Exploring Cuzco

Cuzco and it's gravel roads are not what I expected from the city. A low lying, colorful patching of rooftops, and several markets connect the city. We had a mix up of days for scheduling, so instead of horseback riding the first day we explored the city by foot. We walked towards the Municipal Market, tried chicken on a stick (I chickened out of the heart kabob), and got lost as we trekked our way to Cristo Blanco. We finally climbed our way up through a residential area to find the Jesus statue that overlooks the city. That night we had one of my favorite meals of the trip- a sample platter that included alpaca, guinea pig, trout, quinoa, mandioca, and some other miscellaneous foods. Our hostel that night was only $7 each, so you know it wasn't living the high life. It was in the back of the building with no windows, and the smell was so bad that my dad refused to use our shared bathroom, but I wanted to give my dad the true inexpensive hostel "experience".
That night we had one of my favorite meals of the trip. It was on the second floor of shop in the center square, and we had a view overlooking the square cathedral and fountain. We decided to split the sampler platter, which included trout chicharron, quinoa, fried mandioca, alpaca, guinea pig, and an assortment of other side dishes. Watching my dad's reaction as he ate the guinea pig was priceless. It was a small clump on the plate, which we discovered still had the bones and all. It was incredibly salty. We decided never again for guinea pig. Alpaca was also an adventure- it was so tough and hard to eat. I literally had a hard time cutting it to eat, and it almost flew off my plate in desperate attempts to cut it apart.

Festa Junina Celebrations

Normally when people think of Brasil they think of the month long party Carnaval, but the underrated little brother to that celebration is Festa Junina. This month long holiday honors three saints, and even spills into July to create Festa Julina. The most authentic experience I could have asked for was at a chakara with 150 people, more food than I could imagine eating, a mechanical bull, and the quadrilo (square dancing in sorts). The traditional wear is to dress as a caipira, farmer, in plaid, dresses, braids, and mustaches. Although I've gone to a few Festa Junina events, this by far was my favorite. 

Volunteering In A Private English School

Last week, I had the pleasure to volunteer speaking at a private English school in Londrina called Instituto Federal Parana. The instructor asked me to come in for a class and talk about American cultural, but also requested that I make a typical “American Dish”. The USA doesn’t really have one well known meal that I could think of, but I offered to make chocolate chip cookies to bring. Instead, the class instructor asked that as a class we make mac and cheese. The first thing that came to mind was- shoot, they don’t have Kraft mac and cheese here. So, we went old fashion. Luckily, I’ve made mac and cheese from scratch before, so I knew how to do it, but I didn’t have the cheeses the recipe called for- I can’t easily obtain Vermont Sharp Cheddar here.

I went to the class expecting maybe ten students, and I instead was welcomed by about twenty-five students, all varying in age from University students to grandparents. Everyone greeted me with a kiss to the cheek, and we headed to the market to buy the groceries. They were so hilarious, bargaining with the instructor to add extra ice cream and guarana to the cart. Once we got back to the school, we headed to the kitchen and all got to work on preparing the food. We ended up making five bags worth of pasta! I tried to involve the students as much as I could in the chopping of cheese, stirring, adding pasta, and the whole process. I definitely didn’t expect that many people, and guesstimating the measurements made it taste a little differently than I hoped, but hopefully they enjoyed it! In return, they made traditional brigadeiro for us all, which was my favorite part. It astounds me how kind, energetic, and talkative the students were, and we all tried to converse in a mix of English and mostly Portugues.

You can check out the school's post about the event and their commentary here (it has more mac and cheese adventure pictures):

http://londrina.ifpr.edu.br/2018/04/06/curso-de-ingles-intermediario-tem-aula-especial-com-professora-americana/

Little Successes- Trying New Foods, Working Phone Plan, and an Educational Word Wall

I was adventurous and willed myself to go back to the phone store- Vivo, even after I had cried the last time I was there. They instructed me to return once I had a CPF, or someone to let me borrow theirs and sign, and I did as told. Lucky me, I worked with the same three women who helped last time and saw me cry. Except, this time I came more prepared with a paper of questions and apologies for my last appearance ready to go. I figured out that my pre-paid phone plan was set to charge me on a daily basis until the funds ran out, which happened only several days after I initiated the plan. In order to be cost efficient, I found a plan with 3 GB of internet, unlimited texts, and 50 minutes of calls to outside network, which is plenty more than I will need, for $45 R per month. So, I hoped that this visit would go a lot more smooth than the last encounter. Instead, I found that the trip took 2 hours, and they told me that my CPF was too new and they could not use it! All the work to get the documents in order for obtaining a CPF, and it was unnecessary for this in the and. Eventually though, in a few weeks, I will have to transfer the account under my CPF, so I guess it will come into plan then. By the end of the day though, I had a working phone plan. A huge victory in itself.

