The Pantanal, AIESEC Conference & Family

When it was Easter, I got some presents from my students. Here in Brazil, they give out chocolate eggs for Easter. One teacher said that he’s been here for four years and he didn’t get any presents. I told him he is just not popular. 

On the weekend, I went to Campo Grande, a city in the West. It took me 22 hours, a personal record. The trip was supposed to be only about 17 hours, but I missed my bus because I didn’t know from which stations it was going to leave. Then there were delays because it was Easter. I wasted the day on the way, so I had to miss a day at work and stay there. It’s because I wanted to go to the Pantanal. There are only packages with a minimum of two days. The packages included ‘B, L & D,’ which means breakfast, lunch & dinner (or, as the guide first said, beer, ladies and drugs). So I walked around for a little and saw an Easter rock concert for Jesus celebrating his passage. The next day, I had a few hours before going to the Pantanal, so I walked around the city. Nothing special.

It took five hours to get to the jeep safari’s starting point. The highlight was a bunch of Caimans (a type of crocodile) chilling on the shore. Then we had dinner and at night we went to see Caimans’ eyes. The next day we went fishing. I caught my first fish ever, and then three more. I had one for lunch, although Piranhas don’t have a lot of meat. Then we went on a boat tour. I saw many animals, but the best part was when the guide caught a Caiman. I was also bitten a thousand times by mosquitoes. By the end of the trip, it looked like I had a disease. That was pretty much the end of the adventures. I had to wake up at 4:45 a.m. the next day to make it to the bus in time. I spent the whole day and night on the road. I took a boat, truck, bus, metro, and walked to get home. It took 26 hours, a new record. However, when I got home I got ready and went straight to work, so in total it was 28.5 hours. I could have crossed all of Western Europe in that time. One does not simply get around in Brazil. Big country is big. 

The next weekend, I went to an AIESEC conference. This marks the first time I meet many Brazilians my age. I have been here for two and a half months, yet I only had one friend: my housemate. This was because I travelled every weekend. Although I did make friends when I travelled, it’s very unlikely that I will see them again, as they are from other continents. At the conference, I met many awesome people, and most of them spoke English well. I felt like a celebrity, especially after a session where I was asked to talk about my country. AIESEC in USP is quite similar to what it’s like in Canada. This conference served as an introduction (more like indoctrination with Tunak Tunak) for all the new members, so it wasn’t very big. Nevertheless, it was still a lot of fun, and I got to rest a lot.

The next weekend I went to see some of my family in another city. I met someone who plays the piano very well. She also makes these plays with classical music themes for kids. It was very interesting. Then we went to a birthday party. Later on, we went to one of their houses and played the piano and guitar and sang altogether. The next day we went for lunch, and then I came back to São Paulo.

Meanwhile at school, we had an Arabian day. There was Lebanese food, including Kibe, Hummos, Esfiha, Falafel and Tabouleh, and Arabian decoration. It was cool. Today, we went on a school trip. We saw a park and a museum. I was saving time, money and there were guides as well. It was great.

I will leave you with this great video of São Paulo: http://vimeo.com/33825865

...and some information about the Pantanal:

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland. It is one of the world's largest wetlands of any kind. Various subregional ecosystems exist, each with distinct hydrological, geological, and ecological characteristics; up to 12 of them have been defined. The Pantanal ecosystem is home to 3500 known plant species, 1000 bird species, 400 fish species, 300 mammalian species, 480 reptile species and over 9,000 different subspecies of invertebrates.