After my most recent trip I returned to school expecting everything to be just as it was when I had left. Much to my surprise, my first day back I discovered that the school was officially “en paro.” While before my departure to Brazil, I was aware that students were beginning to protest in an effort to express their desire for free education, I did not think that their protests would escalate to this level. Instead of filling the halls of Casa Central patiently waiting for classes to start, students congregated outside of the academic buildings refusing to attend their courses in an attempt to get their point across. In all honesty, the whole situation was somewhat comical. Even though the students were protesting against the education system, PUCV allowed them to use the courtyard in the primary education building to organize groups, paint and display banners, and vote as to whether or not to initiate “tomas” and overtake the academic school buildings.
The struggle for a quality and free education in Chile has existed ever since Pinochet made drastic changes to the education system during his dictatorship which lasted from 1973-1990. Before the military regimen of Pinochet, Chilean President Salvador Allende implemented a multitude of educational reforms aimed to both promote and better the educational opportunities for Chilean citizens of all ages. However, after Pinochet took over, the quality of education greatly diminished and has yet to see drastic improvement. This fact, coupled with high costs and low wages after graduation, has acted has a catalyst, promoting students across the country to protest for the standard of education that they deserve.
Since the students have been protesting, you never know what the academic day will bring. At one point, they overtook one of the academic buildings, piling chairs against the gates to prevent anyone from entering.
Additionally, there have been a multitude of marches in the streets (which conveniently distract me as I try to complete assignments from my desk at work) and other forms of revolt. Just last night, my bus ride home (which is normally only 20 minutes) lasted 2 hours due to the fact that students had set up barricades in the middle of the street. You would think that the police would have a better handle on things, but thus far it seems like the students are running the show.
As a result of the recent uprisings, my Economics class was cancelled for the rest of the semester (devastating, I know). While it was awesome not to have to attend class for 5 weeks, in order to receive credit for the course, I have been diligently working on a 20 to 30 page paper that analyzes one of the infamous Chilean wineries. Riveting stuff… let me tell you.
In regard to my other academic courses, I just finished up the my semester at PUCV! WOOO HOOOO!!! I must admit, the last few weeks of class were bittersweet as I have grown very fond of my teachers and loved absorbing so much information with respect to the the Chilean culture and Spanish language. We ended our dance class with a celebration of Chile’s Independence Day. Even though the official day is not technically until the 18th of September, our teachers decided to celebrate early to give us a taste of the fun that we would be missing out on. We ate homemade empanadas (my teachers mom and dad made them right before our eyes), played traditional Chilean games, and drank wine and Chicha de Uva (a traditional Chilean drink which is essentially like hard apple cider, but made with grapes instead-can you say delicious!?!?!) at 9:00 in the morning-It was awesome! I can only imagine how much fun it would be to participate in the actual festivities.
In addition to the Independence Day celebration, as we commenced the semester, my culture class had the opportunity to explore Cerro Polanco (one of the many hills in Valparaíso). Currently, Cerro Polanco is part of a graffiti project and teams of local artists are covering the walls of the neighborhood in vibrant explosions of color! I loved every minute of walking around the hills and taking pictures. Check out a few of my favorites…
With all final papers completed (well almost completed) I have started to work full time at my internship. As I approach my final month in Chile and my fellow peers begin make their way back to the States, I am starting to get a little bit nervous about coming home. I cannot imagine what it is going to be like to step off the plane and be on American soil for the first time in 6 months. I have allowed myself to slip into a life of normalcy here and I have no doubt that I am going to miss the unique culture that I have come to love.
On a final note, I couldn’t finish this blog post without mentioning the fact that I had the chance to see two of my fellow classmates, Maggie and Josh, from Butler last week! The pair have taken on a 2 month trip across South America before they will reluctantly enter the working world, which we all inevitably try to put off as long as possible. As part of their journey, they stopped in Valpo for a few days and I had the chance to show them around Viña, giving them what seemed to be their first encounter with civilization in the last month. After a day of exploring my current stomping grounds, complete with a trip to Lime Fresh Mexican Grill and Starbucks, I ensured that they were well fed before they headed out to take on the next part of their journey. It was truly great to see them and I could not be happier that our adventures crossed paths.
