Brazil - Not For Beginners?

One week later, and I still can't believe I'm in Brazil.

Country #35 and it was actually quite divine. I HAD had a ticket to Peru. That one got canceled. And starting in January, Brazil will require a fancy visa to enter. So, it made sense. I found the cheapest flights, booked two separately, and counted down the days until I would again leave the cold of Wisconsin.

Four hours of driving, three flights, not nearly enough layover time to get off the plane, check my bag that had been a carry on on the first flight because I like to book flights separately because they were cheaper, and check in and get back through security for my second flight. - I had convinced myself if I missed the flight it'd be fine, I have all the time in the world (until work on Monday) and can go anywhere...) 

(I take an airport selfie in every airport ;))

Thankfully, I didn't miss the flight, even though I had to take 30 minutes to try to book a return flight. I wasn't able to buy a flight out of Brazil because I didn't have a Brazilian tax number (we'll come back to that) but the ticket agent was enamored enough with me to let me get by. I made it to my flight in time to board.

Adventure #1 of many...

On the flight, I met Pedro, a friendly Brazilian who gave me a window seat to glue my face to the window as we landed in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerias. He gave me the low down on what to do and where to go and told me to call if I needed anything. (I basically spent the next 4 days texting him with questions. Thank you Pedro, you're the best!) He stuck with me through migration and customs as I got my Brazilian stamp in my new passport, and stayed with me until he was pulled into a different baggage checking room and I was on my own, left to defend myself in Brazil.

They say Brazil isn't for beginners. I figured at country 35, if I was a beginner, now was the time to not be anymore. Over the next five days, I came to find out why they say this...and humbly crown myself not a beginner.

When arriving in a new country, the first step is to get a SIM card for your phone, and get cash. Both of these steps can be done at the airport....usually. I made my way to the money exchange booth and asked for an ATM. This is when I learned that my three months of Portuguese lessons did not, in fact, prepare me for life in Brazil. (It's okay, a week later I got the hang of it.)

Praça da Liberdade

 I went to the ATM where I had no luck withdrawing cash. I went to another ATM where I also had no luck withdrawing cash. I gave up and went back to the money exchange booth. Thankfully, I had at the last minute before leaving home I had gotten my mom to be my personal ATM and had exactly $110 USD. I exchanged $60 of them, figuring I might need more in another country later. (Note to future self: Take $200 cash and exchange $110 in the beginning. You can always change it back. You can NOT magically create another money exchange booth in the middle of Brazil in case your card refuses to give you cash from ANY ATM.)

Step one failed. Step two: Get a SIM card. 

After asking in the money exchange booth where I can get a SIM, I made my way to the pharmacy where they sell phone chips (Yeah, idk. As Kate would say, "Because Brazil.") After not understanding a thing the guy was telling me, I messaged my new good friend Pedro from the plane and had him translate for me. Apparently, I could not buy a phone chip unless I had a Brazillian CPF number - the tax number that kept me from buying a flight out of Brazil earlier. So, my good friend Pedro kindly let me use his tax number and birthdate. But, for some reason, the phone said, "try again later." Well, at least I could the chip and had a Brazilian number and had internet...for whenever it started working. (Spoiler alert: It didn't.) ...except my card didn't work. We tried it twice. Then tried another card which finally worked. Except, in the end...all three transactions worked. (So basically, I paid three times for a phone service that never worked.)

(Forgive the terrible photographs - I didn't feel safe having my phone out most of the time, so kept the photo time to a minimum)

Anyway, the guy was kind and kept trying to get my phone activated and left the store to run me out to the bus that was leaving in 3 minutes as he kept trying with my phone. Phone never worked, but I did catch my bus into the city.

So, after a bit over an hour bus ride, I arrived at the bus station. I was a little apprehensive about how I was going to get a ride - taxis are known as dangerous, and you can't order an uber without a phone - but there was wifi in the bus terminal. But, Jenna made dumb mistake number two (after not bringing $200) - and decided to get in a taxi. 

The conversation went something like this. 

"How much to ___"

"30 Real"

Me in shock. "Nooo, 10." (In uber its 10)

"30"

"No, 10."

"Okay, 10." He put my bag in the trunk. (Dumb mistake #3 - letting him.)

He took me to the airbnb.

"30"

"We agreed on 10. The meter says 12."

"But you have a bag. 30." He didn't move. I pulled the money out of my sock (Smart tips thanks to dad) and paid. He gave me my bag.

I didn't say thank you.

Thankfully, arriving into the airbnb was a much better experience. I was greeted by a bubbly elderly lady who spoke with the thickest Portuguese accent i've ever heard. She was helpful and the internet was great, so I was able to sleep and work with no problems. The airbnb was on the 13th floor and had the most amazing view of the city.

Over the next few days, between trying to get my bank card and phone to work and avoiding taxis, I explored the area on foot. The city reminds me a lot more of Kenya than it does of Central America, besides El Salvador. 

It just never felt quite safe, though never felt inherenty dangerous, either. At the airbnb I met another guest who gave me a tour of the area and took me to a delicious local restaraunt buffet.

