I recently traveled to several cities in Rio Grande do Sol, a southern state in Brazil. By the end of the trip, four friends and I traveled from Porto Alegre to Gramado, Caxias do Sul, Canela, and Torres, eventually returning to Porto Alegre. We rented a car for the weeklong trip. This entry will discuss my experiences there, as well as my plans for the next two months.
Rio Grande do Sul is a beautiful state with varied landscapes and cultures. Because of this variety, I felt that I was traveling across several different European countries. Unfortunately, my experience at the first and last destination, Porto Alegre, was not pleasant. Although Porto Alegre possesses some beautiful scenery, we stayed in a grungy part of town, and its pollution and messiness bothered me.
Happily, Gramada was a very different experience. The city felt like it was a part of central Europe: The architecture seemed to be Swiss, and the food seemed to be mostly German. In addition, several stores specialized in Swiss chocolate. The number of blonds was also striking, considering their rarity in São Paulo.
The next city was Caxias do Sul where we visited the nearby Vale dos Vinhedos. Unlike Gramada, Caxias do Sul reminded me of France because of the wine-production. We visited an interesting winery where one facility produced wine and housed most of the winery’s business operations. The winery possessed many international partnerships, allowing it to import different grapes and distribute the brands of various companies.
The next city was Canela, the city where our luck began to change. On the way to a nearby park, I remember having a superstitious fear of an emaciated, white dog. After commenting that the dog was a bad luck, we visited the park, but a thick fog prevented us from seeing the main attractions, a valley and waterfall. After failing to see what we set out to see, we traveled from the park on a dirt road and ran over a small rock, which tore off a piece of the cars bottom. The car stopped, and a friend and I hitchhiked to the main town. We then dealt with the car-rental agency, towed the car back into town, and drove back to Porto Alegre in a taxi. We slept in Porto Alegre thinking that insurance would pay for everything, but they eventually charged us for the car repairs based on a questionably broad clause in our contract.
Despite the negative experiences in Conela, several positive experiences happened as well. Within and on the way to the city, we saw beautiful pastures, cattle, and authentic gauchos (Brazilian cowboys). In addition, I had my first intelligent conversation in Portuguese with a townswoman about Bolsa Familia and similar initiatives. Although I could only understand 60 percent of what this woman said, she seemed to think that Bolsa Familia and other initiatives caused laziness. She pointed to the neglect of a fruit tree plantation and short workdays as evidence. Although I am not sure whether or not I agree, her opinions were interesting. Finally, I enjoyed observing the distaste of the small-town residents of Conela for big cities.
Our final stop was Torres, my favorite city in the South. Torres possesses the longest beach in the world, and some very beautiful dunes and cliffs.
Now that this trip is over, I am only now beginning to realize that my semester at GV is complete and I will soon be working at Childhood Brazil. Looking back, I only regret that I spent too much time fixated on grades, which seem to be rather random, and not enough time socializing. Additionally, I am a little nervous about the sharp transitions between school, work, South Bend, and Bloomington. However, I think that I can use these sharp transitions to form new habits and complete some ambitious goals. I hope to complete the following in the next two months:
• Become conversational in Portuguese
• Make a material and innovative contribution to Childhood Brazil through seven new corporate grant proposals and new methods of communication and marketing
• Stay in shape through participation in a new athletic activity
• Read Anna Karenina
I could talk about my strategies for reaching these goals, but they are probably not very interesting.
Within two weeks, I will attempt to write about business culture in Brazil.
