May 20, 2011
Tomorrow morning we set out for Rio and Cesar and I are ready. It’s funny because while our conditions haven’t changed, something between us has. The first days of preparation, travel, and staying here we fought a lot and I honestly thought every mean thing under the sun about him. But these last few days we’ve grown almost closer than ever, uniting in many of our ideas and supporting each other. I’m enjoying this phase (of a few days), and wonder what Rio might hold for us.
Yesterday we went and saw the beach and today we went to Sao Paulo again. Cesar and I both agreed that next time we come to Sao Paulo, we want to stay in or close to a more central area, even if it means paying more. By the time we paid for us to travel there twice and metro tickets and paying for everything under the sun, it may have actually been worth doing that PLUS I could have actually seen people I know and gotten to see Sao Paulo and a wider range of what it has to offer. I’ve come to realize that I can’t judge Sao Paulo nor my future in Brazil based on this week. We’ve had a rough time being kind of trapped where we were staying, and Audrey and I both got a cold right off the plane. On top of that we’ve had several stomach upsets. I’m convinced that our experience will be completely different even coming back in about 3 months (when my return flight leaves).
So now that we’ve packed and are ready for departure on a 8-hour bus trip to Rio, I’m super excited for the next week. My birthday is exactly a week from now and I’m going to meet so many people and see so many things between now and then! On Tuesday-ish we’ll fly to Brasilia and meet Cesar’s sister who has a sort of salon, and we’re going to get haircuts, mani- and pedi-cures! Fun!
On another note, as if I haven’t advertised enough about my ErgoBaby carrier, here I go again! It’s amazing! How many people can say that they’ve walked around a major city, on and off the metro and around city blocks, in and out of shops, banks, etc. successfully with an 18-month old? This thing is amazing (as is my daughter who napped through part of it, talked me through part of it, and squirmed just a bit when we had to sit down for a while). Yay Audrey and her ever-faithful Ergobaby carrier.
I also saw an interesting sign advertising breastfeeding. Thought it was kind of neat to advertise the benefits of that over formula. Bravo, Brazil!
May 18, 2011
I think it’s time for a decent evaluation, not of positive and negative, but general observations. My time so far is very different that my first time in Brazil. One thing that makes a big difference is that I speak Portuguese. It’s like my dad said, it makes Brazil more “realistic.” I like the food, though most of it is fried food to fill you up (i.e. yummy and/or rice and beans). And, of course, is there a general type of food in the world that I don’t like? Things are waaaaay more expensive, though part of that is because the first time I came to Brazil, the currency exchange was 3-1 and now it’s about 1.6-1. Yikes! In addition to that, I have heard that prices in general have also continued to go up. The most beautiful sights here are the natural ones, mainly the mountains. The city is huge and never-ending, as is the notorious traffic. It’s hard to find a well-developed area that has the beauty inside AND out, but a lot of the best parts of buildings are on the inside. Americans take for granted the availability of a yard. I have yet to actually see one here (though I know they exist, I saw some yards when I was here last)
Sao Paulo would benefit greatly from a decent train system, at least for the surrounding cities. For a city so big, I expected buses and trains to go into the big city directly all the time, but transportation is practically non-existent unless you change modes of transportation various times, and for those who aren’t familiar with the area, it’s best to stay around where you are. I suppose renting a car would be an option if you’re a confident driver and have a map. Rules only semi-exist, and driving takes a knowledge of what is and isn’t acceptable at the different times of day and the areas you’re going to. The metro that does exist is great and very clean. If only it could get you beyond the traffic and further out, it would be exactly what I’m talking about. I really want to explore more and see more. I haven’t gotten to see much beyond where our friends live. There’s a pretty beach about 10 minutes away from them. I wished today that I could find my battery charger to take some pictures.
Audrey loves the dog that lives with us, and also loves to walk around outside the shop and say hi and bye to the people around. There are some difficulties adjusting. It’s not like I’m here for two weeks on a missions trip. There’s nothing very curious or mysterious in my interactions with people like before, and it’s very different traveling with a baby. I get a lot of opinions on how I should be raising, feeding, dressing, entertaining, etc. Audrey, and it takes a lot of humility and patience to swallow the volume of comments. I’ve even been accused of being “desnaturada,” a word that is closest to unnatural or negligent, for not following what others think I should be doing with Audrey. I watch her day and night. She always wears about the same clothes I am wearing. She eats when I eat, oftentimes more.
Along with this idea are common superstitions that I’m sure are behind these comments. Among these are that Audrey is not wearing winter clothes in 65 degree weather, walking barefoot in the house, I don’t feed Audrey every single hour, and Audrey drinks and eats cold things as well as hot things. Bathtubs are not very common either, so I’ve been using a large laundry bucket for Audrey. Cesar says that in his part of Brazil there’s not even hot water, so I intend to either invest in a water heater (the electric ones they use here) or heat water and put it in an inflatable swimming pool or bin that will serve as Audrey’s bathtub.
I’m excited to go to Rio on Saturday. I think it will be a totally different experience, and if we find some form of transportation there, we might do some touristy things AND we’re going to be in the care of a large Nazarene church! I feel like that comes as close to “my people” as I’m going to get (in the who knows how long I’ll be here) unless I come back and stay in Campinas. I know sooooooooooooooo many people in Campinas, but it’s still pretty far. We’ll see how things play out. I hope to get to travel a little bit but so many factors come into play and we’re already traveling quite a bit.