Heading Home

Its finally time for me to go home. Today I fly down to São Paulo and then on to Heathrow.

I'll be arriving in London at about 7am (GMT) tomorrow. See you on the other side! (of the world)

Aracaju Weeks Three and Four: The Home Straight

The last two weeks of my Brazilian adventure began much like the previous two - work, work and more work, with the additional strain of trying to organise a trip out to the field. It seemed everything was against me - in order to get out there I needed one professor, one technician and transport. However, the professor was on holiday, the technicians were on strike and the university refused to rent a car to me. In the end, it only took 1 full day, 2 native English speakers, 1 Brazilian student who speaks English and two Brazilian professors, to resolve the situation to everyone's satisfaction. The only slight problem, for me at least, was that we had agreed to meet at the university at 7am. Given the previous reliability of the buses (or lack thereof) this meant I had to wake up at 4.30am to be certain I would arrive on time.

So, before the sun had even begun to rise, I dragged myself out of bed, forced myself into the cold shower I hoped might wake me up, had some breakfast and got my things together. About 5 minutes before I was going to leave, in predictable Brazilian disagreeableness, it began to rain. And when it rains in the tropics, it pours. I decided to wait a few minutes, in the desperate hope in might subside, but no such luck. So, I found my rain coat and headed out. Fifteen miserable minutes later, I was at the bus stop. Thankfully, the buses ran smoothly and I actually arrived at University half an hour early, which gave me a chance to do a few bits of work before leaving. I made sure I was finished with all this promptly, and sat and waited. But 7am came and went, and there was no sign of the professor who was supposed to help me. I told myself he was working on Brazil time (usually a minimum of 15 minutes late) and waited patiently. By 8am I was just sending him a rather concerned and slightly irate email, when he arrived.

Aracaju Weeks 1 and 2: Welcome back to Civilisation

After my absurdly long bus journey out of Campo Formoso, I arrived in Aracaju, set my ants up in their new laboratory, and headed to the house where I would be staying for the next 4 weeks, with a lady called Nice. As soon as the usual formalities were over; "this is where the bathroom is" ... "this is the kitchen"... etc, I collapsed on the bed and slept for a few hours. When I awoke that evening I felt considerably more human. The evening meal proved to be only slightly traumatic, with the usual level of communication issues and no more than the expected level of showing off the exciting gringa, who had just arrived, to friends and family. Still feeling tired from my bus ordeal the night before, I escaped from the living room as early as possible and went to bed.

The following day I headed into university early, discovering just exactly how long my daily commute would be - about an hour on crowded, hot, bumpy Brazilian buses which appear to be driven by poorly trained monkeys (their only training being to aim for the pot holes and speed up for speed bumps). On top of this the scale of my work load for the coming weeks began to become apparent. I was about to try and fit 3 months worth of field work plans into 3 and a half weeks.... Nevertheless, it was nice to be back in the city, with most of the normal amenities that entails, along with people to socialise with.

A few days in Aracaju

After my wonderful 16 days of holiday, I headed up to Aracaju in the north east of Brazil to begin my fieldwork. I had a rather interesting journey up, as I took a flight from Rio but had to change in Salvador. I was expecting to have to pay excess baggage since I have such a ridiculous amount of luggage, but at Rio they didn't charge me. I thought myself rather lucky, and didn't question it too much. But when I arrived at Salvador they made me collect my bags and check them in again (*sigh*) and when I got to the counter the man told me than one of my bags would need to be retagged because it had increased in weight by 20kg since Rio! I told him I hadn't touched the bag other than to carry it from the baggage claim, and so I couldn't see it had gained all this weight?! Clearly the woman in Rio had cheated the system for me so that she didn't have to charge me excess, but I was surprised at how unperturbed the man at the check-in desk was about this miraculous increase in weight! It wasn't too expensive though so I paid the fee and got on my final flight. 

I arrived in Aracaju mid-afternoon and headed over to the home of my friends Hans and Becky, who had very kindly offered to let me stay for a few days. I spent the rest of the day chilling out and trying to feel human again after all that traveling. They were both quite busy that weekend so I had some time to myself to relax. They had the most adorable kitten which they had found on the street, who had most certainly learned that cute things can get away with almost anything, because he was constantly trying to play with everything - shoes, cables, my feet, and yet it was pretty much impossible to be angry with him for more than a few seconds. While I was checking my emails and generally faffing that evening, he fell asleep on my laptop cover, very cute!

