Its 44 degrees outside, and likely 44 degrees in our apartment. We are freezing and our heater is blowing cold air. 

Meanwhile, Jen and I are working working working on our research papers that were *supposed* to be due today, but miraculously got put off one more day. Looks like tonight's gonna be an all nighter. 

We just want to get it over with and go to Buenos Aires!

Happy Father's Day!!











“Happy the man who, like Ulysses, has made a fine voyage, or has won the Golden Fleece, and then returns, experienced and knowledgeable, to spend the rest of his life among his family!” — Joachim du Bellay

Videos

Here are some videos from Rio and Foz

Aunt Lor says I'm slacking!

Ok, Jen's Aunt Lor totally called me out for slacking on the blog. Its true, I've been m.i.a. since Rio. Sorry about that loyal readers! There have been some minor set backs for me lately that have distracted me from writing, I'll explain in this update:
So here goes.

After Rio we spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Curitiba. Pretty low key, just going to lectures in mornings and afternoons at the Federal University of Parana (UFPR).

On Thursday evening a group of six of us (Jen, Jessica, Kevin, Dan, Lauren, and myself) headed over to the bus station for our 11 hour bus ride to the city of Foz do Iguazu. We arrived there at about 6 in the morning when it was still dark outside, and put all of our heads together in order to navigate the city's public bus system.
After a twenty minute bus ride and a ten minute walk up a few hills, we found our hostel, Hostel Bambu. The place was among restaurants in a semi-commercial area and was surrounded by a big security gate. To enter we had to get someone from the inside to remotely unlock the gate for us, then we walked through a small courtyard, in to a door and immediately up a set of stairs that was oddly embellished with about 50 old fashioned red telephones. At the top of the stairs was a large room with lots of windows, some couches, tvs, computers, and guitars - with several doors leading to rooms, bathrooms, a hallway that led outside to the kitchen/bar and pool area.

Our host, Manu, greeted us as at the top of the stairs we checked in. Manu looked oddly similar to Orlando Bloom as an elf in Lord of the Rings, but we all liked him a lot of got on quite well off the bat. We arrived at the hostel quite early (around 7 am) but Manu prepared our rooms for us and we all took a little nap before beginning our adventure. At about 9 oclock we had no choice but to wake up as construction workers were pounding away less than a food away from the room to our door.

So, we all got up and got changed and ready for the falls, then left the hostel and found a bus that took us to the national park. Upon arriving to the park we paid our entrance and hopped on the top level of double decker bus that drove us through the park. We had our minds set on going white water rafting once we got there so we found our stop and got off. We told the attendants we wanted to raft, so we were directed towards this wooden path that lead us through the jungle towards the edge of... I guess the edge of a mountain? Then the group was lead down this enourmously tall, narrow, and ricketty spiral staircase. We literally spent about 15 minutes walking down this terrifying staircase, which was shaking for the people at the back of the group. By the time we reached the bottom our legs were shaking!


At the bottom we had to hop from big rock to big rock until we reached the river. We geared up and received a little training from our guide, put all of our belongings in a large water proof bag, and then hopped into our raft. Our guide was pretty funny, and asked us to name our "rafting team" - of course we named ourselves "Team Cachacha"! The rapids were a category three and at first were scary but then it was so awesome and fun. When the water calmed down, we jumped into the river and swam around a bit. It was cold, but felt great in the hot sun. We could see Argentina and lots of little waterfalls.


After the ride we got out, changed, and headed back to be picked up by the park bus so we could find some food. We all ate some cheeseburgers and checked out the guest shop and then headed down to the Devil's Throat. We walked on this pathway that provided all different perspectives of the waterfall. Absolutely incredible. Every step we took provided a different view of the falls. I don't think that our photos really capture the absolute majesty of the falls, but maybe do so better than my words can.


