No, the title isn't a typo. It's Portuguese! I arrived just in time to celebrate New Years, known as Réveillon. And by celebrate, I mean watching the fireworks in Rio de Janeiro on TV with my new Bolivian friends. There's a joke that the year doesn't begin until after Carnaval, which was in early February this year. Effectively, I arrived during a months-long Brazilian vacation. I was going to find out if that was true.
First, it's necessary to acknowledge that there's much more to Brazil than can be captured in one post. It's the sixth most populous country in the world, half the landmass of the continent, and home to a wonderful diversity of everything: cultures, people, animals, plants, foods, arts, and beaches. After a month and a half, I'd only scratched the surface traveling through five states in the South out of the twenty-six total.
Unsurprisingly, there's many special things about Brazil, which I happily expand upon below. But the hands-down highlight was the people. Brazilians are incredibly welcoming and friendly. And I say that despite not speaking Portuguese. In the very first hostel I stepped into, I was greeted warmly by the owner and his wife. He had just prepared lunch (at 4 PM of course), and invited me to chow with him. After a typical lunch of rice, beans, pan-fried pork, and banana, he informed me they didn't have any space in the hostel, but graciously drove me to a couple other hostels before we found one with space. Throughout my travels both in and out of Brazil, I was fortunate to befriend so many Brazilians. (Numerically, second only to Germans. But anybody who backpacks in South America knows what a tall task it is to outnumber Germans.) I stayed with friends in Sao Paolo and Rio. Went to a dinner party at a friend's mom's house. Hitched a ride back to town when a Brazilian couple saw me waiting for the bus. Was gifted a football jersey. Was asked to join trips and hikes. Invited to local parties. Danced on the street with strangers.
Brazilians have a way of embracing you- I never felt like a foreigner. Even when I was threatened with a kitchen knife and lost $2, he chatted me up first.
The cuisine is oh-so-close to my heart. I think of it as the ultimate comfort food. Brazilians know how to make some damn delicious casseroles. On every corner, there's salgados, salty snacks that tempt you to indulge in their greasy glory. I developed an empanada-esque addiction to the soft and chewy cheese bread, pao de quejo. Manioc (also known as casava), a potato-like tuber, is Brazil's greatest gift to human sustenance and the third largest source of carbs behind rice and corn in the tropics. For something sweet, grab a cup of acai ice cream, a slice of sweet dessert pizza, or one of the many creamy puddings. Add to that the ubiquitous and cheap buffets, and it's no surprise I went full-glutton. Scary, considering I'm already a full glutton? I spent an unhealthy amount of time in churrascarias indulging in the endless rodizio.
Water is a prevalent motif throughout the country: the ocean, the rain, and the waterfalls. The ocean is a way of life. Many a day melted away hiking from beach to beach, people-watching on the hot sand, and wading into the refreshing Atlantic waters. The sun-kissed skin reflects the lifestyle. I frequently found myself staring as beautiful people strolled by. It may sound like Brazil is synonymous with sun, but that surprisingly isn't true. Like clockwork, the summer downpours rolled through each afternoon. I was stranded in Florianopolis, the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina, after four days of historic rain. On the day I planned to leave, the streets were completely flooded. I didn't have a kayak handy, but in yet another display of Brazilian kindness, the hostel owners gave us all a free night. But even the heavy rains were dwarfed by the roaring Igauzu Falls. The Devil's Throat is an 80 meter tall concentration point of the falls, and the most intense concentration of water I've ever seen. The hundreds of waterfalls spreading out across the Brazilian and Argentinian landscape is as close to paradise as I'll get in this life.
My last stop was Rio de Janeiro. I was lucky to explore the city by foot, by bike, and on the trails. Rio is a beautiful sprawl that wraps around beaches, forests, mountains, and lakes. Every viewpoint is scenic- there's even a national park inside of the city! It's not a stretch to see why the Cariocas (i.e. locals) are known for their easy-going vibes. There is, however, a stark juxtaposition to the numerous favelas also stretching across the mountains. The lights that twinkle across the city at night represent a disparate spectrum of life. There's perhaps no other city in the world that better embodies the rampant inequality.
For five days, that spectrum mixes together in a wild celebration known as Carnaval, which was best described as the biggest party I've ever seen. I skipped the traditional samba competition in the Sambadrome and opted for the more active experience of following street bands, known as blocos, all over the city. There were hundreds of official blocos everyday, but that would be too easy. With the locals, we only went to the 'secret' blocos. In what was essentially a half marathon with extracurricular substances, we followed a bloco for 13 hours over 25 kilometers through neighborhoods, highways, parks, docks, beaches, and.. airports? In a glorious moment, we forced our way into the airport to sing and dance as officials looked on in horror and the to-be-passengers in amusement. There's only a few rules during Carnaval: 1) don't wear flip-flops, 2) less (clothes) is always more (skin), and 3) anything goes. If you don't look ridiculous, you look stupid. It took a week of showering to get rid of all the glitter I'd amassed during the week.
As I took off from the airport, it felt like I was leaving home. I could've stayed in Brazil for much longer- in fact, I could easily see myself living there. Speaking Spanish is at least a step in the right direction to learning Portuguese. Would I live in the bustling energy of Sao Paolo or the relaxed vibes of Rio? That's not how I think about it. Here, it's people over places.