Welp…that’s about all I have for now! Currently working on finishing up some final papers for PUCV and Butler, and pushing through the last two weeks of work. After that, it is off to Buenos Aires! Don’t fret, I will be in touch before then. Missing everyone at home, but I know it won’t be long before I can reunite with you all! Yikes!
To start, I simply cannot begin to write this post without insisting that you listen to Barry Manilow’s renowned song, Copacabana. Inspired after a visit to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (even though in actuality the song takes place at the Copacabana bar in NYC),this song is near and dear to my heart as the opening liner mentions that “her name was Lola and she was a showgirl.” You may be asking yourself how this has any relevance to my recent trip to Brasil. I must admit, while the only thing the two have in common is that I was physically at the location from which the name of the song was derived, the more important similarity lies in the fact that the love of my life is my pug, whose name happens to be Lola, just like the showgirl. Often, if you are lucky, you can catch my mother singing a hysterical rendition of the song to Lola (the pug).
There you have it, my very random and yet somewhat relevant introduction to my blog post about Brasil! Now on to the good stuff…
My trip for Brasil began last Wednesday. After taking a night bus to Santiago, I once again attempted to get a few hours of sleep on the cold, hard floor of an airport. Our flight left super early on Thursday morning, so I really did not have any other option. While the lack of sleep and early morning wake-up call are never any fun, watching the sunrise over Chile from the plane always seems to be worth the pain and agony.
Coco and Speedos
We safely landed in Brasil around 11:00 a.m. where, thankfully, a prearranged transport was waiting to take us to the hostel. We truly did not have an official agenda for our time in Rio, and it was nice to have the freedom to plan the days as we saw fit. After checking in on day one, we went to grab a bite to eat and headed to Copacabana beach. Despite the fact that it was a cloudy day, we enjoyed watching an intense game of beach soccer! Brasilians do not mess around when it comes to playing the sport, and the game was very entertaining.
The remainder of the evening we walked about the beach and enjoyed familiarizing ourselves with the area. I swear, every male on Copacabana beach struts around proudly in a speedo. It makes for a disturbing, yet comical scene… men these days. In addition to the massive amounts in men in speedos, everyone was drinking coconut water. The patterned sidewalk that lined the beach was abundant with vibrant yellow and red snack shacks that sold baskets of coconuts. When purchased, the vendor would simply split the top of the coconut open and stick a straw in it. I had never had the opportunity to try coconut water and, not surprisingly, I was mesmerized by the idea of drinking out of an actual coconut. Needless to say, I purchased one on Saturday when we returned to the beach. It truly is the little things in life…
After a late dinner, we socialized with the other hostel dwellers and made quite a few new friends; including Adam, from Manchester, England and Joao, a tattoo artist from São Paulo. Adam taught us a new card game, which he called Shit Head, and we incessantly played it every night for the remainder of the trip.
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
As Friday brought on rain, and we couldn’t go to the beach, Adam, John, and I headed to downtown Rio to do a little exploring. We walked about the streets and enjoyed observing both the old architecture and newly constructed buildings. As to be expected with the upcoming events Rio is hosting, much of the city was under some much-needed construction.
After walking around aimlessly for what felt like an eternity in an attempt to find the Museu de Arte do Rio, we finally located it (we literally had to ask for directions 5 times, which proved to be rather difficult considering Brasilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish) and decided to take a look inside.
While I truly do appreciate art, the museum was jam packed – it was the place to be- and it was difficult to see all of the exhibits. There were some rather interesting pieces of art, including the one below (which I was not supposed to take a picture of… shhhh, don’t tell).
Painted by Peter Saul and titled “White Boy Learns a Lesson,” we could not help but to gape at the picture and laugh hysterically. But hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. After viewing 4 floors of art and not seeing anything that really blew my socks off, we headed to the final floor and I was mesmerized. As always, they saved the best for last. The final exhibit was composed of art projects and photographs that portrayed the lives of those who live in the favelas (Brasilian shanty towns) of Brasil. The primary art display was an actual replica of a favela, made using a variety of different materials. It was incredible!
