Submitted by Catherine Medlock on the 2018 winter session program in Brazil sponsored by the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences…
In one of the last days of my Brazil adventure, I sat at the top of Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro overlooking the city I had spent so much time in. We had just completed a difficult hike up the mountain and now sat on a concrete slab next to some train tracks that led to the Christ the Redeemer statue. As tourists would fight for pictures in front of the massive statue, our sweaty bodies sat peacefully over Tijuca Forest getting one final glimpse of every location we visited in Rio. All the blisters and scrapes from the hike were completely worth it! We ran back down the mountain and once again I felt that unhinged joy that I experienced throughout my progam. From the unrestricted growth of the Amazon rainforest to the movement of glittery bodies participating in Carnival, I found that there was a sort of wild freedom everywhere I went in Brazil.