sunday in fortaleza.

today we attended church,

then walked around the center of town before heading back to our hotel.

We visited the cathedral again since many of the group were not able to see inside yesterday.

They were holding some sort of church services so it was interesting to see :)

We also visited this fort that was across from the cathedral. It looks like it is now a military base. It was really neat. We've been able to visit various forts since we've been here, and since we are in "fortaleza" (which means fort or fortress) we couldn't pass up going to a fort, while in fortaleza :P

We then had lunch with the fitzgibbons, tawyna, shawndeen, cristina and michelle. 

On our way back, we stopped at the pier again to see if we could see any dolphins. But we didn't have good luck today.

It was a beautiful sunday in fortaleza!

Now we have many many things to get done before traveling to MANAUS tomorrow!
(I just got the chills while typing that!)

fortaleza, ceara.

on Friday morning, we boarded a plane headed to our next destination:

FORTALEZA.

Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceara in the northeast & is the 5th largest city in Brazil.

On our first day exploring Fortaleza,

we went to the Ponte dos Ingleses to see the dolphins off the pier.

We were lucky to be able to see a few of them, even jumping out of the water!

After, we visited the Cathedral Metropolitana de Fortaleza.

This cathedral took 40 years to build, starting in 1938 & was inaugurated in 1978.

This church was amazing! We have visited several catholic churches since our time here, and this was unlike any of the ones we've seen. It was obviously much more modern since the other ones we saw were built around the 1600s.  Because it was a more modern church, it was not in the baroque style like all the other ones we've seen. It was much more simple inside. It reminded me much of the inside of a mormon temple which is so beautiful, yet simple. It had beige walls with white trims, marble flooring, and everything was very clean and taken care of. However, all throughout the inside were these gorgeous stain glass windows that were breath taking. Every window represented different saints, prophets, events, etc. So the church was kept more "simple" in order to not take away from the beauty of the stain glass windows. 

The outside of the cathedral appeared very Gothic like. 

These windows FILLED the cathedral. 

After visiting the Cathedral, we hopped across the street to visit the Mercado Central which was a 5 story market place! It was amazing, and we spent about an hour looking around and doing some shopping. Embroidery is very big here in Fortaleza, so we stalked up on some towels, placemats, table runners, etc.

After lunch, we visited the Dragao do Mar Cultural Center. There were various museums and exhibits open and we were able to walk through and see a lot of interesting things.  Since it is Luiz Gonzagas 100th birthday this year, a lot of the museums/exhibits have put him as a focus so this exhibit was based on his life living in the sertao.

This is what a typical "sertanejo"'s house looks like. Even when we visited the sertao, people still live like this today. 

the first jewish synagogue

The first jewish synagogue in the Americas, or New World, is located in Recife, Brazil.

On Wednesday, we went down to the historic center of Recife & were able to take a tour of the synagogue.

It was such a neat experience to be able to learn about a religion that has so much history. I was so surprised when I found out the first synagogue was here, in Recife of all places. 

This synagogue is called the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue.

(meaning: rock of israel in hebrew)

It was established by immigrants from the Netherlands, and the "new christians" who were living in the colony. Many of these people had escaped Europe because of persecution and although Catholicism has always been the official religion of Brazil (and still is today), it was easier for them to practice their religion here.  The dutch invaded Brazil in 1630 and took over the northeast region.  When Mauricio de Nassau took control between 1637 & 1644 there was relative peace under the dutch control. Although the Dutch had taken over,  he had a lot of support from Brazilians and he really modernized Recife & cared about Brazil. He is the reason why there are so many bridges in Recife.  He had a tolerance for the jews, and many of them escaped from Europe and came to Brazil to avoid the persecution they were receiving there.   Mauricio de Nassau had to return to Holland in 1645 and it was after he governed that Brazil took back the area from the Dutch in 1654. Because of the Holland invasion in the northeast is the reason why we see so many african people with blue eyes. It is due of the mixing of the races here.

This synagogue functioned until the 20th century when it was torn down. After some archeological excavation it was reopened in 2001. 

There are currently 4 synagogues in Recife. 

All of the men in our group wore the Jewish Cap as a sign of respect.

bonito(pretty) waterfalls, pernambuco!

words can't even describe what a fun day we all had today!

we went to a city called Bonito (pretty), about 3 hours away from here..

it wasn't the prettiest city..that's for sure.

however!..only about 30 minutes up we got to see waterfalls!

then our host dad was like..