Claudia Jaguaribe (1955), Menina na Laje (Girl on the Rooftop)
My Newfound Falafel and Fruit Infatuation
Nearly famished after our visit to the museum, we ate at a nearby Arabic restaurant and then headed back to the hostel. While in Brasil, I developed a newfound obsession with Middle Eastern food, which seemed to be a very popular cuisine in Brasil. In fact, my new favorite food is now a falafel. For those of you who do not know, a falafel is deep-fried ball or patty made from mashed chickpeas. Put them in a pita wrap and add some lettuce, tomato, onion, hummus, and tahini sauce and I can guarantee that your taste buds will be in heaven! We feasted on Middle Eastern cuisine quite a few times as we found an awesome restaurant between the hostel and the beach. I can assure you when I make it back to Brasil, I will be visiting Amir Restaurante again! In addition to falafels, I also fell in love with the natural fruit juices/smoothies that are sold on legitimately every street corner. Upon my arrival, I was informed that I must try Acaí. The drink includes acaí berries and your choice of granola, honey, and/or banana. Once you select your ingredients, they blend them together (I’m sure a little sugar is added to the mix) and a refreshing purple slushy is produced. Acaí berries mixed with banana is the way to go in my opinion. If you ever find yourself in Brasil, you have to try one!
Living it up in Lapa
There always seems to be a party in Brasil, so Friday night a group of us ventured out to the Lapa Street Party, which takes place every Friday night around the Arcos de Lapa. The area is filled with vendors selling local foods and alcoholic beverages. While almost everyone had Brasil’s national cocktail, the caipirinha (which is a disgustingly sweet drink consisting of cachaça (Brasilian style of rum made from sugarcane juice), lime, and sugar), in hand, I stuck to a mixture of vodka and fresh fruit. You can’t go wrong with mango, maracujá (passion fruit), and hard liquor! The atmosphere and energy surrounding the Lapa arches was incredible; musicians lined the streets and samba music filled the air while people danced about and enjoyed the vivacious beats of the drums. After mingling in the streets for a few hours, we were enticed into going to a nearby club after someone offered us free admission. We danced the night away, not returning to the hostel until 5:30 a.m.
A Seemingly Uneventful Saturday
For some odd reason, I was wide-awake at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning (don’t ask my why) and was ready to take on the day. After killing some time and waiting for the others to get up, Adam and I purchased tickets to the Brasil vs. England soccer game the following day. We had been debating whether or not to purchase tickets, which we could only find through the hostel for a premium price, and finally came to the conclusion that since it was the FIRST GAME IN THE 2014 WORLD CUP STADIUM, we just had to go! Beyond excited after securing a ticket, we headed to the beach for a couple of hours! John and I had originally planned to make our way up to see Christ the Redeemer for sunset that afternoon, but we were unsure if we needed to buy tickets beforehand and John had decided to go Sunday while we were at the game. Me, being the high-strung worry wart that I am, panicked and thought that I was not going to have time to see the infamous statue (which is a MUST see while you are in Brasil) and irrationally left the beach and took a cab to the Trem de Corcovado (which is the tram that takes you to the apex of the Corcovado Mountain, where Cristo Redentor stands over Rio). When I arrived at the ticket counter around 4:00 p.m., I unfortunately discovered that tickets were sold out until 7:40 that night. Not wanting to wait and knowing that I would not be able to get a spectacular view of the city after dark, I jumped on a bus back to the hostel. Once I was connected to the Wi-Fi, I immediately purchased a ticket online to ensure that I would make it to see Cristo before we had to head to the airport on Monday afternoon. With all of that being said, for those of you who ever find yourselves in Rio at any point in your life, make sure to buy your ticket online BEFORE making the trek to Corcovado! Due to my nonsensical and unreasonable decision-making that afternoon, I was rather grumpy and frustrated on Saturday night and decided to lay low.
