Cuiaba, Mato Grosso

I finally arrived to my penultimate location, Cuiaba (cooyaba) located to the west of Brasilia in the state of Mato Grosso. As the most western state, it also borders Bolivia. Cuiaba is said to be one of the hottest cities in Brazil with temperatures get to as high as 48 C or 118 F. I was sort of dreading this place because of these record high temperatures but I couldn’t avoid it for too long. One positive thing about coming to Cuiaba is the fact that I actually know some people here. One of the first person’s I met when I came to Brazil moved here in October.

Regis, who was one of the persons to meet me at the airport when I just arrived to Brasilia, picked me up from the airport here in Cuiaba. I had dinner with his family the same night I arrived and was able to see his wife Adrianna, who was a good friend of mine while I was in IABC. For my birthday, Adrianna and another friend of mine at IABC, had made a cake for me. After dinner I was taken to lodging. I went back to living in a hotel. The hotel is ok but on the possible side it has a microwave oven. Yay! I can have microwave popcorn.

So over the weekend I had an opportunity to do a little exploring of the area where my hotel is. Cuiaba, so far of all the cities I have visited has the most Latin American feel. It has very narrow streets and the streets are mostly on a grade, very good for getting a workout. One noticeable thing about the city of Cuiaba is that it is one of the older cities of Brazil. I was told that this city is over a 100 years old. When it was created with the believe that there was a lot of gold in that area.

My hotel is located on one of the many hills of the city so I have a nice view of the city from my window of my room. I have only been here for only a few days so I have not been to the city center so in future blogs I will share more information on Cuiaba.

Mini Vacation in Brasilia

So as soon as my program in Palmas had ended I was ready to leave the city and go to my next destination. Originally, I was told I would stay an extra week in Palmas before going to my next sight. I was not willing to spend more time than necessary in Palmas because I there was not much to do or see and it was extremely hot there. I spoke to the person who usually did my travel arrangement and she managed to get me a earlier flight out of Palmas. I would stay in Brasilia for 10 days before going to the next place. I was fine with that plan, Brasilia in my book is a more better place to get stuck.

My time is Brasilia worked out great actually. I was able to go back to IABC and get the rest of my stuff since I would be spending my last two months in Brasilia. While in Brasilia I was able to bond with the girls I would be living with during the last few months in Brazil. I also had the opportunity to explore Brasilia and learn more about the city. Several months ago when I was living in Brasilia with Pr. Jairo and Gilza but I was living in the southwestern part of the city but now I was living basically in the center of the city.

This time around in Brasilia I ended living in an apartment. The apartment is very big and modern. There are some drawbacks though. It is, located on one of the main streets in the center so it’s pretty noisy. I also have a very pitiful room. It looks and feels like a prison cell because it is rectangular and only has a bed and a closet because there is no room for any more furniture. When I brought back the rest of my stuff from IABC I had to store them outside my room because I did not have enough space. On the positive side though, I have my own bathroom.

Even though my room is like a cell and I am constantly serenaded by car horns and car before going to bed, I love the location and the ambiance of the area. This area though in the heart of the city has a country-like feel. There are a lot of trees and parks. I love walking so I have ample of opportunities to go walking and exploring at any time of the day without having to feel the full effects of the sun. Also, in the center the apartment buildings are grouped in blocks. Several apartment buildings make up a block and each block is separated by a row of commercial buildings. Everything is really well organized.

So while I was here in Brasilia, I was able to visit some of the city monuments which were not really that beautiful and interesting never the less. Here are the some of them.

In the distance you can see the Brazilian Twin Tower or the National Congress Building!

Here's a close up view.

Here is the Cathedral. Inside it is not that beautiful. But it has perfect austics. Really cool. The building is circular inside so if you something even a whisper close to the wall the person standing at any distance away as long as they are beside the wall will hear it.

I'm not too sure of the name of this monument but it's near the cathedral.

This is the famous Brasilian JK Bridge. It was named after the President that constructed Brazil is over the lake. The rich people in Brasilia live one side of the bridge. As you cross the rich side you can see the large house and even some on the lake.

