What have I learned?

Sadly, I am preparing for my flight back to the United States.  I have honestly loved every moment of the last 5 months I have spent here in Brazil and it's going to be difficult to reflect back on everything I have learned and how I have grown as a person, but I'll try here:

First of all, this is the first time in my life I have moved to a completely foreign country.  I have lived in the United States and Italy, but my mother is American and my father is Italian so it really does not count as "foreign" in my book.  I previously had little to no contact with the Brazilian culture and the Portuguese language.  In addition to this, I arrived here completely alone.  Without knowing anyone in Belo Horizonte.  Yup, I was crazy.

The first (obvious) thing I learned was Portuguese.  Before I arrived in Brazil, I studied the basics (e.g. grammar and like 1,000 vocab words) in order to get by.  I practiced it a bit while I was on dialogue in Switzerland with my Brazilian professor, Denise Garcia, and the first time I went to Brazil in May for 2 weeks to visit my friend Ricardo in Recife.  However, I developed my skills the most since I arrived here in Belo Horizonte.  I still remember during my first week when I met people and I had to constantly look up words in my phone dictionary that I did not know.. or worse yet... when I kept going to Subway and they kept adding some mystery meat item to my sandwich, to which I would have to tell them I am vegetarian and look apologetically as they threw away the sub they had just made. 

Nowadays, I am fine with Portuguese in any situation.  I read, write, and speak it daily and I have no issues expressing anything I want to say.  I guess this is what happens when you only speak Portuguese every day for 5 months and your only friends are Brazilian.  

Again with the obvious observations, I learned a lot about Brazil itself.  Before I came here, my knowledge of Brazil was limited to Dilma, the names of a few cities, the Amazon, and the fact people here speak Portuguese.  Now I can tell you the name of all 26 states and their capitals.  If someone speaks to me, I can tell you exactly where in Brazil they are from.  I can name all of the influential presidents, architects, and other figures in Brazil's history.  You get the point.  Living somewhere is different from studying it because the facts are literally all around you.  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard "This building was built by the famous Oscar Niemeyer" or "Lula did this." Then of course, the biweekly protests also add to my knowledge of Brazilian politics.

In regards to safety, I have learned to become more aware of my surroundings, "street smarts" if you will.  I was assaulted once and there is no way I am letting that happen again.  Living in Brazil, you need to always be aware what is happening around you and be prepared for everything.  Never have I lived in a place where I have had to use these skills (Hawaii? Boston? Rome? Yeah no) so this experience in Brazil has allowed me to improve my guard and learn how to protect myself in violent countries.

Lastly, I have learned that you do not need much to be happy.  In recent years, I have become less and less materialistic.  Here in Brazil, there are so many people who do not have a lot - yet you will never see their smile fade away.  I am also blown away by how nice everyone is.  Here in Brazil, you know everyone.  The shopkeeper, the baker, the grocery store manager.  They know you name, they know your story.  You're friends with everyone you interact with.  However, in Boston and most other places, this is a very foreign concept.  

In general, there is this sort of vibe in Brazil that I have never found anywhere else, and it keeps me wanting to return here after I graduate.  

Chasing Waterfalls as Usual

Ever since I arrived here in Belo Horizonte I have wanted to go to Serra do Cipó.

Backstory:  As most of you know, I grew up in Hawai'i where I always used to go on crazy hikes and hunt for waterfalls.  During my first month here, everyone kept telling me that there was a place near Belo Horizonte where I could do this called Serra do Cipó.  Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to find people to go with me, considering well - all of my friends are Brazilian and many are caught in the "work, study, sleep" flow and have a lesser desire to explore.

That was until I met Camila.  We all know her! She's been in a few of my posts already.  On the first day I met her over 3 months ago, she promised me we would go to Serra do Cipó together, and on Sunday, we finally went.

My adventure started when I somehow woke up at 6am.  I am not an early riser, like I have mentioned on numerous occasions, but I will wake up for an adventure.

I ran around to gather my hiking gear and my GoPro.  Camila told me to head outside my apartment at 6:30 and wait for her friend Priscilla to pick me up.  Soon enough, she screeched by in a large truck with her boyfriend, Reinaldo, and their friend, Breyner.  I hopped into the truck and we were off to pick up Camila.

It was just about over 3 hours until we reached Serra do Cipó.  However, we did for breakfast halfway through out in the countryside.  This was a typical meal of coffee and pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread).

After arriving at Serra do Cipó's parking lot, Reinaldo told us it was time to apply the sunscreen and the repellent.  Not only was there going to be a ton of sun shining directly on us, but the rainforest is full of mosquitoes as well!

We prepared ourselves accordingly and then headed to the main entrance in order to rent bikes.  Yes, rent bikes.