After a day of hiking, walking, rafting we were all kind of burned out so we headed back to the hostel to rest for a while before going out to dinner at a local churrascaria. Yum.
When we got back to the hostel at the end of the night we had a hilarious experience that seems worth mentioning. After talking to an interesting couple outside at the kitchen/bar area we decided it was time for bed. The whole group, except for Dan headed downstairs to bed around 1 am. When we turned on the lights in the room, Kevin and I saw a massive cockroach scurry across the room and underneath our bunk bed (him on top bunk, me bottom bunk). We kind of jumped and yelped before attempting to locate and eliminate the pest. We picked up all of our luggage and other items that were on the floor just to make sure it hadn't gotten into our things, and moved the bed away from the wall - but we couldn't find it anywhere. We couldn't rest easy knowing that the roach was wandering around the room while we slept, so Jess wrapped herself up like a mummy in her blankets, everyone was kind of uneasy, and I sat up staying vigilante! Everyone started to make fun of me for sitting up so I decided to give up and got out of bed to turn off the overhead light. As soon as I did this, the roach came out from its hiding spot and crawled up the wall towards Kevin. This of course led to excessive shrieking and hysterical laughing, while everyone scrambled around the room either trying to avoid the roach completely, or in Kevin's case - seek and destroy. The thing crawled behind the window frame so someone handed Kevin some DEET spray to scare it out of its hiding spot. Eventually it showed its ugly face and Kevin beat it to death with one of my Havianna flip flops. Good and dead. It was some how proposed that we name the roach - Jessica suggested its first name should be Lauren... Then Lauren suggested its middle name should be Jessica. So that's the story of Lauren Jessica Cockroach and its unfortunate demise. Here's a photo of the proud kill:

The next morning we all awoke at about the same time that the construction work began, and got ready and dressed and started our... "adventure" to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. We had no idea what we were in for.
So Bus Number 1 took was an "international route" - it took us to the border of Brazil where we had to get off and get some type of document to allow us in and out of the country. Of course upon having this conversation we all discovered that we needed our "entry/exit card" that we were given when we first entered the country, and of course none of us had this with us (some of us *ahem* dont have this card at all, more on that later). So, the federal policia literally told us to sneak across the border, and when we came back through, not to stop at the border at all. Ok.. Check. Suggestions to do illegal things, from the Federal Police. They also mentioned the possibility of Argentina not allowing us to enter with out an exit stamp from Brazil, but that didn't stop us. We walked back to the bus stop to try to get the next bus through to Argentina when one of the men working there informed us that the bus only passes through once an hour. He tried to get us to take a taxi, as walking through to the Argentinian border was too dangerous (it would be like walking on 595) - but we finally saw our bus headed towards us and we ran to get on it. Once we got on this bus, we had to stop again at the Argentinian border to get our passports stamped for entrance. We all held our breath while waiting in line, knowing that there was a great possibility that we could be sent back to Brazil. Everything here worked out ok and we happily got back on our bus, our only worries now were navigating our way to the park, and at the end of the day making it back into Brazil.
So our bus drove us into Argentina, and we had no idea how to get to the falls. After asking a few people on the bus how to get to "Foz" we realized that on the Argentinian side the waterfalls are not called "Foz" - they are called "cataratas." When someone said the word "cataratas" the ENTIRE BUS collectively told us to get off the bus immediately. They all yelled at the driver and we all got off the bus somehow, then crossed the street and caught another bus that took us to the national park. Our first few minutes in Argentina were stressful, but it was awesome to be able to speak and hear Spanish - a language we are all much more familiar with than Portuguese. Unfortunately, none of us had pesos, only reais so that was problematic for a minute but not a big deal. At the park, we entered and walked past some indigeous people selling their handmade goods, and then hopped on a train that took us to a path that lead to the view of the falls. We walked for about a kilometer on this metal bridge type thing that went through a wetland type area and the calmer part of the river, until we were literally right on top of the waterfalls. On this side of the fall, my jaw was just dropped open the entire time from the raw power of the waterfall. Absolutely amazing. The water was just churning and churning, sooooo much water.



