It's Winter Here

I am so cold today! We left sunny Rio on Friday and have been spending the weekend traveling to Sao Paulo. On Friday, we went to Paraty. It's a nice coastal colonial town, its really pretty and very small. We ran into the same people everywhere and what was crazy is that remembered us immediately. It is a good place to visit, not somewhere to spend more than a weekend though.

We are currently staying the night at a hotel in Sao Jose dos Campos. I can't imagine having to put that on a postcard. I'd just say Sao Paulo and hope it gets to the right place. I'm very curious about what Sao Paulo will actually be like, there has been a lot of talk about it but I don't know what to trust. When I was coming to Brazil there were many things that I heard bout the country, many of them told to me by "professionals" that just were not true, certainly not of Rio. The first thing was that I was in mortal danger everytime I stepped outside my apartment in Rio, and even in the house the danger was only down about 20%. Yes, its a city that has a lot of crime. And yes, there are many murders and homicides that take place. But I was rarely the areas wehre that was most prevalent. And even then, I didn't feel like all the warnings were completely true. Not taking public transportation at night isn't a bad suggestion in the US either, but its not as bad as I was told. Next, the power just goes out all the time so carry a flashlight. That is almost verbatm what I was told about Brazil. And they knew I was going to Rio and not like some random isolated town. The power never went out, it didn't even flicker and I didn't see anyone else with a flashlight...probably because they knew full well it wasnt about to just drop at 1 in the afternoon. I was also told that I would most likely (80% chance) get sick hte first couple of days. Like, violently sick; and its normal but if I get a fever along with the 'sickness' (a word I dont want to type and dont know how to spell) to go to the hospital.

Some people also said that I should be able to speak in Spanish to people and they would completely understand, so I didnt need to worry about not speaking a word of Portuguese. Now, imagine if someone was talking to you and didn't speak very good English, so they just decided to start speaking French because they sound alike....but you dont speak French you speak English. I mean Spanish and Portuguese are very related but if someone doesn't speak it, they don't speak it. I was helped in understanding what people were saying someitmes by knowing the amount of Spanish that I do, but with pronunciation and everythign being fairly different it didn't help me that much with conversation.

So those were the things I was expecting to experience in Brazil and didn't, but there are also things I was not expecting. Like paying so much for water. I can see why they don't drink very much water here. For the most part it has to be bottled and that's expensive. In the US you order water at a restaurant because you don't want to pay...here its at least R$2,50. And yest that's right, here they use commas where in the US we would use a period and vice versa. I didn't expect things to be so much more expensive than at home. They charge a ridiculous amount for things as simple as floss and sunblock. I thought the food here would be amazing. I based that on absolutely nothing, I just assumed it would be all kinds of delicious and its just ok. They have just as many non-local foods (Chinese food, Italian places, etc.) as we do at home. Bummer. I also expected the bathrooms to be awful, but I've been in way worse in the states. So that was a pleasant surprise. Honestly, most things were pleasant surprises. No rolling blackouts, I'm healthy, and I didn't get robbed. I'd say I came out pretty good in Rio. I'm excited to see what Sao Paulo holds. But I didn't think about how cold it is...guess I need to go shopping.

Here are some phrases I use pretty much everyday. The main problem with Portuguese, especially carioca (Rio de Janeiro) Portuguese is that its nearly impossible to hear and spell correctly, or see and pronounce correctly.

Bom dia (bong geeah)= Good Morning

Obrigada= Thank you

Tudo bem/bom= How are you?/I'm well.

Onde está/fica...=Where is... (I get lost often)

I'll think of some more and put them here as well. I am beginning to round out my time here in Rio, so soon I will be in Sao Paulo and sharing that experience. Sao Paulo is about 4 times as big as NYC so that should be way different than Rio. I expect it to be even louder if that's even possible. It's so loud in the streets I can barely sleep sometimes. The buses roll past like they are jets and there's always people yelling and having an overall good time in the street. Another reason that I look forward to going to Sao Paulo is that we stay in a hotel!!! Where I might have my own bathroom, I will have TV, and I might just might have access to computers more than I do here, also I will maybe have better seasoned food. My host has either high blood pressure or high cholesterol so she uses a negative amount of salt on her food. She pulled out a salt shaker that I'm positive has been around since Portugal owned Brasil. She's gotta do what she's gotta do though.

But it will be bittersweet, I really do like Rio despite the noise and the expensiveness. Probably can't get away from that in Sao Paulo either, but then Rio has the beach!

To answer some other burning questions, the majority religion here is Catholic from what I can tell. But they have many ones here, like in the US. Thing is, I've only seen like one church since I've been here and its a tourist attraction. I don't think they even have service there.