Review: Dawn Ranch, Guerneville, CA

I just got back from a whirlwhind trip to Guerneville CA to see my favorite cousin get married. Dragging along my mom and grandmother, we flew from Grand Rapids, MI to Sacramento and stayed for three days at the Dawn Ranch. The wedding itself was amazing, gorgeous, and full of love (as it should be), so I'm just going to review the venue.

The Good:

• The food: I've become a bit of a foodie, and Dawn Ranch had some of the most amazing and innovative menu items. The most memorable for me was the pork and apple ravioli, and I managed to get my mother and grandmother to branch (a few baby steps) out of the box with an artichoke and red pepper pasta. The wedding menu was catered to my cousin's and fiancee's exacting tastes, and included truffle macaroni and a fantastic selection of barbecued meats. 
• The location: The ranch itself is a pleasant two and a half hours drive from the Sacramento Airport, traffic and construction included. While we did not have much time for sight-seeing, we passed several mountain look-out points and quaint towns. We were also a mere 20 minute drive from the Pacific ocean, and about a 30 minute drive from the Charles M Schultz Museum which, because my mother loves all things Snoopy, we of course had to visit. 
• The scenery: Holy redwoods, Batman! While I am a Michigan girl at heart, I have to admit that the views were fantastic. I'm a sucker for winding roads and trees so thick you can barely see the sky, and this part of the country definitely delivered. 
• The cabins: If you were to ask other members of my family you might get a different response (there were heating issues in a few), but the cabin my mother, grandmother, and I shared was great. We opted for the 2-bedroom version, and it had all the charms of rustic "glamping"- glam camping. The showers were hot, the beds were soft and warm, and it was tucked away from the noise of the highway, nestled beneath the redwoods - what more could you want?

Vineyards and fancy houses on the drive through Napa. 

Empty plates and excellent drinks - fun night!

A little dreary with the rain, but it was a fun drive to the Pacific.

Cute little cabins! These were the single bedroom type.

The Not-So-Good:

• The staff: While there were a few great staff members (our waiter from the first night and the woman at the front desk come to mind), most of the staff seemed either uninformed or uncaring. Trying to get the heat fixed in one cabin, for example, took about four people too many. Lights to illuminate the paths at night were not turned on as promised, golf carts for the grandmothers were late, and organizing the flow of the weekend fell to family members instead of the staff members. 
• Off season: This may have been why the staff weren't up to par (fewer people, etc), but the overall feel of the actual town of  Guerneville was....emptiness. Many of the stores were closed for the season (there were several wineries I would have loved to have tried), the town population was significantly reduced, and the town just seemed rather unkempt. Given that it was November, I'll give the town a pass this time, and hopefully return in more seasonal times.

Overall, it was still a fantastic (if rainy) weekend, and I would love to go back during the "on" season.

Guerneville on Dwellable

Last morning

I went to the beach this morning at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise.

The actual sunrise may have been blocked by the city, but it was still a good life decision. I climbed the hill to the Christ statue and just sat, looking at over the ocean. The city was the quietest I've ever seen it. I walked along the tide pool beach, collecting shells and splashing around in the water. While Lake Michigan will always be my beach home, I've really come to love the sand and water here.

I'm all packed up. My forethought to pack an extra duffel bag is turning out to be great-I just threw all of my clothes into the soft bag, and put all of my more delicate stuff and gifts into my regular luggage. Because I have so much extra space, my carry on bags seem really light.

I'm still processing a lot of stuff, but I think this trip is going to be one of those defining life moments, for a number of reasons.

Well, I think I'm going to convince one of the boys to go with me to Market Modelo one last time. In exactly 4 hours I'll be getting into my taxi, and in exactly 7 hours I'll be on my flight back to Michigan.

See you all on the other side of the equator :)

Last night :(

Tonight was my last night in Brazil. What a crazy adventure this trip has been!

Thursday we went to the federal research lab, Fiacruz, and the Hospital Suburbia, which is a public/private hybrid hospital, and the first of its kind. The president of Fiacruz gave us a personal tour of the entire lab. The coolest thing was not the shiny equipment (of which there was a great deal), but his story and his mission. He was born in a very poor rural area and moved to the slums of Salvador at a very young age. He worked all day and went to school at night, and got good enough grades to go to the public university. From there, he worked his way up to the very top. As a result of his background, he firmly believes in opening his facility to the general public. ANYONE can come in and use the equipment, provided they have the proper training. The parking lot converts into a community soccer field at night. Churches and groups can use the auditorium space. Kids can come in and use the university library and computers. He told us jokingly that at first they had all the computers in the back, and kids would look up porn. They've since moved the computers to the front, but he said he really didn't mind when they were looking up smut: "Better them in here, safe, then out on the streets getting stabbed".

The hospital was pretty cool too. Unlike the other ones we seen so far, this one was very new, and very much like what we picture a hospital as in the United States. The federal government provides the building, and the private company provides the equipment and the doctors. People of both private and public insurance can use the hospital, although more public users tend to frequent it (it's very close to the slum areas). I opted not to go into the pediatric ICU, but I toured through everything else in the hospital, including the emergency rooms. We got back kind of late, so we opted for a fairly quiet night at the hostel.

