Florianópolis, Brasil

This semester our group went on a trip all together for 10 days to Brazil.  We went to Florianópolis, or Floripa, a beautiful town on an island in the state Santa Catarina.  It was a great week being in beautiful Floripa, doing rather crazy things (sand boarding and windsurfing, they're rather crazy for me at least), attempted to speak in portuguese, and eating really good food.   

The Friday we left we got up early and flew from Montevideo to São Paulo to Floripa.  Once getting settled into our hotel near the centro in Floripa, we all went out to eat as a group.  Saturday we went on a bus tour of the island.  They took us around and stopped at a few places along the way including a beach and a sea turtle rescue and research (I think) center.  We road on the top of the double decker bus.  It was bright and sunny and we often had to duck to avoid tree branches and the like.  It was fun but exhausting to be in the sun that long.  Sunday we went to church and got to meet several people.  It's cool to get to go to churches all over the world.  I've done that a lot this year (UK, Norway, Germany, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, and now Brazil) After church we took a bus down to Plaia Joaquina and went sand boarding.  Which really is interesting.  There are some sand dunes close to the beach and it was so much fun to go down the dunes (back up, not so much). We did that for a hour and after we were properly worn out and covered in sand, we walked down to the beach and washed off in the ocean.  The water was so much warmer than in Punta or even in Montevideo.  But some of the locals we talked to thought it was cold.  

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we went to UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) and listened to lectures by the professors and post grad students there about subjects pertaining to anthropology.  Yeah we had to do the school/educational part somewhere.  Wednesday we went on a boat tour.  The only thing really exciting that happened there was a dance contest that a couple of the guys were more or less forced to participate in (one even one!) and I jumped off the ship.  I didn't just jump ship but they had it set up so that we could jump into the ship and swim around a little bit.  It was really fun!  A bit terrifying to jump off even though it wasn't that long of a jump.  

Thursday we changed hotels from our hotel in the center of the city to another part of the island.  It was more secluded but we were right across the road from Plaia Mole.  But the restaurants and grocery stores were about 2 km away.  Friday we windsurfed.  Our visiting professor does actually windsurf so he taught us.  It's hard! But I more or less did it.  Saturday we went on a hike to a secluded beach the hike was a bit harder than I (or any one else for that matter) had bargained for but I did it.  The beach was so pretty and there were some amazing views!!!  The rest of the trip we relaxed at the beach.  We didn't spend as much time at the beach as I thought but that's ok.  The weather was so nice in Floripa.  Floripa is just really nice.  Apparently it's a lot like Hawaii.  Or at least that is what the people who have been there said.  

I don't remember what night this was but we went to a churrascaria (brazilian steak house).  There was so much food!  They would bring around meat to the table and you could eat as much as you want!!!  It was all so so good.  Well at least everything I had.  Oh it was amazing!!!

Portuguese (as I briefly mentioned) is similar to Spanish but at the same time quite confusing.  I had learned a little bit and have studied a bit even before but still it's hard to be dropped in Brazil and have to communicate.  It was nice to get back and speak Spanish here.  To communicate in Brazil I would try the few words I knew in Portuguese and if I didn't know it I would just say it in Spanish and hope they understood.  And I could understand a little bit especially if people were talking slowly.  

It is gorgeous and I loved Brazil!  I hope to go back someday!  

¿Comó?

The last week or so has been super busy!!! Or has felt busy.  To catch everyone up, I turned 20, went to a Uruguay/Paraguay soccer match (world cup qualifier match!!!), went to El Prado (which is a fair), and the usual stuff (beach (though not for much longer), park, learning how to properly kick a soccer ball, etc.)    

So I thought I'd give an update on something and figured since we're at the half way point I'll talk about Spanish.  Yes, that language I've been trying to learn.  First off, learning a language is hard.  There are days where I am honestly exhausted and have a headache just from being more exposed to Spanish than English in a day.  I guess it's good but not too much fun.  Spanish isn't going as well as I could have hoped but at the same time I've learned so much!  But the more I learn the more I realize I don't know anything.  When I first got here I had to first get use to the differences between "southern cone Spanish" and what I had learned.  First off, pronunciations.  Words like: yo, ya, pollo, calle, ayudar, llamar, well anything that has a "y" or a "ll" sound very different.  Instead of a "y" sound it is...not anything like a "y" But I've learned it crazily enough.  Now that sounds natural and when I hear it the other way I get thrown off.  Every once in a while I'll revert to the "y" sound but for the most part I've converted.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not but I think it sounds cooler now!  After that I had to figure out "vos".  It's a different tense.  It's like a more informal "tú".  At first people would ask "¿De dónde sos?" and I had no clue what they meant.  So I had to learn how to understand different conjugations.  I normally use "tú" for verbs but I'll say "y vos" every once in a while.  Makes me feel cool, I'll be honest.  Like I actually know what I'm talking about.  I've learned a lot in general too.  So thats been really good.  And I'm understanding more all the time.  I still have to ask "¿Comó?" a lot because I rarely understand people the first time they say anything.  Mostly because I don't realize that anyone is talking to me.