 Unfortunetly, the delicious food gave me a minor case of food poisioning. I went to sleep and slept 14 hours -- all we need is a little sleep, right. ;D 

Over the next few days as I walked around, I noted a few things. Number one, people looked away and ignored me, even if I tried to say hi. This was a little of a culture shock after the endless greetings of Guatemalans. Two, there were more homeless than I'd ever seen in my life. 

The poverty was heart-wrenching, and I was in the center of the city. (Driving to the bus station later the uber driver showed me an even worse area.) The streets are covered in graffiti, and not the streeet art kind. 

One morning from the airbnb balcony I witnessed a group of people set up a road block on a bridge, do some dances in the road, and then take their roadblock away since it wasn't really keeping the confused drivers off the bridge. As my friend Kate said...Anytime something strange happens just say..."Because Brazil." (Enjoy the story, ignore my poor snapchat photography skills. :)

One of my favorite parts to explore is the local market. The Brazilian market was similar to many latin American markets, but much cleaner. It felt more like a World Market in a big US city than what i'd expect a Brazilian market to be. They also offered samples of everything, from candies to cheese and strange things I'd never seen before. My favorte part, the pet store. The most exotic birds I'd ever seen, it sounded like a cramped zoo.

Sunday the city blocks off a few blocks of streets and has a huge market. 

There were vendors of everything, clothes, food, art, and trinkets. There were people dancing everywhere, random speakers and a variety of music with people jamming out.

unfortunately, the phone problems continued until my last morning in BH. I won't bore with the details, but it took four days, and a sweet lady in the phone store that felt sorry for me and spent two hours tryin to get my chip to work. She finally managed to - but I had to buy a new chip. The problem...I didn't have a CPF number to pay with my credit card. So, she said she'd pay and I could just give her cash.

 Perfect. So I go to the ATM...and another...and another...and Brazil just doesn't want me to have cash. Thank sweet Jesus I somehow found 50 real I didn't know I had, so was able to get at least a few days and small bit of internet. I gave her the cash, thanked her profusely, and took a deep breath of relief that at least one of my problems was solved.

The next day, I called an uber with my newly working phone, and hopped a bus out of the city, excited for things to calm down. :)

Next stop: Ouro Preto <3

Seven Ears and One Big Volcano

 March 19th, 2022

The world is a beautiful place, and I wish I could remember every moment of every one of these days; encapsulate it in a little file in my memory, easily recalled any time life isn't quite as beautiful.

Many volcanos have been climbed before, but none this massive. This one, called "7 Orejas" which translates to 7 ears, has not just one peak, but seven, and the width of the peaks around the crater of the once active volcano is just under 30 kilometers. (18.6 miles)

(Here we can see the last two peaks, as we stood on peak one.)

From the peaks, that range from a mild walk in a meadow, to climbing on your hands and knees through thick underbrush, and scaling vertical dirt walls, you can see dozens of other volcanos, including my favorite, Santa Maria, and her baby, active volcano Santiaquito.

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Our challenge today: Summit each of the seven peaks...And I always thought one was satisfying.

Today started at 2 am. (Actually yesterday at 2 pm because I decided to arrive a day early to get some sleep instead of traveling all night;D) Bags packed, food carefully planned, body (yeah right) prepared and prepped. We loaded the bus with 30 sleepyheads, and drove to the base of the volcano.

Siete Orejas is so massive that you can't even see it in one photo - but you could see each summit, that looked like a volcano each one.

(7 Orejas filled with clouds, with Santa Maria in the background)

As we started out in the darkness, the guide told us it was 2 hours to the first peak. Kids stuff! I thought.

We all gathered for a prayer, asking for protection and safety on our venture before enjoying a simple uphill hike to the first peak where we watched an incredible sunrise, ate breakfast, and watched the little but powerful Santiaguito erupt in the distance....but then, the real fun started.

. As we headed back down, the trail narrowed to a deer path. But it didn't only narrow side to side, but also, the ceiling closed in.

For the next two hours we crawled, bent down, backed up, and slid through little vine tunnels fighting with long thin branches with thorns and dead flowers throwing pollen dust everywhere. But hey, it was fun!

We reached our second and third peaks this way. Our fourth peak was a bit simpler, just narrow deer paths through the woods, interspersed with beautiful views, open meadows, and lots of brown, dead grass and flowers thanks to six months of dry season.

The next section became greener, and steeper, and after summit number five, which consisted of bouldering style climbing up rock walls and breathtaking views...

...a couple people decided to descend the mountain and take a bus to camp. I was half seriously considering it as my 50 pound backpack was cramping my style but...nahh.

As we continued we entered a cloud forest. We stopped and ate lunch in the chilling cold and then...well...

Summit six was hard. And long. And I really started to question my sanity. It was more or less straight up in sand: two steps forward one step back. By now we had been walking for over 12 hours, and you could see it in everyone's face. Every break we took, everyone passed out.

But when we got to the top- the highest point of the volcano, suddenly, everyone came alive. "Feliz cumbre!" (Happy summit!) And hugs were had every time someone made it up the grueling trail. And from our place on top of summit number six, we could see number seven - the final, and toughest challenge.

