Quiet Week

Not much going on around here to tell about since we're all starting to get adjusted to our current schedules. We --Marshall, Tina, and I-- did make a stop at the UK Embassy on Thursday night to chat with an English professor from the UnB. Though I think he was the only UK citizen there! We also finally got a glimpse of the USA Embassy, so hopefully we can stop by there sometime soon.





The rest of the weekend has been fairly quiet, trying to work on homework and studying, or at least trying to catch up on sleep! I did laundry in the sink again today--which is getting really old -- and had some problems with drying it because it started raining last night! First time in about five months. . . It was startling to hear the sound of rain hitting the roof, after not hearing it for the whole month we've been here.

Last night we also came across Lance (the idiot dog who lives here) pestering a huge toad in the backyard. I had a lovely photo shoot with the toad, and will ask the herpetology lab on Monday about the species.

Over the River, through the Woods, to the Waterfall We Went!

Sunday we left early for a trekking adventure to a waterfall in the neighboring state of Goias. After filling out a few contract forms (aka 'I accept all the risks of doing this'), all eleven of us loaded up into a fairly comfortable van. For two and a half hours we rode down a highway, then rumbled across dirt roads alongside acres and acres of cattle pastures and a few soybean fields. A few cows had escaped and impeded our path. . . But finally to the trail around 11am!


We soon discovered that we were getting wet much sooner than expected, since we started crossing the same river three different times. But everyone was really 'teamwork' oriented, and we all helped each other across the water. My camera bag fell in once, but I had plastic bags, so no harm done (fortunately!!).









Around noon we had our first glimpse of the falls through the trees, and were able to jump in to the absolutely freezing cold water!! Marshall and I swam to the falls and walked around the backside, which was so awesome, but so painful with the spray off the waterfall. In the first full waterfall picture (below) Marshall is just barely visible sitting at the bottom of the falls.


























































The two guides prepared the rappelling gear while we ate, swam, and sunbathed (aka sunburned). Then they came down to get the people who were going rappelling, which was supposed to be almost everyone based on the number who raised their hands before going on the trail. However, only myself and two other courageous folks decided to go! While understanding the directions in Portuguese was a bit difficult, everything went great and we all made it out alive and exhilarated from the experience!


Here I go!












And down. . .



Success!


















The last place we stopped was a very blue swimming hole with lots of fish to look at. And it was actually a decent temperature! However, it also meant that we spent the 2.5 hrs in the van in wet clothes. The ticks and many other unidentifiable bug bites also put a damper on the end of such a day. So far no ticks at home yet; two in the field though. . . Ugh! But we did get a ride home from the tour guides, which was awesome since they didn't think any buses were still going.


Marshall was really tired this morning, but said it was well worth going. I stayed home this morning to work on cleaning our disgusting clothes and finishing some homework, then I'll meet Marshall for lunch around noon. Hopefully we'll actually be able to get our CPF number (equivalent of social security number, I think) over the lunch hour too!!

Into the Wild

It's amazing that another week has already passed, and as usual, lots has happened. I went to the field again on Tuesday morning, to collect lizards at the Botanical Garden research plots and the IBGE, which is another ecological reserve near Brasilia. Both sites are in gallery forests, not the actual cerrado, which is the savanna-like area we drive safari-style through to reach the forests.












I found the only lizard in the forty traps, but we also discovered a little mammal stuck in one as well! It's so cute!





When one of the other student's got a look, he said it was actually a marsupial! Even cooler.










Wednesday was full of classes (Ecology of Fire in the Cerrado, Ethnobotany of the Cerrado, and Biology of Reptiles), but I had a long conversation with one of the students in my last class and ended up getting a ride to the bus station--which saved me at least a half hour of bus waiting. Thursday I only had one class in the morning (Phonetics and Phonology of Portuguese), so I had lots of time to do. . . not much! On campus there is only one computer lab and no where to print besides the Xerox businesses, so that'll be a bit of a problem for classes and other documents. And no Microsoft programs either. Very strange for such a large university with over 20,000 students.

But I stuck around late on Thursday at UnB because some more herp students were headed to the field that night to collect toads. I grabbed a 'pizza bread' from one of the food kiosks on campus before heading to the lab to meet the other girls. The waders I used on Monday had a hole in them, so I only had some taller boots to wear out to the field. Normally we take a driver and a university vehicle, but this Thursday one of the students drove her car. (Riding in any vehicle in Brasilia is so nerve-wracking, I don't know how Brazilians can drive here without constantly having accidents. Today I was sure the bus driver was going to run over a few people that were a little close to the road because he was not going to slow down on the turn . . .)

