Brazilian Life 101

I won't lie, the language barrier is causing me grief of astronomical proportions. The amount of English speakers that I've encountered is far and few but they know some of 'our' basics and I know some of 'their' basics. The pocket phrase book is one thing I do not leave the house without. It is as essential as the local currency and without it I feel totally naked. My main form of communication is my terribly pronounced Portuguese (which I just read straight from the book) as well as the supplementary series of animate and superfluous hand gestures. My body-language vocabulary consists of thumbs up, handshakes, pointing and a wide selection of quizzical facial expressions. That being said, it is actually getting me by.

The streets of Brazil aren't exactly your Sunday morning walk in the park. Precautions aren't strict but are definitely advised. The main advice given to me by locals and previous travellers was "don't act as if you have money". Which is fine by me, it just means no public display of what would be deemed as luxury items. Jewellery, electronics, brand name clothing, etc. I have only recently mustered up the courage to take my camera out with me in public. I try not to bring my backpack out if only not to attract too much attention. Majority of the time I stash my valuables (cash, camera and keys) in a plastic shopping bag which is supposed to negate the attention and allow me to hopefully blend more into the crowd; I'm not entirely convinced that it's foolproof.

Walking down to the local shops around my area the pavements are littered with homeless people and the constant smell of urine. There are many street vendors selling items ranging from clothes, food to even junk found from bins. There isn't a day that goes by when you aren't stopped by a street kid begging for money. Only today I was approached by what appeared to be a half-naked, hysterical man who tried to grab my arm suffocating me with Portuguese. I smiled, avoided him and walked away only to hear "Sayo-nara" after I left his grasps.

One thing I am getting used to is the quality of the food. It could be the weather but I'm finding my food consumption has increased over the last week in Brazil. I'm constantly hungry and always trying to find excuses to walk down to the local food vendors. The deserts and sweets alone are worth the visit to Brazil. Funnily enough one area of my Portuguese which is slowly getting better is the ordering of food. I'll probably put up a separate post documenting all the different types of foods that I've sampled.

Baron Garden House

As previously mentioned my Brazilian sojourn is no fruitless holiday. Well at least not advertised as one. Towards the end of February this year I decided to enroll myself in a volunteer project in Brazil. The project aptly titled Work Experience at a Surf School in Rio is one of many volunteer project offered by the organisation i-to-i. For a somewhat debatable sum of $1800 AUD I have been given the opportunity to work in Brazil with the locals and been given temporary accommodation. The place where all Rio De Janeiro based volunteers are setup is in the small local suburb of Glória. Due to sheer laziness this post will again be predominantly photos.

The place is called Baron Garden House where guests stay in a hostel-esque arrangement. The place itself is locate on top of a hill with the local shops below. Walk up from the Glória shops to the Gardens takes about 5 minutes, the climb is quite steep and most people are left short of breath by the time they reach the house:

The house:

Baron Gardens offers different living arrangements, rooms are not strictly reserved for volunteers and there are always travelers showing up. There are also long term residents who look after the estate. Currently I'm sharing a 3 person room with another volunteer. The male volunteers stay downstairs with majority of the female tenants upstairs. Our room:

My mattress, actually mattress is an overstatement, I would rather considerate a large foam sponge which I suspect is home to many fleas and pests:

The main bathroom:

The kitchen/eating area:

Each house member is given a small tray and allocated a fridge to store groceries and cupboard space to store condiments and food:

Filtered water:

Entertainment Quarters:

Upstairs:


The courageous protectors of the house who by day sleep and laze around the house but are at their noisiest during the early evenings and even earlier mornings.

The Local:

So far my time here has been enjoyable and definitely a new experience. Most of the other volunteers are easily approachable and some of the most entertaining people I've met. That is the insurance of living with people who have put aside their own time and money to give a little back. Majority of the volunteers are English with a handful from America and another from Australia. My latest dilemma is deciding if I should extend my trip...

So it finally happened...

Ever stood at the bagage claim section of the airport and wondered "What if my luggage doesn't arrive?". The doubt initially sets in when a similiar looking peice of luggage remains on the conveyor belt, each time passing you, fooling you for that brief moment. Slowly but surely the crowd thins out, people retrieve their items and still that cousin of a suitcase goes around. You begin to wonder "I hope nobody has taken my luggage in mistake of theirs". Then somebody claims that imposter of a suitcase. Only then you realise that your luggage in fact is not coming.

So here I am, in Rio De Janeiro luggage-less and sitting in an empty dorm room. My suitcase is currently stuck in Miami and won't be arriving until tomorrow afternoon, which wouldn't be so bad except that the other volunteer workers have arranged a road trip away for the Brazilian long weekend. I managed to duck down to the local markets and purchase some essentials, jocks, tshirts, and shorts and of course necessary toilettries.

Arrived at Baron Garden House in Rio De Janeiro and despite the hold up inside the airport I was greeted by the Brazilian Representative for i-to-i. He took me on a short drive in his 25 year old VW Beatle and within 40 minutes I was at the volunteer lodging a loft a mountain in the suburb of Glória.