Today was rather bittersweet. We got to sleep in because of our presentation, which was a welcome change. A few of us walked down to the salon to get waxed. I planned to go to the beach, but it was kind of rainy, and I had my presentation to finish. At 12:30, we made our last drive to UFBa and met with several of the presenters we had had over the past month. All of the presentations went well-I did mine on medical technology in Brazil. Since a lot of it focused on health communication, I'm hoping I might be abe to present it as part of my research to Spectrum. At any rate, at the end, we had cake and other goodies with our professors, and we presented them with MSU Public Health t-shirts, while we got little candomble statues with the university and program name engraved into them.

After that, it was back to the hostel for our last dinner. I'm really going to miss this place, and not just for the food. Even though Domiyana (our cook) speaks no English, and I speak very little Portuguese, she's quick with a smile and a mimed joke, usually about how the boys are eating all the food, or how much we all like potatoes (I may have done a little song and dance earlier in the month about batatas frites, and now whenever she serves them she sings the song back to me).

We decided to go out for one last bar crawl. We've done so much with Danny, Henrique, and Jau that it only seemed right. The bars themselves were nothing special this time around (except for the Mexican place, which has the most amazing nachos ever), but just driving around with a bunch of people I now really care about, singing songs at the top of our lungs really made my night.

I've decided I'm not going to bed tonight. Jodi and Sarah have to leave at 4:30 am to catch a taxi to get to the airport on time, so I'm helping Jodi pack (aka, separating all of our stuff that's been thrown in the corner), and then I'm going to watch the sunrise from the beach. I can sleep on the beach, and I can sleep on the plane.

I want to go home, but I don't want to leave.

Ready

Bua noite!

Well, I've had my last lecture in Brazil. Monday and Tuesday were pretty much like every other Monday and Tuesday here, except for a couple of things. Firstly, I got one of our lecturers choked up. She had told us she started out in medical school and then switched to researching healthcare models. At the very end of the lecture, I asked her why she switched (I'm always kind of curious why people leave medical school), and she said it was because her dad died of an easily preventable disease when the health care model Brazil had at the time wouldn't let him get treatment. I felt sort of bad for asking at that point, but she gave me a big hug when we left and told Mariana how much it meant to her that I asked-apparently she doesn't get to talk about it very much.

And on Tuesday, during what would normally be our discussion/computer time, we had a mock debate about the healthcare system. It ended up being a flop, becuase the two groups got confused on what exactly we were arguing, and ended up saying all the same things, but it was nice to realize how much I've learned on this trip.

Also, on Tuesday, I got my nails done again, and some of the boys came with us. The nail salon ladies kept asking if they were our boyfriends and could they go out with them, etc. Neither group really fully understood what the other group was saying, but there was much laughing and smiling. I went to the street party in Pelourinho again, but didn't stay for too long. The police weren't there that night, so everyone was smoking marijuana, which gives me a really bad headache. I stayed long enough for the one band to finish, and then Erica and I grabbed a taxi home. We did not get pulled over this time :)

Today we toured a hospital and the state laboratory. The lab was a little dry, because we had seen pretty much all the same things at the municipal laboratory, but it was still kind of cool to meet some of the lab techs. They are in charge of testing food and water throughout the state, as well as diagnosing and tracking various diseases. The food lab was kind of gross-they had maggots in chocolate!

The hospital was a little bit difficult for me to get through. On one hand, it was really nice to actually be able to see some patients. We got to talk to a couple of old ladies who were receiving treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. They have to take a 3 hour long bus ride every 2 months to get to the hospital, but they receive much needed and very expensive ($2000 per visit) treatment. There were also a decent amount of sick kids, old people with broken hips, and some stab victims (violence is a huge problem here), but everyone seemed to be on the mend and seemed very appreciative of the care. The doctors were a bit frazzled of course, but they were excited to have us there.

The pediatric emergency room even was actually okay, even though I had expected that to be the most difficult. It was quiet, and there were enough beds, and all the kids seemed to be doing pretty well. We had a small lecture on the resuscitation room, which I stepped out of, but that was more of a "I don't need to be in here" than a "I need to get out!"

The hard part was the adult emergency room. There weren't nearly enough beds, so people were just hooked up in the hallway. This wouldn't have been such an issue, except that our guide was lecturing right in the middle of them-no matter where we stood, we were in the way of some doctor trying to help a patient. When we got to the patients who actually had beds, I still felt like I was being really invasive. I want to see patients, and I want to see action, but I don't want to be a tourist in the middle of someone trying to survive a heart attack. The worst was when they took us to the "semi intensive" rooms. The second room had a bunch of sad looking people in it, and it sort of felt like we were at the zoo. The first room they wouldn't let us in, and I found out why.....as we were leaving, they opened the door and I caught a glimpse of a body bag. That was enough to throw me, but then we we finally got out (because at that point I was just ready to leave, we didn't need to be in the ER anymore), we stopped to talk in the hallway, and they rolled the body out right by us. To my credit, I didn't break down, didn't cry, just turned away, but it was still tough.

It has got me thinking though.....I know I'm still knee deep in my healing process, and I know that it's already been getting better, but what's going to happen the first time I have to treat a drowning victim? Will I be able to handle it? I'll probably be fine the second time, but what if I choke trying to help that first person?