It took about 40min to arrive at Aguas Emendadas, a biological research reserve that has no public access. Though if the guards were to ask for our passes I was supposed to say my name was Livia, since they had an extra pass of hers. . . Fortunately the guards were lax, and we got into the park without a problem. Lots of burrowing owls were flying around the road on our way to the collecting site. Nights in Brasilia are also pretty cold, so we wore lots of layers and the girls taped up my boots and shirt to help prevent ticks when we arrived at the lakes. The ticks here are so tiny!! I mistook one I had yesterday for a mole on my ankle. Apparently they do carry a disease, but it has never been reported in Brasilia. But I'm going to buy some tick-killing soap tomorrow at the pharmacy considering how much time I spend outdoors.

Anyway, just after attaching our head-lamps, I saw something larger moving near the car-- which turned out to be a capybara!! The world's largest rodent! It was sooo neat because it just sat near the car for a bit, looking around. Then we started walking to the different lakes, and every few minutes I would learn a bit more about the area-- like the wolves that live there and crocodiles---but the girls assured me they'd never seen a croc in the 13 small lakes (actually old man-made fishing spots) we were searching.

There are two species of toads that stay around during the winter here, and we saw tadpoles for one of them in a lake. We look for the toads by shining the flashlights around the water and looking for big red eyes, and I was actually the only one who saw any last night (just one). But it wasn't the species we were collecting, unfortunately. A few lakes later another girl said she saw a red eye in the water and tried to direct the other girls to it at the other end of the lake. After shouting back and forth for a bit ("I see it, just a little more forward. . .back, to the left. . .") the other two girls started shouting that it was actually a crocodile! So we rushed over to check it out. It was actually just under a meter long and I poked at it with a stick to try to see it better. Super awesome! But it was the joke for the rest of the night to send Mariana (the one who saw the eye) into the water the next time for another 'toad.'

The girls were so nice and I had a great time conversing with them. I even got a ride back home, around 11pm, and they said that was early; normally we wouldn't arrive at the university until 1 or 2am!! But since there weren't any toads in the first lakes we didn't have to spend as much time. I'm definitely going out again with them, though maybe not every week because I have an 8am class on Friday morning (Tropical Ecology), and we have in-class presentations every other week. Today we collected data in the field (IBGE again) from the fire project, comparing the herbaceous vs. tree cover in areas of cerrado that were burned 50 years ago (control), every 4 years, and every 2 years. It was interesting, but the professor is really absent-minded and we went around in circles more than anything. But the other two (only two!!) students were pretty nice at least.

Now I shall head to bed, and get to sleep in past 6am tomorrow!! Saturday is the best morning of the week. . . Sunday we hope to go on a trip to some waterfalls with an adventure tour group in Brasilia, where we can rapel 40m down the falls! Cool! Entao, boa noite!

UnB First Week

The end of last week did at least show some improvement on the beginning. Tina and I met up with some Argentinians on Thursday for lunch and I realized just how difficult switching between Portuguese and Spanish is now. . . I ended up with Portunol more frequently, but it felt great to speak some Spanish after the struggle with Portuguese. Thursday afternoon I went to Marshall's school and watched his first after school math study session, before we got a ride part way home with one of the teachers, Priscilla. We decided to get dinner at the mall area where Priscilla works, a wrap place she recommended (Wrap n' Roll). It was really delicious, but superbly expensive. . . On our walk home we saw a cool bird at the lagoon area (the white spot in the trees to the left in the picture below) and the typical 'bird' where we live that makes way too much noise as they go by (aka, airplane).

Friday morning I had my last new class of the week, Tropical Ecology. I really was thinking to drop it based on the number of classes I have already (and it would give me more travel time), but after the first class I don't know if I can! It was the first class where I understood 100% of what the professor said, and even answered all his questions in class. It was a definite confidence booster. There were only three people, including me, in class, though the prof said five were enrolled. Apparently it is also a graduate level course. . . Basically it seems like UNI's ecology lab because we go out to the field every other week and do lab reports and in class lecture or presentations the rest of the weeks. I'll probably keep it for now, and wait another week to decide.

