Another "ferias," another "viagem"

I finally got an eagle's eye view of the city I've come to know and (occasionally) love last weekend.

Sunday morning I took a bus to the fringe of the city and hiked up to the Pico do Jaraguá, the highest peak in the state of São Paulo. It was a beautiful day for hiking, and the trail cut right through tropical terrain. The path was a tad rough in a few places, and I thought a couple of my brasiliera companions might turn around and go home, but everyone made it to the top with a little encouragement. (For me, climbing 152 steps twice a day to reach my house turned out to be good training.)

Of course, we were rewarded in the end with a view of the city that taught me just how sprawling this place is. Miles and miles of buildings were visible from the peak. I couldn't pick out a single landmark. São Paulo has no center and all of the buildings are about the same size. It's one massive web of steel and concrete surrounded by a haze of green house gases. I took a few deep breaths of fresh air before starting the hike back down.

It's ridiculous really the amount of time I am getting off for Páscoa, Easter that is. Not that I'm complaining. I had one class this week on Monday night. The rest: canceled.

Actually, I still feel as if I'm waiting for classes to kick in here. School has been in session for a month now, but I haven't had a test or a major assignment due yet. May and June must be a real gauntlet for PUC students...or maybe not (hopefully).

At IU, I usually am holding on for dear life to make it through the week- figuratively speaking. At PUC, I usually am holding on to a tropical drink with a little pink umbrella - literally speaking. I'm trying to convince myself that I deserve this prolonged respite, that I'm being rewarded for something good I did somewhere along the line. Sure, everything I do here has some kind of priceless, sentimental "I'm in Brazil!" quality attached to it. But when are these teacher going to get down to business?

These are the things I will be thinking about on my 12-hour bus ride to the falls of Iguaçu tomorrow. I'm taking the bus to Iguaçu because:

a) It's less expensive.

b) The airports resemble a refugee camp these days.

Recently, São Paulo air traffic controllers went on strike, which messed up just about every international flight last weekend. Delta completely postponed their Saturday flight. How do I know? I watched the Final Four with their pilots at an Irish pub.

I will be spending my Easter weekend near the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay where one of the most amazing natural wonders of the world flows. The Iguaçu Falls are made up of over 250 waterfalls of up to 270 feet in height, and the park in which the falls are located is also home to many exotic plants and animals (like the jaguar and the anteater).

I heard that you don't breath air in Iguaçu, you breath butterflies. Assuming this is true, I'm packing a snorkel.