Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Day 13 - Saturday, May 30, 2009: Vitoria, Brasil onto Rio de Janeiro

by Kevin Watson

“The Doer alone learneth” - Fredrich Nietzsche

Today we left the world of Vitoria/ Villa Vehla and Espirto Santo and took our first step into world number 3 of this amazing trip: Rio De Janerio. To this point we have done and learned so much, Amazonas and Vitoria are wonderful and interesting places. This day was no different. It was a day of transition and difficulty; and yet, excitement and more new experience.
Our day began with our host family. Most of us spent time talking, taking pictures, and packing. After a big night at an awesome club last night, the morning began for most of us with a little hangover, and for some of us with a lot of hang over. Even so, the headaches left and the emotions set in as we began to pack and head to the airport. I met at one of my host’s parents and ate a small breakfast with them. Talking was nice because by this time we had created a new ½ English and ½ Portuguese language that we both finally understood and could use (along with Google translator for the difficult words). My host family had been so wonderful and generous. Somy final pictures with them caused some emotions to stir just before we left.

The emotions continued at the airport, where we met with the rest of our group with hosts at noon. I say this loosely because in Brazil time works quite differently. I haven’t quite figured the system out yet but I do know that "Five minutes" means at least one hour, and nobody is on time for anything.

Those at the airport before the plane started taxiing down the runway shared quite a moment. Americans and Brazilian both wept even though we only knew each other for one week. Information was exchanged and most of us boarded the plane, wearily looking toward our next great adventure.

Time working as it does in Brazil, there was no exception for our plane. A few members of our group had to run at a full sprint to catch our plane which was holding up for them because of a leisurely final tour of Vitoria that their hosts gave them. As a side note, this example is emblematic of the Brazilian time keeping system, and also displays how I cannot grasp it: I mean we said noon, and somehow that meant 2:00pm. After practically waiving down the plane to get on board on the runway, we were all together again. This marked a gathering of all of us and our stuff for the first time since we arrived in Vitoria. We would now leave for Rio and yet another adventure.

The plane ride was short and I still do not know what that food was, but I ate it like a good little Gringo. Most tried to sleep but only got a neck cramp, the result from most plane rest. When we arrived in Rio the feelings of sorrow were carefully moved to the back of our minds as excitement for this new place took over our attention. Rio, as we saw it flying, looked huge which filled me and my fellow travelers with a gamut of emotions.

First order of Rio business: our hostel. The Ipanema Beach House is in a beautiful and affluent area, and we were all excited for some rest in our rooms. I had some suspicious optimism as I had stayed in a hostel before. As it turns out the hostel was quite nice in most ways. It has a pool, a pool table, a bar, two nice patios, and many other amenities. After a lengthy check-in process, we went to our rooms. For most of us, this meant a very cramped room: 3-high bunk beds with 9 people and all of our stuff in a room only slightly larger than my bathroom. So, the logistics of bed assignments, placement of luggage, assignment of lockers, etc. was difficult but we finally worked it out.

Then, a diligent messenger arrived with a message from afar. Apparently the main girl’s dorm had a door facing outside and a bathroom they shared was similar with an outside sink. The messenger hailed from the girl’s room. He carried the message that the girls were willing to give to us the air conditioned bunk if we were willing to use the outside bathroom – a proposed room switch. As reasonable law students and generally well educated men, we carefully considered the issue for 3 seconds and gave them a resounding “NO.” This answer was because the evenings had been cool, not necessitating an air conditioner. Further, we had a balcony and (mostly) we had just spent 2 hours working out the logistics of our room and were not willing to go through that again. We sent the messenger back with our negative response and no counter proposal, or at least no reasonable one.

So the girls were stuck in the their room and us in ours. We readied for the next item on our agenda: a Samba club. The Rio Scenarium was very nice and we met some of the Brazilian FGV students that we would be studying with for the week. The place was beautiful and the music unique. Some danced, and most drank. Yet the travel and the long night before had taken its toll. So, we decided have a more laid back and less lengthy night than before. Around 2 am, those who had not left by taxi around 1, headed for the bus which put an end to our first day in Rio.

On the ride home I looked at the streets of Rio and was filled with enthusiasm despite my exhaustion. Most of us had felt this at one point during the day: maybe on the plane ride, at the hostel, or driving through town. It was the feeling that Rio is one of the biggest most complicated cities in the world and we are experiencing it first hand, discussing problems and legal issues in classes and seminars, seeing a side of Rio that a normal tourist does not see, and experiencing people and things unknown to us but undoubtedly fascinating. Also, this city is the last we will see in Brazil. So we worked hard to push the thoughts of what awaited us back home out of our mind, while we enjoyed a complex excitement unlike any other (which was aided by the knowledge that Montazuma´s revenge had finally left our group).

Laying in bed the thoughts of Rio and our last place of adventure in Brazil continued and Fredrich Nietzsche’s quote came to mind. While we felt the difficult emotions of leaving our friends from Vitoria, which continued to lie in the back of our mind, we also felt the emotions and excitement of a new city and had so much to do and learn.

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