Hello Incarnate Word! I'm sorry that this hasn't gotten done sooner, but I have been in the mountains for the past week and a half and haven't had access to internet. That just means that I have a lot to talk about! I'll just start with the main things that have happened, and then later on I can add details. The last eleven days have been spent in the heart of the Atlantic Forest at the Golden Hummingbird Mountain Reserve. So the first post of the semester I'll just be talking about the differences that I have noticed so far with Brazilians and their country and some of the things that we learned about at the reserve.
A little background. The program that I am on is called Brazilian Ecosystems, and there are eight other students that are studying with me. They are from all over the country, so I have not only learned a lot about Brazil so far, but I have also learned alot about other cultures in the United States. We flew in from Miami to Sao Paulo, and then continued on into Curitiba. For the first day in Brazil, we stayed in a youth hostel, but then we moved to the Mountain REserve to take a look at our first ecosystem, the Atlantic Forest. Now I am back in Curitiba and am finally able to write a bit. Here are a few things that have really stood out so far on my trip.
Food. Obviously I expected this to be different, but I didn't really know what to expect, except for a lot of rice and beans. I was pleasantly surprised when we were presented with a huge smorgasbord of food, from manioc to guacamole to noodles to casseroles and everything in between! When we were at the reserve, the owner of the land and her neice cooked every meal for our gorup. The meals were out of this world, and they were always fresh. They basically got everything that they used out of the forest around them, their garden, or from the tiny neighborhood store. Breakfasts usually included bread and butter, some type of fruit and cheese, and coffee and juice of course! Their juice was always made fresh and some flavors included passionfruit, kale, pineapple, guava, and orange. Lunch is the largest meal of the day, so we were always served multiple dishes, plus a dessert! And for every dinner we had some type of soup, normally made from leftovers from that days lunch. I really haven't missed American food at all, but the only thing I wish they had is cold milk. Their milk is ultra-pasturized and is bought warm.
Ecology. The Atlantic Forest ecosystem is crazy as far as biodiversity is concerned. In the Atlantic Forest alone there are almost 900 species of amphibians! But my amazement came when we walked into the forest for the first time and saw all the plants. Plants are growing on top of plants on top of plants on top of plants! There is no bare ground, except for the trail that has been cleared by the machete, but everywhere else you look is either leaf litter or vegetation. My favorite observation were the epiphytes ("air-loving" plants) that grow on the bark of a tree. Sometimes there would be as many as 30 epiphytes growing on a single branch of a tree, and it made the branch bend over so much that it looked like it should have already broken. The views were stunning, and now I understand why so many plants and animals want to live there! There are many problems that this forest is facing though, one being that only 7% of the original forest is remaining. The government has implemented several laws and guidelines to help preserve what is left and convert deforested land back to its original state, but the enforcement is lacking and little progress has been made. That being said, there are non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are working with private sectors that have large plots of land that act as reserves. This has been the best way the land has been preserved, and there are always more of these groups that are forming.
People. Wherever you go there are going to be different people, and Brazil is no exception. The people in Curitiba are definitely city people, and most if not all of them dress up every day, even if they're just walking the streets. Brazilians take a lot of pride in how they look. One thing I've had to get used to is the fact that they don't wear flip flops on the streets; it's a sign of poverty and Brazilians will always try to avoid this. The street system here is also very different. They have crosswalks, but you better not be in them when the cars start moving or else they will run you over! I have seen 80 year old women running to try to get to the other side of the road before the cars reach her. It's a little crazy! Obviously these are not the only differences in the people, but these are my initial observations. I'll go more into detail later.
Check back soon for more blogging and pictures!!