Clare Elsewhere

When I first started to plan out my trip to Brazil, I listed Foz do Iguaçu as a priority. It is a famous series of waterfalls forming the border of Argentina and Brazil, recently hosted the X-Games, and is featured in many tourism brochures and pictures of Brazil. It even played a part of an Indiana Jones movie. Beyond all this, I had heard that it was one of the Seven Wonders of  the World. The idea of Seven Wonders definitely piqued my interest, and I began to research it more. After all the amazing places I have visited, would this be my third Wonder? My fourth? Would it be feasible to see all Seven? A simple Wikipedia reference showed how little I truly knew. 'Seven Wonders' has essentially devolved from an impressive title into a tourism gimmick, with more than ten international lists and many countries holding their own. There are the Seven Natural, the Seven Man-made, the Ancient, the Modern, those of the Medieval Mind, those from the Middle Ages, Seven of Modern Engin

It is interesting how the human mind works when presented with the unknown. There is a brief period of shock, acknowledgement, and observation where we stand just absorbing the experience, marveling at the novelty. But our mind isn't too comfortable with foreign territory, and quickly works to associate these new observations with things which we already know: it compares, contrasts, and builds upon our previous memories, tying the unknown to familiar concepts, relating it to established knowledge, rationalizing. The cliff is about a football field high, it smells like coconut water, 7*7=49 because seven 7s added together is 49: all concepts which we know and remember, welcome as new knowledge and learning because we can base them off their relationships with what we already knew, we can base them off our comparisons to that information. But almost everything we learn, we "base off" something else. This past week our program visited Rio de Janeiro, and that's

**As a forewarning, I plan on discussing some of my religious and political beliefs. Modern media calls for this disclosure, along with some sort of apology, that "these are my opinions, they are not meant to impose upon your own or discredit your own, just an expression of my thoughts". But I'm not sure that I agree with that. These are my beliefs, the foundation of my actions, and while they may differ from those of others, I should not hesitate to share them, or qualify their validity. Religion is at times considered more offensive than epithets, but in the reading of this post, and the consideration of religion in general, I ask that you pay more attention to the purpose than the prose. You may not believe every word from the Bible, and may even stand in direct opposition to some doctrinal teaching. But the purpose of Catholicism, the purpose of religion, is to love. Is to work every day to bring yourself and those around you to the Kingdom of Heaven. That may sound l

I recently indulged in an afternoon of laziness, including watching "Eat, Pray, Love" for the first time. It's a very interesting, reflective movie that I would recommend (they even speak some Portuguese in it!), but one scene in particular kept with me.  The characters sat down to dinner, and discussed identity: the idea that each city, each person, had one word by which their entire identity could be defined: every little facet somehow related back to that one word, one concept. It's a compelling theory, and one to which I definitely owe more thought, but for now I submit that my word is "conhecer". (cohn-yeh-sehr) "Conhecer" is the infinitive form of the Portuguese word "to know"- but although I'm sure my siblings would love my confession to being a know-it-all, "conhecer" is more of the idea of "getting to know" or "familiarizing", knowing a person or place very well as opposed to knowing a l

So far, an amazing weekend- to the point where I have to document some of it before it runs away from me. Friday we went to a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band, and after it finished danced to 80s and 90s pop tunes until 4am. It was an amazing little find, and the same bar is having a series of cover bands and even actual American bands coming to play soon. Post performance, the drummer came to talk to us because he was from Australia and spoke English, while the rest of the band were Sao Paulo natives. Getting home at sunrise, I almost slept through my 8am boat trip. A group of friends- Brazilians, Americans, and Europeans, rented out a boat for the day and made a trip to Ilha dos Frades. A few of us swam to shore and conquered the abandoned beach, even went so far as to don war paint (clay). Throughout the day it really felt like we were in Pirates of the Carribean, exploring untouched earths and forging our own reckless way. It began to rain for some of the day, which actually on

I think that I have experienced my culture shock. It snuck up on me, happened in the course of two hours, slowly unraveling the way I saw Brazilian society as I gradually realized what I haven't been seeing thus far. I've been thinking about the implications ever since, and I really don't understand. I cannot relate. I cannot adapt. It happened on the bus, a necessary evil in Salvador- a system with inconsistent or nonexistent schedules, notoriety for theft, and in general disregard for efficiency. Saying all that, I should have expected my situation.  Having no car, the streets living in a state of disrepair that isn't conducive to biking, and not wanting to pay for a taxi, I opted to take the bus to run some distant errands. It's peak traffic season in Salvador, which was not planned for any kind of traffic, so between 3pm and 9pm I enjoyed two two-hour-long bus rides to the mall along with my co-passengers. Those co-passengers inhabited all the bus seats, ais

In a country where beer is cheaper and more accessible than water, they've learned a thing or two about throwing parties. How to host Carnaval, the largest party on the planet, may just have been one of them. Carnaval is a Pre-Lenten celebration, an expansion of Mardi Gras if "expansion" really encompasses the transformation from a walk in the park into a marathon.  Before I can actually get into my experiences from Carnaval, I'll touch on some terminology and context, because it really is a whole new ballgame.  Salvador plays host to a six-day specialty with about four million party-goers in which you can celebrate in one of three ways: pipoca, bloco, or camarote. Pipoca literally means popcorn. If you do pipoca during Carnaval, it means that you're just dancing on the street- one of the millions of little pieces that make up the batch, popping up and down with the music and the movements of those around you. Buying a bloco is similar to pipoca in

A week of island life had me wandering down white beaches, strolling through a coconut farm, exploring cobblestone streets, and on one particularly memorable occasion, hiking for hours uphill in hot sand. These paths took me to beautiful places and amazing experiences, but they also introduced me to many interesting people taking the road less traveled- the road of travel. We have met an incredible amount of people whose lives, or at least current fascination, is solely traveling. Spending a year passing through South America, 5 months backpacking in Brazil, their lives exploring the world. Amazing experiences and opportunities that are so far from the mainstream American culture that they escaped my concept of plausibility. How would you pay for that? How would that help you get a job? To succeed in life? How is it productive? It's a hippie mentality, but I can understand how the traveling itself is productive, that in doing and seeing things so completely different you ca

“Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either”- Aesop So far I've highlighted Salvador's more attractive side, the beautiful blue ocean and beaches in every direction, the gorgeous architecture, vibrant music and culture... and I haven't even begun to do those aspects justice. But justice, or the lack thereof, is what I really need to address. Brazil is one country, but two different worlds. You may have heard of the favelas, or even seen pictures of them juxtaposed against the wealthiest areas, as shown here in Sao Paulo. They're one of the most visible separations between the economic and social classes here, which is a growing problem. It's actually being called the Social Apartheid. Experiences in Salvador have taught me more about this than any statistics could have. In Corredor Victoria, one of the wealthiest areas in Salvador, you can witness a Ferrari pull out of a gated mansion while a homeless child

When do we start to take things for granted? Do we wake up and fail to realize all the blessings around us, simply because they were already there the day before? At what point do we stop thanking God, destiny, or whatever we believe in, and just consider all the amazing aspects of our life routine? I never want to reach that time. Never want to look out my window without a renewed sense of humility and awe for all that I see. And for that matter, all that I can't.  This past week was full. Activities, travel, practice, events... experiences and adventures, days of my life well lived. Our program spent the weekend in Praia do Forte, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil (and therefore, the world).  One of the main highlights there was watching turtles hatch and waddle/crawl/roll their way into the waters for the first time. The sunset in Praia do Forte took a close second place.  We also climbed through some waterfalls, or cachoeiras, explored an old