Over summer I visited Brazil for 3
weeks, and like the sons and daughters of most professors at the U of I, many
of the places they went were payed for them by the University so they could
study abroad. This time they had found a way to tag us along, meaning that it
would basically be a vacation for my brother and I. Even better though was the
fact that one of my best friends, who goes to Brazil every summer to visit
family, would meet us in Fortaleza (the beach town we were staying at.
One
of the aspects which interested me as I arrived in Fortaleza was how unique the
structures were. Each building was at least 20+ stories high but spread out
over a large expanse of space. I wasn’t curious enough to ask why, although I
had some guesses that it would prevent robberies or save ground space. Anyway I
was astonished because the city looked three times as large as Chicago with the
amount of high rises, but the population is only 1/3 the size. As we arrived to
our hotel I was joyful to realize that it was right next to the beach, so we
could walk out and be surrounded by the Brazilian culture. On the down side,
since all the businesses knew that the Fortaleza beach was a place tourists
went, everything was twice as expensive. But there were a lot of activities to
do without money, many fitness programs were going on at the beach in addition
to dozens of people playing beach soccer. Every time Omeed and I would stare in
awe at the beach soccer players, partly because of the fact that they were
Brazilian and in arguably the greatest Soccer nation in the world. But also
because of this new style of soccer we had never seen before. The sand made the
ball inconvenient to dribble, so frequently players would pop the ball up in
the air and juggle or volley it. This style looked really elegant and I wanted
to join with them. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to speak
Portuguese so my friend became my official translator. We ended up getting in
on a game of pickup soccer and I even scored a goal.
The
rest of the trip was fun and I did learn a lot about the socio-economic
inequalities Brazil has been facing for the past couple years, by being dragged
along to my parents’ activities. But other than that one major highlight would
have to have been dune boarding. One day we were taken on a 4 wheeler and I had
no clue where we were going but the parents said it would be fun. Before I knew
it we were in this desert oasis that faded into a grassland. More specifically,
I was on a 100 feet sand dune that inclined down into a lake. It was so pure,
yet so hard to describe. The people I went with brought with them a boogie
board and Omeed being the most excited jumped head first down the dune. It
looked cool because of the splash he made, but we later out found that it was super
dangerous, because you are going so fast, the water slapping you hurts badly,
and it is really easy to lose your balance. So I don’t know how Omeed didn’t
end up injuring himself.
There
is so many more activities to describe on this trip but I don’t have enough space
to explain it all. The main point to take back from it was that it was a
success and really fun, I learned how to surf, kite board, while being educated
about the politics and history going on in Brazil at the time.
