1/29/2010 - Spitting Game

I met a guy today named Walter Hessert. He graduated several years ago from Notre Dame with a Latin American political science degree and is currently “playing” in Brazil. He is a nice guy, but not unusually interesting. The reason I mention him is because of the job he had for the past two years. He was basically a “manny,” which is a male nanny for those of you who don’t know. Shortly after finishing up college he met an Austrian-born American who also happened to be a self-made billionaire. This gentleman was getting older, but he still had teenage sons. Thus, Walter was hired to travel the world with the family so that the young boys could have a younger male influence. In his job, Walter was paid to sail across oceans, camp in the Sahara, and fly in helicopters over New Zealand, among other things. I was awestruck by this story, so I thought I’d mention it. Talk about the best job in the world.

Also, tonight was my first night out in Sao Paulo. I met some Serbian students who are studying medicine here for a semester, and we decided to buy some beer and then headed out to one of the local clubs (Bohemia beer is probably one of the best beers I’ve ever tried. Not too expensive either. Haha surprised?) Anyways, we found a bar that looked pretty bumpin’ so we decided to check it out. It was expensive to get in (R$30.00), but it was worth the experience. We were there at 11:00pm, which is a little early in South America, but as the night went on more and more people flooded the floors of the club. Between the blaring techno music and not being able to speak Portuguese very well, it was very hard to communicate and/or dance with the Paulanistas (the local girls). I don’t spit game very well in Portuguese (I guess I don’t do very well in English either, haha) Oh well, I’ve got a long time here to practice.

1/27/2010 - To End Is To Begin

We finished our travels today, and thus, I will be back in Sao Paulo for most of the next five months. Traveling was great, but looking back on it, we tried to do to many things in too short of a time. I was sleeping in a different bed in a different city almost every night, and I never really got time to take everything in. Traveling with others can be very frustrating at times, mainly because everyone is a little different when it comes to opinions on how to do things. However, at the same time, it has taught me to be much more tolerant and relaxed about things. Even during unsure times, my philosophy has been that everything will work out. No use fretting about things you cannot change or mistakes that you make. Not everything is going to go as planned, especially when you are traveling throughout countries that operate much differently than the United States. All in all though, I have some great memories and stories from Peru and Argentina.

Today was the first day that I really felt lonely. Granted I still have Paul here with me, but I’ve had most of the day to just sit around and think. I realized how foreign this place really is. I can barely even communicate with the local people, and the helpless feeling that comes with a language barrier is not very comforting. I guess my Portuguese can only get better from here though. For now I will resort to a lot of charades and sign language. I am getting excited to start orientation on Saturday. There are only eight other students in my program, which will hopefully be a recipe for close friendships. It’s getting late, and seeing as I haven’t had a long, refreshing sleep in a while, I’m going to take this opportunity to rest up. Boa noite!

1/27/2010 Global Identity

The University of Minnesota offers an online course for students studying abroad, and I decided to register for it because it seems like a great way for me to reflect on some of the important skills I am learning this semester. It is called Global Identity and the goal of the course is to help students connect their experiences abroad with future employment opportunities or graduate school applications. Also, it helps students become more articulate about their experiences and to reflect on things while we're immersed in a different culture, instead of coming home and trying to remember exactly what it was that we learned. Along with submitting the assignments via email, there are instructors to give feedback and help us to think about things in a different way, or to challenge us to try something new. Thus, I've decided to post some of the assignments that I'm required to complete because the topics are fairly interesting. This first assignment is about the expectations I have of my time in Sao Paulo, and I figure that since I will begin my actual program soon, it would be a good time to post this.

Assignment 1

The start of my business and culture program in Sao Paulo is quickly approaching and as each day passes, I am left feeling more excited and more nervous. Many times these two feelings are hard to distinguish from each other. Maybe anxious is a better word. I have heard that studying abroad is one of the best experiences a student can have, and I cannot wait to experience a different culture; academically, historically, linguistically, and socially.

Aside from not being great at Portuguese, I feel that I am somewhat prepared for what Sao Paulo has to throw at me. From what I gather, it is a huge melting pot of different customs and cultures, and I believe that I can relate fairly well to that type of city. Not only is Minneapolis full of diversity, but I have also spent a lot of time in Chicago and New York where adaptation is an essential part of survival.

As mentioned above, I am not that great at speaking Portuguese. I have had about five semesters of Spanish, but I still expect the language barrier to be quite difficult to overcome. At the same time, I will really enjoy this challenge, and apparently there is no better way to learn a language than full immersion. However, I have a feeling that English will be spoken quite a bit, especially at FGV (the university where I will be studying) where knowing English is required to be a part of the global community there. I have thought about this quite a bit, and I feel a little embarrassed that I do not necessarily need to know the native language of Brazil, even though I am the foreigner.

