PORTO
ALEGRE
Porto Alegre is a city of 2 million, which is considered 'small.'
:-) The river on which it is located, Rio Guaíba, has some
of the most spectacular sunsets in the world. This view is of a sculpture
on the riverbank.
APARADOS
DA SERRA
Fortaleza canyon
Itaimbezinho canyon |
The Serra were one of the most breath-taking parts of my trip.
Just standing at the top of the canyons, looking down 720 to 900 metre
drops, is enough to make you feel like a very, very miniscule part of the
planet. |
There was a guided tramp available to the bottom of the canyons and
back again. I didn't do it :-}
These trees are amazing - look like acres of umbrellas covering
the hills. They are a symbol of Chile, but Aparados da Serra
has huge forests of Araucária.
MISSÕES
It took forever, but we made it over to Santo Angelo, near the Argentinian
border, to see the Jesuit mission ruins. If you've seen 'The Mission'
or 'Black Robe,' this is the real thing. There are 30 ruined Jesuit
missions spread between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The architecture
is an amazing mix of European Baroque and Guaraní art. I spent
most of a day exploring São João Batista, then a quick look
through the museum at São Miguel das Missões. I had planned
to stay to see the sound and light show in the evening, but I was too saddened
by the 'touristification' of the Jesuits' ideals. In places, pineapples
were still growing in the original Mission gardens.
- Saõ Miguel das Missões
Catedral - Santo Angelo
CANELA
 |
Região
das Hortênsias: Canela and Gramado are neighbouring towns high in
the mountains. The whole region is covered in blue hydrangeas - they're
everywhere you look! |
SCOUT
VISIT
| One of the teachers I stayed with is a scout leader, so when his unit
hosted 40 English scouts after the World Jamboree in Chile, we had David
and Peter staying with us for a few days. |
 |
NOT
NEW,
BUT ALWAYS STARTLING:
-
Toilets that won't flush toilet paper (got the baskets beside the toilets
figured out now :-)
-
Going around roundabouts the 'wrong' way
-
Bats - one flew right up to my viewfinder in a cave! Too startled
to click :-(
-
No English - even the tourists are Spanish-speaking.
-
Mosquito invasion
-
Smog
-
Bars on all the windows
-
Mall Security with guns
-
Favelas (slums)
-
What happens with no welfare system
LANGUAGE
WORK:
(for my linguistics
buddies) ...
One reason for coming to South America was to get some experience with
different language work, to help decide which path I want to concentrate
on with my degree. Well, translation definitely loses! I spent
quite some time helping to translate two sets of company documents (NPDL
note - think 160 pages of PDS-style writing! You know exactly what
I mean!). I've also been part of the absolutely vital work of translating
e-mailed jokes into Portuguese - some things just don't carry over in translation
:-}
One of the major pitfalls of trying to survive with another language
is the pronunciation - especially when the word LOOKS English, but sounds
completely different. Take curry for instance. Yesterday, I
asked the shopkeeper up the road for curry, knowing that the word is the
same. He grinned at me. (He is getting used to my Portuguese).
My flatmates explained to me later that the way we say curry sounds an
awful lot like asshole in Portuguese. Eek! I did figure out
that if I speak Spanish and get REALLY drunk, the slurring would almost
make it sound Portuguese :-) - not that I tried it out.
I taught classes to executives in an engine factory, with another teacher
who learnt English in New York. I was constantly on my toes trying
to figure out how NZ'ers put things differently. The factory has
been bought by Americans, who have decreed that all the signs and job interviews
will now be in English. Ludicrous.
I'm relieved that I brought a book of NZ pix with me - it has been a
language class lifesaver! The students adore the wild South Island pictures,
snow, sheep, Ruapehu erupting, Moko, - I'm tired of trying to explain the
rugby, netball and sheepdog pictures! They look at me in total disbelief
when I show them the picture of a NZ barbeque. I must admit, the
tame sausages and restrained slices of neat bread do look kind of wussy
in comparison with a churrascão. One of the photos shows the
interior of Starship Hospital. That was quite a linguistic challenge
to explain in my first week. Even when I got the words right, explaining
that the hospital is built to look like a spaceship, they still didn't
really get it.
