Wow! I can’t believe it’s already Sunday - one school week is already over, and the time has both flown by and made me feel like I’ve been here forever. Rio de Janeiro is an amazing city, and we are doing our best to make the absolute most out of it - there is very little downtime in our group, and I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way!
I’ve kept a journal with me every step of the way, starting with the flight down here, so since it’s been several days without an update, I’ll share snippets of the journal in “real time” with you. Let’s get started with the plane ride!
I’ve kept a journal with me every step of the way, starting with the flight down here, so since it’s been several days without an update, I’ll share snippets of the journal in “real time” with you. Let’s get started with the plane ride!
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Roughly 6:00 a.m., Rio de Janeiro time, May 23rd, on the flight from Charlotte to Rio:
We are about an hour away from beginning our initial descent into Rio de Janeiro, and this still feels unreal! The flight has been one of the easiest international flights I’ve ever taken - usually I’m ready to peel my skin off from jitters, and that’s not even counting the intermittent panic attacks spurned by the unexpected turbulence and the fear of creating blood clots in each of my legs from sitting still for too long. But this time, the perfect collaboration of a window seat, over-priced in-flight merlot, and NyQuil gave me a sound night’s sleep. So now, one coffee and one cinnamon cake later, I am ready to take on the world! Well, we’ll start with taking on Rio, anyway.
Side note, somehow every time I travel, I end up right next to the wing. Same story now. But if I lean forward and squint past the sun glaring off of the wing, and then turn my head just right, I can catch a glimpse of Brazil as we fly over, and it is gorgeous!
It’s already been an interesting adventure in language - even before stepping foot on foreign terrain. I’m sitting next to a young man named Henrique from Brazil. After several futile attempts to speak each other’s languages in every possibly combination, we had worn out the sundry phrases we had prepared, and sat silent in frustration for a bit. Then I said, “Hey, listen - I speak Spanish - so if you speak Portuguese slowly, and I speak Spanish slowly, we can try to communicate. Go ahead, speak in Portuguese.” His whole composure melted with relief as he smiled and stammered a very grateful, “Obrigado!” Things are looking up.
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About 10:30 am, Rio de Janeiro time, bus between airplane and our hotel in Rio
Successfully through the myriad of potential debacles in the airport (immigration, customs, luggage, security, and of course, language barriers), we are now in a van from the airport to our home for the next three weeks the Rio neighborhood, Arpoador. The first music playing on the radio in the van? Cheesy English songs, “Listen to Your Heart,” and then “Lucky.” While we had to laugh, I can’t help but think that on some higher plane, the titles alone are speaking beautifully to my current Rio emotions. We as a group somehow did listen to our hearts, and we are lucky as can be to be in beautiful Brazil right now - Ordem e Progresso, indeed. As “Lucky” plays, we, with our exorbitant amounts of U.S. luggage, on our way to our hotel on the beach in between Ipanema and Copacabana, with fresh minds and our right to the the pursuit of happiness and perfect luck, are being escorted past the poverty of the favelas - with walls dividing the streets from the poverty. Why? To protect the impending Rio Olympics athletes and fans from seeing the reality of the economic disparity.
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While that ends abruptly, there’s no soft way to end it and gently transition into where we are comfortable. The truth is hard, it is often ugly, and here in Rio de Janeiro, like so many places in the world, the distance between the poor and the wealthy is a constant, in-your-face reality, and is maintained by a history of political corruption, tradition breeding classism, and a terrible infrastructure problem throughout the country.
I have many, many more notes, and will share more of my adventures, as well as some commentary on the political and economic environment of Brazil soon! While I am in Rio living the dream, I am keenly aware of the horrible weather that’s occurred in Northwest Arkansas and Missouri lately. My thoughts and prayers are at home. Everyone stay safe!