Sickly Soccer
Sunday morning I woke up with no appetite, a sore throw, body aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Just my luck! My temporary illness was not going to stop me from going to THE FIRST GAME IN THE 2014 WORLD CUP STADIUM, so I took some Advil and toughed it out. The game was absolutely incredible and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go. The outside of Estádio do Maracanã looks a little bit like a concrete flying saucer orbiting through outer space. While the aerial view of the stadium is much more impressive than the ground view, I could not help but to feel a rush of energy as we approached the massive structure. Surrounded by a sea of Brasilians dressed in bright yellow, the intensity of the energy was apparent immediately. There is truly no greater sensation than feeling the excitement before a fútbol game, especially in Brasil. The most magical moment was walking up the concrete ramp into the area that housed the field. The circular complex is open at the top, allowing the natural sunlight to flow in, and is filled with very contemporary light blue and yellow chairs. Take a look for yourself…
Watching the game and cheering alongside over 75,000 Brasilians was awesome! At night, they stadium lit up with yellow and green lights, making it look even more spectacular than it did in the daylight.
I will say, while the complex is awesome, they have a bit of work to do before they host the World Cup. The bathrooms were leaking massive amounts of water from the ceilings, they ran out of hotdogs before the game started, and they could not keep up with the high demand for popcorn. Luckily they have a year to master everything…
Returning to Corcovado
Monday morning I was in a cab by 7:30 a.m. making my way back to Christ the Redeemer. Of course, it was cloudy and there was rain in the forecast. Thankfully, the rain held off and I was able to catch the first tram up the mountain and gape at the massive (it is after all considered to be the largest art deco statue in the world) statue in all of its glory. To give a comparison, I feel like Christ the Redeemer is Rio’s Statue of Liberty. In fact, both happen to be constructed by French sculptors. The panoramic views of the city from the top of the Corcovado Mountain were awesome. I was able to see the soccer stadium, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and much more.
After spending an hour with Cristo Redentor, I grabbed one last pita wrap from Amir and sadly said goodbye to Rio.
Academic Application and Thoughts on the Future of Rio
I will admit my first day in Rio left me unimpressed with the city. However, after spending more and more time there, I fell in love with it. I cannot wait to plan a return trip in order to spend more time on the beaches (which is the thing the do in Rio), including Copacabana and Ipanema, hike Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain), revisit Cristo Redentor on a sunny day, explore downtown Rio further, take a favela tour, and make a trip Manaus or Pantanal (regions located in the Amazon). The only real downsides to Rio are the cost and the language. Nothing was cheap and the prices rivaled with those I have had to put up with in Chile! Additionally, the majority of the population speaks Portuguese. While there are many similarities between Portuguese and Spanish, communication was not easy and I surprisingly found myself missing the ease of talking in Español. I must say, even though the language barrier was somewhat frustrating, due to the fact that it is so much easier to learn Portuguese after you have learned Spanish, I have a new desire and goal to master the language.
Beyond my amazing experiences in Rio, I also had the chance to witness the execution of one of the many sustainability projects that Rio is working on. Last semester I had the opportunity to complete a project in one of my business classes. The project exemplified different ways that businesses in Rio are contributing to the sustainability of the city. One of the projects our group discussed was the Bike Rio System. Essentially, as a result of partnership formed between Brasil’s Itaú Bank and SAMBA (Sistema de Bicicletas Públicas (Public Bike System)), bicycle stations have been strategically placed throughout the city and are available to rent through the use of daily or monthly passes. It was really neat to have the opportunity to view the implementation of this system during my time in Rio… you know one of those real life, real business experiences the Butler College of Business loves to talk about!
With the Bike Rio System being only one of many projects the city is working on, I can only hope that the city has time to prepare itself for the upcoming events it will be hosting (specifically the World Cup and the Olympics). They have A LOT (and I mean A LOT) to do in terms of constructing new infrastructure, cleaning up the streets, waste management, transportation control, and in general preparing for the mass influxes of people who will coming into the city. I suppose only time will tell and I remain anxious to visit Rio in the future just to see how much the city transforms!
In addition to the Independence Day celebration, as we commenced the semester, my culture class had the opportunity to explore Cerro Polanco (one of the many hills in Valparaíso). Currently, Cerro Polanco is part of a graffiti project and teams of local artists are covering the walls of the neighborhood in vibrant explosions of color! I loved every minute of walking around the hills and taking pictures. Check out a few of my favorites…
Alex Adventures Abroad 