Visiting Students in Sao Joao de Meriti
Ten Days in Brazil
Now that I'm over my jetlag I can tell you a little about my trip. I arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Thanksgiving day very tired after a long flight that connected in Miami. Currently, I don't think there are any airlines offering non-stop flights to Brazil from LAX. I checked into the Oceano Copacabana Hotel which was right across the street from Copacabana Beach. I spent the afternoon walking around the Copacabana area in a jetlagged state which isn't the smartest thing to do since Rio isn't the safest city for tourists to be hanging out in, but I was fine. That night I went to Marius Carnes for dinner. Marius is an expensive, but really good Brazillian steakhouse where the servers come to your table and carve off various kinds of meats right into your plate.
Over the next few days, I took some group tours. I went to Corcovado Mountain and got a closeup look at the Christ the Redeemer statue. I took the cable cars up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain and got some great views of the city. I took a cruise around Guanabara Bay in an old wooden schooner. And I went to a soccer match at the famous Maracana stadium. Botafogo played Corinthians in a goalless draw.
The best part of the trip was meeting two of my online friends from orkut.com, Chris and Anderson. Chris actually lived just a few blocks from my hotel and she spent a lot of time with me showing me around the city, taking me shopping - picking out the perfect sunga (speedos swimsuit) and kanga (beach towel), taking me to some good restaurants, to the beach, and saving me from a mugger with a big knife - even though anyone who goes to Copacabana beach at 1:00am on Friday night deserves to get mugged - she saved us and we got away unharmed and with all of our belongings. Now, I must briefly point out that Brazil is a developing country with a HUGE economic equality problem, perhaps the worst in the world. In Rio, you have millions of people living in extreme poverty living next door to very rich people and expensive hotels. What this means for the average tourist is if you go to a big city like Rio, there's a pretty good chance you might come across a pickpocketer or a mugger. You need to stay alert and be sensible like you would in any major city. You need to be careful, but you don't have to be paranoid.
On my last day in Rio, I visited Anderson who teaches English to students in Sao Joao de Meriti, a suburb of Rio. He took me to the school that he teaches at and I got to visit three classes of 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students. The students all introduced themselves to me and asked me questions like "Do I play soccer?", "Do I like Brazilian funk music?", and "What's the difference between American and Brazilian women?" - which always got a loud cheer when I answered "Brazilian women are much more beautiful!" - hehehe. After talking to them, many of them gave me gifts and asked me for my autograph. I felt like a rockstar! After school, Anderson took me to his home where his grandmother had cooked feijoada for us. Feijoada is the "national dish" of Brazil. It's a stew of beans and lots of meat. It was delicious. And then I got more gifts! Rio was an amazing experience thanks to Chris and Anderson. I got to do things and go places that an ordinary tourist would never get the opportunity to do.
I wanted to spend a few more days with them, but it was time to move on to the next city - Salvador - where I spent the next five days. In Salvador, I stayed in the Grande Hotel da Barra, which was near the beach, but not very close to anything else. Like Rio, I signed up for a few group tours to see the sights. I went on a couple of historic tours, both centered around Pelourinho the center of town where all the action is as well as the beautiful colonial architecture. If I were to go again, I'd want my hotel to be in this area. There's lots of shops and things to do, and it's safe. There are police everywhere and you can walk around freely with a camera which is something you can't do in most big tourist cities in Brazil because your camera would probably get snatched. I visited the House of Jorge Amado Foundation, the gold plated Sao Francisco church, the Afro-Brazilian Museum, and the Nossa Senora Do Rosario Church which was built by the slaves. I also took a trip to the Tamar Project in Praia do Forte where several species of endangered sea turtles come to lay their eggs. One day I took a schooner cruise in Todos os Santos Bay and visited some of the islands in the bay - beautiful beaches with warm, blue water. I also had some great food in Salvador including Acaraje and Moqueca. Mmmmmm. The trip back from Salvador was rough because it consisted of three flights, but I made it. Now to start planning my next trip to Brazil... I want to spend some more time in Rio!
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