So let me give you a brief history on Brasilia. Brasilia was constructed in the late 1950’s but was officially inaugurated in 1960’s by President Juscelino Kubitschek also called JK (jota ka). The area where Brasilia currently occupies was bare unoccuppied land so the city was constructed from the ground up. The construction of the city was carefully planned and carried out by the architect who won the contest President JK had for the design of the new capital. The city was constructed in the shape of an airplane. Pr. Jairo and Gilza live at the back part of the airplane and while I was staying on the southern wing of the plane. One of the big things that was constructed was the lake. This lake is really huge and runs throughout most of central Brasilia. The lake was constructed to offset the dry winters of Brasilia.

So here are some cool things about Brasilia. Residential buildings cannot be higher than 6 stories. That is a law in Brasilia. Another thing is pedestrians have the right to use the life sign or senal da vida whenever they cross the road. That means, whenever they go to a pedestrian crossing or as Americans say cross walk, they just have to lift their hands in the air and the cars have to stop so they can cross. If the drivers don’t stop they can be prosecuted but I have noticed that most cars really stop. It’s really cool. Another thing, on Sundays, the main road in the center Eixão is closed to all vehicular traffic from 6am-6pm. This street is right in front of the apartment so I have a large area to go walking.

Well my vacation time is up and now I'm off to Cuiaba. It is supposedly the hottest place in Brazil. I'm going to need help to survive this city if it's hotter than Palmas. I'll keep up dated in future blogs.

A Trip to Taquaruçu

I don’t know if I mentioned this but the state of Tocantins has a lot of water. Throughout the state you can find several waterfalls and many large rivers. Close to Palmas is a town called Taquaruçu and there are about 80 identified waterfalls in and nearby the town. Many times people who live in Palmas usually make a day trip to Taquaruçu because it is only 1 hour away by car. When I heard at about this town, off course I wanted to go, just to cool off from the Palmas heat.

When I first met room-mates, they also told me about the town and said they would take me there because now they knew how to get there on their own. The only time we could possibly go was on a Sunday because we all worked during the week. The first weekend came and went, on the second weekend the girl with the car went home to Brasilia. The third weekend, we they had a baby shower. Seeing that my time in Palmas was coming to an end, I decided to visit the town on my own.

After learning a little more Taquaraçu and consulting my guide book, I planned to spend the weekend at a resort that my guide book had recommended. All room-mates were going traveling on one particular weekend, so since I would be by myself, I figured it would be better to spend the weekend in a cooler and more relaxing place. After calling the place and find out about the accommodations, I decided to just do a day trip, on the Sunday.

When I told my room-mates about my plan they were not too happy about me deciding to go on my own. They tried to talk me out of going, saying that it would not be safe and I needed to go with someone. It did not work off course! Palmas is one of the safest cities in Brazil plus I was going to a resort for the day not just some roadside river and waterfall. I did not have any fear for my safety. I did however have one preoccupation. How was I going to get to the resort from the town? My guide mentioned there was no local transportation and the resort was 17.9 Km from the town center where the bus would most likely leave me. Even though I was worried about this situation, I still planned to go. I reasoned in head that there must be moto-taxis because many people visited this resort for the waterfalls and many of them did not have cars. I decided to worry about that situation when I got to Taquaraçu.

Sunday morning I got up early and ventured out. I went to the nearest bus stop and waited for a bus to come. I wasn’t quite sure when the bus would come but I had more or less an idea of the time.I think I waited only 15 minutes for the bus. I took the bus to the bus station and followed all the directions. I was given from the people I had asked. In total I took three buses and the whole trip was a total of 2 hours just to get to the town of Taquaraçu.

As the bus entered the town, I saw signs for the resort and the bus seemed to follow the sign. Then when the bus seemed to go in the opposite direction of the signs for the resort, I descended and walked towards the last sign I had seen pointed to the resort. When I got to the sign, it said the resort was 9km away. I was not prepared to walk 9km to and 9km back. I saw a lady passing by and I asked here about moto-taxis. She told me to go the town center and ask people there. I walked back to the town center and as I was talking there, I noticed four young people who had taken the same 3 buses with me from Palmas walking in the direction of the resort, dressed for swimming. Anyways I continued to walk back to the city to get more information. I found out there was no moto-taxis and there was no way to get up to the resort unless I walked or hitchhiked.

