6 days in and I am already in the wilderness. That was what was going through my mind as we approached the lake we would be canoeing on for the weekend. I spent last weekend participating in a staff canoe training trip. Me and my roommate got up at 5:00am to leave for the trip. We had to take the subway to the center of the city where another instructor was waiting with a car. The subway was uneventful, thankfully. Even at 5:00 in the morning the subway was packed with people, and my massive backpack full of gear didn't help the situation. I felt some serious stink eye on me more than a few times while on the train. I could feel their thoughts; who is this gringo with his obnoxiously large pack, smelling of B.O. (because I didn't have time for a shower), taking up space on my train. However, I didn't have time for them and their grumbles I was going camping.
The training was at a lake in Parabunna (I think that is how it is spelled... or what it is called). Parabunna is about and hour and a half outside of Sao Paulo. We met with two more instructors, loaded up our gear and then drove to the put in. I spent most of the car ride trying to sleep in between attempts at conversation. at this point in my journey I was still basically responding in one word sentences. I would be able to catch maybe every three or four words and there were still many words that I didn't understand. I was pretty quiet on the drive.
From what I can gather from my travels there are two kinds of roads in Brazil paved and maintained, and then giant dirt paths that were dug once and never touched again. Our put in sat at the bottom of a small mountain range. the road down to the lake looked like it had been hit by a WWI shelling. it didn't have pot holes but craters. The car scraped bottom on the road more than once. The change in scenery was dramatic. there is very little transition between the city and the rural. once you leave the city you are in the rural. This Rural isn't some quaint rural like Boone or some small podunk town in west virginia. It is dirt poor. Houses built from scavenged material. there are some big houses teh country estates of the rich but mostly it is poverty and wilderness.
The lake we paddled on is like something out of a national geographic special. Our putin was at what looked like the boat drop for what used to be a resort that had long since been abandoned. It was beautiful as the forest was slowly reclaiming the structures around the putin. We met up with the rest of the crew for the weekend did some introductions loaded boats and paddled to our basecamp. The water had a deep blue green tinge and was clear for about half a meter down. it was surrounded by dramatic grassy hills. the hills reminded me of Max Patch or PennyVaun in Wales. They were beautiful green grass covered hills. they were primarily grazing pasture for livestock. The shores were so steep that thought the lake was made by a dam. It was not it was totally natural. We pulled up to the island of our camp and the first thing that struck me was that I didn't recognize and of the vegetation. This shouldn't have surprised me what with being over 5,000 miles from my familiar woods, but it shocked me still. I didn't even recognize the grass, it was a different grass, the trees were different everything was different. Everything felt like magic. We slept in hammocks, for several reasons. First of all they are cooler so the hot nights are easier. They are not very hot for a brazilian but they still be me the uncomfortable sweats. Second, it does less impact to the area. Third they are easier to carry. Fourth and most importantly the islands around the lake are infested with LEAF CUTTER ANTS, real live freaking leaf cutter ants. Like the ones that carry leaves to their nest and grow the fungus that feeds their colony. These ants are super aggressive, and will cut through almost anything, (they told me as i was poking a stick into the hole of a nest cause i wanted the ants to come out and play). The net protects us and our stuff from them, Because they have a nasty habit of swarming at night and covering people sleeping on the ground or without nets. We set up camp and heard some bird yelling. they were not tweeting but yelling. The one flew out from the trees and it was a TOUCAN. What is this magical place, that only existed in the magic TV box before? I stood staring at our hammock city with its toucans and capybaras and leafcutter ants and knew that this was going to be a great weekend.
It was an amazing weekend. The Staff at Outward Bound Brazil are amazing people. Almost exactly like the people at Other Outward Bounds, they like to play in the dirt, and are very good at playing in the dirt. If they hadn't been speaking Portuguese I would have thought them Americans. They were my people. Our trip was lead by the most amazing guy named Atila, pronounced Atchila. Hey spoke english and portuguese and spanish. he had spent most of his life working for NOLS and various other organizations spending time paddling the amazon and rivers in colorado and california, I was drooling all I wanted to do was pick his brain.
However I spent most of my time working on my portugese. I could understand what was being said when I had a context for the conversation or lesson. However, when we were just around the dinner circle and the group was just chatting giving each other shit or making jokes I would be totally lost. I would get really frustrated with myself. I wanted to know what was being said, I wanted fluency. I felt a little like a failure when I could only get the gist of what was being said or I missed a joke or question. I was talking to Atila about this and he said that I just have to keep reminding myself that this was only my first week. They are speaking with a ton of slang and speaking very quickly you should be happy that you can get the gist of a conversation. I understood what he was saying but it was still hard for me to accept. I am used to being the one with an excellent vocabulary. I am used to being the poet or the philosopher, the one who is amazing at understanding and expressing himself. However, this doesn't happen when learning a new language and especially with full immersion in a new language. I am not used to trials by fire. I am the one who gets it the first try and this was not happening at all.
However the rest of the training went amazingly despite my frustrations. I was talking to Atila going over my check off review. he said that I had all the hard skills his only worry was that I didn't have the ability to teach or lead effectively of efficiently because of my still developing Portuguese. It hurt a little when he told me this but only because that was exactly what I would have put on my evaluation. I knew I had the skills it was just a matter of the most important aspect the language.
This week I spent trying to improve my portugese. I started using a online vocabulary bank to practice vocabulary on online flash cards. I also started trying to speak even if it was broken and poorly constructed. I would become comfertable making mistakes speaking, and I would speak more. i now carry my dictionary around with me everywhere.
My portuguese has increased. I now hear the word breaks in speaking. Before this week. I would only be able to pick out a word or two amongst of stream of portuguese sounding nonsense syllables. I can now hear where words are breaking. I can hear a word i don't know and look it up. I am still working of building a filter for the slang and common silence fillers and language patterns, these are things that only full immersion can prepare you for. Though I am still far from where I want to be, I get closer and closer everyday, each day i understand more and more, and my speaking gets better and better.
Most of the week I spent helping prep for my first big trip. I will be going on a canoe trip back to the land of the magic lake of magic. This time as a part of the leadership. I will be shadowing two other instructors. The participants are kids I have been working with in the schools. we are going to spend nine days exploring the magic lake. Sometimes i have a hard time believing all of this is real. I have small moments of clarity in between working where I realize that i am at a school in Brazil playing games with students or I am preparing gear for a nine day expedition at a lake with leafcutter ants. Ants that are so common they are a pest. Those little moments are something close to what nirvana must be like.
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