Uma das sete maravilhas do mundo: IGUAÇÚ!

Last weekend I took the journey to the neighboring state of Paraná to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world: Iguaçú Falls.

It took 16-or-so hours by car from São Paulo, overnight and a good portion of the next day, but let me tell you.....it was SO worth it. The falls themselves are incredible. I've never seen Niagra Falls, but I'm kind of interested in seeing it just to make fun of how small and unimpressive it will look like compared to Iguaçú. Iguaçú is GIGANTIC, it must stretch for a few miles and is made up of over 400 smaller waterfalls that together make the monster that Iguaçú is. The amount of water is incredible. The natural areas around Iguaçú are very nicely intact, with lots of wildlife (including Coatis, lots of birds and even my favorite, the Onça-Pintada although they are illusive and are almost never seen during the daytime...not that I'd particularly want one standing in front of me, but it gives me a little comfort to know they are there in their natural habitat. Anyway...enough of me talking. Here's some pictures I took: just a few to give you an idea.

A small part of the falls (maybe about 1/5 of it) 

Amazinnng place!!! 

So, we stayed in the city of Foz do Iguaçú, which is right next to the falls (about 45 minutes away.) Foz itself doesn't have too much going on: it's a typical ''cidade do interior'' and has a small centro with a few good restaurant options (side note: greeat and cheap churrascarias), a few stores and stuff, but the place to go shopping is Cidade de Leste, in Paraguay...which is a 10 minute drive from downtown Foz do Iguaçú. The border crossing is pretty funny going from Brazil to Paraguai. They literally don't care who enters the country. No passport checking or stamping, no nothing. Coming back to Brasil is a little more thorough and they do check your bags and documents, but as long as you're legal you've got nothing to worry about. 

Cidade de Leste surprised me a little. I was expecting a third world shithole, but in reality it reminded me a lot of Mexico. Not as developed as Brasil but still not miserable by any means. I actually quite enjoyed spending my afternoon there and hearing some Spanish, eating some Latino food and being insanely rich (as 1 real got me like 5,000 Paraguayan Guarani's.) It's an extremely cheap country. I didn't take any pictures with my camera there as I was nervous to take it out in public, but imagine a city that looks like Rocinha in Rio will look like in 10 years when it's not really a favela but it still kind of is. That's what Cidade de Leste is like. Or should I say, Ciudad del Este....

We also went to Itaipu. It's amazing. It produces close to 100% of the power that Paraguai uses, and about 20% of all of the power used in Brasil. It's on the border of the two countries, so they share responsibility for it although Brasil uses like 90% of the power generated. All of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and a few other parts of some Brazilian states rely 100% on the power generated at Itaipu. It's the worlds most productive hydroelectric plant and extremely efficient. It's an impressive place. Seguem as fotos.. 

Doesn't look that big? Think again. It's the same height as a 65 story building. 

This picture gives a better idea of the size of the dam. Gigantic, and stretches over 2 miles across the Paraná river. 

Anyway, do you see those white tubes there? Thats where the water from the River is diverted and spins the mechanisms that make power. Each one of those tubes (there are over 20 of them) produces enough power for a city of around 3 Million people. All of Campinas and it's metropolitan region are served by one of these tubes. São Paulo capital is served by around seven of them, and Rio is served by another four of them. Crazy, huh? Paraguay takes around two, and the rest of them supply power to other areas in Southeastern Brazil. 

We also went to ''Parque das Aves'', it's a must. Lately I've been obsessed with birds (Brazil is a BIRDERS PARADISE, some of the birds you see here in the wild are just truly spectacular.) This is somewhat of a zoo that has a mission in reintroducing and augmenting the numbers of endangered and/or extinct-in-the-region birds. I'm not sure if there are large populations of Araras (Macaws) in Paraná state as I don't recall seeing many outside (unlike in Mato Grosso do Sul, where they are EVERYWHERE along with Tucans), but sooner or later I'm sure the population will be visible as they have ambitious reintroduction programs. They even had a few exemplar Arara Azuis, or Hyacinth Macaws, my personal favorite....the species was on the verge of extinction due to illegal bird capturing and sales on the black market, but thank god their numbers have rebounded and they are making a strong and steady comeback. Parque das Aves has a breeding program to increase the Arara Azul's population, also. 