And for good measure, here is a picture of me in front of a fake waterfall that doesn't actually exist

Oh, I forgot to mention the cool wildlife we saw at the falls. We saw big fish, tortugas (my fave), jumping otters, and these little racoon-like animals called cotis with striped tails and long snouts - very cute, and not afraid of humans at all.
At the end of the day, we made it safely back across the border and back to the hostel. We packed up and went to a cool middle eastern restaurant for dinner before our long bus ride. We had hummus, babaganoush, baklava, schwarma, kabobs, and honeydew flavored shisha - yum! Then we got on our bus, and now here we are in Curitiba.

This week has been kind of laid back. We had a lecture about environmental design and safety by someone from the federal police (I think. All I know is he had a gun) on Monday, and yesterday we took a bus tour of many of the parks in the city.
We went to the 40th floor of a tower to view the city. This view allows you to see the structural cooridors of the city, as the dense development runs along these corridors (so all the tall buildings + high rises runs along these axes)


A postcard view of the city

At one of the parks we saw a capybara which is an adorable animal that is kind of like a huge rodent.

Another park was German themed and told the story of Hansel and Gretel through out. Interesting. We also visited the Free University of the Environment, where many free environmental workshops are hosted. It used to be a quarry so its a good example of adaptive reuse of land. Here are some pictures of me and the wildlife there:

Black swans

After the university of the environment we visited the wire opera house, a pretty impressive structure


Its very cold here. I'm looking forward to finishing my project and going to Buenos Aires. IF I CAN GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY. This is one of the setbacks I mentioned at the beginning of the post. I have officially lost my "entry/exit card" that was given to me within the first 5 minutes of being in Brazil. At no point did anyone tell me that I needed to keep this little piece of paper, but I guess it was my responsibility to figure it out. I'm getting mixed messages about what there is to be done. I can either go and speak to the federal police and pay a $116 fine, or I can arrive in Sao Paulo and bat my eyelashes and see what happens. Because my passport/visa are stamped with my date of entry, I may be able to leave with no problem. However, our TA Renata insists that I will be arrested, detained, and deported - this could put a damper on my trip to Argentina - particularly because I am flying through Sao Paulo on my way in and out of the country.
The other "set back" is that I contracted some weird jungle disease while in Rio. Since I returned from Rio I have been covered head to toe with these mysterious red welts. At first they were tiny, then they got bigger, and swollen and itchy. At Foz they drove me crazy but I think they're starting to get better. Ugh, so annoying. It seems like I've gotten sick a lot on this trip.

So today we had no school, Jen and I just lounged around the apartment. Tomorrow I believe we have a workshop on favelas. This weekend we will spend completing our papers and projects, next week we will present, and then on Wednesday/Thursday Jen and I will travel by bus to Sao Paulo and then fly to Buenos Aires (hopefully). I'm so excited for Buenos Aires. I'll be home in about two weeks. Can't believe how fast this trip went!

The most beautiful city in the world

I dont even know where to begin describing my experience in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. I'll start by saying that it is by far my favorite city in Brazil, if not the whole world. And then I'll start again at the beginning.

Jen, Jess, and I left our hotel at 5 am to arrive at the airport at 5:30. We had a smooth morning in terms of purchasing our tickets (we only had reservations prior to arriving), security, boarding the plane, and arriving in the city. The flight was only about an hour long. We also figured out transportation once we arrived very easily (a bus called "Real" that cost only R$6.50).

It seemed almost miraculous how easily we found our hostel. We stayed at a hostel called Che Lagarto in Ipanema, less than two blocks from the beach. The hostel was extremely clean, with a bar and lounge on the first floor. The street was filled with upscaled hotels and restaurants and lined with lush trees.