While I was in Argentina I bought a book.  It's about violence in soccer, really interesting stuff.  But it's in Spanish.  I've been reading that.  It's not really an easy book to read.  I mean I could have read a kid's novel but this was cheap and sounded like fun.  It's been really good for me though.  At the beginning I struggled to read it.  It would take me forever to read a page and I would finish and have no clue what it all meant.  Now I'm reading faster and understanding a lot more.  Comprehension is one of my big problems.  Both in reading and listening.  I can listen to a sermon at church and understand the words that they are saying, and sometime even put it together in phrases and sentences, but then after church I can't tell you what the service was exactly about.  I can say it was something about this or that but I don't know.  Even reading I can understand it but I can't retain it.  I'll have to work on that.  I also bought Narnia in Spanish but haven't started reading it.  I'm going to finish my soccer book.

A while back I had to watch a movie for Spanish class.  She said we could use English subtitles and we might not have but the a couple of the guys wanted to watch it and didn't know Spanish very well so we used them until the disk messed up.  Luckily there was another disk but that one had just Spanish subtitles.  I was really proud though how well I did.  When I read a book I can take longer on a sentence, phrase, or concept, which isn't a bad thing, but watching this made me think faster.

Spanish music too!  Especially "La Oreja de Van Gogh" and "El Sueño de Morfeo."  :)

So yeah there is a little bit about how my Spanish is going.  In some ways I wish it could have been a complete immersion program (that'll make you learn) but it's not... I don't regret that though.  I've made great friends and have developed great relationships with the people here I'm living with.  I wouldn't trade the friends I made.  And I have learned a lot of Spanish. They have also pushed me to do better.  We're all in this and use each other for support and help.  Now that I've talked about Spanish...I'm going to Brazil this Friday!  Where Spanish isn't going to help me... Não falo português.

Spring Break: Patagonia

I’ve been a lot of places and have seen a lot of amazing and beautiful things, but some of the things I saw and places I visited last week were some of the most amazing things I have ever seen and experienced.  Last week was Spring Break and the guys and I went down south.  Really far down south!!!  Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, El Fin del Mundo!  We left Montevideo and went down to Ushuaia.  All the way down to Ushuaia!!!  It’s crazy to think that you’re so far away from home.  It’s almost 6500 miles from home which I think is officially the furthest I’ve ever been away from home.  When we got to Ushuaia I don’t think any of us could be believe how far south we were but we were in the southernmost city (debated but still) in the world!  Ushuaia itself is nothing too special.  It is popular for tourist because of its status as the southernmost city and it is a port for anyone wanting to go to Antarctica.  The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains.  

The first full day in Patagonia we went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.  There we did a couple of hikes.  They were both easy but we walked quite a lot so we were still a bit tired.  One hike was around a lake and another was to the Chilean Border.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the border because we had to go back to catch the last bus back to Ushuaia.  We were so close though and a couple of the guys did make it but had to run.  I would have gone with them if I knew that we were that close but whatever.  Everything was so beautiful!!!  Everywhere you looked was just phenomenally beautiful!!!  It was so much fun to just hang out and go on a couple of relaxing hikes around one of the most beautiful places on the planet! 

The next day we went to Lago Esmerelda with some girls we met in the hostel.  We were told that the hike would be muddy but we had no clue how muddy it would be.  Most of the hike was through peat marshes.  Needless to say our shoes were filthy after the hike and basically destroyed.  There were a couple of harder parts but mostly it was just trying to find where to step or jump to without falling down...  We made it to the lake and it was beautiful!!!  It was a very interesting yet beautiful color.  We ate our sandwiches there but it was so cold so we were anxious to get out of the wind so we headed back and had hot chocolate!  