I think I'm ready to come home. This past weekend I was ready to move here, but now I just miss things. Chile dog, my own bed with nice sheets, quiet nights, creme brulee from Soup Spoon, a greasy olive burger with fries and real ketchup and a mountain dew from Mr. Burger....I wish I could teleport....I'd go home for a few days, pop back here to the beach, etc :)

Anyway. We're going to a different hospital and a research lab tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to it. This hospital is newer and thus "nicer", so we get to see the difference. We're also going to the waxing institute tomorrow (hey, we are in Brazil), and getting ready for a final presentations. Friday we get to sleep in, give our presentations, and party with our professors. I'm also planning on a last minute trip to the beach and Pelourinho for more gifts...I keep forgetting people!

Tonight should be an easy night. I downloaded some trash books for my kindle, Domiyana made a great dinner which I'm about to devour, Trinidad made me a caparinha, and I think I'm going to sit out in the hammock.

See you all in a few days!

I just had my last lecture in Brazil...how sad!

Photos!

So, even though I had an incredibly lazy day today (we only had class in the morning, and headed back to the hostel at noon to work on our final projects and sleep), I still had no motivation to write out the full post, and I'm just going to move on. I have posted a ton of photos though, to make it up to you. Enjoy!

I've also realized I only have 5 more days in Brazil....nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although, I am craving food from home. I'm like my dad....I just want a mountain dew and some real ketchup!

Another short post

Hey all!

Here's another short post to tide you over until I have the time and motivation to write out the full blogs.

Friday

• Bought ALL THE THINGS in Pelourinho
• I am officially addicted to bargaining
• Went on another bar crawl with our now very good friends
• Had the best margaritas outside of Mexico (not that I would know because my family keeps going without me!!!)
• Danced with about 7 different people

Saturday

• Woke up waaaay to early
• Drove 2 hours to Praia de Forte
• OMG I want to live here. Goodbye Michigan!
• LONG walk on the beach to the turtle center
• BABY TURTLES!
• And because my camera hates aquariums, the battery is dying and I have to be super selective about my photos
• Did I mention the baby turtles?!
• And nurse sharks, and tides pools, and BIG turtles!
• Drove to the middle of no-where and dove into the ocean at sunset.
• The party van got stuck, but 14 people are pretty powerful.

Anyway, today I am sleeping at the beach, so I will hopefully have more for you tonight :)

Sorry!

I've been really, really busy this week and haven't had time to blog. I'm working on a post right now, but in case it doesn't get up until tomorrow, know that I am alive and well and having the time of my life right now. Seriously, the past few days have been absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!

Some highlights:

• Buying sea shell critter from a local healthcare and physical therapy community center
• Getting fed by EVERYBODY
• Getting to speak to some Candomble elders in a Quilombo village
• Eating fresh seafood at the yacht club
• The return of our favorite translator
• Having a midnight picnic
• Another late night beach session

Anyway, we're going to do some shopping, and I think we're going out on a bar crawl tonight, but I just wanted to give a quick update. I'll have the longer one up soon, I promise!

Love you all,
B

Monday, Monday

I had a pretty darn relaxing weekend.

After all the festivities from the week, I got to sleep in a bit on Saturday. When my room finally all got out of bed, we decided to head down to the local beauty spa. Mani/pedis (and other beauty treatments) are really cheap here, and they’re regulated by a federal health surveillance team, so it’s all safe. I opted for a mani/pedi/eyebrow wax day. My other roommates got haircuts and waxing treatments. It was a little intimidating since none of us besides Mariana spoke Portuguese, but we made it work. I’m planning on going back before I head back home…get all polished up!

We went back to Pelhorinho Saturday afternoon and did some shopping at the market. We also toured St. Francis church. The church was gorgeous…the main area is covered in gold and has thousands of deities and faces carved into the walls. It’s a basque church, and the only one in Pelhorinho that has two towers…all of the other churches could only afford one. And the shopping…….I can only say one thing: CHAOS! There are hundreds of shops crammed on top of each other, and all the owners want to barter and make you try things on. I mostly did research (what can I say, I like to get a feel for everything before I buy!), but I did get a hammock and a painting. If anyone wants anything in particular, let me know…I’m getting the rest of my souvenirs on this Saturday. When we got back, everyone else went to a reggae club, but I decided to some much needed R&R , and read the last Hunger Games book.

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day. We woke up and immediately went to the beach. It rained for a little bit, but I stuck it out until the sun came back out and got a little more tan (which is still amazing to me!). The rest of the day was spent making bruschetta, playing card games, and generally just lounging about.

Today was a pretty good day at class. Our first lecture was on technology and innovation within the Brazilian Healthcare system. It focused more on the financial aspect of it than the actual science of it, but since I’m writing my paper on this topic, I still found it pretty fascinating. The 2nd lecture was on the private healthcare systems in Brazil, and how they complement/support the public system. It was a little number heavy, but the overall message was interesting. We got lunch at the university café, and then wandered about to find some ice cream. When we got back, we had a shorter day and just got to work on our presentations. Had it been nice out, we would have high-tailed it to the beach, but as it was, it was down pouring rain. Since the weather has been mostly good, I can’t really complain however. We played more card games and I sorted my laundry (exotic, I know). I’ve been spending the rest of the evening planning out what activities I want to do the rest of the time I’m here.

Tomorrow we’re going back to Pelhorinho for the Tuesday night street party. I think I’m going to try to check out the old lighthouse Wednesday night, and on Thursday we’re heading downtown to see the Body World exhibit and FINALLY see Harry Potter. We’re also going into the shanty towns for one of our field trips this week, so it should be a good time.

Hope everyone back in Michigan is surviving the heat wave!

