Morro de Prazeres, a Brazilian afternoon, and the Botanical Gardens

Hey all!

I've been having quite a variety of experiences these past couple days. On Thursday I went to visit Morro de Prazeres, a favela (slum) on a hill not too far from the area where I'm staying. Some of the young people from the favela guided us around the steep, windy staircases that lead all throughout the concrete houses that make up the favela. Near the top of the hill, MTV had re-vamped a soccer field for something they filmed there, and the field was being put to good use! We also were shown two short films made in conjunction with people from Prazeres, which won some awards in Brazil and Europe. It was an eye-opening experience, mostly, I think, for the fact that it seemed so normal. Favelas have this image of being full of crime, and grime, and misery. This favela was pacified—the drug-lords replaced by peaceful police officers, and now it's just the home of very normal daily life. I don't know much about the relative socioeconomic status of the residents, but I felt no divide between my privileged life in the US, and that of the guides or the kids playing soccer. We chatted with them, talked about our likes and dislikes, and enjoyed the view. Although I did feel a little strange taking a tour of someone's neighborhood, it was a good experience.

On Friday I met up with Sam, a brazilian friend of one of my friends from college. We had lunch at a nice restaurant, toured around the historical center, and then went to Leblon—one of the most upscale neighborhoods—to wander around a mall there and then see a brazilian movie. It was great to speak portuguese with Sam and talk about some of the differences between our languages. Seeing the brazilian film was also great fun, though it was hard for me to understand many of the jokes and puns. The film was made in Rio, so it was great to recognize some of the filming locations. We even passed by one on the bus on the way home! By the end of the day, my brain was tired from working in portuguese all day, but it was wonderful to be able to speak portuguese all afternoon!

Saturday I went to the circus and helped out as usual, though my help was needed more than usual, since one of the coaches was away for the week. After helping out with rehearsals for the upcoming show (this Thursday), I got a haircut, trying hard to remember any haircut related vocabulary in Portuguese :).

Yesterday I took a trip to the Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful, as expected. I took a stroll around Lagoa, the big lake in Rio, and then headed back to Leblon for lunch.

Today it's rainy and overcast, so I'll probably just take it easy.