Amazonia! Nossa!

I just went a 4 hour boat ride through the Amazon's Rio Negro to see Ariaú Amazon Towers and some pink fresh water dolphins! Normally, nature freaks me out but lately I have gained some serious bug killing skills and the Amazon is just too beautiful to miss.  Luckily the Rio Negro had no mosquitos because of the acidity of the water, and towards the end of the day there was a big storm since it's the rainy season now.

The boat ride was incredibly beautiful, the Rio Negro is so massive that at times you can't even see the other side. I never thought of the river being wavy and violent before, but the river looked more like the ocean when a heavy rain storm hit us.  The boat suddenly seemed like a small canoe and was almost tipped over by the huge waves!

Ariaú Amazon Towers is a very odd sort of hotel.  It is entirely built on stilts which creates a really nice view of the forest below. There are lots of macaco's (monkey's) running around, as well as lots of birds that I have never seen before.

Next we travelled to the small riverside community of São Tomé and a floating platform where we were going to swim with the the Amazon pink dolphins, named Boto-cor-de-rosa.  Unfortunately there was a really strong storm that scared the botos away so I didn't get a chance to swim with them, but I did get a good look at them.  The botos are really friendly and powerful - they can change directions in a second, so I was sort of glad that I didn't get whipped by some boto fin. 

Palacete Provincial

The Palacete Provincial is beautifully restored complex of 7 different mini museums in downtown Manaus. The art gallery is the best part because it contains a fantastic collection of Manauara artists as well as some great Brazilian modern art. There is also a very good working archaeology studio open to the public, and an image library where you can rent movies.  The new garden opposite the museum is also worth a visit, Manaus is developing fast.  There is always something new being constructed, many of our friends have said Manaus has changed so much it is unrecognizable from 5 years ago.

Swapping Knick Knacks for Macaws

This internship is nothing like what I expected.  I am shocked and amazed at all the fantastic things I was fortunate enough to experience, such as living in another country, learning another language, and travelling.

In Manaus we have run into our fair share of difficult situations. With Ifam and Prosamim we had bad luck with timing, both organizations are extremely busy and do not have the capacity to involve us in their projects. The first 3 months were quite a shock because it was difficult to create and negotiate some tasks to work on and some research to collect, with projects or contacts that never seemed to work out.

On top of the work problems, Manaus is a difficult place to live if you do not have expensive air conditioning, a car, and oodles of money. The bus is also difficult because there is no map, no names for bus stops, hilariously the bus fares change often, and the bus system is not connected - you can only go to certain stops from certain bus stations. Luckily we have some good friends to give us the mindboggling secrets of the bus system.

From our apartment it takes about an hour depending on traffic to get into the city centre and then another 20 min walk of death in the blaring heat, which feels like a lifetime to get to the Ifam or Prosamim buildings. When we arrive at Ifam we have a nice chat with all our wonderful friends, have some lunch and then it’s time for the long journey home again! Moving around takes up a lot of time so we feel busy and exhausted without doing anything! But thankfully everything I was nervous about like bugs, heat, or illness did not turn out to be that big a deal, it takes time but I realized you can get used to anything.

Manaus is a very new partner site so it will take a lot of time and effort to develop more efficient future internships. I think the role of interns needs to be more defined, and Ifam will have to put more resources into meaningfully involving interns. Although I can see how these things will depend on timing and the availability of resources which can be fairly unpredictable. For example, we had some very bad luck with timing because the Mulheres Mil program is not running and preparations are slow, while Prosamim ran out of community events for us to participate in.

As the second interns in Manaus we were able to gather some useful research on our partner organizations which is very exciting because it can be used to develop future projects of international cooperation and community empowerment! We have also been successful at network building by meeting new contacts and important organizational leaders.

I did not realize how much work my previous volunteer internship involved on the part of my employer. I was trained several times regarding how to use systems and spreadsheets to organize information, people were available to answer my questions, interns were encouraged to sit in on meetings, and we were allowed to participate in many areas of program delivery.  I now see that this internship in Manaus will require more involvement from Ifam but of course this will depend on timing and resources.

Previously I expected to create our own tasks and methods of gathering information, and this was certainly true but we were mostly dependent on the ability of Ifam and Prosamim to include us in their projects. We spent a lot of time trying to chase down meetings and people to let us know about projects, everyone is so busy with their own work that they found it difficult to involve us. So we had to adapt to be more patient and wait until there was an event or task to do. Everyone at Prosamim and Ifam are so welcoming and friendly, many people did the best they could to provide us with some organizational information despite being so busy. 

So now after seeing the amazing work of the other interns in different locations, I am wondering how is an internship created? Perhaps there needs to be a specific job or area that has work to do. At Ifam and Prosamim we have no specific role or task so it was confusing for people to understand what we were doing.  The reports and organizational research for Niagara College was the most important task for us because it was clearly defined, maybe Ifam could develop a similar project for interns to work on in the future. Because Ifam is a school and not an NGO there was not a lot of work for interns to participate in, however in the future there would definitely be more potential for professional French and English teachers here.   

I am hopeful that future interns and projects will further develop partnerships with Manauara organizations because the people are so dedicated to innovative development programs. I gained some very unique international work experience that I am thrilled to use in upcoming cover letters and interviews! Personally, I feel more relaxed and flexible after our Brazilian adventures. There is a time to work, and a time to sip graviola juice on the beach. Só alegria!  

Poor Niagara!

Foz do Iguaçu is a one horse town, but boasts some fantastic attractions such as the Cataratas waterfalls and Itaipu dam. Foz is also very near the borders of Paraguay and Argentina so I was able to have a great visit with Veronica and Graham in Puerto Iguazú.