Also, I am expecting that staying with a host family will greatly help me in learning Portuguese. I think that my homestay will be a place where I feel comfortable asking questions about language and culture, and hopefully I will be able to learn and experience a lot with my family.

I have heard from several people that Brazilians are some of the nicest and most welcoming people in the world, so based on this, I am expecting to be welcomed wholeheartedly from the students at my school. The one thing I am nervous about however is my status as American. Americans are known to have bad reputations across the world; we are arrogant, ignorant, loud, etc. I do not consider myself to be any of the aforementioned traits, and hopefully I am not just simply molded into the stereotype.

Also, I have read that the exchange rate between the real and dollar is constantly shrinking, and it appears now that the purchasing power of a dollar in Sao Paulo is almost equivalent to being in Minneapolis or another big city. I am expecting the social scene to be quite tempting and thus quite expensive, but I am by no means a stereotypical “rich American,” so I will need to be careful about budgeting my money.

I am very much into theater, music, and eating at home in Minneapolis, and I am really looking forward to experience the arts and dining in Brazil. I am expecting quite a large variety of entertainment and types of food, based on the cultural diversity in Sao Paulo. Also, I am hoping that I have time to possibly learn a new instrument in my spare time.

As far as personal expectations, I have learned to be independent throughout my years in college, but I am anticipating that I will learn a much different type of independence while abroad. I generally consider myself a shy person, and while I do have good people skills, I think that the experience of meeting people abroad and practicing a new language will help me feel more comfortable with initiating conversation, which I think is an extremely important skill to have in any profession. Also, I am going to try and be spontaneous and immerse myself in the culture of Sao Paulo, and I hope that learning to navigate a completely different social scene will make me a more confident person in general.

I am very excited to begin my studies abroad and I understand that not all of my expectations will be met, but I also know that some will be surpassed beyond what I could imagine, and that I will experience things that I never even dreamed of. Also, I am very glad to be doing this online course. Writing things down has always helped me to reflect on experiences, and I believe my work over the course of this semester will be very useful in the years to come. Obrigado e Ate logo!

-Tony Grandelis

1/22/2010 - 1/26/2010 Fergalicious

I don't have too many crazy or interesting stories from Buenos Aires. We actually used this part of our trip to relax seeing as we had been getting up at 6am for the past week and a half. Nevertheless, I’ve got a few pictures for y’all. (Oh and I have a couple pics from our two hour stop in Lima too).


Lima:





































My mom is obsessed with taking pictures of her kids next to the Snoopy statues downtown St. Paul, so the picture of me next to the cow is dedicated to her. They have these cows all over Lima, and they are all decorated in a different style.

Argentina: The first night in Argentina, we went to one of the most famous steak houses in Latin America. It was called La Cabrera's and it had some of the most delicious food I have ever had. We had to wait about one hour to get in, and while we waited, they served us free appetizers and Champagne! I shared a juicy cut of steak with Megan, and the meat was served with dozens of different types of salsas. Also, rumor has it that Fergie is a fan of this place, so it must be good.Below are some pictures of the famous cemetery in BA. I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty arrogant to build yourself a million dollar tomb. Maybe I'll do that someday.

The remaining pictures are of Megan and Paul on the Subway, me trying to get a tan while standing in the shade, Paul and I trying to learn how to Tango (haha), and a beautiful view of 'The Woman's Bridge' in the ritzy part of Buenos Aires. Also, this concludes the end of my travels so I will be heading back to Sao Paulo to start my program. Stay tuned for more adventures.

1/18/2010 - 1/22/2010 The Manu National Rainforest "Oh My Gah"

6am: A young Peruvian man named Daniel met us at our hostel and proceeded to show us to the Peru Discovery van. Today we would be heading to the Manu National Rainforest for four days of hiking and relaxation, and the real challenge would be surviving without internet or electricity of any kind. The owner of Peru Discovery, a tall and gaunt German fellow who we called Jorg, Jorge, or George, met us at the van and was to be our driver through the Andes Mountains.

I usually like car rides, but the road to the rainforest was gravel the whole way, and combined with George’s aggressive driving, I was left feeling a little queasy and restless. Manu is only 35 km away from Cusco, but it took us eight hours to get there because we had to wind through the mountains in the most indirect way possible. There is only one road connecting Cusco and the national park, and it is a one-lane road for two-way traffic with rocks/boulders and small streams/waterfalls as constant obstacles.