Last days of VdC

Thursday was fun, albeit tiring. We started out in the rural part of the district. Imagine if some of the Indian reservations in the US were transplanted right next to Grand Rapids…that’s kind of what this was like. You could still see city skyscrapers, but the town that we were in was nothing more than little plastered up houses and tumbleweeds. The healthcare center here was very small, but it reminded me why it’s so important to have some sort of a public healthcare system. If the federal government wasn’t paying to have a doctor and a nurse stay at this center, these people would probably have nothing. It’s a good 2 hours by donkey cart, and even longer walking into the city. For these people, whose entire day is filled with trying to make sure they have enough food, traveling down to the city center for a vaccine just isn’t going to happen. However, the center provides vaccines, maternity care, and can help them get set up with rides if they do need to go into the city for something more serious.

We also visited the orthodontia center. It was really cool, but a few things bothered me. First of all, there were lots of people waiting, but no one had any procedures going on so we could tour, so I felt very intrusive. Secondly, we are apparently big news in this town, so they sent a reporter and a camera crew to follow us. This would have been fine, but it caught me really off guard, and they were really in our faces. Luckily, everyone knew that it made me uncomfortable, so we made a kind of game about it, protecting me from the “paparazzi”. We went back to the same steakhouse for dinner, and it was just as good as the first night. The owner recognized us and brought out the really choice cuts of meat. We ended up getting a photo with him because, hey, why not?

Friday was probably the best school day of the trip. We started at the clinical laboratory center. They basically do all the lab work for all of VdC. We got to look at some samples of common bacteria under the microscope, but what I found most fascinating was the sheer efficiency of the place. We got there at 9, and there were probably around 100 people waiting. When we left at 10, all but maybe 3 or 4 of them were gone.

Our next and last stop in VdC was the maternity hospital. This was amazing. We toured the whole hospital, including the NICU. I think this visit really shattered all of our conceptions of what a hospital should be. In the US, our focus is on individual care: you need your own bed, your own room, your own personalized meal plan, your own doctor, your own surgical team. Everything needs to look nice and smell nice and the sheets had better be 400 thread count or someone’s maternity hormones are gonna go off someone, am I right? In Brazil, the focus is almost the opposite. Maternity care and giving birth is a community event within the hospital. Mothers who give birth to underweight babies all live together in the same room. Up to 8 kids (and their parents) can share a room. Obviously those who need to be quarantined have their own room, but there are very few people that it comes down to that. Breast milk is shared: because so many women have HIV/AIDS, there is a large donation site within the hospital that non-infected mothers can donate to. It goes through a very thorough screening process, but most mothers participate. The overall cost of the hospital is very cheap too. They’ve taken out all the niceties that pervade American hospitals, and focus only health.

After we finished up at the hospital, we were off to get a quick bite of lunch and back to the airport. It’s a little bit crazy at Brazilian airports-there really isn’t security. When we left Salvador, we had our bags x-rayed and we walked through a metal detector, but that was it. We didn’t have to take off our shoes, take out our laptops, or put our liquids in baggies. If you wanted to bring a large bottle of water through, you just had to take a drink of it to prove that it was actually water. When we left from VdC, we didn’t even have to do that. A security guard checked my ticket, and they had a standby guard. That was it. After having to go through so many checkpoints in the US airports, it was kind of startling.

When we finally got back to the hostel, I pretty much crashed. We played some card games out in the courtyard, but we were all pretty exhausted. I did realize something though….the hostel feels like home :)

More photos!

Vitoria da Conquista

I am exhausted.

Sorry about not blogging the past few days….it’s been a little bit rough on the south side of the hemisphere. Between crazy class sessions that go on forever, never ending bus rides, and a flight to Vitoria da Conquista, I’ve pretty much been sleeping, eating, or studying.

Monday was actually sort of a relaxing day-we only had class in the morning. They gave us the afternoon off to go to the beach because we were going to the annual health conference later that night. As usual, the beach was amazing. We grabbed hamburgers and OJ on the way (and the OJ was the best I’ve ever had), and plonked down on the beach for a good three hours. Once again, I did not get burned! The health conference was very….different. It’s open to anyone, and the public is encouraged to attend. While we couldn’t understand much of what they were saying, we were able to get a feel for the overall mood of the room. First of all, it was packed. There were probably over 300 people there, and it was just the opening night (the conference goes on for three days). And people were ANGRY. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much passion at any type of conference. The main debate while we were there was better pay for technical workers, and both sides got pretty fired up.

