Submitted by Meghan O’Brien on the 2020 winter session program in Brazil sponsored by the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences…
My third week in Brazil has been spent visiting many tourist attractions and getting a better sense of the culture. We visited Christ the Redeemer who looks out over the city of Rio. We took a bus up to the top of the mountain and then climbed 200 steps to reach the base of Christ. The whole group was in awe as we saw how big this statue actually is. The views from the top were surreal and it was a clear day, showing off all of the special beaches Rio has. When we got back from the excursion, a small group of us departed for Maracana Stadium, home of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2016 Rio Olympic games. I have been a sports fan my whole life and thinking about how stars like Michael Phelps and Alex Morgan walked on this turf was just incredible. We had a tour of the stadium and started research for our final project which focuses on the environmental impacts in Rio before and after the Olympic games. The following day, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain which is 396 meters tall! We hiked up to the first peak which was the hardest hike I have ever done! At this stop there was a gondola which we then took up to the tip on the mountain which looked out onto Christ the Redeemer and the beautiful surrounding water.
On Thursday, we left for Tiradentes which is a town directly north of Rio about four hours away. This town reminded me of older towns in the United States with its old cobblestone roads and horses. During this weekend excursion, we visited Inhotim which is an enormous interactive park/garden/museum. The bus ride was packed and long, but it was definitely worth it for this bonding and informative excursion outside of Rio. Saturday was our free day in Tiradentes, but we still ended up going on an excursion as a class. This impromptu day ended up being one of my favorite days on this program so far. We got up and walked about 3 miles to a waterfall. I had never been swimming in one before, but there were several pools at different heights of the waterfall that you can hike up to. We spent about 4 hours here just swimming, talking to locals, and enjoying time with one another. To top off this experience, on our walk home we stumbled upon a carnival parade. We were finishing lunch and walking home when tons of bands, clowns, singers, and street performers flooded the street getting ready for their parade. Carnival is such a huge production in Brazil and despite truly starting in late February, the celebrations start way before then. Being in the middle of this cultural event was amazing and it was great to see all of the locals come together.
Finally, as our two classes continued, we learned about the importance of plants from studies in hospital rooms and kids with ADD. Plants can go a long way and act as a soothing and calming device aside from just decoration. For field sketching, we practiced drawing one point perspectives while looking into the old cobblestone streets of Tiradentes.