The scariest parts of the ride were the almost 180 degree U-turns that directed us up and down the mountains. Several times we were surprised by an oncoming bus or truck, and we would either have to slam on the brakes to avoid head on collision or quickly swerve to one side so both vehicles could narrowly pass without having to slow down.

I find it interesting how Peruvians use their car horns in comparison to how we use them in the United States. Whereas we honk when we are angry or impatient, Peruvians honk to let other cars know they are passing, to warn oncoming traffic on the mountains, or to simply greet other passing vehicles, bikers, or pedestrians. In general, the pace is of life is much slower in Peru and people are more patient. Needless to say, I was very calm and relaxed for most of the trip.

We arrived at the top of Manu National Rainforest (which is a part of the Amazon), in an area called the elfin forest. The reason for this name is because the trees and plants are dwarfed due to the high elevation and rain that washes nutrients down into the lower parts of the forest. Trees that usually can reach thousands of feet can grow no more than 30 feet here because of the poor conditions. Despite the lack of wildlife and vegetation at this point, we were able to view the entire rainforest (about half the size of Switzerland) below us. Also, at this lookout you can see the Andes start to bend towards Bolivia, and on a clear morning you can watch the sunrise far in the distance while sitting in the dark. I’ll have to come back to see this sometime because apparently it is spectacular and one of only two places in the world where this can happen.

*In this part of the forest we saw some beautiful pink flowers which were nicknamed singles flowers. When natives would celebrate, all the single ladies would put this flower in their hair to let the men know who was available and who was not. I’m thinking about starting this tradition in the Dinkytown bars.

We continued our drive down the mountains to the Tambo Paititi lodge (hotel of the lost village), which was adjacent to a beautiful river in a small valley of the primary forest. As you can see, it looked very authentic and the bamboo roofs were actually made by native tribes. My favorite part of the trip was when the sun would go down, and leave us alone in the dark with only candles for light. Our chef (Elvis) made us a delicious three course Peruvian meal every night and after a game of cards we would fall asleep under our mosquito nets. These nights in the rainforest were some of the most relaxing moments of my life, and I have never slept better with the lull of the river in the background.

*Note: mosquito nets are actually kind of terrifying. While you are pulling yours around your bed for the night, it is very possible that numerous mosquitos, giant moths, or other insects find their way in, and are then your roommates for the night. But I guess it's better to have one that not. Also, below is me pretending to be Tarzan.


With the sun as our clock, we would wake early every morning in order to hike and view animals when they were most active. The treks were generally very messy and very hot because we had to wear long sleeves and pants in order to avoid bug bites. We went on numerous hikes with Daniel as our guide, and saw some amazing animals and plants. Here is a list of some of the memorable species:

Cows – the first animals I saw in the rainforest. Kind of disappointing.

Orchids – there are thousands of species in the Amazon.

Birds – there are over 1,000 species of birds in the Manu Rainforest. Some of the ones we saw included the Cock of The Rock, Macaws, and a Toucan Sam.

One night an owl flew right in between our heads during dinner. If I hadn't seen it, I would have never known it had been there because it was absolutely silent.

Also here is a picture of one of the weirdest birds I have ever seen, although I cannot remember its name. The picture was taken through a telescope. Cool.


Monkeys: We saw about 4 species of monkeys (Capuchins, Squirrel Monkeys, Wooly Monkeys, and Night Monkeys), however, the Wooly monkeys were by far the most entertaining. Monkeys are very territorial, and on one of our hikes we intruded in their space a little too much. This did not make them very happy, so they surrounded us and tried to hit us with branches and urinate on us. We actually had to run away from their hostilities at one point.

*Falling branches are the number one cause of death in rainforests

Snakes: We saw one snake on the trip and only for a brief moment. It was a rainbow boa constrictor, and as soon as Daniel and Julio tried to grab it, it slithered back into its hole.
Julio is a native of the rainforest who came on some hikes with us in the lowlands. Natives always try to kill snakes because it’s better to have them dead than to be bitten. Also, Julio informed us that he is not afraid of snakes when he is with a group of people, but when he is alone, he is afraid that the snake will hypnotize him with the patterns on its skin. Then, while he is hypnotized, the snake will eat him.

Julio always carried a machete with him, and it was amazing how he could read the forest. He knew what every track was and pointed out medicinal uses for many plants. A couple of them included a plant that made women infertile and a red flower (called hot lips) that had berries that acted as an aphrodisiac (i.e. Viagra)

Butterflies – We saw dozens of species of butterflies. My favorite was the “stupid butterfly” They are beautiful black and orange insects, but they never fly away when people or other things get close. Daniels says that many times you’ll see orange spots on the road because the stupid butterflies do not fly away from cars. Also, Daniel informed us that butterflies like to feed on the nutrients in sweat and urine. “Butterflies are really nice, but when you know what they eat…then they are disgusting.”