Tuesday began normally with class, but after lunch we hopped on a plane to Vitoria da Conquista, which is a city about the size of Grand Rapids, located more inland and in the mountains. It’s VERY different from Salvador. It almost looks like the US southwest-very dry, kind of like a desert, with red dirt that sticks to everything. It’s a much slower paced town than Salvador as well. The main modes of transportation here are motorcycles and donkeys. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see donkey-pulled carts with 5 or 6 kids piled on the back while we drive to the hospital. When we first got here, we got to meet the Vice Mayor, who talked about the history of the city, and then presented us with the flags of Brazil, Bahia, and Vitoria da Conquista. We ended up getting dinner at a traditional Brazilian steakhouse. It was probably the best meal of the trip. Sides included bacon and flour flavored beans, French fries (I mean, batatas frites), rice, salsa (non spicy, so it’s just chopped up tomatoes and garlic, etc), and potatoes in mayonnaise, which is a traditional dish in Bahia. For the meat portion of the meal, our host came around with huge steaks on skewers and sliced off bits whenever we wanted it. We had 3 different cuts of beef, chicken hearts, chicken sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon, and one cut of pork. Because we had such a huge group, and because it was a slow night, the owner gave us a great deal. It only cost us each R12…which is about $8 in the US. You just can’t beat it.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we visited the senior citizen center and the reference center. The senior citizen center was gorgeous-very clean, outdoor pool, smiling workers, hummingbird bushes, and a yoga center. I missed most of the lecture though. Our translator was horrible…her English was about as good as my Portuguese. Normally I would be more empathetic, but MSU refused to pay Mariana to be our translator, and we “had” to have one, so they just hired whoever they could get last minute. I got really frustrated, and combined with my lack of sleep from the night before, I just had to get out. I ended up sitting out by the hummingbird bush. The reference center was cool, but kind of backwards. They basically schedule all the 2nd level appointments for VdC. So, if your primary care doctor tells you you need to see a diabetes specialist, the reference center is the one that sets up the appointment. That part makes sense. However, the patients don’t get to pick their days or times, or even offer suggestions. The reference center picks a date, and then the appointment notification is driven via motorcycle to the person’s house. They can either say yes, or they can request another time, which means the drivers go through the whole system again. We also ended up doing some short visits with the occupational health center and the STD health center. We decided to get some pizza for dinner (I think Brazilians may be more obsessed with pizza than Americans…every 3rd restaurant offers it), and I went to bed rather early.

I'll be updating more retrospectively this weekend....love you all.

B

Epic photo post :)

Pelhorino!

Pelhorino, again.

The group :)

Candbomble deities of the water

At the secretary of health

Giving blood

Ambulance

Hooray for the weekend!

As I write this, we're all still recuperating a bit from one heck of a weekend.

Friday was a short day of class. We did a tour of the Diabetes and Endocrinology lab in Salvador, which was kind of slow. Our translator wasn't nearly as good as Cress, so we missed out on a lot that our presenter was teaching, and they kept insisting on showing us their administration aspect, which meant a tour of every. single. office. From an health viewpoint, it was an interesting lesson in how to best serve the population. Diabetes is a rapidly exploding epidemic in Brazil, they don't have the funds to care for everyone, they don't have enough centers, and educational material is tough because so many people are illiterate. We finished up our academic week with a group discussion with Eugenio (one of our professors) back at the university, and then it was back to the hostel.

This is where the fun really began :)

We all signed up to do a Salvador pub crawl. For R50 (about $30), we got 5 drinks, 4 bars, a pizza, and a night tour of some of Salvador's more fun districts. It was very fun and very crazy, and I got to try some of Salvador's signature drinks. The first bar's drink was a ginger shot with different kind of spices (AMC, hush up!). The second bar, called Zulu, had a rum and coke with ginger syrup. It was a nice take on our classic rum and coke. At the 3rd bar, which is where we got the pizza, we had shots of sugar cane liqueur. Just to give you an idea, they call it the truck stop liquer. The pizza was amazing. Salvador is very big on Italian type food, and their take on it is a chicken and white sauce pizza....it's very delicious. The last bar, called the Hanger, was a bit of an issue. When you walked in, they gave you a card to keep track of your drinks. Whenever you walk out, you have to hand them your ID and the card, so you don't run off without paying your bill. Well, I stepped out to get some air, and when I went back in, they didn't give me my ID back. So when I went to leave for good, they kept asking me where my cards were, and of course, they still had them. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with the bouncers, and I was very tired and frustrated, but it all got worked out in the end.

After sleeping in (we didn't get back until almost 4 in the morning), we all got up and headed tome to a beach in Rio Verhmelho, another district of Salvador. It was kind of cloudy and rainy, but it eventually cleared up. I can't describe how amazing the beaches here are. I played in the ocean with everyone and some little kids that joined up with us for quite a bit....the waves were HUGE! I also had some beach food....coconut water fresh from the coconut, and grilled parmesan cheese. This was technically breaking our rule of no street food, but I haven't had any stomach complaints, and didn't have any afterward either, and it was SO DELICIOUS. I ended up walking for a bit by myself and taking to some wind surfers, and hunting for beach glass and shells. I found some cowrie shells! There were little tide pools at one end of the beach with these tiny little crabs and fish, and lots of shells. And I, Brittney Benjamin, queen of sun poisoning, did not burn, but instead got tan. Yes, TAN.

Oh! Josu got stung by a jellyfish! He's okay, but because I am a detective by nature, I took a picture of the ones that were washed up on shore, and we determined it was a very, very small Portuguese Man of War, which are called bluebottle jellyfish here. Scary, but again, he's okay, and we haven't had any other incidences.

When we got back from the beach, we were all pretty darn tired, so we pretty much just hung around the hostel for the rest of the night. We don't get dinner on the weekends, so we walked not even a block away to this pizza restaurant, which was excellent. I tried margherita pizza, California pizza (what we would call Hawaiin...ham and pineapple), seafood spaghetti, and mint ice cream. The rest of the night was spent relaxing, playing cards and having a bit of wine.