It also ended up being my favorite, as I realized that being a kid on a Wisconsin dairy farm prepared me well - nothing more than running up the hill in the woods, pulling yourself up on roots and branches.

By then, night had fallen. We all had a renewed energy, knowing the challenge was over and it was all downhill from here - literally. Everyone congratulated each other and pulled out our headlamps for the downhill slide in the dark. (It was pure sand, hence the slide.)

Before starting the decent, Kenneth called a little reunion with the other guides. It was difficult to hear what they were saying, but word spread that "there may be men with machetes...but 'they know we're coming.'" Real comforting, right? Everything was going well, the full moon popped out behind the mountain, little night-time animals buzzed and chirped and flew around and glowed. We had come out to a "main" trail, when suddenly, there they were. We all stopped. In front of us, doting long machetes and club looking things, were somewhere around ten men standing in an intimidating line, shoulder to shoulder,. We called Kenneth and he fearlessly called a greeting out and approached the men. (I had been in the front. I slowly inched backwards letting the fearless men go first. Ha) Although I was surprisingly not afraid - I think calmed by all the experienced hikers around me that seemed unphased - the men didn't seem to happy. It was hard to make out everything they were saying, but Kenneth was calm, explaining how he had called someone and had permission to be there. He told them the name and the men all said, "We don't know anyone by that name." (I potentially felt a little worried at that point.) But then Kenneth showed them the calls, messages, and the full name of the contact - who, thank God, happened to be in the circle of men and had just forgotten to let the other men know, so when his whole name was said, all the men just looked at him.

.

After a few more minutes of discussion, they stepped aside so we could continue down the trail. After we passed (I couldn't help worrying just a bit that they were going to attack us from behind after they let us go.) we continued into an eerily quiet town. It was dead. No people, few lights, a full moon glow...Kenneth told us to pass the town silently, that we don't want to disturb anyone here. But then...WOOF...At first it was just one...then two..then...imagine, a town full of something like 300 dogs, angry to have intruders. Thank God most of the dogs were behind fences, and for the ones that weren't, Kenneth seemed to be gifted in scaring them off simply by holding out a finger and staring them in the eyes. We continued through the town, up another mountain, and the barking grew fainter.

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The rest of the trek, another hour through the woods along a valley, was uneventful. We arrived to camp, ate a cold dinner, took warm showers, and passed out...Just to be woken up at 6 am for one more volcano.

Chicabal, with a lake in the crater and views of all the other volcanos. It was worth it, but my knees were done. I headed back to camp early and took a nap before we packed up and climbed in the bus for the three hour drive home.

Every time I challenge myself, physically, mentally, and emotionally, I question why on earth I put myself through this - today I can barely walk, my knees hurt, every muscle in my body hurts, and I'm exhausted beyond belief. And then I remember those little files of happiness: the way that strangers become friends and push each other to keep going, the laughter and jokes to distract us from our aching muscles, the views from above the clouds, the pure rush of adrenaline as we slide on our bellies under a tunnel of bush and pokey vines, the way the headlamps shine in the dark, illuminated only by the full moon, the way the clouds drift about among the rock cliff faces...and the pure joy in every face when we finally reach the top.

Not every moment in life is beautiful, but it's impossible to deny that billions of tiny beautiful moments make life, life.

Moving Forward

Exciting news! (It is all exciting when we are moving, forward, isn´t it?)  Today we ordered another 75 laminas, along with the boards needed to complete several more kitchens. They should be delivered tomorrow, and next Sunday we will again go to Esquintla to deliver them to the community.

I can´t help but think over and over how perfectly everything is falling together, perfectly orchestrated. From the connections, the donations, and the latest, straight from the hand of God, out of a simple act of obedience, we have found an amazing driver willing to donate his truck and/or time to deliver everything!! Thank you, Omar, and thank you, Jesus!! :D

Even though the gofundme says we are only halfway to our monetary goal, we have actually met and PASSED our goal, thanks to private donations off of gofundme as well! Thank you so much to everyone who donated both on and offline!! Sincerely, it means the world to me and to so many others.

Since we started this volcano project, so many more needs have presented themselves. Even though we will never be able to help everyone, the cool thing about this is since we have a little extra money after the kitchen project is completed, we will be doing what we can to help a few projects: Continuing with the volcano victims, supporting young cancer patients in the city, clinic development in a rural community,  and rebuilding after a huge fire in a poverty-stricken area.  Even though we are not sure what this will look like yet, we will continue to visit the areas with needs and do what we can, where we can, with what we have.

(Photo borrowed from Guatemala Volcano Relief Community)

There are so many details that could be shared, and please feel free to message me for details or any questions you may have. I can not thank you enough for all the support and generosity for this project. 

As always, I will continue to update every step of the way, and if you would be willing to continue to share and spread the word, donations are still welcome, and I will do my very best  to use every dollar to impact the most people and bring joy where so little is to be found. 

You can donate in person (message me!) or on GoFundMe at Light Through The Fuego

Much love always, xoxo