As for the weekend, we wanted to spend it working on homework and reports (Tina, Marshall and I), but Dulce had other plans, as usual. Though Saturday was filled with many aggravations, I did have a decent time at the Fair of Guara, where they have very cheap clothes (I bought a cool dress for R$10 and two shirts each for R$5!!) and various food products.












We all (Tina, Dulce, Jose Marcel--prof friend of Dulce, Rafael, Rafael's dad--pictured below , and I) had lunch there as well; a fresh water fish that was quite delicious, along with some fried manioc. A nice break from rice, beans, and meat!!! Saturday evening was a little less eventful, but Tina and I did manage to stay awake (unlike Marshall) long enough to wait for Rafael to return and take us to the Fair of Ceara. We watched a small part of the a great forro band and had a few snacks. Sunday wasn't too eventful either, except for the party celebrating Jose Marcel's birthday.

But today I went collecting for turtles! Though I saw no sign of a turtle, I had an amazing time with the two herpetology students. They were super nice and knew a lot of other species around the two lakes we visited in the National Park of Brasilia. We saw tracks of anteaters, deer, and maned wolf. Even better, as we were leaving a deer jumped on the road in front of us and stopped alongside the vehicle. It was so neat! Lots of birds to see as well, though I only know their Portuguese names right now. I'm excited for more adventures in the field this week and later on, especially in the rainy season starting beginning of November because they'll be more turtles to catch. Today I only have Biology of Reptiles class, so I'll spend the rest of the afternoon working on homework. Ate mais!

No Complaints, But. . .

This week hasn't exactly been grand. Monday seemed like a nice day; relaxing at the pool, reading Harry Potter #4 (in Portuguese!), eating some watermelon. However, the only problem was when I fell asleep alongside the pool without sufficient sunscreen. Now I look like what I ate; aka, red watermelon, white stripes, and much pain. But Tuesday, the first day I thought I had classes, could have gone much better.

First, there was the problem of going to the police station to finish some documents. After receiving our visas we were told to go to the federal police station within 30 days of arriving in Brazil to get fingerprinted and our foreigner ID card. What the consulate failed to mention was all the extra documentation and taxes that need to be filled out and paid in advance in Brazil. EAB (Marshall's school) was the only place telling us about this, and they offered to drive us there with the other teachers and students that needed to go, but being Brazilian they couldn't plan even a day, or a few hours, in advance. I had been planning to go collecting again Tuesday morning, but EAB people said it was probably going to happen then. So I emailed Guarino, the lab prof, to ask him to forward my email to the other students so they wouldn't wait too long for me, and I thought maybe things would work out.

As it turned out, Tuesday morning around 6:30am, Marshall checked his email only to find out the school went on Monday afternoon. A bit perturbing, but the human relations guy thought he could take us still because he had to go back to pick up paperwork from the day before. Things looked like they were going to work out okay, except they were just going to leave us at the airport (where the police are) when he was done. Fortunately for us, his papers took just as long to get so we made it back in time for me to make it to my classes.

So I left Marshall for UnB, met up with Tina, then went looking for my class. After waiting 30 minutes at the classroom, I started looking around some more and discovered a sign further down the hallway saying the translation class wouldn't start to next week. Okay, so I headed to the herp lab and was able to work for about an hour there, before I had my next class. However, the door was locked to the classroom, which worried me, so I waited a bit for more students, asked some people, then went to the Biology secretary. She prints my schedule out and shows me the class changed days and started Monday, and is now Monday and Wednesday, which is when I have another class at the same time. Problem. . . And I already missed the first class.

So I visited the library for some 'happy' reading materials, and checked my email--- Marshall found out that our free housing may be unavailable due to an illness in the teacher's family. And to top the day off, after our hour and some bus ride home, a huge knife fell from the shelf in the kitchen and fortunately only nicked the pants I was wearing; but it was more than nerve-wracking for all parties involved.

Today wasn't so bad, I was just 20 minutes late for my first class because the classroom written on the schedule is not correct. . . I have no idea why. A few girls were waiting with me when the class was supposed to start, then they started leaving, so I asked where they were going and followed. Which was a good idea, because they found the class, Fire Ecology in the Cerrado. It was really interesting, though lots of dates and homework assignments were mentioned rapidly at the beginning. . . But the prof was nice and is very willing to help me!

Now off to lunch, then more adventures (aka challenges).

MMM. . . I Like Food

Our BBQ was certainly a success, but we made way more food than the four of us could handle! More people were supposed to show up. . . though it left more for us. And afterward, ice cream for dessert. Delicious!