I decided to walk but not to the resort. I figured that there might be some waterfalls or river on the way. I couldn’t have come all the way and not at least see a waterfall. I walked for about a ½ hour and could hear rushing water in the distance but I could see where it was coming from. I was getting really discouraged and upset because it looked like I was really going on a wild goose expedition. I decided to just walk back to the town and call it a day.

As I was walking for about ten minutes back towards the town when I saw two guys dressed like they were going swimming. I asked them whether they were going to the waterfalls. They said they were and asked if I was coming from the waterfalls I told them no and said that I was returning to Palmas because I couldn’t find them. They then invited me to join them as they walked to the waterfalls because they knew more or less how to get there. I thought, “Well what do I have to lose?” So, I decided to go with them.

After walking for about 5 minutes, a truck with a flatbed drove by and one of the guys held out his right hand and thumb and the truck stopped. It had probably four/five guys and they asked us where we were going. We told them to the waterfalls. They said it was up the road and that they would take us. We jumped into the truck around 5 minutes later we got to the waterfalls.

These waterfalls were not the ones I had originally set out for that day but I think the way things turned out better. I spent less money and I had company to visit the waterfalls. Also the waterfalls I visited were the tallest in the area. To actually get to the waterfalls we had to hike 1500 meters almost a mile to get to the first of the two waterfalls. The walk was more of a hike through a forest but it was totally worth it. The waterfalls were beautiful. It was a hot day and the water was just cool and nice. I was able to cool off after that hike.

As a budding outdoor fanatic, I was in heaven with all the beauty. The waterfalls seemed to be hidden in the forest, because it was surrounded by many trees and rocks. The second waterfall called Cachoriera Roncadiera or snoring waterfall was even more beautiful than the first. It was the taller of the two and had a bigger pool at the bottom of the falls for swimming. From the bottom of the waterfall it seemed like I was in a hole in the ground because there were rocks on both sides of the waterfalls.

Another awesome thing about the visit was the fact that the waterfalls were not crowded. We went before the lunch time hours so it was only a few people there. Everybody had enough space to enjoy the water. When we were hiking back to the main road, more people started to come so we definitely missed the Sunday crowd.

Overall it was an awesome day. It didn’t go at all as I had planned it but it was much better. I spent less money, I was able to enjoy nature and I met two awesome Brazilians. These guys were so nice. They were cousins from another area of Tocantins who had recently moved to Palmas for school. Even though they were younger than me, they looked out for me during the entire trip. At one of waterfalls, I lost one of my flip flop in the current and was about to chase after it. One of the guys refused to let me go he said he would and he found it for me. I guess that’s the Latin machismo. In this situation Viva Machismo!

Thanks for reading and stayed tuned for more of my adventures.

Exploring Palmas

After around three weeks of waiting to be taken and shown around Palmas, I decided to explore the city on my own. Given that Palmas is relatively new and small, its transport system is not the best. But seeing that I was determined to explore a little of the city, I had to use what was at my disposal, which was the poor bus system. The only time I had to explore the city was in the morning because I had class from 1:45pm to 8pm daily. That meant I had very little time each day. I really did not have time to randomly take a bus and see where I ended up. So the first thing I did was to start asking people questions about the bus system to get more information. about getting around. The only people who really were helpful were my students. Most persons including my room-mates did not have clue about the bus.

My first day out and about I decided to visit the only mall in the whole city. Rather than take a bus I decided to take a moto-taxi there and then find my way back. A moto-taxi is essentially a motorcycle operating as a taxi. These are very common in most of Brazil. The moto-taxis are usually yellow and the driver wears a yellow vest. The helmets are also yellow and they have the word moto-taxi on them. The moto-taxi though a little more expensive than the bus is very convenient and good supplement to the poor transport system.