Snails – we saw one of these slugs outside our lodge and it was about as big as a softball.

Insects – I generally am not too afraid of things, but my downfall is definitely insects. I flip shit when a bug gets in my face. The bugs were especially prevalent in the hot and humid lowlands, and at night is when they really like to come out. Here are a couple that especially creeped me out.

Ants – there can be up to 30,000 species of ants in one tree (as compared to 46 in
United States), and they are not the innocent creatures that I thought they
were. Many bite and sting, and there is one species, the monstrous bullet
ant, that Natives say produce the worst pain in the jungle. Paul had one on
his neck one night and Julio later got bit by probably the same one.

Moths – these insects are harmless, but when they are as big and furry as they are
in the rainforest, it is hard not to freak out when they get in your face.

Bees – I was stung twice at the same time by two wasps.

Cockroaches – they litter the floor at night in the lowlands, and Paul was lucky
enough to have one crawl out of his backpack.

Some other animals that we were hoping to see but did not were the Jaguar, Tapir (a nearly blind, 500 pound animal that lumbers through the forest), Puma, and Spectacle Bear. We also asked George if there is any animal he hasn’t seen yet, and he responded, “There are legends…” He was talking about the Giant Sloth, which numerous natives claim to have seen, but there are no know documented photos: only unrecognizable footprints (kind of sounds like Big Foot).

Even though the rainforest was incredible, it would not have been nearly as great without our guides. They were some of the nicest, funniest, and most interesting people I have ever met. Our dinner conversations were always entertaining, and it was fun to swap stories from our different cultures. George had great stories of his travels when he was younger and his run-ins with the corrupt Peruvian police, and Daniel seemed to fit right in with Megan, Paul, and me and loved talking to us about partying and his time spent in the United States.

*Note: On our journey to the lowland lodge, we took a boat down the Madre de Dios river. My aunt Ophelia is from a small village on this river called Puerto Maldonado, and we were only several hours away from it.

I was fairly disappointed when it was time to leave, but little did I know that we would be spending another night in the Tambo Paititi lodge. Because it was the rainy season, landslides were always a possibility, and on our way up the mountains, we got stuck behind a line of cars waiting for a massive landslide to be cleared. There was a Caterpillar working to remove the mud and rocks, and after several hours it appeared to be almost finished. However, it started to rain again, and an even bigger landslide undid all of the work. The Caterpillar stopped working at nightfall, and because there is only one way out, we had not choice but to go back to the lodge.

Finally, the road was cleared around noon the next day and we made our way back to Cusco. Luckily George and Daniel were able to help us change our flight that we missed because of the landslide.

Looking back on our rainforest experience, I had an immediate epiphany. Although Peru is very inefficient in many ways, it is not a problem because people are not in a rush and have patience to wait things out and make the most out of what they are given. I think I could get used to that. Also, George is someone I could aspire to be. His ideals about money and lifestyle are a bit different than mine, but I slowly am beginning to see that doing what you love is the ultimate way of living. It is almost like the Tambo Paititi lodge is George’s cabin, and it is amazing to see how excited he still gets to see a monkey or a certain type of bird. The best part is he gets paid to do what he loves. Hopefully I will be able to live a life as fulfilling as George’s and Daniel’s where I can get excited everyday, even after many years on the job.

1/17/2010 - Macchu Picchu

We woke up dark and early this morning (3:00am to be exact), and immediately headed out for our climb up to Machu Picchu. Basically our hike consisted of walking up ancient stone steps on the side of the mountain while it was pitch black outside. It would have been nice if we’d thought to bring a flashlight, but thankfully Megan had her cell phone that we could use to light the way. I know, kinda dangerous. It was an exhausting hike, but we finally made it to the gates of Machu Picchu after 2 hours. The reason for our early start was so that we could be guaranteed tickets to climb Waynapicchu, which is a mountain overlooking the ruins of Machu Picchu. Only 400 tourists get tickets each day, and we were some of the lucky few.

Machu Picchu was a mountain home to the Inka peoples thousand of years ago, and it is a beautiful and sometimes dangerous place. To think that humans built this structure is simply baffling. Machu Picchu is indescribable and best seen in picture, so here is a photo documentation of our tour. Clouds surrounded us for most of the morning, but it eventually cleared up to reveal a dazzling view. Also, the best part about the Machu Picchu is that tourists are allowed to explore and touch everything (even llamas). There are no restrictions.

Please excuse the sporadic placement of the photos. I am not very good at formatting them.