So here we are on Sunday! I slept in very late today...I didn't get out of bed until almost noon. A few of us decided to go into Pelhorino again. The big market was closed, and I forgot my camera, so I was kind of upset at first, but it turned into a very relaxing day. We walked around the upper city, and took the city elevator down to the lower city and looked at a few street vendors. Then we met up with our "social coordinator" Fabiano, and he drove us to a really gorgeous church and a street concert. We also got what may be the best ice cream I've had outside of MSU. I got mango and coconut flavors. What's weird in Salvador is although ice cream is served in a cone, most people don't eat them. Me? I like the crunchiness :)

And now we're off to dinner to celebrate Nicole's birthday. I think we're saving the big steak dinner for another night, since she's a vegetarian, but the restuarant we're going to is supposed to be pretty darn good. In fact, I have yet to have a bad meal.

Speaking of food, another cool thing to eat here is called Acai. I know we have the berries and the juice in the US, but it's a huge thing here to make a sort of icee/smoothie out of them and eat them with granola. I tried it today for breakfast, and it was very good.

I'm going to try to post something every day, but it's been getting difficult. I get back and I'm just too exhausted to write! I know you're all enjoying this though, and I enjoy writing it, so we'll see :)

I'm also going to be uploading some photos. They are all on facebook, if you're friends with me (Mom, get Jake to show you), but I'll be putting my favorites up on the blog as well.

Love you all,

Brit

Rules of Salvador 1.0

1. If they can't see it, they have a much harder time stealing it. Loop cameras around bra straps, and keep money either tucked into your shorts or your shirt (not pockets! It's very common for people to casually slip their hand into your pocket)

2. Decide on fare price before you leave in a taxi, as they will try to jack it up as much as possible by taking you the scenic route and then charging you more.

3. Ignore the traffic signs, and instead watch the traffic. Drivers run red lights like none other, and motorcycles don't have to obey any traffic laws. Even if it's a one way street, look both ways.

4. If you're a young American woman, you need to be very forceful with men if you don't want their attention. Even smiling or making eye contact, if you dont' explain very carefully that you're not interested, can result in them camping outside your hostel.

5. If the dog is not on a leash, avoid it.

6. Coconut water is the best remedy for hangovers and upset stomachs.

Ugh

So, my post for Wednesday got accidently deleted :(

To sum: we had our first "field" day. It was kind of boring. We met the Secretary of Health, which was interesting, but the long days are making it hard to focus. We have the most amazing translator named Cress, who is from Wales, and likes steampunk now that I've introduced her to it! I spent most of my evening at the beach, drinking a bit of wine and playing in the ocean after dark.

Today was much more interesting. The problem with yesterday was that we were just SITTING for so long...I was going stir-crazy. Today we were walking all over the place! We spent all of the morning at a blood bank and donation center in Bahia. The director was very interested in us, and wanted to know what we were studying. Colling decided to donate blood, and we all got `Give Blood´t-shirts. We walked through the entire process of donating blood in Brazil, from where the volunteers come in to where it´s processed and shipped out to various hospitals.

We had lunch at this amazing restaurant. We´ve been typically eating at `comida a kilo´style restaurants, which means food by the pound. This one was the same, but they had a variety of weird meats and half off prices if you paid in cash. I had some very good chicken, and tried beef tongue-the taste was fine, but the texture was very disturbing.

After lunch, we headed over to one of the hospitals. They talked about bed distribution, and how they organize emergency cases. Their set up has 3 types of ambulances: a basic ambulance for non life threatening cases (someone falls, etc), a more advanced ambulance for true emergency cases, and a 'mobile health unit', which is essentially an emergency room on wheels. The last one is used for cases where getting back to the hospital in a timely manner may be an issue, such as when someone get injured while rappelling and they have to cut them down first before they can transport them. We got to watch the process of someone calling in a 192 call. The operator gets as much basic info as possible before handing the call to the standby doctor, who walks them through as much as he/she can. Meanwhile, the location is sent to the radio team, who sends a message to the nearest ambulance. All of this is done via computers.

We also got to watch some emergency life support training, but I had to step out and take a breather....they were pretending like it was a drowning victim, and it was just a little too much for me. My triggers have gotten a bit worse on the trip, but everyone is very nice, and we all morbidly joke that if we want to get out of class early I can have a breakdown for the sake of the team.

Once we got back, it was back to the beach. I can't fully express just how much I love the ocean at night here. I mean, it's quite lovely during the day too, but at night there's nobody on the beach and it's even calmer than usual, and it's just a great way to relax.

I hung out with Johannus and Spike again....we always seem to get into fun political arguments whenever we're out in the courtyard.

We're going on a Salvador pub crawl tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it. For $50 (real, not dollars), you get 5 drinks, a pizza, and a cab ride to 4 very different parts of the city.

I keep meaning to talk about some of the customs of the city, but it never seems to happen. Another post, I promise!

Love,

Brit

Street Party Madness!

Ay yai yai....

I just got back from a street party in Pelhorino. Pelhorino is the "old city" in Salvador. When you see all the colorful houses and everything, that's Pelhorino. Anyway, every Tuesday, they have the amazingly huge street party with drummers and music and everyone passing jokes and drinking beer. Geronimo (from Michael Jackson fame) plays there during the summers. He wasn't there tonight, but tonight's party was extra special due to Independence Day. They had several huge floats with deities, and several thousand people dancing in the streets.

Class was pretty fun too. We had our first "not in English" lecture today. It was pretty hard to follow. Our professor lectured in Portuguese while a translator repeated everything into headphones. It was very difficult to focus.

