be and so much more.  Flight from New York to Rio went very smooth. I was fortunate enough to have two empty seats next to me on the plane. After arriving I flew through passport control and soon met up with my friend from Denver who was coming in on a different flight. After a quick cab ride from the international airport we arrived at our lovely hostel in Santa Teresa.

Our hostel is located along a beautiful cobbled road that runs through the hills of Santa Teresa with an incredible view of the Catedral de São Sebastião. Our hostel, though huge, is dug straight into the hillside, requiring a good 50 steps just to reach the reception area, a difficult trip with all of our bags. Both the guests and employees of the hostel have been great and our first night we roomed with an awesome assortment of people from France, Norway, and Germany.

View of the Street Outside Our Hostel in Santa Teresa

Though my spoken Portuguese still remains terrible, even being here for  a single day has corrected some stupid but vital problems in my speech.  I unexpectedly received a call from my host mother, who I had emailed several days prior, and in my flustered state I can only imagine how broken and incomprehensible I was. Nevertheless, I hope that I managed to get my major points across and I was able to understand most of my host mothers questions. I set the date and time for me to move into my home stay and I feel relieved to have finally made contact with my host mother who seems extremely nice.

Upon trying to unpack I had trouble opening the lock on my bag. I didn’t really need anything out of it so my friend and I headed off to explore. Instead of heading down we climbed higher into the hills getting some of the best views of Rio I’ve seen yet. We eventually worked our way back down to Centro where we stumbled upon an awesome little cafe where I feasted on a delicious sanduíche carne assada com um chopp de Brahma.

Upon making our way back to the hostel the night manager manged to find a set of pliers to break the lock on my bag that I had still not been able to open. Upon breaking into what I thought was my bag I swiftly realized that in my haste I had taken someone else’s bag! As Murphy’s Law goes, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The bag I took was identical to my own down to the very same lock! A quick call to AA confirmed that the airport had my bag and I would just need to run to the airport to do the switch. As I breathed a sigh of relief my friend and I grabbed a cab from the street and headed back to the airport to switch my bags. Though a rather stupid and costly mistake the cab ride to the airport proved to be an awesome one as my friend and I conversed with the coolest cab driver I’ve had yet.

Upon getting back to the hostel my friend and I settled down to a couple of well deserved cold beers on the rooftop terrace of our hostel. Though it was certainly a crazy day I wouldn’t have done anything over if I could. Life in Brasil just always seems to work out that way.

Cheers,

Mike

Well this is it, in exactly two hours I will be on my way to lovely Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cidade Maravilhosa, for the next six months. The past few days have been pretty hectic, saying goodbye to close friends and packing for my trip, which I did not finish until right before I left for the airport. Luckily flew through check-in and security without any hiccups. Might be my quickest run through yet, although I guess that’s what you get for flying on NYE! If all goes according to plan I’ll actually be in the air as the New Year turns. Speaking of NYE, 2011 has certainly been an eventful year for me. I feel like I’ve grown immensely as a person this past year and I’m grateful for all the amazing people who have helped me get to where I am today. Nevertheless, I’m very much looking forward to the challenges that both 2012 and Brazil throw my way.

After getting promptly shut down trying to enter the American lounge I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a great little lounge that MasterCard has set up inside the terminal, which has graciously provided me with the Internet to make this posting.

A Brazilian family with identical twins perhaps a few years younger than me just walked into the lounge. While I pick up on most of what they’re saying, I can’t say that I’m not nervous. They’re definitely Cariocas by their accent but luckily my professor, a Carioca herself, has well prepared me for the accent.  Getting settled first month is certainly going to be tough but if I can make it past that I figure I’ll be set.  Still can’t believe that I’ll be speaking almost entirely in Portuguese for the next six months.

Anyways, plan right now is to meet up with a buddy from my program at the airport and take a cab into Rio together. He’ll be moving into his homestay right away whereas I’ll be staying in a hostel until my homestay starts but I’m glad to have the chance to meet up with someone before the program starts. Don’t really have any plans for the next three days but I’ll be staying in a great neighborhood, Santa Theresa, with no shortage of things to do.

Lounge is sadly closing in about 15 minutes, although I should be boarding soon anyways. I guess that’s all for now, see you all on the ground

Mike