The next day I did some much needed clothes washing (by hand, which made me appreciate my washing machine at home very much!) and then in the afternoon headed out to the beach. I managed to get about an hour of sunbathing in before a rather ominous looking black cloud started to approach and I decided to flee! That evening Hans and Becky took me to a party at a friends house which was really nice because it gave me a chance to socialise a bit with some lovely people and practice my Portuguese.

On my third day in Aracaju, I caught the extremely hot and bumpy bus up to the university where I met Fernanda, who had offered to have me stay at her house. That afternoon (or technically prevening, to quote Sheldon Cooper) we went to a free yoga class in the park nearby. It was really nice because the sun was just beginning to set and the air was cool and fresh, but there were mosquitoes everywhere which seemed to be relishing my exotic English skin, and it is rather difficult to follow yoga instructions in Portuguese! I also confirmed my expectation that I'm really not very flexible at all, but it was nice none-the-less.

The next few days I spent trying to organise heading south a little to a place in Bahia called Campo Formoso, where apparently there were loads of ants for me to study. Trying to find out about which buses to catch and buying tickets was an interesting experience but eventually it all came together, and I booked tickets to catch the bus that Thursday. I also got the chance to spend some time with Fernanda and her friends, watching films and drinking beer at a local bar, which was a lot of fun.

 On my last day in Aracaju, I had an unscheduled and completely unappreciated tour of pretty much every single bank in the entire city. My bank card had been rejected at a few cash machines, and I'd called my bank who told me that everything was fine at their end. So we went to one bank and spoke to someone there who said to go to another bank, where they would definitely know how to help. But, of course, when we got their they said they couldn't help and that we should go to another bank, where they would definitely know how to help. And so this continued all afternoon until eventually I tried calling my bank again, and within 5 minutes they fixed the problem. Why they couldn't have fixed it the day before when I called with the same problem, will forever be a mystery to me.

That evening, after showering and taking a nap, we finally felt human again. I went out for pizza with Fernanda and her family, and then quite a bit later headed out to see a local band play at a bar called Captain Cook's. Of course, before going to the bar we had to stop a petrol station for a few beers there, because apparently this is what people do in Brazil. The petrol station is the cool place to hang out! When we finally got to the bar, it was really good. It would seem most of Aracaju were there and the band was good and the beer was cheap. It was very busy and quite hot there though, and knowing that I had to catch a bus at 8am the following morning, I flaked quite early and headed home at about 2am.

I didn't realise at the time just how grateful I would be for that extra bit of sleep, during my extremely traumatising 17 hour journey to Campo Formoso, but that is a story I will save for later!

Update: 1 week in north east Brazil; 25 mosquito bites

Update Five: Praia de Saco

As I already mentioned, the second half of last week was characterised by an awful lot of worrying on my part about the potential BA strike and how I was going to get back to England. By the end of Friday we had decided that I would be getting my flight as originally planned, so by the weekend I was feeling a bit more relaxed. We had a BBQ on campus on Friday afternoon which also helped to cheer me up a little bit.

Saturday was a nice lazy day - I had a lie-in, and after lunch me and Polly went to the swimming pool which belongs to the apartment block where I'm staying. I managed to judge it just right and not get sun burnt, which was quite impressive considering my track-record so far.

Sunday was the day I had been looking forward too for almost the entire time I'd been in Aracaju - a boat trip to see the famous 'Praia de Saco' - which apparently translates literately to Beach of the Bag, weird. At 8am Sunday morning we got up and drove to Estancia, where we caught a the boat. The trip began by
taking us to a small stretch of sand forming a temporary island, only there when the tide was low. It was stunningly beautiful. I looked like one of those beaches you see in the holiday brochures - perfect white sand with palm trees dotted along it, deep turquoise water and blue skies. The beach curved round to form a sort-of crescent shape, and at the far end were two small huts with grass roofs.

 After an hour or so on the beach, we set sail again and headed for the main land, where we stopped at a small sea-side town where we were offered a buggy ride across the sand dunes for just 15 reale each. The buggy ride was fantastic - we sped across the dunes, dipping down steep slopes and turning sharp corners. We stopped a couple of times to take photos and, miraculously, I managed not to get sand in my camera!

We finished the buggy ride and got back onto the boat where we had lunch, and had a few hours to sun bathe or swim in the sea, while some of the people on board played Brazilian music on an acoustic guitar.  There was one older guy who had one too many caparinhas on the boat and spent the journey back to land wobbling about the boat and occasionally falling over.