The coatis were my guides on the Brasileiro side of the falls.

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Iguaçu Falls is a massive chain of 275 waterfalls in an area of 3km, with heights up to 80m! Luckily I was able to visit both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides of the Cataratas.  The Brazilian side is very well developed and has a great hiking trail along the side of the falls, and at the end is Garganta do Diablo the largest waterfall.  There is an amazing platform where you can walk out into the middle of the falls and get soaking wet.  On the Argentinian side there is a platform directly on top of Garganta do Diablo, plus you get a great view of the Brasileiro side of the falls.

The top of the falls from Argentina

Garganta do Diablo from Argentina

Itaipu is the largest dam in the world, and provides about 22% of the electric energy consumed in Brasil and 90% of the energy used in Paraguay. Itaipu is a massive block of concrete and spillways.  I'm not really sure what happened but I wasn't allowed to go on one of the tours because the ticket office said my skirt was too short which was really weird for a tourist place- can't be showing too much ankle around the dam!

Terra Vermelha

Londrina is a city that is merely 77 years old, and is nicknamed “little London” because of the fog. The differences in urban development between my visits to the southern parts of Brasil and my life in Manaus is slightly mindboggling, I would like to understand the history behind these differences. Londrina illustrates the historical roots that created structures of development that led to the south and the north of the country to take radically different directions.

In 1924 the British were in the process of negotiating debts in southern Brasil, the governor of Parana proposed a plan with the British that would also help colonize the interior of the state.  Together they created “Companhia de Terras Norte do Parana” to colonize the fertile land and develop industries such as coffee.  The Companhia divided the land and sold parts of it off to investors.  This brought in the first European settlers of German, Spanish, British, and Portuguese descent. Brazilians from Sao Paulo state and Minas Gerais also migrated to the fast developing Parana. In the 1950’s Londrina was the world’s largest producer of coffee, ouro verde or green gold was the nickname given to coffee beans.

In 1935 the famous anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss was recruited to design a plan for the city of Londrina.  Levi-Strauss wanted the city to be designed with social purpose to create spaces of leisure and transportation, instead of solely focused around commercial interests. 

British investment accelerated the growth of Londrina, public and private services were already available in the 1930’s such as: electricity, sewage systems, infrastructure, medical services, and schools.  It is interesting to note that in much of the north and northeastern parts of Brasil these basic services are still not available.  Many scholars suggest that this is because of the history of plantations and slavery has created more socio-economic extremes in these regions.   

Manaus grew in a similar way, except with the rubber boom which generated fast fortunes and rapidly developed the city.  However, along with the decline of the rubber boom the city followed unable to cut off its dependence on the extraction of resources.  So what made Londrina so different?

Londrina’s development was radically different because British investment was under the terms of the government of Londrina in the form of the Companhia, where Brazilians had the capacity to negotiate.  Money was not only in the hands of the British; the government of Londrina could plan the development of the city to include social services and infrastructure.  Whereas, Manaus was unable to further develop because of the exploitative nature of the extraction industries.  Well that is what I think so far, I will have to do some more research on this! Brazil is an exciting mix of contradictions and extremes.

Levi-Strauss's original design for Londrina

The first railway in Londrina, note the union jack 

Curitiba

Ópera de Arame

Parque Tanguá

Paraná is remarkably different from any other state in Brasil with its well developed cities and unique landscapes. There is definitely a better standard of living in the south compared to the northern and northeastern regions of the country. 

Ever since seeing a documentary on the famous Curitibano models for urban development in my very first international development class I have wanted to visit the city. Curitiba was designed to have the most efficient transportation system, and has made many progressive decisions concerning social issues. Many other cities all around the world have copied and been influenced by the Curitibano transportation system.

Pedestrian shopping streets and green praças are the main focus of the city. The visionary mayor Jaime Lerner radically altered the development plans of the city in the 1970’s, when there was great pressure to expand roads and buildings.  Instead Lerner turned a downtown street into a pedestrian walkway, constructed secretly at night in 72 hours before the opposing parties could put a stop to it.  In order to prevent cars from driving in the new pedestrian zone Lerner enlisted a few hundred children to come and paint on the street. Since then pedestrian walkways have become a trademark of Curitiba. Lerner also created an efficient public transit system with 5 bus express lanes, and special cylinder shaped boarding platforms.  Some buses can hold close to 300 people and the entire system is used by over 2 million passengers. Lerner also directed urban planning to focus more on green space and public parks (which double as protection from flooding). Trees were planted on a massive scale something crazy like over a million in 30 years. 

In the 1900s Paraná encouraged Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, and Ukrainian immigrants to come and develop the land. Today there are several memorial parks dedicated to the immigrants that built Curitiba.

Memorial Ucraniano

The Serra Verde Express is a fantastic 3 hour train ride through the mountains to the coast of Paraná stopping in some old colonial towns. The train goes over 67 bridges and 13 tunnels, even in the rain it was absolutely brilliant.

Morretes, an old colonial town built in the 1700s.

Tambacqui Para Tudos!

This is Tambacqui, a fresh water fish from the Amazon.  It is one of the most delicious things in the entire universe, I am not sure if I can ever eat another fish again...

Here is Garantido, one of the main characters of the very popular folklore festival Bumba Meu Boi (Hit My Bull).  The massive festival is based on the retelling of a local legend about a bull coming back to life.  The festival is also a competition between two retellings of the story, one story is represented by Garantido the red bull and Caprichoso the blue bull.  You have to pick a side and route for your team to win, Bumba Meu Boi is one of the only instances where Coca-cola changed the colours on it's cans for the two bull teams half red and blue.  We missed the festival just by a few days of our arrival to Manaus!