Seguem mais fotos.....

The Arara Azul! They are the largest species of Macaw and/or parrot in the world, and when fully grown stand at a height of almost two feet and have a wingspan of over seven feet! HUGE birds. This picture doesn't do their size justice. 

I just love Tucanos. 

In action.

Me being attacked by a macaw. 

Anyway, Iguaçú was amazing, it had color coming out of it's ass, some cool things like a buddist temple, a gigantic freaking mosque (not kidding) a huge hydroelectric dam, awesome birds, Onça-Pintadas, the best f*cking waterfalls in the world, and a sh•tload of other things. Just be warned, in the fall and winter it gerts COLD there, one night dropped down to -2C and I basically got pnemonia and almost died. Winter in southern Brasil is serious, gente. Don't cross mothernature cause she'll f*ck you up. 

Anyway, go to Iguaçu ASAP, hopefully it'll be there in a few years and the Brazilian government does'nt decide to blow it up and build Itaipu II in its place.....kidding, just kidding. But seriously, go. 

Abração beijo beijo tchau, 

Alê 

How should Brazil develop itself?

Estou um pouco chateado.

Brasil. Ô Brasil.

You are an excellent place, but at the same time you are a place that makes me bipolar. You take everything good about the world and everything bad about the world (nothing inbetween the two extremes) and just throw them into a big bag, mix it around and dump it out to see what happens. This creates some interesting experiences. Sometimes the experiences are wonderful! Sometimes the experiences are horrible. This being said, I want to discuss (and have you discuss with me) how Brazil should develop itself in the future and how we can make this happen.

I know you all know by now that I'm a pretty hard core ambientalista. I am ALL about the environment. I am COMPLETELY against anything that could degrade the land and environment in ways that will impact animals and other species, as well as our well being as humans.

This creates a giant inner conflict for me, as most people know that Brazil does not develop itself with any kind of regard to the environment, pretty much no consideration to nature is given here by the government, by companies and by a good chunk of the everyday population.

Now, I know some people are going to say that destruction is necessary for development and bettering off of people. I get it. Not everything can be kept beautiful and pristine. But there is a point where this needs to stop.

Farms. Brazil is turning into one gigantic farm. It's tragic. Driving from São Paulo to Foz do Iguaçú (Paraná) is a 16 hour trip. As soon as you leave the small area of forest that surrounds SP, it turns into Sugar Cane fields. They continue for hundreds and hundreds of miles......hour by hour you drive by sugar cane fields, until 6 hours later you cross the border into Paraná state, and the cane fields continue. Then it turns into corn and grain fields. You see one or two trees every couple of miles, but nothing even coming close to resembling a small patch of woods let alone a healthy forest. You might say, OK, tudo bem! What's you'r point? Well, the shocking part of this all is that all of this farm area that goes on for 16 hours of driving USED to be THICK, beautiful, semi-tropical rainforest. You would never know it today. It's an ugly, scarred landscape. You see few animals. This area was formerly inhabbited by thousands of kinds of animals, from strange armadillos, anteaters, antas (how do you say Anta in English?) all the way up to the drop-dead-gourgeous Onça-Pintada (the spotted Jaguar.) Not anymore folks. These species are all but extinct in the states of São Paulo and Paraná (with near extinct populations only surviving in the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu in Paraná, and isolated survivors in the remnants of the Mata Atlantica along the Serra do Mar and other fragmented populations in the Parque Estadual do Morro do Diabo in São Paulo states.) All for sugar, some grain, and corn.