After the boat tour, Mirella took us to her god-father's house in a very exclusive set of houses called Porto Bello, and we sat at the bar overlooking a river, having some dinner and a few beers and watching the sun set. Unfortunately the very drunk guy from the boat came with us, and was the source of much entertainment for the rest of the evening. The rest of the evening was largely a long Portuguese lesson, because one of the girls with us spoke English pretty fluently, and so provided a good opportunity to learn a few new words and phrases, although a worrying percentage of them were rude!

Since Sunday, life here in Brazil has been fairly uneventful. I've been spending my days watching my ants, and trying to collect as much observational data on them as possible before I head back to England. My evenings have been spent with my housemates watching Brazilian soap operas, which are actually slightly more entertaining than English soap operas, probably because I don't know what they're saying! Today was a holiday in Aracaju because it is the 155th anniversary of the city being founded. I thought that might mean we went out and did something interesting, but we've ended up spending all day at home watching films and generally being lazy, which is nice.

As I already mentioned, my trip here has been extended by a few days, so instead of coming back on Friday, I'll be leaving next Wednesday, so expect another update before I leave!

Claire xx

Update Four: Boats, Birthdays, Buses and Beaches

On Thursday morning, a biology student here called Tiago offered to take me out for a tour of Aracaju city, so we went out and drove around a bit, and he showed me parts of the city I hadn´t seen yet, which was quite a bit since all I had seen so far was the beach! We drove past the huge market in the city, which sells mostly food, in particular fruit and cheese, but also meat including live Chickens! We also saw the new bridge which joins the city to a neighbouring city across the Rio Sergipe.

After the tour of the city, we went and sat in a small bar / restuarant by the beach and had some lunch before heading back to the lab. The beach is pretty much what you imagine (or what I imagine!) when you say Brazillian beach, and from where we were, appeared to stretch on infinitely in both directions.

Friday was the first day I had found myself without a lift to university, and so was forced to brave the Brazilian buses alone. It didn't go well. To get from Lorena's house to the university I needed to take one bus to the nearest bus station (Terminal D.I.A) and then a second bus from there up to the campus. I made it to the D.I.A safely, but then, after several brief and confusing conversations with some locals, managed to get on the wrong bus. After about half an hour on the hot, cramped bus I decided that it definitely wasn't going the right way, and got off at the next bus station. I decided the best plan was to get a taxi from there to the university, which did work, but cost me £5. In the end it took me about 2 hours to get to campus, when it should have taken about 45 minutes. My second encounter with the buses was on Monday, and it was even less successful. I had found out by now that I needed to catch the no.60 bus from the D.I.A, so I thought I would be OK. I managed to get on the 60 without too much trouble, but halfway to campus it broke down, and everyone on the bus got off and immediately onto another bus which was just in front. This, however, was not the number 60, and about half an hour later I decided that it definitely wasn't going the right way, and got off at the next bus station. Failing to find any buses from there that went to campus, I decided to cut my losses and get a bus back to the D.I.A and start again. *Sigh*. About 2 and a half hours later, I finally arrived at the university, hot and very very disheartened.

On Friday, Lorena and Mirella took me to a neighbouring town called Estancia, where their family lived, and we attended the first birthday party of their dog, Vicky. We had cake and party snacks with Lorena's Mum, Uncle, Grandparents and brother, and they even made a tiny party hat for the dog. The next morning we went for a look around Estancia, and went to the market there where they had lots of very cheap cloths and shoes.

Saturday evening Polly invited me to a concert in Aracaju called "Forro de Antigas" which was an outdoor concert of traditional Brazillian music. It was very much like a festival in that the toilets were porta-loos, the ground was muddy and the drinks were expensive. Or, expensive for Brazil anyway. I met lots of Polly's friends there, and everyone was quite interested and confused by my presence there - I think I must have been the first tourist ever at Forro de Antigas, because some of the locals tried to touch my hair as I was going past, as if they had never seen anything like it before!

Polly tried to teach me the traditional Brazillian dance, Forro, and I gave it a go, not very well though. I got home as early as I could that night because I knew that I had to be up at 6am on Sunday morning to go on a boat tour to see the Canyon San Fransico. Unfortunately, early turned out to be 1.30am (Polly didn't get home till 4am!) and I got a lift back with Polly's sister, Luana.

On Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed and hurridly got ready for my boat tour, which I was being collected for by the tour company at 7am from Lorena's house. I managed to be ready on time and, bleary-eyed, I got onto the minibus. I thought that it would be a short drive to the boat where we were going to travel up the Rio San Fransico to the canyon, but clearly I had misunderstood the half-Portuguese, half-English conversation I'd had with Mirella about it, because it turned out to be a 3 hour drive before we reached the canyon, where we then got on a boat. It was worth the long drive though as the canyon was stunning and we stopped off along the way at a small jetty from which we could get into a small canoe and be taken closer to the steep cliffs. It was a beautiful day and the waters were deep turquoise, contrasting against the deep red and orange cliff faces.

Update Three: My First Week in Sergipe

My trip to Aracaju was very stressful. After my trip to the Amazon I spent a night in a hotel in Manaus, before my flight at 6am the next morning. I set an alarm on the alarm clock in my room for 3am, but apparently, in my bleery-eyed state I managed to set it for 3pm instead, and so I woke up at 4.30am, with just an hour and a half to get ready and packed and get to the airport for my flight. Panic!! Somehow, despite a very long and slow-moving check-in cue at Aracaju airport, I made it to my flight on time. I then had to endure a 2 hour flight to Belem, where my plane made a 40minute stop-over before continuing to Fortaleza, where I changed to a flight to Aracaju, which also had a stop-over at Recife. What a day! At 3pm I finally arrived at Aracaju airport, Sergipe, where my new supervisor Fabio met me.

In Aracaju Fabio had arranged for me to stay with one of his students, Lorena, a lovely Brazillian girl who unfortunately speaks about as much English as I speak Portuguese, which isn't much! She lives with her sister Mirella and her friend Polly, who speak a little more English, but still very little. I could tell I was in for an interesting 3 weeks.

My first few days in the lab at Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) were quite slow, just getting accustomed to the ants (which are absolutely huge!) and observing their behaviour. I met an American couple called Hans and Becky who have provided some much needed company and English conversation. On Friday night Polly took me out to meet some of her friends and go out for a few drinks, which was nice but I was far to tired to really enjoy it, and trying to understand portuguese is difficult even when there isn't a band playing in the background!

Saturday Polly and I went to the beach in Aracaju, which was lovely. The beach is quite popular with the locals and so quite busy. Although the water is very clean, it has a brown-ish tint to it caused by sediment from the nearby Rio Sergipe. In the evening I was invited by Lorena to the 1st birthday party of her cousin. The party was beyond belief. The main room was covered in balloons shaped into flowers, and huge fairy posters and statues, and the focal point was a giant, 3 tiered pink cake. Outside was what is most probably the entire selection of kids toys and games available in Brazil. It seems that Lorena's entire extended family attended the event, and her sister told me later that it had cost 10,000 Real (about £3000!).

On Sunday I had planned to go with Hans and Becky by bus to a beautiful beach, about 45 minutes away from Aracaju. Their friend had told them that the bus left the station at 11am every day. Apparently every day doesn't include Sunday, however, as when we arrived at the bus station we were told that the bus had left at 8am. The interesting thing about Brazil is, that nobody seems to know the entire story - the people at the bus station in Aracaju had no idea what time the bus would be returning from the beach, they only knew what time it left! Instead we went to the same beach I had been to on Saturday, where I proceeded to get very sunburnt, and as I would later find out, give myself mild heat stroke.

Monday I was supposed to go out with the lab technician, Dantes, to collect some Dinosaur ant colonies. But due to aforementioned sun stroke, I instead spent the day sleeping and trying to feel better. By Tuesday I had managed to recover and went out at 8am to collect more ant colonies. The dinosaur ant colonies can be found at the base of trees, entangled in their roots, in areas of relatively sparse tree cover. The result is that in order to collect a colony, you have to spend several hours with a spade and a pick-axe digging up the colony in the unrelenting Brazillian sun with almost nothing to provide any shade. Its almost as if they were trying to make it difficult. The ants don't send out any foragers during the day because of the heat, so externally the nest looks like a small heap of earth at the base of a tree. I have no idea how anybody can find and accurately identify these colonies, but apparently Dantes had the know-how, because we returned in the afternoon with another 2 colonies.

Aracaju is a very strange place. Major modern developments in the city

have been relatively recent, and so although there are skyscrapers, they are often surrounded by dirt roads, and it is one of the few places in Brazil where horse-and-carts are still used to any great extent. The people here are very friendly and energetic though and they are making me feel quite at home (or as much at home as is possible when you're 5000 miles from it!)