Monday we rested a bit from the hiking.  We didn’t want to spend money either because everything is so expensive.  So we explore the town a little bit.  Nothing too much.  We thought about doing a boat down the Beagle Channel but we had talked to people who had done that and everyone said that it wasn’t worth it.  So this day was rather uneventful but it was some rest.  We did cook dinner in the hostel that night (and most nights) in order to save money.  

Tuesday we wanted to do something free so we went on a hike to a glacier.  (which wasn’t really that cool but the hike was fun)  We were told that it was a 45 minute walk to the start of the hike and from there it would be a two hour hike.  We could have taken cabs to the start but we didn’t figure that there was a point in spending the money if we could just walk it.  Well the 45 minute walk ended up being a 1 1/2  hour hike in itself.  Then we started the real hike.  There was a chair lift to a point further into the hike but again we were going to do it for free so we walked (hiked) it.  I thought that would be the hard part of the hike.  I was wrong.  The last bit of the hike was very steep and very icy.  There was a lot of slipping, almost falling, sliding, etc.  Fun fun.  But it looked incredible.  (not the glacier, the glacier wasn’t worth it so I didn’t risk my life going all the way do it.  It was beautiful looking out and we could see the city.  It was crazy to think that we had walked from that.  The hard part was descending and going down without slipping and falling.  We got down to where the hike began and couldn’t find a cab, so we walked all the way back down.  That was a pretty difficult hike...very difficult.  But good and a lot of fun (well after the fact) 

Some of the guys went back to the national park to hike up a summit.  I wanted to but was pretty tired and done with hiking.  I would have but the description said “strenuous” and I had no clue what that meant and wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to find out.  I wished I would have gone until the guys got back, and they were so worn out and looked a bit miserable so then I was ok staying.  I just went to shops and a book store.  There are apparently some great museums in Ushuaia that I went to check out but they all were 90 pesos (about $18!!!) and I didn’t feel like it was worth it.  

Thursday we went to El Calafate.  Our plane was delayed for about 4 hours.  The Ushuaia airport is rather boring.  

Friday we were in El Calafate and this was our only day here.  I didn’t know what this place was before this but was super glad we went.  We could add the flight for only $5 which isn’t too bad. Since the plane was delayed the previous day we didn’t get there in time to reserve our seats on a bus to the Glacier park so we took cars instead.  Which ended up being nicer because we weren’t bound by the bus and could stop and take pictures on the side of the road and take our time.  We went to the Perito Moreno Glacier and it was fantastic.  We saw it from up about 7 km away then moved up closer.  It was so cool!  We watched it for a while and saw pieces fall off.  We walked around there and then as we were about to leave we saw a HUGE chunk fall off into the water.  It was so cool to see and just completely crazy!!!  We were so blessed to see that.  The glacier was huge!!!  

This whole week was great and a lot of fun!  We spent a lot of time getting to know each other even better (as you do on vacations), cooking good and bad meals, hiking a lot, being very sore, etc. It was great and I was a bit sad for it to be over.  This week will be pretty busy!  But good!  We have some exciting things coming up.  We’ve past the half way point of the semester (which is crazy!!!) but there are some great things that have yet to come.  This week I’m going to start leading an English “conversation club” to help people practice their English, go to see the Uruguay Soccer team against Paraguay and more!!! 

Rocha

Last weekend we went to Rocha.  Which didn't actually mean the city Rocha but La Paloma and some surrounding stuff.  Close enough.

Friday was pretty hectic.  We got up and drove to Pirapolis and saw a view of the city then continued driving and went to Casa Pueblo which is outside of Punta de Este.  It's pretty cool!  It is a museum/resort where an Uruguayan artist keeps his collection.  We went to the museum part.  There were some I really liked!  Besides it looks really cool!  We had a picnic and then continued onto Punta and went back to the fingers sculpture and took pictures. Then we continued onto La Paloma.  But on the way there is a cool bridge and we crossed over it.  And then turned around to do it again! As you can see why!

We arrived in a small beach town that afternoon and then went to the beach!  This was actually the Atlantic so it's a lot colder than the water in the Rio de la Plata in Montevideo!  But it really wasn't that bad.  We went out and "body surfed" for a while.  It was cold but whenever you got use to it, it wasn't bad at all.  So we hung out there for a while and then went out to eat that night.  It was someone's birthday so we went out for ice cream!