Backstory #2:  Previously, I had ridden a bike once in my life.  I was sixteen and I rode through a parking lot back in Hawai'i.  I honestly have no idea how I ended up agreeing to do this path on a bike - but hey, it's an adventure right?

The credit card machine was not working so I had to pay in cash.  It came out to 50 reais, or about 15 dollars.  I only had 45 reais and the renter said it would work.

 This is another cultural difference I would like to point out.  In the United States, exact change and exact payment is a lot more common than in Brazil.  Usually in Brazil, if you're one or two reais off from the listed price, the attendant will work with you.  In addition, if you're receiving change, you may not receive exact change.  In fact, you may receive either a little less or a little more than you should have.  This is because many places here do not have a lot of change at their disposal to give to you.

Before embarking on the 30 kilometer journey.  Yes.  30 kilometers.  Camila and I drove around the parking lot in our bikes to practice our techniques.  She, of course, had no issues.  I was pedaling around on the gravel like a lost child for about 10 minutes before I could finally find some sort of balance on the bicycle.

From there, we took off.  We were heading straight to Caniôn dos Bandeirantes.  This trip was about 13 kilometers straight along a path which constantly went from wide to narrow, dirt to rocks, large swaths of mud, and crossed streams of water.  I was, naturally, the last person out of all 5 of us in the group to reach every landmark along the journey.  After a few minutes, I'd either drive directly into a wall or unwillingly stop in a patch of sand.  Throughout it all,  I could actually feel myself burning from the sunlight as I pedaled for my life to reach the canyon.

Along the path we also found tons of fruit such as pineapples and mangos.

About 3 kilometers before reaching the canyon, we had to wade through a river and I ended up completely soaking my sneakers and the bike.  The water was freezing but refreshing.

Once we arrived at the canyon, I gladly tied my bike to a tree and we began the next part of the adventure: climbing rocks.

This part was easy for me.  In order to reach the natural pool further in the canyon, we needed to pass hundreds of large rocks and boulders.  I effortless skipped across them while everyone else was taking a bit longer.  I felt I needed the confidence boost after my horrible bicycle experience.

The view was beautiful at the part of the hike, and soon enough, we had lunch and dove into the water.

But then I found the water too cold so I ended up getting out to climb more rocks alongside the pool.

After enjoying the water and the views for about an hour, we decided it was time to head to Farofa Waterfall!  In order to reach this waterfall, we would need to head back around 7 kilometers on the trail we had just done and take a fork in the road in a different direction.

Arriving at the fork was no easy task.  After having relaxed and swam for an hour, I was completely unable to pedal my bike.  It was as if all of the learning I had done went out the window.  With time and patience, I eventually made it to the fork and everyone in the group asked if I was willing to continue to the waterfall.  I did not even think twice, I mean, of course! I was not going to come all of this way without seeing a waterfall!

Camila's tire flattened unexpectedly and we had to make a call to the bike rental company to bring her a replacement bike.  In the meantime, Priscilla and Breyner stayed relatively close to the fork with their bikes to await the replacement as Camilla, Reinaldo, and I crossed a very narrow bridge and began our last leg of the journey to the waterfall.

Before long, we ended up wading in patches of still water.  The mosquito presence could definitely be felt.  Honestly, at this point, I was just glad we had left the bikes behind.

I found us a path through the water and after another half hour hike towards the valley, we arrived at the amazing Farofa Waterfall.  A rainbow span the width of the cascade, greeting us with its colorful presence as soon as we arrived.

We decided to lay on a large rock near the waterfall for a while.  Was it a half hour?  Was it an hour?  It was extremely relaxing, but we were soon reminded by Reinaldo that sunset was approaching and we needed to arrive back in civilization before nightfall.

I just remember pedaling into the horizon, trying to maintain my speed with the little energy I had.  After all, I had learned more biking in a few hours than most people had in four years, right?  When I finally arrived with the others at the main entrance, it was already dark.

Camila and I jumped into the car and laid down while everyone else talked outside for a bit.  Resting was well-needed.  But then, it was time for food.

There was a town nearby with a ton of restaurants all next to each other.  We found a nice pizzeria and all of us split a few pizzas.  I looked at my phone and it was already 10pm.  I had to wake up early for work the next day and we were still about 2 hours from Belo Horizonte.  Yeah, Monday was not going to be fun.

We got back into the car and Priscilla blasted some heavy metal on the radio.  I fell asleep.

Next thing I knew, it was 12:30am and I was arriving at home.  Once I got in, I collapsed in my bed.  Not taking time to look at how beat up my legs were from constantly ramming the bike into them and being bit by hundreds of mosquitoes.

Although it was challenging, I will never forget this crazy experience and now I am convinced I can do anything.