Upon arrival, we checked in and dropped our luggage off and went off to explore the neighborhood. We found an awesome fresh food cafe about 4 blocks away and then walked down to the beach to grab some drinks from one of the many stands that line the boardwalk. After a few moments sitting and enjoying our drinks it was evident that the apparently gloomy weather was quickly turning into a storm so we headed back to the hostel to formulate a new game plan for the day (this is around 11 am). Once we got back to the hostel, we grabbed some drinks and decided to play cards on the deck of the lounge and wait out the storm. View from our the front deck at our hostel:

So we played cards. And we played. And the rain only got heavier and heavier. Rummy 500 and capirinhas were how we spent our first afternoon in Rio!! It was the only option, it was practically a monsoon. After a while we decided a nap was in order so we went upstairs and didn't emerge back downstairs until around 8 oclock at night (the time when the barbeque downstairs was going on). It was still raining so we just resigned to hanging out in the bar of the hostel. Fortunately we had great company! We met an Irish backpacker named Will who had been almost everywhere in South America and told us about his travels. Then we met a rugby team from New York - which was exciting because they all spoke English! Among the team was a New Zealander, a Puerto Rican, some Brits and I think some Irish as well as good old fashioned American boys. The rugby team was a blast as they taught us a new game to play at the bar!! Later in the evening we all went out together to a club called Katmandu - fun times.
Jess with the Rugby team

The next morning we woke around 10, just in time for a typical Brazillian breakfast at the hostel. Then we got dressed and walked over to Praia Ipanema - the beach, and walked around. There we ran into some friends from the Rugby team who recommended plenty of things for us to check out. We grabbed a cab and rode over to Copacabana beach - near the 9th post. We sat at a little cafe and had drinks and snacks and took in the beach. A good tip for visiting Copacabana - don't bring anything with you! Anything that you need, you can buy on the beach from the traveling vendors that will approach you and try to sell you things. We were approached by no less than ten venders in the hour we were there. After a while we decided to explore the city area of Copacabana which we loved because of the lush streets and the mountains peaking out from behind the buildings. Eventually we cabbed back to the hostel and then walked towards a botanical garden that we saw on a map. I dont think we ever actually found it but we did find a big horse racing place and an awesome neighborhood with outdoor cafes. We were hungry from walking so we sat at a restaurant and had, what we refer to, as a Brazillian barbeque. Basically they bring out a tray with a flame lit underneath a metal sheet with two slabs of sliced beef on it. You pull a small slice of meat off and lay it flat on the tray to cook it. MUITO BON. So good.

After eating, we cabbed back to the hostel. After a bit of a nap we got ready for the night out in a neighborhood called Lapa, which is supposed to be a hip bohemian area. We were hanging out downstairs when a few young Brazillian gentlemen who were also staying at the hostel asked us what our plans were for the night. When we mentioned Lapa they agreed that the locals had told them that Lapa is the place to be on Saturday night and that they knew a great place to go. So we all went together in a few cabs to the neighborhood and waited in line to get into this mysterious club called Rio Scenarium. Immediately upon walking in, the girls and I agreed that this was the most amazing club we had ever been to. Three stories, with live samba, and popular music on the second floor, a great mix of people of all ages dancing and having fun - and best of all was the decor. It was decorated like a beautiful quirky old mansion with antique furniture juxtaposed with wild color painted walls. There was one wall completely covered with antique clocks, another with antique mirrors, there was a model T Ford in the foyer, a room with antique bicycles hanging from the ceiling. Here, the Brazillian boys we arrived with attempted to teach us samba but we weren't that great so they gave up on us, and we eventually got disconnected from them but we had a wonderful time there.





On Sunday we woke up with the dawn at 7 am in order to make our tour at 8. The bus picked us up and we were off. We saw Maracana and a cathedral (I dont remember the name, I might have been sleeping on the bus). I felt slightly sick and the weather was kind of bad so it wasn't the greatest morning in the world... However, we went to Sugarloaf - aka Pau de Azucar... Amazing. We rode these crazy cable cars up to the top of the morro, and then another to the top of Pau. It would have been quite a view if we weren't inside of a cloud. Oh, and we were inches away from little monkeys at one point! After this, the bus dropped us off at an all you can eat churrascaria which was included in the price of the tour! A little later, another guide came to pick us up but strongly reccomended that we reschedule the remainder of our tour for the following day as it was scheduled to go see the Christ the Redeemer at Corcovado - however the weather was slightly miserable at this point, and he told us it was doubtful we'd even be able to see the Christ. So we happily acquiesed and returned home for a nap.
Back at the ranch, I slept and recovered fully from the night before while the girls took off and took in a futbol game at Maracana. Slightly jealous - but I'm not a big sports fan anyway.