When I first decided to take a moto-taxi I didn’t know how to get one. I assumed you could just wait on the road and wait until one passed by, then I would stop it. Fortunately, I decided to ask the guard at the complex where I was stayng in how to get a moto-taxi rather than try on my own . He gladly offered to get one for me. He went to the phone booth outside the complex and I noticed that it looked like he was searching on the inside of the booth for a number. Then, I realized that the numbers for various moto-taxi companies were written all over the inside of the booth. When he had chosen a number, he called it but he did talk to anyone. He waited on the line for about four-five seconds then hung up. After he hung up, he told me you can call the moto-taxi companies collect because they would call back. Just as he said that, the phone in the booth began to ring. The moto-taxi company had indeed called back. The guard gave them the address and the moto-taxi came to get me some time later.

When the moto-taxi came, he gave me my helmet and reconfirmed my destination. I was a little afraid of going on the motorcycle with a stranger but if Brazilians did it everyday, I figured I could do it too. The ride was quick and uneventful thankfully. I got to the mall in less than10 minutes. The mall was downtown and thanks to the map my guide book, I was able to explore the downtown area sights.

Next to the mall, is the principal plaza, called Praça Girosóis, which housed all the government buildings. I learnt that this plaza is the largest in South America and second largest in the world after the one in Moscow. In the center of the plaza is the Palacio Araguaia, which is the state capital. Besides the buildings, there were many monuments, waterfalls and gardens.The plaza was alright, nothing really spectacular. One cool thing though was from the Palacio you can see much of the city because it is built on the only hill in the entire city.

During my trip downtown I was able to get more information for my next trip out of town.

Palmas, Tocantins

The next stop on my Central East Brazil tour was Palmas, the capital of the state of Tocantins (toecanshins). Prior to arriving, everyone said told me that I was going to melt in Palmas because it is second hottest city in Brazil. I somewhat halfheartedly believed what I was told. I have noticed that some Brazilians like to employ exaggeration in their speech. This time, however, I had to admit they were not exaggerating. Palmas was very hot. Some days I felt like I was in Phoenix during the summer. The truth hit me literally, when I arrived at the airport and deplaned. As exited the plane, I was welcomed by a hot breeze.

Palmas in spite of being a state capital city is only 20 years old . That means it’s not as modern as other cities in Brazil. When I deplaned, I did so by stairs and had to walk on the tarmac to the airport building. The airport was very small. Also, when we arrived, our plane was the only other commercial plane there. Later I learnt that the planes going to and leaving Palmas all had Brasilia as their destination or their origin. This basically meant there are only a few flights entering or leaving Palmas and Tocantins on a daily basis.

Palmas is very small with a population of fewer than 200,000 people. There are not a lot of business and shops because the city is just developing. The public services here are very expensive compared to other cities. I also noticed that there was little variety in the foods in the supermarkets. Palmas does, however have an abundance water. The city was build near one of the biggest rivers in Brazil, the Rio Tocantins. From the airplane I could see the river covering a large part of the state.

In Palmas, I lived in an apartment with three other females. They work for the local conference here. It was pretty cool living with them. One of the girls was actually a student at IABC when I was there last year. She was surprised at my Portuguese because when I first arrived I didn't know any Portuguese but there in Palmas I was able to talk with them with very little problem. I was also happy about having a kitchen again so I could cook. There are some negatives to the current situation. I don’t have a piano to practice and on the first night I was welcomed by a scorpion. My room-mates later informed me that they usually found a scorpion in the apartment around once a week usually in one of the two bathrooms. I was glad that they only appeared in the bathrooms but I was a little paranoid about entering the bathroom. I wouldn’t enter the bathroom until I had carefully examined it from the door.

So far I am learning some interesting things about Palmas and the state of Tocantins. The first which I think that I learnt would interest reality show fans. Apparently, the last season of Survivor was filmed right here in the state Tocantins in the north. Another thing I learnt was that Palmas was built to copy the nation’s capital. Many of the buildings and the layout of the city are said to imitate Brasilia. Several people mention it was also a copy of an American city, but they did know the name of the city.