Go to Mato Grosso do Sul. Same thing, although not as bad as in SP or PR. There are more trees there, but still, it's a raped landscape. Animals are struggling, especially larger mammals. So much so, that the national symbol of Brazil and it's exotic beauty, the Onça-Pintada (Spotted Jaguar) has been put on the list of animals in risk of going extinct in Brazil. This to me is an excruciatingly horrible and miserable thing for me to even think about. I can't, it just makes me desperately sad. I know I sound lame, but I'm telling you the truth. It's things like this that make me think that man and his greed will end the planet and turn it all into one giant farm, like all of the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul already are.

Amazonia is being destroyed little by little. Rondônia is an ecological disaster zone that used to be Amazônia but now looks more like the interior of SP than a tropical rainforest. Mato Grosso is being raped up the ass constantly by deforestation, hunting and petty wars between the greedy southern migrants who stole the land of natives and the natives themselves who want their land back.

The Panatal is being turned into a farm. The Amazon is being turned into a farm. The savannah is being turned into a farm. The extremely small amounts of Atlantic Rainforest left is being turned into a farm. Brazil should quit it with marketing itself as a country of topical beauty, because honestly, it's turning into a country of bland landscapes that were once beautiful before they were gang raped constantly for the past 500 years.

I don't know minha gente, I don't know. Sometimes I give up hope, because the government doesn't put its foot down on these environmental issues. I have strong feelings that Brazil will be a huge farm in less than 50 years with nothing left to offer other than a lot of corn, some cheap beef and sugar. If thats the case, we might as well all off ourselves as the end will be coming sooner than we all previously thought.

Brazil needs to stop investing in agriculture. It already produces more than enough food for itself plus a few other countries. STOP invading the wild and believing by damming up the amazon and chopping it down that you will be a ''developed'' country. Don't follow in the footsteps of the almighty USA who raped everything good about itself centuries ago, OK? Invest in your people. Invest in your cities! Invest in education! You can have everything you need and more if you just organized yourself a little more and poured the investment in the right places. We don't need a road cutting through Amazônia, especially since we hardly have enough roads to get across São Paulo Capital in less than a few hours.

Invest in TECHNOLOGY, not ears of corn! Invest in EDUCATION and SERVICE, not bags of sugar.

Will this happen? What do you all think?

Abraços,
Alex

Observations about some things

I love love love love Brazil.

But I have to admit, some things here get on my nerves. There is no one in the world who thinks everything they say is wonderful unless they are constantly on laughing gas and or are plain dumb. Here a little bit of what I feel like I need to express, and what's bothering me.

Environment. 
I know you all probably think I'm some crazy tree hugger. Maybe I am. But honestly, I'm fed up with seeing such destruction of beauty here. I don't know if I should have hope for the future or write it off, because it seems like very few people actually give two shits about the environment. I think it MAY be getting better, but I think it's still an uphill battle.

The Povão. 
Ok, I try not to have preconceito. But sometimes I feel like the lower class of Brazil just is completely holding this place back from being the marvelous place that it's meant to be. I feel like this povão class is on the verge of being retarded (I'm not trying to offend, I seriously think a large swath of the povão don't like/know how to think things through.) Dealing with povão is exhausting. I try to avoid the metro in povão neighborhoods because I know it's going to be a tiring situation. This can be said about anywhere, but I just think that it needs to be fixed here....I don't like seeing my beloved country being strangled by this group of people.

The complacency with violence. 
A kid from my school was shot this week, one block away from where I was when it happened. In a nice neighborhood too. Thank god he survived, but it was close. He was being robbed, didn't react and still received a bullet to the throat on a Tuesday night at 8:30 PM. I have to admit, after this happened I do feel a little less safe in Perdizes. It's just tragic really.

And for the people who are going to blast me for sharing my feelings and being ''Anti-Brazil'', lets get one thing straight. I defend Brazil like no other and if you want to question my loyalty to this country you are setting yourself up for failing an argument.

Beijinhos
Alex

Algumas coisinhas

Olá

Anyway, I was just thinking about some things, and decided I should write them down. They are bast ante random, so I'm just going to write little subparagraphs about them.

