Carnavalização 2k10

Spending my 21st birthday in Foz de Iguaçu was one of the best decisions I ever made. I actually turned 21 on a bus full of sleeping smelly Brazilians--without any alcohol--but it was definitely worth it once we arrived on the Brazilian side of the falls. It was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. There was a walkway that put us out over the water and surrounded on all sides by waterfalls, probably 300° of falls. There are several different levels of waterfalls, so we had some above and below us, which means we got pretty much soaked. Very refreshing after spending, count 'em, TWENTY hours on the bus (we thought it was going to be sixteen). Despite the length of the trip, it was really awesome watching the Brazilian countryside roll by. It's a huge part of Brazil that I'd never seen before and it's beautiful. The hills are covered with farms and dairy cows, and the sunset was gorgeous. Also, the bus driver put on a bootlegged Avatar DVD in Portuguese. Sweet. After hiking around the Brazilian side and taking in the views, we went back into town and got some dinner where I had my very first legal beer!! Woo!! Went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the night swimming, hanging around the pool, and meeting a bunch of fellow international travelers. That was one of my favorite parts, just asking people where they're going and why. We met Germans, Dutch, Britons, Mexicans, Argentinians, Spaniards, Australians, Isrealis... and they were all so nice.

The next day we set off on a bus with a bunch of other hostel guests to the Argentinian side of the falls. Our bus driver was CRAZY and would whistle the same 4 second song every 2 minutes. Without fail. For an hour and a half. His response to most things was overwhelmingly, "MAMMA MIA!" and he enjoyed referring to everyone by their country of origin. We felt apprehensive when handing over all our passports for him to take into the immigration checkpoint, but sure enough he returned with passports in tact. I officially have an Argentina stamp in my passport now! A slightly sketchy process, because no one on the bus ever saw or spoke to an immigration official, but we crossed over the border nonetheless. Anyway, we made it to the park and quickly (and sadly) realized we had forgotten almost all of our Spanish. Anything we tried to say came out a weird mix of Spanish and Portuguese. It was pretty frustrating/hilarious, but we managed, and started hiking around. Looking back, the Brazil side has more beautiful, panoramic views, but the Argentina side is more fun because we could get much closer to the falls, and there was also a short rafting tour that took us underneath one of the falls, the highlight of the trip in my opinion. The key word here is under, not behind, but directly under. We had been walking for hours (Iguaçu is the largest waterfalls reserve in the world), hot and sweaty and tired, and then we just got pummeled by tons of freezing water. I couldn't even open my eyes there was so much water hitting me from every direction. It was awesome! Felt like a new person after that. Then we took a little train to Garganta del Diablo, the tallest and biggest single fall in the park. It was amazing. We had to walk about half a mile on a walkway over the surprisingly calm river to get there, then we started to hear the rush of water, and the cloud of mist got bigger as we got closer. Then the river drops off into a massive semicircle opening--the the water was so loud you had to shout to be heard, and the mist was almost blinding. Just unbelievable (picture above is Garganta).

The people watching was absurdly amusing, the wildlife was adorable (see Coati pics left), aaand I got pretty sunburned even after re-applying sunscreen about five times. What are ya gonna do. On Sunday, we checked out of the hostel, and Alicia and I went to the Parque das Aves before having to catch our bus, while the other three lounged by the pool and waited for us. Totally worth it. The park is kind of like a zoo, in that all the birds have large but enclosed habitats, but then there are some habitats where we could go inside and be like inches from toucans and parrots and macaws. So cool! So many weird and beautiful birds. I know the females like their males colorful, but I'll never really understand how neon colored feathers survived evolution. They had birds from all over Brazil and South America, in addition to other places around the world. There was also a butterfly/hummingbird habitat, and a reptile section. Unfortunately, I had spent my camera battery the day before in Argentina, so I couldn't take more than 4 pictures before the thing totally died. Such a shame. Especially because we were lucky enough to witness the most bizarre, fear-inducing bird I've ever seen or heard of. It's called the Southern Cassowary, or Double Wattled Australian Cassowary (Casuar in Portuguese), and it's the closest thing I've ever seen to a dinosaur. It apparently feeds on nuts and fruit, but is also known to have KILLED HUMANS BY KICKING THEM TO DEATH. What. The. Hell. Just read this article abstract:  

