I spent so many hours on buses during the past two weeks but the lack of sleep and innumerable bug bites were worth the wait. Two weeks ago we rode for 20 hours from BA to the southern Brasilian city of Porto Alegre. The architecture was dated and I preferred the scenery beyond the skylines: Porto Alegre is surrounded by mountains of lush greenery. Unfortunately our free time in the city was limited to evenings and one Friday afternoon. Lectures filled the rest of the time and I thought that some boring and unnecessary. There were a few visits, the best of which was to an MST which translates to movement without land. Outside of Porto Alegre, dozens of homeless families created a community on land they do not own. They lived in shacks constructed from garbage bags and when we arrived, the kids in the community sang to us. I didn’t know what their songs meant but they sang with determination, like they wanted us to feel their pride in the land. Okay, that’s romanticized; most of them were probably too young to know what they were singing.
On Friday evening we took an overnight bus to Iguazu Falls. It seemed like some deity didn’t want us to see the falls, however, as there was a monstrous rainstorm on Saturday morning that flooded the streets. Thankfully it cleared and we bused to the falls. The bus halted after awhile because a giant tree had fallen during the storm and was blocking our path. After some wait, we finally made it to the falls. I can’t articulate how phenomenal they were. Just when you thought you couldn’t get closer, you could. We wound our way around the paths until we reached a walkway that leads one into the falls. They were epic and beautiful and put Niagara Falls to shame.
The group split after and my half took the 24 hour bus to Uruguay. Montevideo is like BA’s more tranquil cousin: European architecture, friendly people, and demonstrations in the streets. We had fewer classes and more visits during the week, including several living co-ops, an organization for afro-Uruguayans, and the Mercosur headquarters. SIT also doubled our money for the week and I ate some quality paella and sushi. I enjoyed the traveling though was happy to get back to BA. I missed the excitement, though; while I was gone, wildfires outside of the city blew in black smoke that clouded the streets during the day.