People in the interior are beautiful.
So, in Mato Grosso do Sul I realized that many people don't give the interior the credit it deserves when it comes to the beauty of their people. The mix of the people there is very different than the mix of people here in SP. Paulistas in general are a meditteranean people, mainly descendants of Portuguese, Italian and Spanish immigrants, and of course there is huge population of mixed race people (everything from White mixed with Black, to White mixed with Native, and all variations inbetween. There are some good looking people in SP, but in my opinion, the people in MS are much better looking.

There, the mixing is different. There is much more of a native indian presence due to the fact that there are still native tribes in the interior, there is a large Japanese community in Mato Grosso do Sul (easy to see, honestly) and also, the whites of that region are generally of Northern European origin (Germans, Poles, Ukrainians.) I noticed that the mixing there happened to less of an extent than places like SÃO Paulo, which I find interesting, so there are larger populations that are not biracial. But the biracial people there are really good looking. I'm not sure who wins in the ''good looking people'' competition yet, cause all the places I've been in Brazil have good looking people....Florianópolis, Rio, Mato Grosso do Sul....I can tell you one thing however, the people in SP are in general the most out of shape and least ''beautiful'' in my opinion. Sorry SP!

I'm never going to be the same person again. 
Brazil has changed me. I've become so Brazilian it hurts. When I go back to the US I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel like an alien in a foreign planet. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it, as well as the saudades that I'm going to feel. I've fallen in love with Brazil more than I could possibly imagine, and I can't bear to think I'm not going to be living here again for another year and a half to two years. It hurts my heart! :(

The weather in São Paulo is spectacular, finally. 
Demorou like 23 meses but I'm finally able to enjoy spectacularly sunny days. It's getting a little bit chilly though, and I'm constantly bundled up in two to three layers (with a huge giant winter coat.) Another reason I've become super Brazilian is because I find anything below 60 degrees to be unbearable and I get sick. I'm actually sick right now because it dropped below the 50 degree mark last night. Wtf.

Well, é isso aí. That's all for now!

Abraço
Alex

Bonito and Mato Grosso do Sul and Nature

Just got back yesterday from a wonderful 6 days in beautiful Mato Grosso do Sul. We went to Bonito, a little town in the middle of nowhere that has recently been made into one of the top ''eco tourism'' locations in Brasil and probably in the world.

The region is blessed with natural beauty, including caverns, crystal clear rivers teaming with fish and wildlife, macaws and parrots of all types as well as other amazing animals.

Some pictures I took:

Araras (Macaws) are veryyyy common in the whole state

Lagoa Azul, a lake inside a cave...they still haven't reached the bottom and don't know the depth.

Typical dirt road of the region 

Anyway, as you can tell in the pictures there is some spectacular things in this region. In general, the whole idea of the region is that it's ecologically friendly which is a wonderful thing. But, I do have some criticism. 

You see, Mato Grosso do Sul was named Mato Grosso do Sul because it was a giant forest. Unfortunately, this is extremely. extremely far from the truth nowadays. We drove there from São Paulo by bus (IT TOOK 23 HOURS OMG SOOO LONG) and even though the region still is beautiful, it kind of sent a billion daggers through my heart to see almost the entire state of Mato Grosso do Sul functionally deforested and dominated by humans. There is still a wild streak in the state, unlike São Paulo which I have basically given up hope on, due to its extreme state of degradation. Mato Grosso do Sul is in better shape than SP ecologically, but it's still pretty badly damaged. I am grateful that the arara populations are stable and the species that was previously in danger of extinction (Arara Azul Grande) is now making a comeback due to a project to increase their populations. But I am very worried for our friend, the onça-pintada. 

The people who destroyed the ecology of the state are mainly white farmers that immigrated out of southern states like Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul in order to get bigger pieces of land. And they did. Some of the fazendas they own are the size of Connecticut and New Jersey. It's ridiculous. And they spared very little natural, thick forest for the onças and other animals of the region. These people in general are pretty badly educated, are greedy, and only think about the good of their cattle and their money. They shoot and kill the jaguars when they get the chance. This has lead the species to be considered ''endangered'' in Brasil nowadays. 