Tina busy with her German potato salad

Rafael took care of the meat and the seasoned bread (at least until most of it flipped and fell into the coals), here he is cutting steak!

Mmmmm. . . chicken and sausages

Fresh bread!

The end result! (But if I would've taken any more pics I may have been attacked by the ravenous BBQ goers. . .)

Moving In, Waterfalls, BBQs and More!

Another week gone by in Brazil, and this time we're out of our super fancy hotel! Last Monday evening after our 'first day' of school (Marshall for teacher orientation, me for registering for university classes), we called up Dulce and told her we'd like to rent a room at her house. So that evening was spent crazily rearranging furniture and suitcases, all while two guys worked in one of the bathrooms fixing the sink. Dust was flying all over, poor Tina (one of our awesome new housemates) had her stuff literally thrown everywhere by Dulce, who seems to have no concern for other people's possessions. . . Marshall helped take apart an extra twin bed to move, while one of the plumbers helped us measure tables to see if we could fit them through doors -- only to have to take the biggest one around the house and move it through the window! It was insane. At least we made a nice dinner all together, though a little late in the evening.

But now we're all settled in, even after Dulce decided to rearrange
the furniture in the rooms while we were out. Our room has plenty of space for putting items, and the bathroom is really cool. And let's not forget the pool!! The water is freezing cold right now, but it feels great after a long day of much too warm bus rides. Most of the Lake District houses have pools, fortunately, because we may be moving again. . .but to a place for free rent next month in the North Lake District (we are in the South).


In Brasilia it is also really common to leave windows and doors open, especially at night because it gets so cold, and most of the buildings are open corridor and plaza areas, with only certain rooms, like offices or classrooms, air-conditioned. Both EAB (Marshall's school) and UnB (my school) have buildings like this. It's something to get used to because they don't have screens.

Another adjustment we've had to make is the ridiculous bus system, that nobody, not even the bus drivers themselves, understand! Last week we had to just try hopping a few buses from Lago Sul, crossing our fingers that they'd go by where we needed them to. By Friday I think most of us figured them out from our new location, though it means waiting at the bus station at around 7am for Marshall and I with our 8am classes. This week we're hoping to get a student pass to help cut down costs, since it's almost impossible to get anywhere by walking-- though we did try last week a few times. Not so fun. The city was planned with the idea that every person would have a car. Duh JK!! (The president of Brazil that decided to move the capital was Juscelino Kubitschek, hence JK.) I also had a great day on Friday hanging out with the herpetology lab students. We went collecting for some lizards/skinks (not sure which just yet) at the Botanical Garden the the Ecological Reserve. It was a great time and I'm excited to go back again!

Then yesterday, after sleeping in for the first time in a week and having brunch, we all (Tina, Rafael--another housemate with a car!--, Marshall and I) decided to try to find a waterfall called Saia Velha, and then take a visit to the Congress buildings. While everything didn't quite go as planned, considering we didn't have a map or very good directions, it was still a great day of adventures. We drove all over the Cerrado (savanna biome in the center of Brazil) and its red dirt trying to find a waterfall, but all we encountered was this little one, that had a lovely 'decoration' . . .




Then Rafael said he'd never visited the Catetinho, the first actual Brasilia building.
While Brasilia was being constructed the president JK and his directors/engineers stayed at these little cabins. And apparently he liked the color pink!















Next we made it to the heart of government in Brazil, the Praca dos Tres Poderes (Plaza of the Three Powers). We went on a tour of the senate (left, rounded building), congress (bowl), and presidential cabinet rooms, which Marshall enjoyed very much, considering it was all in Portuguese! But between Rafael (who speaks great English) and I, most of us got the general idea.

















Brazilian government is very similar to our American system, with the two houses, though their senate is three per state since they only have 26 states. It was pretty interesting to see everything. We even got to take a seat in the chairs and check out how the elected officials vote.












































Afterward we tried to visit the bank museum, with different currencies and big gold bars on display, but ended up heading to the National Museum that hosts different art exhibits. It's the Star Wars looking building that Marshall, Tina, and Rafael are headed into in the picture. And then back home again for a big meal together and some chit-chatting!















Today we had lots planned because of our Brazilian BBQ! We went shopping this morning for lots of food, and were been busy cooking for most of the afternoon. Right now we are headed to see the new Batman movie at the theater-- subtitled for the Portuguese-challenged among us. . .