there and (hopefully)back again: fun in the sun, and futebol

I haven't posted in a while, mostly due to a lack of internet connection, so I will divide the past month or so in 3 posts.

After Morro, we had 2 weeks of class left. It felt as if class was flying by, I literally had never had a semester with fewer class. Even with that, I got sick, so the time flew by, just reading in my room for a couple of days, waiting for the cold to pass.

We had a fun little expedition to Ilha de Mare. This is a scenic island in the bay of Salvador. Many of the host moms came out to play too, so on our large motorboat, snacks were provided for. We had a break at a isolated beach, and basically had the beach to ourselves, a stark contrast to the crowded beaches in salvador where you have to struggle to find a place to put your things down. The seawater ground had a lovely mulch feeling to it, as there was a thick and persistent layer of seaweed on the ground. After cavorting around in the water for a while, we went to the beach, I practiced handstands, and Ray made a sand drawing on my back (I had no idea what he was doing, I just made the ground rule of no penises), and it turned out to be a mini model of the ship.

Me with a boat on my back

It was a beautiful day

We had some awesome food, a buffet including this thing called moqueca, which is a delicious seafood dish, and then continued on to an activity learning about the community of Ilha de Mare. Ilha de Mare is a quilombo, or in other words, a place where runaway slaves congregated. The people there told a rather riveting account of how the slaves swam for hours to escape their masters in salvador. We also learned that there was a fair amount of inbreeding that had occured in this island, mostly due to lack of alternatives. It was cool to see that despite the poverty, the people there seemed happy. I felt equally happy when they gave me a large coconut to drink. It really makes me feel like I live in paradise when I gaze over the sunny beach with palm trees blowing and the sweet elixir of coconut easing down my throat.

Then we were on the way back. The boat back had a rudder or some device to steer back, and the captain let us have turns steering it.

We went back to a beautiful sunset

I was sick on the last week, which was kinda a drag.

Of course, knowing me, I still went to jiujitsu because I really wanted to participate in this newfound community of mine for the last time. I feel like jiujitsu is one of the major interesting facets of my life, because my routine has gotten more set whereas jiujitsu was capable of changing up that routine a little. Generally, they have morning practices, but one practice had a potluck at the end. During the potluck, the leader of the jiu jitsu group, Grimauldo, invited me to this other jiu jitsu thing in the afternoon, merely telling me to swing by at 330. I did, expecting a normal practice, but practice was anything but normal. Five people piled into a car, and off we went. Where to, I hadn't the faintest. After the car had driven for about an hour, and I had managed some conversation with the group in Portuguese, we arrived at our apparent destination.

The mat was huge, and was entirely full. It was somewhat reminscent of an athletic meet, everyone warming up, stretching. It turned out that this was the conglomeration of multiple different dojos, each sending about 5 people. As often happens in Jiujitsu and other martial arts, there was the obvious need for honorifics and observing certain customs (like shaking hands with all 60-70 people there) and introducing each of the 15 or so blackbelts present. After a lot of time, we finally got to fight, and I noticed quickly on the side that the mosquitos were swarming, and I have definitely noticed that in general, mosquitos target you if you are still. Well, there are solutions to this, especially in an athletic forum. To escape from the mosquitos, I kept moving and moving, rolling against as many different experienced people as I could, because this place was a veritable gold mine of talent. I ended up getting back at about 8, and the next day, my body felt like it had been run over by a train.

Two other notable things that happened in Jiujitsu: I advanced a few levels, and there was a goodbye ceremony. Each belt has tape stripes to signify the level of progress on the belt (and advancing a belt in jiujitsu generally requires significant quantities of time). I was shocked and quite pleased when at the end of my practice, Grimauldo announced that I was advancing three stripes. I was also shocked, and perhaps a little less pleased when Grimauldo announced that per stripe, I would have to run the "Corridor" there and back. Let me explain this for a second. The corridor is a gauntlet esque thing, one that consists of everyone lining up with their belts in hands, whipping the back of the person running through. I made a pretty sight by the end, sprinting by with my nose running and my back stinging.

The other notable thing that happened in jiu jitsu was me leaving. I had a regular practice, somewhat exhausting, but pretty normal. And then I mentioned to Grimauldo that it was my last practice. That changed things. He had the entire dojo line up, and one by one, I had to face all the people. They would barely wait for me to finish before they jumped on my back, choking me. I made it through, but I was exhausted by the end.

Footeball

This is basically the national sport of Brazil, they are all obsessed about football. I went and enjoyed myself, mostly due to the people watching then the actual game. The team I was rooting for lost, which while I didn't care too much,certain fans rather did.