This species is Australia's largest bird and holds a reputation for being dangerous. Cassowaries and ostriches are the only birds world-wide that have caused human deaths by physical attack. Incidents occur every year in Queensland; the incidence of cassowary attacks in Queensland is reviewed. Data were obtained for 221 cassowary attacks, of which 150 were against humans, 75% of these by cassowaries fed previously by people. The feeding of cassowaries appears to change their natural behaviour, making them bold and aggressive. Victims were chased or charged in 71% of the incidents, and kicked in 15%. Less frequent actions included pushing, pecking, jumping on, butting with the head and snatching food. The cassowaries appeared to be expecting or soliciting food from humans (73% of the incidents), defending food (5%), and defending themselves (15%) or their chicks or eggs (7%). Contrary to popular belief, jogging did not incite cassowaries to attack. Although cassowaries should not be considered dangerous, they can cause serious injuries. Seven attacks against humans resulted in serious injuries (puncture wounds, lacerations, broken bone) and subsequently one death, caused by cassowaries kicking or jumping on victims. In the single fatal attack, the victim was trying to kill the cassowary. Four of the seven seriously injured victims were crouching or lying on the ground.     Journal of Zoology (1999)

YIKES. Here it is folks. Mid-attack. The ones we saw at the Parque das Aves weren't in an aggressive mood, but they were huge and scary. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Just YouTube anything about cassowaries or cassowary attacks and you'll get it.

Anywho, the return bus trip back was actually TWENTY TWO hours due to the fact that we were stopped for a good three hours in middle of our drive at 3:00AM. The polícia randomly chose our bus to pull over, and it just so happened that some idiot had bought too much stuff in Paraguay and had his bags confiscated. The guy then gathered money from people on the bus to bribe the police, which made them even angrier. Subsequently the police decided everyone's bags needed to be searched. Also, a couple kids on the bus didn't have identification and were taken off the bus. This was several hours away from Foz, so my question is why didn't the bus company do something about these people before they let them on the bus in Foz. Would have avoided any problems if we were pulled over. You can imagine how much fun it was to sit on a bus in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night for hours, sleep deprived and cranky. To top it off, this particular bus did not have air conditioning. So add sweaty to that list. Yaayyy. This bus ride was most unpleasant and bizarre, but overall the trip was tons of fun and just beautiful. A relaxing retreat after being in a big, polluted, crowded city for a month.

This week has technically been the first week of classes at PUC. However, nothing actually starts in Brazil until after Carnaval. So we were advised to attend class to see if professors showed up, and if they did, to give them a letter from CIEE telling them who we are and about the exchange program. Out of the three classes I attended, only one actually took place. So we'll see how everything is after this week. When I showed up on campus on Monday, I was greeted by a sea of first year students who had been colorfully painted and given nasty haircuts by upperclassmen. People were drinking on the street at 7:30AM. And they continued to drink all day long, of course not going to class, and at night moved the party to the street behind PUC which is full of bars and restaurants where the students hang out. Pretty fun first week of school if you ask me. I didn't go to any big parties on campus this week, but one night I got some drinks with friends at one of those bars, and we met some PUC students. They were really nice, and it's always good to practice Portuguese with young people. We always end up speaking English with each other even though we know it's a terrible habit.

This afternoon kicks off the Carnaval celebration! The city as a whole stops working and starts partying. Carnaval technically ends on Ash Wednesday, but I don't think anyone goes to work or school next Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Most Paulistas leave town for Rio or Salvador for Carnaval. Tonight, I'm going to the Sambodromo here in São Paulo to watch all the samba schools parade from 10PM tonight until around 6AM tomorrow. Then I'm traveling with a few friends to a beach town called Florianopolis in Santa Catarina on a bus that leaves at 11:15AM. I'm packing my bag today and we're going to regroup at my friend's house briefly at some point before heading to the bus terminal tomorrow. This is going to be a crazy night to say the least. Some American students from the CIEE business program are staying at our hostel as well, so should be a pretty fun group. The hostel looks cool, too: http://floriparadise.com/home.html Hopefully the bus rides are less eventful than before. Get ready for Carnaval stories when I get back (Thursday)!