A quickie. . . . el lunes, el 6 de Octubre 2008
I couldn't wait to start typing about my spring break trip to Brasil and Iguazu Falls. I have a million photos, a thousand new reasons to keep smiling, a bout a hundred bug bites, and dozens of unnecessary souvenirs that I hope to give as gifts to relieve the guilt of buying so much crap to signify what exactly these past twelve days have meant to me. I don't have time to sit and write the usual extensive sum of events, feelings and experiences that have aroused since my last blog, but heres a preview. Basically I just spent 12 days in the jungle and waterfalls between Northern Argentina and Southern Brazil, and on a perfect trpoical island of the east coast of Brazil.
If you don't believe in some great divine power, or have hope that this planet is more complex and that nature is more capable of divine-like creations, than you have not seen a world wonder. Las Cataratas de Iguazu (in English, Iguassu Falls) ripped open a door to my soul that had been smothered by the smoggy and systematic machine that is a big city (i.e. a congestion of human behavior). Seeing these falls made me hope that this bright blue gem that is Earth in a big black box (or sphere, cylinder, pyramid, whichever geometric shape you prefer) outshines miniscule threats such as human behavior. The amazing power of the water also put me in my place: humans are tiny and Mother nature is enormous. I stood next to a fall that emptied millions of gallons of water within minutes, right over my head. This was one of over 200 falls in a few square miles of land. Unreal. The rush of energy from this incredibly massive force catapulted me into the present, drowning out the other possibilities of cognitive activity.
I was in the middle of the jungle. This was a concept that perpetuated a mesmerized look on my face and a little kid feeling of excitement in my heart. From the moment I awoke on the bus on Friday morning, I began to feel the green I was seeing in the new landscape that was driving by me. Completely dense, bright and unmistakenably pure green vibrating from trees of every sort, thick and tall grass, dangling vines, gigantic leaves and countless numbers of exotic and diverse vegetation growing thick and gloriously. I kept running around with my camera, trying to absorb where I was with my eyes, while at the same time trying to compose the masterpiece that is with a machine, the opposing force of my subject! I got a bunch of great shots for books and stories, but the most valuable souvenir is the vision I grasped a hold of and stored in my mind under "possible heavens." I wanted to swing from the vines, climb the trees, or just sleep under the canopees.
Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
For the first time I got to zip line through a jungle, take a bus for over 20 hours (three times actually, all in South America-another first), swim in a river that works as a border for three countries and eventually turns into a world wonder, get soaked from a waterfall, build amazing friendships with people while watching their beautiful intricate qualities seep through their anonymous identity, watch a live harp player, eat real brazilian produce, get up close to and touch wild oxen, party on a private boat on the Iguazu River, witness a rainbow develop over the mist of a waterfall and become highly addicted to Kinder Buenos (Mom-you have to figure out how to get a free box of these from Ferrero for Christmas!!). Florianopolis was amazing as well, an island community situated beautifully in nature, with tropical flaura, vibrant nature, a landscape that would cause anyone to gasp and constantly hault in thier foot steps to stare, charming architecture with bright colors and very interesting local cultural appeals. Best of all, it was safe and trusting, something I never thought I would experience in Brazil. It seemed like what Hawaii would be like, but on a much smaller and almost poorer scale. I definitely want to return one day.
I came home today with no money. I tried taking some out of 5 different ATM's and was denied. I noticed a lot of other people getting denied, too. I can't figure out why. I mentioned it to my host mother, and she explained something in Spanish that I only caught the gist of. Something relating to an action by the United States. Something about Bush and a large economic "mishap" that is temporarily causing issues around the world in other economies. She explained it to me like it was normal, something like, "Oh, you know, your president spent too much money again and now we can't get any more money today. Try again tomorrow." I told her I was amazed by how much of an influence my government had on the rest of the world, to which she responded, "of course, its logical. Your governent has so much control over so much of the world, and a lot of my own country." It reminded me of their peso crisis of 2001, and foreign American banks stealing money from Argentine citizens to revive loans that were originally created in corruption of a military regime that was enforced and supported by yours truly, the government of the U.S.A. It was kind of cool and relavent to think about all of this right after returning from vacation, and from a neighboring country with a large number of people living on the fine line of poverty and barely getting by. Brazil is a whole different world, and I ain't seen nothing yet.
Now I have to stop. Its late, and I haven't even started the stack of homework that I actually have to do for the study portion of this study abroad. Of course it includes a ton of spanish homework, journal entries for my Argentine Culture class (yes! more journaling!), 2 critical reviews, a book report, a mid term paper on globalization (all of that for my anthro class) and a ton more reading for my History of the Americas class. However, no matter how much more I love to party Buenos Aires style, I am grateful to take these classes and solidify a better understanding of the development of this country, this continent, and this side of the world. I have so much more in common with Latin America than I thought, yet my government has so much control over the future and stability of Latino societies and maintaining the separation that United States citizens have from the rest of their brothers and sisters of European colonizers and ethno-mixes. 
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