The next day we were suppose to go to the Ombú forest and then to Cabo Polonio but that morning it was raining and there was apparently a cyclone on the way and thunderstorms.  So plans got canceled.  The guys had already rented a body board so they went out to the beach in the morning to get some use out of it before the weather got really bad.  The rain let up and I decided to go on a walk thinking that I'd get out while I could if I was going to be stuck in the hotel the rest of the day.  And it didn't rain again...So we went back out to the beach, they got some more use out of the body board, I met some people from Quebec, and we got pelted by blowing sand.  It hurt a bit...Again the water was cold until you got use to it.  Apparently that morning it was colder and you didn't get use to it because it was still raining outside.
That afternoon I went up the lighthouse in La Paloma and decided that it was going to be a goal to see how many lighthouses I can go up this semester.  Because lighthouses are cool!  Power went out in the whole city...and as soon as I told someone that the power was out in the whole city it came back on. That night we went out to eat and ice cream and then hung out for a while on the porch.  La Paloma is a small town and there are stars and the air is fresh and it was just really nice to get out of the city.  It was cool to see a small, even though it was touristy, town in Uruguay to get a different impression.  We've mostly been in the city so it was interesting to see how other Uruguayans interact.  I really liked La Paloma.  It was really chill.

Sunday we did what we were suppose to do saturday.  We went to the Ombú forest which is a forest of Ombú trees.  Well obviously but ombú trees are really cool.  So we saw that and then went to Cabo Polonio.  Cabo Polonio is a hippy town (for lack of a better description).  It's actually a natural park but people already lived there so there is a small town.  They don't have electricity or running water and very small huts for houses.  There are dunes around and so we had to ride a truck to get out there.  It was quite a ride!  After there the beach was fantastic! And really clean!  There was one that I really wanted to get on but we didn't have a lot of time and there was a red flag because the waves were pretty dangerous so we couldn't swim.  We went to the other beach.  We swam, walked around, went and saw sea lions.  And I went up another lighthouse (that makes 3 this semester!) So that was fun!

Casa Pueblo

Lighthouse in La Paloma

Ombú tree

Lighthouse in Cabo Polonio

We headed home and got back later than we expected but we still got to do a lot and it was a lot of fun!  I love travelling with the group because you get to know people better when you travel.  It was the same in Oxford, the only difference was that in Oxford while travelling I would get to know people who I hadn't really known well before and in Uruguay we're so small that we know everyone well.  So we get to know each other better.  Like this Friday 5 of us are going to Ushuaia!  How crazy is that?!!! I'm so excited!!!

¡Un Partido de Fútbol!

Last night we went to a football (soccer) match! There are two main football teams here and where I live is a Peñarol neighborhood.  Most of our friends cheer for Peñarol.  Last night a couple of our friends took us to a Peñarol match.  They were playing some team from Argentina.  Unfortunately in the last few minutes the other team scored and we couldn't come back so we lost 0-1.  I have been to football matches in England and Spain but we were just going, didn't know anyone who were fans, so we basically just chose a team (basically whichever people around us were cheering for).  This time we were with fans and they were getting into it so we got into it.  I don't get the people who get crazy into it.  I actually bought a book about football politics and violence while in Argentina.  There were only 150-200 people there who supported the other team.  I don't know how many I'm not good at estimating.  Basically the whole stadium were Peñarol fans.  It was fairly full and full capacity is 65000.  So they were outnumbered by quite a lot...I'm not sure how many people were there but there were a lot. Still the Argentines were outnumbered.  And they were frankly a little stupid.  They had barriers to separate them from the Peñarol fans and they knocked them down.  If you knock down the barriers set up to protect you what do you expect to happen.  The police came and took some away... There was a lot of smack talk and singing.  It was really fun!  I mean Peñarol should have won but it was still fun!  It was also a cool experience to go with Uruguayans and they could explain stuff to us and gave us a bit of an insight into Uruguayan football.
I think we might go to a Nacional game later this semester. That's the other team and quite the rival of Peñarol.  I have a friend who won't choose between them because it's kinda a big deal.

