"Nossa força é nossa consciência"

Yesterday, we went to the quilombo, Campinho da Independência. The place itself was beautiful and fascinating, but I've been thinking a lot about a particular woman we met there. She was a kind of matriarch at the quilombo. Her name was Laura.

She was an incredible person. You could see love on her face. Love for her community, for the past, for her people, for the future that would weave all of that together. Her monologue was disjointed--African understandings of the mind, the importance of going out into the world free from fear, the history of the quilombo, the election of a "people's president," the meaning of community and the definition family--but it was beautiful. I listened as attentively I could, the blazing sun and my shaky Portuguese making that difficult, and just took in everything she was saying. I don't know why, but I found so much meaning in everything she told us.

So I may have waxed a tad too poetic in that last paragraph, but my time at the quilombo was a truly incredible experience. I have such an appreciation for that place and for those people. Everything Laura told us seemed laced with a sort of cultural pride and political consciousness that was just amazing to hear. The pride she had in her community was strong, but it never once took on air of superiority; the pride she had in her people was a pride she had in all people who worked and struggled together, be they Afro-Brazilians, Tupi Indians, or Caiçara fishermen.

One thing she told us was, "Nossa força é nossa consciência. Our strength is our consciousness." I forget the context in which she said those words, but that doesn't really seem to matter all that much. The message is clear enough for me, at least. Consciousness of one's community (whatever that community might be), of oneself, of one's goals and ambitions; having that clarity of thought and mind--that's really what strength is. The strength to do anything.

[[I don't know if this explains anything, but I was drinking a caipirinha as I wrote this post.]]

Oi, Gente!

This is my first actual blog post! I've held off on writing for a couple of days; part of that was laziness, but part of it was because it took a couple days for everything to just sort of settle in. Of course, that's still a work in progress. I won't lie, the first two days were pretty disorienting. A day and a half of travel, homesickness, Yalesickness, being in a completely new setting in an entirely different hemisphere, the usual emotional stuff--it was all a lot to take in. But once I was able to just take a deep breath and start to enjoy the fact that I was here, I saw that this is an incredible experience in so many ways. With that in mind, I really started to enjoy myself. Getting to know the other people in the summer session, drinking caiprinhas in a bar on a Monday, walking around the city aimlessly, actually being understood in Portuguese, all of it was just so great. The next two weeks (woah, make that week and a half!) are going to be so much fun, and then after that... RIO. Can't wait!

So Paraty is a tiny city that, as I understand it (and that's not saying too much since I've only been here a really short time) has two main parts: O Centro Histórico and a parte nova. The historic center is preserved and maintained with cobblestone streets and really charming stores--it's pretty but kind of touristy. The newer part of the town reminds me a lot of the times I've been in Mexico, especially Mazatlan. The bustle, the five million drogarias and stores selling the same stuff, all the people, animals, and cars. Personally, I kind of like this part better--at least during the day, it feels more authentic. Then again, what's authenticity even mean? The 400 year old preserved church is just as authentically Brazilian as the guy hocking havaianas and Ronaldo jerseys. Maybe I mean to say more representative of contemporary Brazil? Either way, I really enjoy taking all of that in; of course, the bars and clubs in the centro histórico are lots of fun.

It's not all sightseeing and taking in a new environment, though. It's a Yale summer session which means that everyday I have 3 hours of class, homework every night, and starting next week the culture class resumes which means another 2 page essay every week (which reminds me I still have about 2 pages to write...). I'm really liking Portuguese, though! It's a lot of fun and I'm SO glad I spent those first three weeks of summer hammering down pronunciation. I've done well on the first two tests and am just really enjoying it all. It made me so happy to see that Bete (our professor) had written "Ótimo!" ("Great!") on my last test. Speaking of Bete, she's incredible. For the Redondo Union High alums reading this, she's basically the Portuguese-speaking version of Señora Forster: really kind, really sweet, awkwardly funny, and slightly older but totally cool. Her story's incredible too. When she was in high school, the Rotary Club organized a year abroad for her--she had no idea where--and she ultimately ended up in Brazil. This was way back when, and she said that she had almost no contact with home (two phone calls the entire year and letters that took 2 weeks both ways). That's amazing!! It kind of makes me feel bad about how much English I've been speaking--definitely something I'm going to work on though! I've always been sort of obsessive about learning foreign languages, but I'm starting to see that it's something I'm good at and something I really enjoy doing. And since Yale's great (i.e. full of money) for pursuing the things you want to learn, I'm really excited about what the future holds, linguistically and otherwise.

