Greetings from Brazil!! :)

Hello! :) Hard to believe this is the last country for my program. I will be back to the Untied States, May 18th. 

I arrived to São Paulo, Brazil April, 15th. For the first few days my group stayed in a conference center where many retreats are held. It was really nice to have a few days to adjust to the 5 hour time difference and catch up on sleep from our 6m departure from Cape Town, South Africa. I am now only a one hour time difference from US eastern time which has been so nice!!:) 

The primary language here in Brazil is Portuguese so managing the language barrier has definitely been difficult at times although thankfully spanish is commonly spoken by many so I can at least get by on most occasions! :)

São Paulo is the third largest city in the world so it definitely has been an adjustment attempting to understand the transportation system in such a big city with so many people everywhere. Brazil is also the host of this years World Cup so as time passes more and more people will soon start to come. 

During our time in the retreat center we were able to explore some parts of the city of São Paulo. Our group went on a hike in one of the largest urban forests in the world one day which was amazing to see.

We also were able to go to the Afro-Brazil museum which was one of the best museums I have ever seen. All of the exhibits were so detailed and informative.

After a few days of adjustment our group was off to our rural visit in, Parra du Torvo,  the southern most part of the Sao Paulo state, 6 hours away from the city. This part of Brazil is the country side and was absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived to our destination we took a boat across a river to get to the place where the family we were staying with lived. Fun Fact: although my program did not allow for us to zip line, instead of using the pulley boat system to get across many of the family members would take the zip line that they had created to get back and forth. I definitely was very jealous.

 

After arriving I quickly was able to come to terms with how amazing the area was. We went to amazing waterfalls right after arriving! :)  I was definitely surrounded with nature and it was so nice to get away from the city. The purpose of our trip was to learn about the rural life through learning the narratives of the people we met along the way.  I quickly learned how amazing and inspiring Pedro, Maria and the rest of their family are through their continued selflessness during our stay in their house. Agro-foresting is a type of agriculture that looks to grow both fruits and vegetables that will be able to both sustain lower income families and allow excess for sell. The Brazilian government partners with the five Agro-foresting farms and provides incentives and money for the goods that are produced. This type of farming is moving away from mono-culture farming as this type is very detrimental to the land in the long run and was the original mode of agriculture before agro-foresting was discovered and implemented. 

Pedro was part of the first efforts to integrate this into both his family and his community. His intelligence in regards to farming and each individual plant, vegetable, and fruit he was growing is admirable. He is so knowledgable and really lives a life to ensure the environment is protected. Pedro described humans and nature as one in the same. Pedro emphasized the fact that many times people view their role as above that of nature when in reality everyone and everything should be treated equal. The three days I spent on the island with definitely be experiences that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. The compassion, care and love this family showed to all 35 of our group members was just amazing! 

 

The last few days of our rural visit we stayed in the city near by in a hotel. We visited the Qulimbo community which is a community where in the time of slavery in Brazil, many slaves escaped to this are many years ago. The community presently is made of slave descendants and our group was fortunate to hear their struggles and fight to keep the rights to their land.

After a week of moving around quite a bit I am now moved and settled into my home-stay where I will be for the last few weeks I am here.  My home stay family has been so wonderful and I have only been here a few days. I am looking forward to learning more Portuguese, exploring the city and of course valuing all of the time I am able to spend with my host family! :) 

During my rural visit I heard very unfortunate news about my grandmother unfortunately falling and breaking her leg . :( I am so happy to say that the surgery went well and I am hoping all will continue to go well in her recovery. It definitely is not easy being so far away when something such as this happens but I am continuously so grateful for all of the support and constant contact I have been able to have with my family. I am wishing her a speedy recovery and I look forward to seeing her in a few weeks! :)

I hope all is well with everyone! :) Thank again to everyone for your continued support! 

Hillary xoxo 

"I may not have money but I have all of the riches in the world, just look around me" -Pedro ( in reference to his extreme value and connection with nature)