It makes me want to cry honestly. Brazil is a spectacular country, with so many beautiful things and the most beautiful nature in the world. But, for some reason, it seems to know how to fuck it all up and destroy it all. Look at the Mata Atlantica, completely destroyed with less than 7% of the natural biome still intact. The Amazon is shrinking. The pantanal is being turned into pastureland. Brazil, I love you with all my heart but sometimes I wonder why you are such a god damn fucking idiot.

You're destroying what makes you, you. I'm afraid the Brazil that I've fallen in love with, a place of beauty, of nature and of biological importance is about to be wiped out forever. If that's the case, fudeu. I have absolutely no words. I wish the Brazilian people would show more interest in this, but it doesn't surprise me honestly. And I know some people are going to say ''Well, your country cut down all it's forests, and we should have the right to develop too!!!''. Yes, and the US is environmentally fucked. I don't understand WHY you would ever want to follow in the footsteps of the US. If you do , I kind of just wish the jaguars would kill you and eat you and all your DNA so it never passes down to any other human being ever again.

Beijão 

Alex 

My reality and my future (short term and long term)

I have now been living in Brasil for about five months. Holy SHIT, I can't believe how fast this time has gone by, it's scary honestly. I still have about 3 months (a little less) here in Brazil, which makes me a little sad and a little anxious about how I'm going to spend this time here in my new home.

I went through a little phase about a week ago that started to mourn my upcoming departure, not wanting to think about it at all. When I did, it sent me into a mini-couple minute depression. I mean, I LOVE Brasil, and I truly do want to live here in the future, probably for the rest of my life.

But I realized something. When I go back to the US, it's not the end....quite the contrary actually. It's just the beginning!

I have a really good semester waiting for me back home, an awesome apartment, my own car and all that....plus, my awesome friends back in the states that are patiently waiting for me. I've got a whole crock load of dramatic shit waiting back for me at school. But you know what, that's exciting to me. I confess, I like living my life like I'm in a novela. And trust me, with my Colombian problem I've got more than enough drama for 300 novelas. But I'm actually kind of looking forward to it, it helps me live life  little more intensely.

Lately, I've been wondering how I could have made my first leg in Brazil a little bit more productive and enjoyable. I know what it is, a super easy sounding fix that in reality is much more difficult than you may imagine.

I'm part of a study abroad program with about 25 other kids from all over the United States. At first I thought, ''OK, this is cool, I'll have this group to fall back on when I'm bored-but I'm hanging out with Brazilians first.'' Wrong. I totally WANT to be with Brazilians, way more than the American group (mainly because a lot of these people in the group are quite ''chato'' and because I really wanted to root myself into Brazil through Brazilian friends.) This is just starting to occur, thankfully. It just makes me a little sad that it took this long for it to happen though. I guess all people who are moving to another country have this problem to a certain extent and Im probably lucky and ''fast'' comparing to some other people, but I'm not exactly happy I only have around 3 months to make this relationships last the year and a half that I'll be away from Brazil (graduating.)

So, basically, I'm embracing my reality here in Brasil, trying to live my life here to the fullest it can be, and soak up this wonderful country that I now call my own in the time I have left here for this ''beginning chapter'' in my Brazilian life.

I'm embracing the future, which will have a lot of stress, a lot of drama, a lot of drunk fights and a lot of make up ''relations'', as well as lots of school work and yadda yadda yadda. Life in the US isn't great outside of college for me, but in College it pretty much rocks. So, yes, I'm excited to spend my next 1.5 years there in the manner explained above.

And my future. It's here, in Brazil. I'm strongly entertaining the idea of doing Pós-Graduação here either at USP or UFRJ. I want to be in Brasil, it's my true home now, and it's always going to be a huge part of who I am. It sounds weird, I know....but I'm a psycho so don't judge.

Beijão
Alê

Really important post

Hey fans, I just wanted to take some time out of my extremely busy schedule to inform you all that...

I'm sitting in starbucks, on my macbook, writing a blog post while drinking espresso duplo. Can't get any more ironic than that.

Alright, bye!
Alex