Many sounds in Portuguese are very difficult for English speakers, and
vice-versa. R = H, as I worked out when the third student in a row
pointed at a picture in my book and proudly said 'LandHover.' (This
factory makes Landrover engines.) 'Th' just isn't a happening sound
here. Trying to get a distinction between 'three' and 'tree' was
hard work. Three trees, three trees, three trees, tree trees, tree
trees - start again!
Cheap, Sheep, Chip, Ship - everything -ch becomes -sh, and short vowels
are tricky. You don't know how stupid your own language is until
you attempt to teach it!
Girl, world - Portuguese has no -rl sound, and not normally any -w either.
Linguistically, Brazilians will not cope with World War Three :-}
-X really has me stumped. Xerox is said sherox - sometimes it's
an -sh sound, sometimes -ss, sometimes -x.
-Jennifer is spelt Diannifer! Di = J - this week's discovery!
And -t at the end of a word is -ch. Sigh.
- Nasalised vowels - UGLY!!! São = San said through the
nose. Don't ask me to attempt João again!
Then, just when you're starting to say things right, they tell you
the accent is very regional and totally different in the next city!
I went along to a University English class with one of my friends, and
they were sitting their final exams - very much more relaxed than at home!
Anyway - I was handed an exam paper too, so I did it! I think I even
passed - although, several of the questions were VERY gramatically interesting.
In fact, most of the places I have seen or heard English have been eye-opening.
The local McDonalds is in a shopping mall called The Strip Centre.
I managed to ask about that with a straight face :-} They says
it's because the mall is in a long strip along the main road. Smiling
broadly. A lot of music on the radio is American, some is Brasileiros
singing in English - "geeve eet to mee baybee"
I'm linguistically confused %-)
There are a couple of people who call the flat who speak French and
Spanish as well as English and Portuguese, so we have held four-language
conversations where we just move onto the next language when we can't think
of a word.
And the verdict?! I love the creativity and the humour in language
teaching - when it's done well. I think that's what I'd like to look
into further.
WHAT
I'M GOING TO
MISS ...
-
Guaraná
-
the people
-
Siesta
-
Negraõ, Negrinho (the cats)
-
Mangoes
-
Grape-flavoured everything - Fanta, jelly, ice-cream ...
-
Time on my hands to write
|
TORRES:
Baked on the beach at Torres for a couple of days. Mmmmmm!
Lagoa do Violão, Torres
Torre do Meio |
This beautiful set of beaches is dominated by three enormous rock towers.
This is where the Argentinians come for summer beach holidays. |
Praia, Torres
A group of us went fishing at 2 am! The beach was deserted,
except for a few others using tarrafa in the surf - hand-thrown
circular nets with weighted edges that close down over the fish.
Fascinating to watch; really tricky to master.
Parque Estadual da Guarita, Torres
NEW
EXPERIENCES:
-
Vultures
-
Windows95 in Portuguese! "Este programa executou uma operação ilegal e será fechado ..."
-
Fireflies
-
The taxi ride that made a Brazilian turn white
-
Nasalised vowels
-
I got an Amazonian blow-dart for Christmas!
-
Skunk - no visuals, only smell :+/
-
4.45 am starts with 10.30 pm finishes
-
Roadkill - dogs, huge lizards
-
Doing the dishes without hot water
-
Gunshots at night
-
Brazilian knicker lines!
-
Playing trumpet/Quena duets
-
Toilet flushing like the Titanic going down
-
Turnstiles inside buses
-
Acid rain
-
Scorpions
-
Fio Dental (dental floss!) bikinis
-
Ants that could rip your leg off
-
Portuguese rap music
-
McDonalds banana pies and guava sundaes
-
Security guys whistling to each other ALL night.
-
'Cobra,' 'Mad About You' and 'Home Alone 2' - dubbed (Helen Hunt had this
squeaky voice, McCauley Culkin had a deep masculine one!)
-
Grape-flavoured Fanta
-
Sunset over Rio Guaíba
-
Mind-blowing Christmas light displays
-
Tree-trunks painted white in the city ("it's neater that way")
-
Watching OTHER people eat chicken-heart kebabs
-
Argentinian drivers!