When the girls returned we started talking about what to do that evening and then got into a discussion with one of the girls sharing our hostel room with us. It turned out that she and one of her friends were Dutch, the other French, and that they were studying Spanish and International Business in Buenos Aires. I mentioned to her the fact that I was planning to study in Holland this coming fall and she informed me that one of her traveling companions is a student at the University of Amsterdam - where I'll be in the fall!! After a while of talking her two friends arrived in the room and we decided to grab some dinner at another nearby churrascaria. The girls were kind of full and tired so they went to another grill but I was curious about our new friends so I went to dinner with them. Number one, the restaurant was amazing. Unlimited sushi and amazing salads and bruschetta, all types of delicious delicacies - and of course unlimited types of all of the best cuts of meat. Amazing. Here I met Jasper from Holland who goes to school at UvA, Roman who is French who's father is a diplomat and has lived all over the world but never been to the states, Vivienne the Dutch girl from our hostel, another French kid who was planning a trip to Miami, and an Italian guy who had lived in New York for a few years. We had such fascinating conversation!! They asked me who I was supporting in the upcoming presidential election, and one of the guys even knew all of the words to the "Yes, we can!" speech and said it was the top played on his iPod!! Had a great time and made me so excited for my upcoming trip to Europe!

Monday morning we woke again at 7 to make it to our tour part 2. The bus picked us up close to the beach and it took about 1.5 hours to pick up everyone else - kind of irritating - but oh well. We got to the Tijuca forest and switched to a smaller bus in order to drive up the mountain. When we got to the top we ate some salgados (snacks) at the cafe and then walked up the stairs to the CHRIST!!! Holy moses, it was AMAZING. The weather was clear and beautiful and the place was full of people. INCLUDING (but not limited to) two very famous Brazilian soap stars filming a telenovela on the precipice!! So I can't even explain in words how amazing and massive the Christ statue and the view from the top of Corcovado are. This is something that everyone should see.





Gorgeous views from the top:


Maracana stadium:


After the Christ we got back on the tour and we were told that we had one more stop before the end - a beach that illustrated the gap between the poor and the rich - on one side of the divided highway a fashionable mall and multiple high rise buildings lined the beach, while on the other side was a massive favella on the hillside. We've been exposed to plenty of this by now so we were kind of like "egh, can we skip this part?" but of course we had to go along with the tour so we got off the bus at the beach and were confronted by many many many HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTORS!! We had wanted to do this from the beginning of the trip but the weather had been inclement until this point. Jess struck a deal with some of the instructors and before I even had a chance to think about it we were in one of their hatchbacks driving up this crazy steep mountain in the Tijuca forest (at like 60 mph I might add). At the top, the trick was to not look down. We got all geared up and "trained" - and then we jumped off the mountain!!! I went first. All it took was a run, a jump, and wooooooosh I was flying high aboe the Tijuca, the beach, mansions, water, buildings. It was so smooth and such an amazing powerful feeling. I could barely speak because I was in such awe of the view of God's creation. We were in the air about 15 minutes and then landed gently on the sandy beach as quickly as we took off. I hope I never forget the feeling of flying, it was incredible.
Don't look down!!!






After we got back to the beach the flight instructor took us back to the hostel, we got our luggage, and caught a bus to the airport. The flight back was smooth and everything is great!

Curitiba is cold and yesterday I walked through the rain for an hour, it was miserable. This weekend we go to Foz do Iguazu - bought the tickets today! Largest waterfall in the world, here I come!


If you want to see all of my photos of Rio and hang gliding you can check out my picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ElizabethLaurenButler