The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Miami

It was a dark and stormy night...

casually frightening

No, sorry, it was pretty much the afternoon. Without storms at all. After a week of preparations, we arrived at the Charlotte airport, and Ken, Steve and I were finally underway. The smallish plane, not having enough headroom to accommodate tall fellows like myself, I felt was certainly prone to midair breakdowns probably a hundred and twenty percent of the time. And who knows who the fellow next to me really might be? I was casually frightened but still sane. I knew people were praying for us. All was well.

good ol' Miami

tourism | government | <image source>

For a good while I indulged myself in a good book, letting the sky pass me by. A few tips and swerves alerted me to our arrival near the airport at Miami. While banking circles over azure waters, surveying the hundreds of thousands of terra-cotta colored rooftops, and lanes lined with palms, I got a sense that the world is a much bigger place than just Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Colorado. There was an entire civilization here, in this far-off land of Florida, with its exciting urban sprawl, its fantastic cloudy/sunny skies, its ridiculous flatness that only sea-level can legitimize, and I, only a visitor to this exotic urbana, was to partake of their airport. What a thrill.

pineapple juice

Nevermind; the food here is pretty good but really over priced. Get the jamaican-stuffed hushpuppy and pineapple juice at concourse B, if anything. Don't bother about the banana chips.

the Toshiba projector

the specs <image source>

We had come this far, and all was well. Of course we still had to go through customs. What if they don't allow my projector through without extorting fees? You know this Toshiba projector is a pretty sweet machine. Only 850 bucks! But it may stand out, and may be susceptible to some dishonest fees, from customs officials (and from what i understand, laying down uncalled-for fees is the norm, at the border.)

an Amish Mennonite should really not be photographed

Might I advise the gentle reader to note, that a considerable amount of effort may be avoided, if (before visiting exotic Miami) a little Spanish is learned in advance, or at least a little pidgin-Spanglish that lots of people here use. Also do not be taken by surprise when you see Amish Mennonites on your flight. This is normal. (or... at least within reason)

en route to

São Paulo

the highest safety
rating in its class

If the plane from Charlotte to Miami was a Volkswagen Beetle, the one from there to São Paulo, this one, is one of those spacious dodge minivans. I mean, this plane has quite a decent acreage, and it's very high-class. They offer your choice of movies, music, whatever, to keep you busy for the nine hour flight.

Nine hours? Look at the map. It's like going from Boston to Anchorage, or something.

So i have some books to read, and Mono Lisa Smile to watch. Right now the north Venezuelan coast looms dark beneath me.

july 4

Cuiabá

what kind of city is this? i would often ask myself.

city info | <image source>

I didn't quite know what Brazil was going to be like. Where we are, it's not so much like a jungle. It's a city, obviously, it's Cuiabá. But the climate is just like Pennsylvania's - without any rain or humidity.

my favorite constellation

more info | <image source>

First thing i noticed from the air was probably that the trees are so foreign. They keep a good amount of trees in their city to make it look nice. The stars last night were awesome - and guess what? Guess what's up in the sky at the zenith? None other than my favorite constellation! Scorpio! Dave, Tom, Pam and Nick might remember this one from two summers back, when for three nights we toured the night sky? In the States, Scorpio hugs the horizon, if it ever rises. Down here, it's in its full glory

The language here is beautiful! It rolls off the tongue, and makes so much sense! I took three years of spanish in high school and forgot a good deal of it, but this language is bringing it all back. With a vengeance. Except this language is more artsy and fun. And the people, they're interesting too...

a tree.

Well the missionaries at the SIL center here (where we're staying) welcomed us when we hopped off the plane. Eric and Jonathan were our escorts and our interpreters. Thank God we had them. My luggage got sent to North Brazil in a tagging accident, so they were able to work with the helpful staff to recover it, by the next day.

what do these road signs mean, anyway?

Brazil in a lot of ways is an awkward place to be. From what i can tell in the city, there're hardly any 2-way streets. Traffic laws? What are those? There is this gigantic building set aside by the government that sells everything; fake Rolexes, bootlegged DVDs, shirts, games, fake jewelry, illegally smuggled goods, you name it, it's probably sold there.

And Cuiabá has a crime lord. On the way home from grocery shopping on day two, Bill and Roland mentioned it to us - after we had passed. I guess no gawking at the crime lord around here.

There are lots of very modern things, in terms of both high-tech and high-fashion; i was told that Brazil snaps up on the latest fashions *snap* like that, much quicker than the Americans do. At the same time on the other end of things, you can tell that Poverty is everywhere. Crime is a big worry; every house has a high wall around it, even in the crowded city lots, and many walls have glass shards or barbed wire laced around the top.

What struck me first riding through the streets were the remarkable new smells. The trees and earth smell different than they do back home, and so does the food. So do the goings-on in the city. It's July 4, and already i'm used to it; i can't smell it anymore, but i kind of know it's there; Steve tells me it is.

There's so much trash in the city roads in a lot of places, it's (hard to say) worse maybe than it was in the slums of Camden, Philadelphia! Although you don't necessarily have to be in a poor section of Cuiab&aaute; to have this litter all around. It's just sort of there. Already i don't take note of it much.

a local brand: Guaraná Antarctica

Again in contrast to that, there are healthy businesses, flourishing just like you'd expect anywhere in the States. Only thing is, the high rise towers are never office buildings. They're always highrise apartments and hotels. It's interesting. They've got their own brands of food, of cars, everything is high quality and pretty much Brazil produced. Except your ubiquitous Coke and Chevy.

On the whole i don't feel out of place. I'm learning the language as quickly as i need to, and the people are accomodating and friendly.

What if i were to do this for the rest of my life? Work with JAARS, i mean? I've actually been considering the things i could do, the paths i would need to take, and really praying about this.