Parte Um – Brazil 2019

Isaac Church — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 14:38:36 +0000

Welcome to Adventures in Brazil, Part I. I’m back already – safe, sound, and very tired. I’ll share some bits and pieces of my travels, in no particular order (except for when it is).

A few disclaimers before I begin:

Some excerpts I wrote while there, and some afterwards, so please excuse any changes in verb tense.
All the photos are from my iPhone, so please excuse the lower-than-usual quality.
I wasn’t able to photograph everything I saw, partly because it’s not safe to be waving a fancy smartphone around in public (being a red-head in South America already calls enough attention to oneself), and because I didn’t want to be on my phone constantly. Where necessary, I’ll supplement with photos from the Internet.

viagem (Travel)

It takes a long time to get to Brazil. Three hours to IAH (Houston), a 1h38m layover, and then a grueling 10h15m flight to GIG (Rio de Janeiro). The perks of such a long flight? You get two free checked bags – not much use for five days on the ground.

View of Atlanta

Sunset from the plane

Total travel time: 14h45m from CLT, more like 19 hours if you count travel to the airport, customs, and everyone’s favorite organization, the TSA.

United somehow left my luggage in CLT, so I basically arrived with two days change of clothes and a toothbrush – all the ingredients for a grand adventure!

I’m still fighting with customer service to get some kind of reimbursement for my troubles.

Out the airplane window

Flying into Rio

Travel Food

Meal on the flight

Salad in Houston Airport

Comida (Food)

Steak - Windsor Plaza Copacabana

The hotel/our host organization provided the first few meals of trip. Our first lunch was at the host organization’s cantina. All our breakfasts were at the hotel, as was dinner our first night.

Pictured: steak with a brown sauce and parmesan risotto.

Fried chicken, sausage, rice/beans, pasta with a dried pea/fried onion mixture, and tomatoes

Bread and beef are the staples of the Brazilian diet (along with the requisite rice and beans, of course). The bread is very soft and extremely elastic, or is sometimes in the form of a flavored pound cake for dessert. Rolls are often filled with seasoned chicken or beef, and breakfast breads are mainly sweet with chocolate or a glaze of some kind. Later on, I’ll probably do a section solely about beef.

Moqueca

There’s a good deal of fish as well. Moqueca (pictured above) is a traditional Brazilian fish stew, usually with fish/shrimp, coconut milk, tomatoes, onions/garlic, lime, and cilantro. Cod, sole, and salmon are also popular both in stew and a la carte.

Brazilians have a surprising love of “Italian” food; it’s on almost every menu I’ve seen so far. It’s certainly not real Italian food, or even Americanized Italian food, but it looks pretty good regardless. Maybe I’ll try some before I head home.

Fotografias (Photographs)

Copacabana

A purple sunset at the Copacabana

Soccer goals on the beach

Impressões (Impressions)

Below are a few short impressions from my travels to this point.

As I’d heard, there is immense wealth disparity in Brazil. The majority of the population lives in poverty. Favelas (shanty-towns) line the hills. These neighborhoods are mostly inland, but have breathtaking views of the bay and the beach.
The buildings here look much older/more run-down than I expected. However, the insides are modern and beautiful.
Brazilians apparently love their A/C. It’s been freezing inside almost every building. If there’s no A/C, open windows usually provide a cool breeze. Completely understandable, because it’s very hot – high of 90°F, and it’s only spring!

One of many favelas in the city

Stay tuned for Part II!

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