We had lunch at the university at this cute outdoor cafe. A man from one of the Amazon tribes came around selling earrings, but he ran out of the ones that I liked. Mariana asked him to make more and come to our hostel, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Our days are VERY long. We get back from class and all I want to do is sleep, but there's so much more of the city. I haven't been sleeping very good (nightmares), so it's kind of a drag, but hopefully I'll find my balance soon.

More photos to come :)

-Brit

Boa noite!

I'm finally starting to settle in a bit here. Yesterday was kind of crazy, but in a really fun way. We all slept in, which was much needed. Breakfast is included at the hostel, which includes several kind of fresh fruit, fresh bread, and eggs/pancakes made to order, plus Brazilian coffee.

There was a little bit of chaos at first, trying to decide what we wanted to do. We tried going to the mall to exchange money, but due to it being Sunday, the mall opened much, much later. We got a few supplies from the local grocery store, and then headed down to the beach. We're staying on the very tip of Salvador, so we have two beaches very close by: the surfing beach, which has a TON of waves and lots of rocks, and the swimming beach, which is much calmer. We decided to forgo the surfing for now in favor of actual swimming.

The water was amazing. It was warm, but still refreshing, and just enough waves to do a little bit of body surfing. We swam out to where there were some stairs. It didn't seem that far but it was a great workout due to the current. I made friends with some little boys who were jumping off boats. The beach itself was kind of funny. The beaches here are actually pretty narrow, so people are crammed into each other. Vendors peddle all kinds of food and jewelry. Specialities include coconut water and grilled cheese....which is a hunk of parmesan literally grilled over the fire.

After the beach we went to mall to exchange money and look around for a bit. There is a movie theatre in the mall, so Harry Potter in Brazil might be a possibility. Most of the other students are HP nerds as well, so it feels right at home :)

The UFBa staff (basically, our professors) took us out to dinner at this really good seafood restaurant on the beach. Brent and I ordered something called Merascado, which turned out to be some sort of seafood stew. It had oysters, lobster, squid, fish, crab, and shrimp all mixed together. It was little bit intimidating to eat (the squid chunks had very large tentacles!), but very tasty. I also ordered a carafe of sangria, which was the best I've ever had.

After dinner, we decided to go out walking and look for ice cream, which we did find at "Gelateria de Barra". I had a mixture of chocolate cookie and cream. Then we walked back and hung out in the courtyard of the hostel and swapped stories with some of the other guests. Besides us, there are travelers from Ireland, England, Colorado, and Australia.

Today we had to wake up VERY VERY VERY EARLY for class. Okay, it was only 6:30, but it felt much earlier. We spent from from 8 until 12:30 in the classroom, listening to two different guest professors. The first lecture was on changing health concerns in Brazil, and the second lecture was on the anthropology of Brazil. We had lunch at a very cute restaurant near the university, and met the university director.

So far, I really like Brazil. It's very chaotic, for sure, but very fun. And everyone is so nice! I know way less Portuguese than I thought I did, and outside the university very few people know more than few words of English, but somehow we all smile and cobble together our own sort of language. We've dubbed it "Michiguese".

Well, that's about it for today. Dinner is going to be served soon, and we're all thinking about picking up some beer and heading down to the beach for our own mini 4th of July party.

Ate logo!

-Brit

Boa tarde!

Today has been a little crazy, but I though I'd upload some photos from last night. We went down to the oldest lighthouse in South America and partied with some locals.

So many people!!!!!!

Jaron, Jodi, myself, Megha, and Liz. Salud!

This is the lighthouse. The entire hill was covered in people, all of them dancing and waving their hands in the air.

This was the view from my window during the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador. Beautiful mountains!

-Brit

Welcome to Salvador

I'm finally here!!!!!

I have two first impressions of Brazil. First, I'm reminded of a line from Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, which talks about the lack of smell in America. It is the complete opposite in Brazil. Everything smells. Meat is cooking, fruit is ripening, cheese is being grilled, coconuts are being hacked and spraying juice into the air....the entire city of Salvador is one huge olfactory wave.

My second impression of Brazil is this: Beautiful Chaos. The city is a mess. It's gorgeous. People elbow into you and call out "Bom Dia!" and ghetto houses are cramped into each other on top of mountains while skyscrapers tower nearby. Surfer dudes walk amongst businessmen, college students mingle with street dancers. It's a city of much heartache and history, and I think I'm really going to enjoy searching through all the corners.

It was a bit of an adventure getting here. My flight from Detroit to Miami was rather uneventful, but as soon as I switched over to the TAM airline, everything was delayed by at least an hour. Everybody spoke Portuguese and very little English, so it was difficult to try to cobble together sentences to figure out what gate I had to go to and if I really, for sure, had to get my luggage in Rio instead of Salvador (I did). People were really quite nice though. I mastered the use of "Falo English?" and "Nao fala Portoguesh", as well as "Obrigada", "Bom Dia", and "Descuple" (Do you speak English? I don't speak Portuguese. Thank you. Good day. I'm sorry), and was able to mostly get along with smiles. I did have fun trying to order dinner (Frango is chicken) and a drink (Vino Tinto: red wine), and the flight attendents were quick to make jokes with me. On my last flight, the ticket taker and I had a quick, limited exchange in Portuguese, and then he called back, "And now in English, just for you! Have a nice flight!".