One of the things that I love most about Brasil so far, and I think I will miss the most when I leave, is the food. This country brings out my sweet tooth. Between feijoada, churrasco, brigadeiro, tartas, and mandioca…. I feel like I need to exercise more than ever just from craving all of the food. A small tidbit: feijoada is a slowly cooked meat stew (normally with beans, beef and pork), churrasco is the Brasilian barbecues were the meats continue to be cooked all day and you never stop eating, brigadeiro is a heavenly VERY sweet chocolate either in a truffle form or mix on other desserts, tartas are the small pies with meats in them, and mandioca is the Brasilian version of yucca. Also, today I had a homemade gelato that was caprinihia flavored!! On Friday the Fulbright ETAs and staff had a churrasco at Michele’s house, my host professor, and her husband sure cooked up a storm. There was pork, chicken, beef, and desserts, which was accompanied by the sweet drink of white wine, condensed milk, and watermelon blended and served in a watermelon. It’s a good thing that I live so close to a lake and have been working out daily!

As I continue to realize things that I need, and of course did not bring from the USA or just see the exponentially higher price in Brasil, I wanted to make note. Hopefully this will help anyone looking to come in the future and know the essentials to pack.

Face wash- any speciality kinds especially

Electronics- even small things like extra headphones and chargers

Adapters and converters- you can buy these online in a bundle for cheap (but make sure that you account for three prong devices and the adapters

Notebooks- For some reason it costs upwards of $10 USD for a lot of them here

Peanut butter, Nutella, or Maple syrup- these also can cost upwards of $10 USD for a small amount

Tea- if you’re a fan of tea, then stock up before coming here since they charge about $4 USD for a box of four tea packets

A small purse to carry around documents, money, your phone, and keys- make sure it is not too large to draw attention

Deodorant- bring an overload of deodorant. Deodorant in the USA is different than other countries, and unless you want to spend over $4USD on a small tub of roll on or go with the spray one, then bring more than you will need

A cool thing that I have begun in order to help myself learn Portuguese is creating a word wall! I have separated between my- Para practicar (for practice) and Palavras do dia (words of the day). I’m wording primarily with verbs to try and select verbs everyday to focus on using and solidifying their tenses. I’ve also included prepositions, times, directions, and other phrases/words that I think are crucial. I’m rotating out the words everyday, but hopefully it will help to have the visual studying tactic.

Beginning Days in Londrina

Uber XL means something very different in the USA in comparison to Brasil. One might order an uber in hopes to fit luggage in the back, yet instead find a game of tetris and squeezing into the back seat with a suitcase piled on them. The fifteen minute ride to the bus terminal was filled with sharp turns, heavy suitcases, and cramming into a tiny car. Somehow, we thought that it would be a smart idea to bus our way from Sao Paulo to Londrina. Believe me, it could definitely have been much worse than our seven hour trip, especially considering how large Brasil is, but seven hours on a bus can drive a person crazy. I ended up watching the Smurfs and Batman Versus Superman in Portuguese, which was also broken up by a few naps. We arrived in the bus terminal, and I finally got the meet Beatriz- my flatmate. She was so absolutely sweet helping me with my bags and had a bottle of water ready for me.

Walking into my apartment and seeing my room made everything seem more real. Especially, when Beatriz gave me the keys! I lugged my bags into the room, and prepared to meet my other new flatmates, Pedro e Patricia, at their friend’s house. It is common in Brasil to live in republicas, which entail a lot of people sharing one house, and also makes for some fun hang outs. That night I tried my best to make my seven Portuguese word vocab extend as far as I could, and sometimes I attempted to throw in Spanish as hope that the cognates work. I can say that never before had I played gestures in Portuguese.

That weekend was nonstop, and I was ecstatic to get to see Mario again. Mario graduated from the University that I’ll be teaching at, and we studied abroad together in New Zealand. After a long awaited “hello again”, he showed me to my closest bus stop and I experience my first time riding the Londrina city bus. UEL is a HUGE campus, and we got stuck on the far end of campus during the tempestade. Streets quickly became rivers, and my first encounter with Londrina downpour rain didn’t phase me. I was so excited to be living my dream that I did the cliche thing and literally did dance in the rain. While drenched, Mario and I adventured downtown to meet his friend for some Feijoada (one of my favorite Brasilian foods). Afterwards, we indulged in some cake, and I tried the well known Brasilian classic Brigadiero. To end the night, they showed me where the cheaper supermarket was, and we hung out with my flatmates.

The next day was just as adventurous, if not more. Mario and I began the day with a walk around Lago Igapu, which is only a few blocks from my apartment. We next made our way to a street market, which was ENORMOUS! It was way beyond my expectation and filled main street and branching avenues. I had my first pastel con quieso e carne, and you can think of it as similar to an empanada, but I was one happy girl. Following that, I went to Mario’s for his family’s babreque, and we munched on meats from the grill. Mario’s dad was very kind and offered to take us on a car town around town, and this spontaneously led to us watching a Londrina futbol game! It was a rough game though, and they tied. Mario and Refeal insisted that I must try Caldo de Cana, and it ended up being a very sweet sugar cane drink, which I would definitely have again! We once again were picked up, but then walked around a second lake. Londrina has several lakes in the area, and they’re all great for running by.

I’m beginning to get the area the more that I walk around through it. Centro is a bit confusing, especially since it’s hard to get your bearings when you don’t know landmarks. I have only so far figured out the bus system to my university, and I’m not going to try and tackle any other lines yet!