Anyway, the layout of the city in my opinion is very strange and very different from Brasilia. For example there are only two traffic lights in the entire city. They are located at the intersection of the only two streets that are named in the city. Throughout the rest of the city, the traffic is regulated by roundabouts. The roundabout system apparently works because there are very few traffic accidents but I still don’t understand why the city planner did not use more traffic lights considering that the city is expanding. But then again I am not a road planner.

One cool thing about Palmas is the fact there are a lot of river beaches. I had the opportunity to visit one on my second day in the city. These are very convenient given the record high temperatures most days. One positive thing about the weather in Palmas is the that it is dry heat. It’s hot but I think it would be even hotter if it was humid.

I saw a monkey!

This past Sunday was a retreat for SDA pastors and their families living in the Brasilia area or Federal District. Brasilia is similar to Washington D.C. in the sense that it doesn’t belong to any of the other states but it still is not a state but rather a Federal District. The history of Brasilia is quite interesting. Probably I will devote one of my blogs to tell more about Brasilia and the sights.

Anyways, since I am living with the President of the Brasilia Conference, I got to go. The retreat was held at a recreation center on the outskirts of Brasilia. The center had tennis, basketball and volleyball courts along with a football field, a swimming pool, a lake and several hiking trails. For most of the day, it was overcast but

it was still a good day for outdoor activities.

Most mornings, I start my day with some form of exercise so I decided to do my exercise at the recreational park rather than at the house. Gilza, the president's wife, also likes to exercise in the morning, so she joined me. We decided to walk up this hill and then jog down several times. On our way up the hill, we noticed some small monkeys in the trees along the side of the trail. The thing about these monkeys was that they did not seem to be afraid of us at all. We went closer to the fence on the side of the trail and they just sat in the trees staring at us. I was so excited because I had never seen a wild animal outside of the zoo before. I didn’t expect to see anything picture worthy as we were exercising so I hadn’t brought my camera with me.

When we descended the hill the first time, I decided to go and get my camera in the hope of seeing the monkeys again when we climbed the hill again. When we got to the spot where we had originally seen them, the monkeys were still there. It seemed like they were waiting for us to return. This time I was able to see several of them with different colors. They came even closer to us. First, they were just in the tree near the fence, this time they were sitting on the fence. It was like they we waiting for us to come back. I was so glad I went for my camera.

Later we asked the guard at the entrance about the monkeys and he told us that people usually feed them so they were probably expecting us to give them food. He said that when a person has food the monkeys usually come even closer and sometimes would take the food out the person's hand. I wish had known that then, because it would have been a cool picture. Probably next time I’ll be able to feed them!

A Trip to Walmart

When I lived in US, Wal-Mart, which I affectionately called Wally World, was one of my favorite stores. I could and would spend hours just walking around looking at and buying stuff. As a poor college student and later as a young adult just starting out, Wal-Mart’s prices were more convenient to my pocket. When I realized the chain of store was also here I was more that a little curious and excited to see how the stores here differed from those in the US. In the eight months I had been here, I had driven past several Wal-Mart stores in different cities but I never had the opportunity to venture into one to see how it was.

Finally, on second day in Brasilia I had the opportunity. I went with Gilza to buy groceries. From the outside I could have easily thought that I was entering an American Wal-Mart. The sign was the same and the store even has the same mascot, the yellow smiley face. The store I visited was a super Wal-Mart so it has groceries, cloth, electronic, books, cosmetics, a pharmacy, a hair stylist and many other things. I actually felt like I was in an American Wal-Mart. I was even surprised to see that the stores also have the local Wal-Mart brand, Equate.

There was one disappointment though. The store did not have as much of a variety as I had expected. I was hoping to find some more variety with food. Ok, I will admit that I was really looking for more American products. More specifically, I really wanted was salsa and chips. I was dying to have some Mexican food. They did not have any. Even though Wal-Mart is American, it really had a lot of local products. I think that is definitely a positive thing.