What is Julia Doing?: Rio de Janeiro

Last weekend, May 20 to May 22, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro in the south of the country to visit my dear friend Ellie who is studying abroad within the city at PUC. I met Ellie during my summer volunteering in Panama and we have been true friends every since although we are rarely ever in the same place. Rio is another world compared to Salvador. My time there reminded my how diverse Brazil is just like the United States. It is much cleaner, much more expensive, and much whiter. The culture is entirely different as well.

We did a mix of touristy things as well as non-touristy things. On Saturday I spent the morning and afternoon with Ellie's class on a field trip to an Movimento Sem Terra (MST) acampamento (camp) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landless_Workers'_Movement. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I was able to speak to people who are part of the movement and see what there lives are like. I hope to return to Rio someday soon and spend a significant amount of time there.