Brasil

Oi from Maringá!

Maringá is a very small city in Southern Brazil, but it has already brought me so many new experiences in only a week and a half.

What has happened so far:

1. The plane from Miami to São Paulo was delayed and I didn't make my connection to Maringá - forcing me to try and communicate with airport staff who knew very little English to get my next flight. With a mixture of poor Spanish and a lot of hand signals, I finally had my ticket for the next flight to Maringá - at 6:00 am the next day. So I spent the night trying to sleep in the airport on top of my luggage next to some homeless men with an advertisement for Turkish Airlines blasting every hour on the hour. But, I actually loved that night. Never have I been so far out of my comfort zone and the feeling was amazing. I doubt I will be flustered from a missed connection or having to sleep in odd places or having to communicate with someone who does not share the same language due to this experience, and I got to do this all while watching an incredible Game 6 between the Heat and Pacers!
2. I met a wonderful host family and their friends who are extremely nice and have taken me all over Maringá. I've had a drink in countless bars, parties, barbecues, and even a pet shop. I've made a caipriniha, the best drink in the world and national drink of Brazil. I've seen meat being cooked over an open fire in a variety of different ways and tried many different fruits and other foods. It has been a great time so far and I hope it gets even better with the World Cup approaching and my first travel plans coming up this weekend to a waterfall (Cataratas do Iguaçu). 
3. I started working for the NGO this week and their projects are actually very interesting. It is called Instituto Lixo e Cidadania and they work with cooperatives around Maringá to help improve the recycling and trash collecting industry here. The current project we are working on involves cutting out the middle man to help the cooperatives earn more money. The big companies that buy the recycled goods will only buy it in large quantities, so a middle man buys the goods from every cooperative at a low price and then sells it to the companies. So my NGO is working with the government and the cooperatives to help them create a union of sorts so they can work together and get more money by selling it straight to the big company. This NGO is also a branch from a larger corporation in a different city and they want separate and become independent so they can get more funding from the government. I'm not sure how that works but that is what they said and I believe them!
4. I went out to a bar and played "Eu Nunca" which is like Never Have I Ever but with alcohol (their special rum cachaça). I did not make it to the party later that night
5. Worked out in a gym where everything was in kilograms and got very confused.
6. Learned that everyone here drives manual cars because they are so much cheaper. On that note, the majority of people here are crazy drivers.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but there are many weeks and many blog posts to come. I'll put up pictures and video later.

Tchau!

Colin