"why don't you all go rappelling?"

and first Jordan was like "no way am I rappelling down the side of the waterfall."

then I told him I wanted to do it cause it sounded fun..

then our host dad offered to pay for all of us to do it!

so we all went! 

and it was so much fun, and a great experience.

i'm so glad we were able to go.

ps; the falls we repelled down were called "bridal veil falls" but in portuguese of course.

only provo people would understand the humor in that. :)

on our way back, we saw some banana ranches (or farms or whatever!)

so we stopped to take pictures :)

for those of you who do not know, this is me posing as carmen miranda the lady in the tutti frutti hat. 

Then we stopped at a place for a late lunch/early dinner.

It was such an adorable restaurant and we did some good eatin! 

Perfect day!

visiting the american school of recife & GTP (Grupo de Trabalhos em Prevencao Posithivo)

on Tuesday, we were able to visit the American School of Recife in Boa Viagem where we got to learn all about how the school works & then we were able to teach the students about american sports.

We started off the morning meeting with some students involved in the Association Brazil America (ABA) & the US Embassy in Brazil English Immersion Program.  These 45 students are the finalists in the Youth Ambassadors Program. The people who were chosen from the Youth Ambassadors Program were able to go to the USA and these finalists instead get to spend some time in an English Immersion Program.  Next year they will attempt to become a Youth Ambassador again and they will have a upper hand because they were finalists last year.  

First we were given a tour of the school and then a presentation from one of the guidance counselors who was American. We learned all about the school such as the types of students who attend and some of the schools their students get accepted to such as HARVARD, YALE, PRINCETON, ETC! They take all of their classes in English except for their language courses of course such as Portuguese, Spanish, French.  When they graduate they receive both an American and a Brazilian diploma and the guidance counselors focus on helping their students get accepted to American Schools. This school costs roughly 15K a year so these students are very very high upper class.

Then we gave presentations on different types of american sports and how they are played such as american football, baseball, basketball, cheerleading.. Then we went outside and played!

Jordan had fun playing baseball!

Around 12, half of our group went to CCJ to continue painting and another half went to Diaconia (the NGO over our projects). From Diaconia, we went to have lunch at this restaurant run by a group of individuals with HIV, whose money raised from the restaurant goes to assisting their mission.  

We were greeted at the restaurant by a cross dresser (sorry, I don't know all the terms to describe everyone..) but he was a man, dressed in a bright orange wig and red dress and heels.. As we got in line to get our food we were served by the waitress/cook Juliana who was darling and even looked pregnant but when Juliana spoke we realized she was a man as well.. 

We ate our food and then went upstairs of this house to listen to a presentation from one of the people who work there. He spoke to us for a lonnnggg time about HIV related topics such as how it is passed, how it can be prevented, the types of people who obtain it, how to educate people, the importance of using protection, how HIV does not have a face, how the brazilian government is corrupt etc etc etc. 

Basically, we learned the effects of HIV and how it is passed so quickly..at least in Brazil, in the northeast, crack is a huge problem. And since crack is so affordable (around 10 reis or 5 dollars) and it is so addictive, people will sell their bodies for crack and that is another big reason why HIV is spread so quickly. We also talked about infidelity in marriage, and carnaval being a place where foreigners come to buy sex because it is cheaper than anywhere else and many times protection is not used. 

In all honesty, it was not hard to be in a house of people infected with HIV. It was not hard being fed by people HIV. It was not hard talking to them, befriending them or anything. HIV does not scare me. It was hardest for me being surrounded by people with such different perspectives on life as me, people who have lived their lives as transvestites, cross dressers, prostitutes, etc. As Vanessa put it, it was kind of like a "hate the sin, love the sinner" kind of day however it was hard for me to love the sinner because I guess I just don't feel comfortable around transvestites and prostitutes and drag queens and what not..Also,  the presentation we got was super heavy and actually overwhelming so after that night I was just kinda so full of emotion and so "sad" in a way that I went home and slept.. Maybe I went through culture shock of heterosexual and homosexual people! I don't know! But then I remember how many gay friends I have and how that has never bothered me but I guess maybe I had culture shock of being in a house full of transvestites, I'm not sure..