But speaking of sightseeing, tomorrow we're going to a quilombo! A community of ex- and runaway slaves. This one's a little different, I'm told, because it wasn't so much founded by slaves who ran away from the plantations but by a few freedwomen. Either way, I'm excited! Afro-Brazilian culture (especially the gender dynamics) are fascinating--WGSS and ER&M ftw.

[[ As a quick side note, I just got frantic emails from my mom and aunt about flooding in Brazil. Northeastern Brazil. 1500 miles away from where I am. Parents...]]

PARATY

I'm here!! After a long, long trip (see the previous post) and a long, long bus ride, we've arrived in Paraty. It's really nice but I can't wait to see it in the day. I'll upload pictures and write a bit more once I've slept and actually feel human again.

A Viagem

I'm in Brazil! But ohhh, what journey it's been--and I guess still is, since it's not actually over, and I don't think I can say that I've "arrived" yet. Right now, I'm sitting on a plane in Campinha [sp?] waiting and... well, just waiting. Apparently there was a lot of fog in Rio so we couldn't land there, and now we're in some sort of airport limbo. I don't know what's happening now. The plane's refueling, so if the fog clears, then we'll make the 40 minute flight to Rio. But if not... who knows?

Some interesting updates from the trip so far:

-There was a huge church group in the airport before we left, complete with hymns and prayers and proselytizing . They're going on a vacation that's basically a bizarre combination of an international soccer competition and a missionary trip. Their shirts are the most hideous shade of orange.

-A kindly old Brazilian lady sat next to me, but I couldn't work up the courage to ask, "A senhora é brasileira? Você mora no Rio?" And then she started drinking copious amounts of airplane wine, and I figured that it was probably for the best to let her just enjoy her buzz sans my shoddy attempts at Portuguese.

-My fear of flying came back in force. I think part of it is that we're flying to a totally unknown destination. Making the LA-NYC flight is second nature now, and I never get nervous then, but for some reason--maybe it was because we were flying in the dead of night, on a rickety old airbus, over, I assume, vast stretches of Amazon jungle or Atlantic ocean--I was pretty on edge. To calm my nerves I scarfed down bag of Ritz crackers. I felt very American: to combat my fears I turned to food, and not just any food, but processed cheese product. There's nothing more red, white, and blue than that.

-I totally didn't get enough sleep on this flight. I dozed off and then woke up in the middle of some pretty bad turbulence and had a low-level (read: high-level) panic attack. I was half-awake, freaked out, and full of adrenaline. Also, I woke up to the giant TV screen in front of our row showing The Fantastic Mr. Fox which, though a children's film, is actually quite disturbing (raising the questions, Why is the rat the same size as the fox? And why are they fighting? What is this madness? And if the plane really is going down, how freaking tragic would it be if the last things I saw were the animated animal versions of Meryl Streep and George Clooney?).

-A random 20-something behind me asked, "Are you from here?" When I told her no, she responded, "Oh, well you look like someone who'd be from here." Thank you, kind stranger. I don't know why (it's probably the sleep deprivation) but being told I look Brazilian really made my morning. Then again, this woman also thought that the guy with dreds sitting two rows over was Lil Wayne (or, "that rapper with the teeth!"). Again, who knows?

The Tiny Gay Town That Time Forgot

TripOut Gay Travel — Paraty, Brazil

Reasons this video is hilarious:
1. The (mis)pronunciation of Paraty.
2. The total absence of anything that might vaguely constitute a gay travel attraction.
3. The inaccurate subtitles.
4. Creeper mayor. But yay for out politicians!
5. Tiny-ass dance club that still manages to be less sketchy than Toad's.
6. The fact that I'll be there in less than 3 days!
7. Stupidly awkward sexual tension between the host and his guide. Awkward camera angles and the suggestive rubbing of billiard cues? Um...

Reasons this video is not hilarious:
1. Cultural chauvinism--ugh. But I'll save the ER&M/WGSS rant for another day.

Tenho meu visto!

After a (surprisingly) quick trip to the Brazilian Consulate, I now have my visa. Less than a week 'til I'm back at Yale and just a little longer until I'm actually in Brazil!!