Colonia & Buenos Aires

So last weekend we went to Buenos Aires (and spent a little time in Colonia on the way).  Friday morning we left and took a bus to Colonia.  Colonia is the first settlement in present day Uruguay and it was actually a Portuguese settlement.  Basically for smuggling.  After the Portuguese settled there in Colonia the Spanish soon settled in Uruguay and created Montevideo.  There isn't a lot to do in Colonia but it's a nice, relaxing, quiet town.  Outside of the town there is a place where you can go see the largest pencil collection and the second largest keychain collection.  They also sell jams so we got to try some, and some interesting flavors.  After that we went into the city and saw the old bull fighting arena which actually was only operational for a month.  So it's kinda falling apart and you can't go in there.  Some people wanted to make Colonia a big tourist city and so they built a lot including this bull fighting area and a month after it opened Uruguay outlawed bull fighting so it's been sitting there decaying.  After lunch we went around town and saw some museums (the first one was the only one worth going to, it had a fossil of a 4 ft armadillo!!!) We also went up the lighthouse! And from the shore in Colonia we could barely see Buenos Aires.  We took a ferry there!

The first night in BA we just went out and found a place to eat and then walked along 9 de Julio, which is one of the widest avenues in the world.  Apparently there is one that is about an inch wider in Brazil. (there competition between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay is hilarious)  We walked down to the congress building and back.

Saturday they took us around.  We went to Plaza de Mayo and saw the Casa Rosado and Cathedral and then we went to La Boca and Recoleta.  In the cemetery in Recoleta we saw the tomb of Evita, as well as some other tombs.  It was very interesting.  After that we had lunch and then went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and stayed there for about an hour.  There were paintings of Monet and Rembrandt, and Van Gogh, and a lot of Latin American artist.  Unfortunately only one floor was open because they're doing some remodeling. After we looked at some of the markets.

Sunday we went to church and stayed for lunch.  We met a lot of people there and then we hung out with one of the guys that afternoon.  We wanted to go to San Telmo but by the time we could it would have been pretty late so we just walked around.  That night we went and got pizzas at a place that the guy said was really cheap and then we went by the obelisk and ate.  Monday the other girls went to a zoo that was 2 hours away and they had a lot of fun petting tigers and lions and feeding elephants and crazy stuff.  I thought about going but it sounded really sketchy.  I just hung out close by in Buenos Aires.  Unfortunately everything closes on Mondays in BA.  We went down to the park and the rose garden was closed, and the planetarium was closed, and the zoo was closed, and the japanese garden was open but we were cheap and didn't want to pay 25 pesos ($5).  So we went back to Plaza de Mayo and nearby was Tortoni's which is a pretty awesome (but expensive) cafe.  Then we went to an awesome book store!!! It was an old theatre which had been changed into a bookstore and it was huge and fantastic!!!!  I bought a book!

That's about it...It was a lot of fun and I love Buenos Aires.

So here are some upcoming activities.  The first of March we're going to Rocha and then that next friday the 8th we're going to go to Ushuaia! That's our Spring break and yesterday we bought tickets to go to Ushuaia and El Calafate and booked hostels!  I'm so excited!!!  I probably should have brought a better coat...but yeah so that's super exciting!!!  In the meantime I have a lot of homework to get done this week and next week.

Carrasco and a nice relaxing weekend

So later Saturday a group of us ended up going to Carrasco.  We hung out in the beach, played in the water, and it was awesome!  The water was a great temperature and was so much fun to play in!  I think it's more fun to play in a river like than than the actually ocean.  For me at least.  There are waves which are fun but you never feel like you're really fighting the water.  It's pretty nice and fun!  Carrasco is a really cool area too!  Not like normal Montevideo.  There are a lot of big houses and some are huge!  I guess it's kinda like a suburb style.  But really nice!  There are some houses are are average and then there are some fantastic ones.  It was about a 45 minute bus ride away but it wasn't bad and only was 20 pesos.  ($1)  We just went to the beach and walked around.  We thought about going out to eat there but it's kinda expensive so we headed back to Montevideo and found a restaurant before returning to Casa.  It was a whole lot of fun!!!  A great day!  I hope we can go out to the beach in Carrasco soon.  It's not as crowded.

Sunday we continued our church project and visited a Pentecostal church.  After church we changed and went to the feria.  It was so cool but unfortunately just about as soon as we got there it started raining so we went into a bakery that some people had already visited and really liked so we went and ate a cheap lunch!  And good!  After that I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and then went to the church next door with a friend.  They were really happy to have us there and really friendly.  They talked to us a bit and one of the guys asked us if we knew "the yellow rose of Texas"

Oh and yesterday (monday) we watched Evita, in preparation for going to Argentina.  It was very interesting.

I guess that's all for now. Carnaval is going on so there are a lot of businesses close.  And bus schedules are weird but I don't think I'll have to worry about that but a friend of mine who lives in a different part told me she had some problems getting here because she couldn't find her usual bus.