I guess it was kinda just a day to completely forget who I was and what I believed in and learn all about them and try to be accepting of how they have chosen to live their lives. It was a good thing and I'm really glad we went but I'm not sure my heart can take another trip there because I left with such a sad heart in a way. 

this is the restaurant 

the man who gave us the lecture on HIV/AIDS.

the end. 

favela.

 Even after a really late night, we still got up bright and early to be at CCJ (our internship) at 9AM.

We had our first encounter in the favela (slums). We were given some painting materials and paint and were given some walls to start painting.  The people in the favela seemed very grateful for our efforts. Even though we didn't do much (in comparison to how big the favela is) people were really happy that we were there trying to help.  They kept coming out asking us to paint their wall but we just did not have the time or means to be able to paint everyones who asked.  After we painted a base paint, we used the graffiti cans & other paints and actually painted things on their walls. It was hard for me to accept that people would WANT their front wall painted covered in trees, clouds, birds, hearts, etc. To me it appeared kind of "day care" or childish to have your house covered in things like hearts, clouds and what not and I kept thinking "what if these people would prefer just the solid color and no added pictures?"(we were told to graffiti on the base paint) But as time went on I realized that it was not "daycare ish" at all but the favela itself has its own "culture" and views on what is beautiful.  I cannot think about what I myself would consider beautiful (plain, solid paints, no graffiti) but I had to realize that what they consider beautiful is graffiti & images. I grew up in a place where graffiti was used to tag things and not as an art form as much as it is here.  They wanted their homes to be painted bright blue and covered with trees and birds and what not! because that is what THEY like and it doesn't matter what I like or think looks nice. That was an eye opener.

I learned that when I step into someone elses community and home, I must serve them in the way they would like to be served, not how I think would be best to serve them. So there we were, painting random walls with different images like flowers and stuff! and the people all stood outside and watched, and asked their walls be painted as well. I learned that if they had the means available, they would love to be able to fix up their community themselves and be more self reliant..but they just don't have anything..

this was probably the nicest street in the favela we saw..at least in my opinion.

two little girls & a boy who were running around the favela playing together. It was amazing how seeing those kids was just an eye opener for me. I feel like a mom in the US typically watches every single step their child takes, protecting them from anything that could possibly hurt them..but on the other side of the world, kids like this are running around with no shoes on dirt roads covered in bricks, rocks, glass, feces, bottles, etc while sewer water runs throughout everything. The mother's let their kids go and they run around, play and come back even in those horribly unsafe, unsanitary conditions. A lot of time they don't have anyone really watching them because their parents are involved with drugs and other addictive substances. I bet these kids were around 2 or 3 years old and they were just running wild & free.

 Look at those beautiful dark eyes & eyelashes! 

the first wall we started working on before we separated

these kids were painting this house and they were loving it.

the final piece of jordan's group wall.

In all, I would say my first experience in a brazilian favela was a positive one. I was saddened by a lot of things I saw such as the fact that about 90% of the girls who were walking around had a huge pregnant belly, there were plenty of drunks and lots of blood shot eyes. But I also did see wonderful things like LOVE. I saw people outside surrounding a baby and being so happy to see him smile.  I saw a grandfather holding his grandson in his lap lovingly. I saw parents throwing a ball to a stray dog while the kids laughed. I saw kids playing soccer in the road. I even saw my little rascal friend covered head to toe in flour and egg. I guess kids are kids no matter where they live! There is sadness in places like this but you can also find happiness there as well.

From what I could see, people were ok with our presence there. I feel like they appreciated our want to make it look a little nicer in there, I feel like many of them were grateful and happy to have us. I would never have entered that area if we had not been with Carbonel or the other people of the community. It wasn't exactly the safest place in the world for a group like us. But I think overall we felt safe there as we watched tons of small kids playing and running around the street. I heard people passing by shouting "gente boa" which means "good people" & I thought either they are telling us that or telling other people in the community not to bother us because we are trying to help.

But one of our roomates Joe, said that he heard a man murmur as he passed saying "Look at these Americans here to see people going hungry." I'm glad I didn't hear that because it would have broken my heart. I did not travel all the way here to see people go hungry. There is poverty everywhere, including the US. I came here because I love Brazil. I came here because I want to learn about the culture, the history. I want to explore new places. Learn new things. I came here to SERVE the community through my internship. 


But I did not come here to see anyone go hungry.