Once I finally arrived in Salvador, there was some more chaos. Many others had their fights delayed as well, so we waited around for everyone to get in, and then we all climbed into a 15 passenger bus to head to the hostel. We took the beach drive, which was wonderful. The hostel is equally wonderful. A bit smaller than the pictures let on, but the owner is hilarious, and everything is clean and well kept. The other people staying here are quite nice: fellow students from Australia, Ireland, and England.

After unpacking, we headed down to the lighthouse. Today was Independence Day in Salvador, so there were thousands of people crammed down at the beach playing rock music and dancing. We ended up getting a couple of beers and hanging out with the locals, trying to dance. We got dinner at a cute cafe near our hostel. I tried a meat called Penhiro Argentina (or something of the like), which turned out to be a very tasty seasoned beef.

We attempted to go the club afterwards, but had difficulty finding a cab. Some of the group ended up going, but my roommates and myself decided to call it a night. Probably a good choice-my feet are killing me!

Well, that's about it for today. Tomorrow should bring a shopping trip, possibly cell phone buying, dinner with the UFBA professors, and, oh yeah, the beach :)

Buo noite,

Brittney

Final Countdown

Holy cow, where did June go????

I leave for Brazil in two days. TWO DAYS. From this moment, I have exactly 53 hours until I am securely buckled into my (economy) seat and flying up, up, and away.

I feel....almost ready. The trials of this past week have done a number on me. On one hand, I'm slightly worried about my mental health. I've had some issues making decisons this week...trying to decide on a place for dinner sends me into a hysterical fit. Packing my swimsuit was difficult, and I've still been having trouble sleeping. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to getting AWAY. I'm looking forward to having a schedule, to having LOTS to do during the week, and the freedom to run wild and explore on the weekends. If there's ever a place to distract oneself, it has to be the land of sun and sand and amazingly brightly colored clothing. Not having to deal with sympathy cards addressed to my dad instead of me will also help.

Also, I bought makeup a shade darker than what I usually buy during the summer. I WILL get tan, gosh darn it all!

Well, I should probably get back to cleaning my room. In the meantime, here are some teaser pics of what's to come.

Barra Guest Hostel: Where I will be staying for 95% of the trip. They offer a free cocktail/fruit smoothie hour every day.

A view of the Atlantic Ocean and some cute houses. I plan on scuba diving while I'm here.

Pastel houses in the city center.

Ate mais (until next time)!

Brit

Packing Light: a Goal

When it comes to packing, I tend to err on the side of too heavy and too much. When I came back from Ireland last year, my luggage just barely made the cut-off weight. On my last trip to Washington DC, my family made fun of me for months because I brought no less than 6 pairs of shoes: running shoes, flip flops, walking sandals, high heels, kitten heels, and my dressy work shoes. Now, due to the nature of the trip, I needed and wore all of them, but they certainly took up a decent amount of luggage space and made hauling my bags through the airport a little more challenging.

Part of my problem is indecision. When I pack for a trip, I'm constantly thinking of all the things I could do....if we go out dancing, I'll need my low heels and a club shirt. If we go to the fancy restaurant instead of the cheaper beach one, I'll need a nicer dress. What if it rains? What if the dog jumps on me and gets mud all over this outfit-I'll need a backup! Consequently, I tend to pack about the same amount of clothing for a 3 day trip as I do for an 8 day trip. The longer my vacation is, the more my packing style makes sense.

However, going to Brazil is going to be a challenge for me, and I hope in a good way. This will be the longest time I've been away from home (not including college), my longest "vacation", and the longest time I've spent outside of the country. I will be living in Brazil for one month, and living out of a suitcase. Go me!

My goal for packing is to take one decent sized checked back, at maximum 3/4 of the way full, a backpack to carry on, and my "travel purse". I've been buying a lot of dressy beach clothes that fold up very small, and I bought two of those space saver bags for the few bulkier items I'll need to take, like a sweatshirt and a towel. We do have laundry facilities, and according to our student guide, there are a lot of fun shops and the like in Salvador, so I'm planning on buying more clothes down there as I need them. I can live in tank top dresses and beach skirts.

So, we'll see. If nothing else motivates me, not having to lug 50 lbs through the airport on my own should do the trick ;)

20 days and counting.

Belated Welcome

Welcome to the new blog! I've decided to change format for the umpteenth (and hopefully last) time due to formatting and copyright issues. I changed over all of my big blog posts, and will be adding pictures as I can. I'm on the home internet right now, so uploading may be slow.

In other and more exciting news, I am going to Brazil this summer for a WHOLE FREAKING MONTH! In March, I decided to apply last minute to a study abroad program through MSU called Healthcare in Brazil, and I got accepted!

I will be staying in Salvador, Brazil, which is the 3rd largest city in Brazil. It's a port city, located in the state of Bahia, and is right smack on the Atlantic coast. Our hostel is literally 5 minutes from the beach and offers surfing lessons.

Of course, it will not be all fun and games. Monday and Tuesday I will be in the classroom, and Wednesday through Friday of each week will consist of educational field trips to hospitals, clinics, and other areas of health care.

BUT, even with all the work, I am sure I will have a blast. I've met most of the other members of the group, and they seem pretty awesome. A few of us are talking about going to Rio for a weekend, and many of us want to try scuba-diving. Plus, one of my favorite professors may be joining us, so I'm looking forward to having a beer with him and eating all kinds of tasty Brazilian food. Oh, and I'm learning Portuguese!

Over and out,
Brit