-
Being overtaken by horses and carts in the main street in the city.
The guidebook lied! Lonely Planet reckons that the best thing about
Brazilian wine is that it won't actually kill you, but Bento Gonçalves
is populated with Italian immigrants, and the wine is ..... mmmmm! (But
I did experience some of the 'other' - yeeuch!) I went on a tour
of the factory, and bought some Gewurtztraminer to bring home :-}
Only just missed the steam-train ride on the Maria Fumaça - but
I got photos, ok Dad??!
Main gateway into the town - a huge wine-barrel.
Ponte do Rio das antas - on the way to Bento Gonçalves.
Gramado is very beautiful. It's high in the mountains, settled
by Italians and Germans, and even gets snow on occasion. Also overly-touristy.
Brazilians are funny though - they say Gramado is German, it's covered
with Swiss chalets, and everything has French names. Only wish I
could have afforded lunch at La Maison de la Fondue - it looked cute. I
was in time to see their amazing Christmas lights - makes Pukekura Park
look only half-done.
WHAT
I REALLY, REALLY MISS ...
-
Michael :-)
-
Telecom (Yes, I know it's unbelievable! $NZ5 per minute from here
to NZ! - when it works)
-
Peanut butter
-
Face cloths
-
NZ cheese
-
Breakfast bowls
-
English
-
Vegetarian cooking (Hi Geraldine! What's for dinner???)
-
My cat
-
Dinner before 9.30 pm
-
Being able to talk without a dictionary
-
Uninterrupted power supply - sometimes it disappears three times in a day
- I type with autosave on every two minutes! -
 |
This Gaucho is drinking chimarrão - a green tea made from the
leaves and stems of a certain tree. It's drunk from a decorated gourd,
with a silver straw which has a filter at the end. |
-
Coffee - very scary. After 3 weeks, I learned to make it strong
enough. Virtually always black with at least 3-4 spoons of sugar
in an espresso-sized cup. My favourite party-trick in English classes
was to explain how I make coffee at home. I horrified them.
-
Meat - all the time, usually every meal. I don't recognise ANY of
the cuts! Mostly beef. Ox humps are interesting. The
regional specialty is the churrasco (barbeque) with all the meat roasted
on long sword-like skewers, and brought hot to the table to be sliced off
the skewers straight onto your plate. In the good Churrascarias,
I lost count of the different cuts on offer. Managed to avoid the
chicken heart kebabs!
-
Salt, sugar - absolutely everything has extra salt and sugar. The
Heart Foundation would have heart failure!
-
Fruit juices/Ice-cream - Totally amazing. I could have lived on tropical
fruit juices. The 'sorveterias' typically have at least 50 ice-cream
flavours, most of which are tropical fruit, many of which I'd never heard
of. Fresh sugar cane juice is something else too!
-
Guaraná - seriously, somebody needs to export this stuff to NZ.
Guaraná soft-drink is sooooooo thirst-quenching!
-
Rice and feijão - in a typical Brazilian home, you eat beef, rice
and black beans day in and day out. I wasn't in a typical home :-}
-
Polenta - deep-fried corn-meal fingers. I'm going to try to make
some at home.
-
Xis - tastes like a burger, but looks ... hmmm, like somebody ran over
it! For some strange reason, they make up burgers, lettuce and all,
then press the whole thing in a toasted-sandwich press.
There are things about Latin American culture that
Kiwis would find unusual. Most people here grew up under a military
dictatorship, and now 'enjoy' democratic government that has included the
official theft of a percentage of people's savings accounts, and the letting
out of major highways to company sponsorships, in return for allowing company
toll gates.
The racial mix struck me more than any other country
I've been to - African, Indian, Portuguese, Italian, German.
The region I'm based in was home to the Italian and German immigrants,
which has produced some amazing dark-haired, pale, pale-eyed mixed-blood
Brasileiros.
High-rise apartment living en masse is something
I'll never get used to seeing. Until recently, residential phone
connections took 5 years to be put in. That is not a typo!
All said and done, I love the way of life and the heat (except for the
43 degree day) but it will be nice to be home again. :-} |
