Gone South for the Winter....PART ONE

One of the greatest things about being an exchange student is that everyone in your host country wants to show you just how AWESOME their country is. Because of this lovely little truth, Rebecca (the other exchange student in my town from Germany) and I got very generously invited to go visit the south of Brazil with one of my future host families, Valdete (host mom, pronounced Val-detch) and Alemão (Host dad, pronounced Al-ay-mow. This isn’t his real name, just a nickname. It’s the Portuguese word meaning German.). My host dad, who’s real name is Horatio, has family in Paraná, a southern state in Brazil very near to the border of Argentina and Paraguay. He thought it would be a good chance for Rebecca and I to see a different part of the country and culture, so one Thursday a while back, we packed up Valdete’s car at 6am and drove the 12 hours to Paraná. We stayed in Alemão’s sister’s house, along with the family of Alemão’s nephew. Alemão’s other nephew, other sister, and mom all lived near by as well, so the house was continuously full of family. Both nephews had children as well, all under the age of 7. Needless to say, it was a very loud weekend. I ended up playing a lot with 6 year old Ana Júlia and her cousin. They were both endlessly full of energy and I only understood half of what they said, but they both seemed to like the fact that I was willing to play with toy trucks. By the end of the trip Ana Júlia had drawn me 3 pictures and her cousin confided in me that he wanted to play soccer for a team called Inter when he grew up, so I think I made friends. Alemão’s nephews and their wives were fantastic people. They were all absolutely hilarious and endlessly curious about Germany and the USA. Talking with them made me realize just how far my Portuguese has come. I think that I must be getting pretty good if I can explain our social security system to a bunch of people in a foreign language. The one thing that threw me and Becca was the fact that it was COLD and RAINED, very, very unlike what we were used to in Mineiros! It rained the entire time we were there and since the houses are built very open to the outside and without heat, Becca and I were damp and cold for most of the trip.

That’s ok though, because the second day of our trip we got in the car at 6 in the morning again, and drove off to the Brazilian/Paraguayan border. Once we got to the border we realized that Becca hadn’t brought the right papers, and would not be able to cross the border, so her and Valdete stayed in Brazil while Alemão, his sister (who will be called “Sally” because I never learned her name), and I crossed and extremely crowded, high, and extremely frightening bridge over into Paraguay. This bridge had sidewalks the same size as the one’s in Oak Park, but about 10 times the number of people on it. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and knocking into people’s shopping bags, which got a little scary considering how low the barrier was and how the walk way was almost 100 feet above the giant river below.

I had no idea what we would be doing in Paraguy at first, but soon discovered it was my favorite type—a shopping trip! Paraguay has no industry of its own, but it does import all the cool/chic American, French, and German things Brazilians want and at a price much cheaper than in Brazil. My little party of three only went probably a ½ mile into Paraguay, but it was so different from what I had seen in Brazil. The streets were so packed that cars moved far slower than the people walking around them. The streets were used like sidewalks because venders had set up giant stands there. Each stand had tarps draped from the top and attached to the closest building, creating a tent effect that covered the sidewalks for blocks, stopping only at intersections. Walking through the streets was like having all your senses messed around with. You start in the street, which is crowded with cars, people, trash, and puddles. It’s ridiculously hot from the sun and all the miniature grill stands selling “espatinhos” of sausage, chicken, or various fried foods. There is an overwhelming scent of car exhaust combined with hot oil, and all time you have to keep your eyes open for motorcycle taxis that weave haphazard through the cars, stands, and people. You take one step from the street to the sidewalk and suddenly it’s ten times darker and just as crowded. There are stands crammed into every space available selling jewelry, watches, suitcases, real and knock off brand name clothing and shoes, soccer paraphernalia, electrified bug rackets, pirated movies, and crappy children’s toys. Every so often the stands drop off to reveal stairs leading up into imported perfume and electronics stores or down into giant bargain basements almost the equivalent of a Paraguayan Cost-Co, only much more crowded. Everywhere there are people bargaining in Spanish and Portuguese or whistling for motor-taxis and of course a never-ending stream of sales boys trying to convince you to come to THEIR imports store. I swear, if I heard one more person say “Moça! Ven aca! Ven aca!” to me I would have gone insane. It was so completely overwhelming, but absolutely amazing. It felt almost like I was in some sort of movie, doing some stealth mission in a South American market. LOVED IT!!