Earth Day in Londrina!

Earth Day 2008 was a big success!

CREALI, NAP worked together with members of project Aprendizagem sem Fronteiras and with Escola Estadual Ana Molina Garcia on two different events for Earth Day. On Tuesday, April 22 (Earth Day), students from the 6th grade at Ana Molina Garcia displayed posters they had made about the environment around the school, and then participated in a school-wide garbage clean-up, alongside the principal and teachers at the school, and the NAP team.










Students' art projects made from recycable materials



T.V. Coverage







6th graders at UEL


On Thursday, April 24, over 100 6th graders from Escola Estadual Ana Molina Garcia came to UEL to commemorate Earth Day with various outdoor activities. The students spent three hours on UEL’s beautiful campus where their environmental artwork was displayed in the trees.



They attended a play about Greek mythology and Mother Earth presented by UEL students



Competed in relay games using recyclable materials,





And planted 33 trees on UEL’s campus













Students received Earth Day buttons, certificates of participation, and prizes for their efforts.




We were really pleased with the collaboration between the university and Ana Molina Garcia, as well as with students’ energy and enthusiasm over the course of both events. I hope that the students will continue to be excited about learning English and taking care of the environment in the future as well.

Take a look at the link to our Earth Day event from the university's newspaper in the top right corner of the blog page under "links"

Foz do Iguacu

"My poor Niagara" - Eleanor Roosevelt lamented when she saw Foz do Iguacu


Foz do Iguacu is amazing! It is a UNESCO World Heritage site on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide. The falls separate Argentina and Brazil, and they are monstrous: the force of the water is just incredibly impressive! I was there this week to to give a talk on pronunciation at the University in the town of Foz, and one of the English teachers was nice enough to host me and take me around this weekend as well. Right now the water is really weak and the falls weren't as strong as usual, but still it was quite a sight to see. From Argentina, you can walk up close to the top of Garganta del Diablo (the largest and most powerful part), and from Brazil you have a more panoramic view. Most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, so there are lots of walks through the forests, a boat ride to the island with an up-close view of the falls, etc. They seem to be more organized than in Brazil. They have old-fashioned trolley trains that takes you from the visitor's center up to the the different walking paths, and they run every 15 minutes or so. All the paths are realy spread out so you need a full day here if you want to see everything. We saw quite a bit - the falls from the top, the overhead trail and part of the lower trail too. The only thing we missed was going to the island. We went here on Saturday and I loved this side of the falls because you were right up close to them and there were fewer people than on the Brazilian side. However, the weather wasn't as nice as it was on Sunday, so the pictures from Brazil are a little better, but to be right on top of the large waterfall is very impressive.

On the Brazilian side you have a magnificent panorama of all the falls, and a close up front view of the Garganta del Diablo, which is unbelievably impressive! The only thing I didn’t like here was that there were SO many people! You could barely take a picture and were always being pushed out, so it took away a little from the majestic nature of everything. Still, in spite of that, it was spectacular. And the weather was very nice so we had rainbows in the falls too. I also took a boat ride to be up close to the falls. This seemed like a good idea because the one at Niagara Falls goes close to all the falls so that you feel you are a part of it. This one had great views but then you were on a speed boat and they tried to get you as wet as possible – that was the only goal! I don’t mind getting wet in the process of seeing all the waterfalls, but if the only motivation is to take you close to a waterfall and have you drenched, that doesn’t seem like much fun. Plus, you had to take a train and then walk down hill 15 minutes or so to get to the dock. This was a beautiful walk, but it was really far. Once we got there, nobody was directing traffic, saying which boat to get on or where to leave your shoes, how to tie your life jacket, etc. And once we came back and got off the boat, we had to wait 30 minutes for jeeps to come and take us back up hill to the train station, so that we could wait for the train that would take us back to the bus stop to wait there to get to the visitor’s parking lot. The jeeps took so long they were asking people to go on foot. 60 people had to walk back uphill and many of them were not in the shape to be doing this! They seriously need to consult Disneyworld to get some tips on how to be better organized!!! Even the Brazilians were upset over this:) We arrived back an hour later than they had told us we would, and my hosts had to wait there for me until I arrived; there was no choice. Apparently, this is a privately run organization and they were only trying to make money, so they had sold more tickets than they could accommodate for. Many customer complaint cards were filled out after the trip!

But still, despite being soaked and freezing, the day was really fun and it was wonderful to be able to be there in person. To loosely quote Ferris Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking up a ticket and coming to Foz do Iguacu!"

Foz do Iguacu from Brazil (Sun 4/20/08)

Some photos/video from the Brazilian side:



Video from Brazilian side, looking onto Garganta del Diablo

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Foz do Iguacu - Argentina (Sat 4/19/08)

Here are a few pictures and videos from the Argentinian side of the falls: It was impossible not to get water on my camera lense here, so sorry about the water drops. But at least you can feel a little bit of what it was like to be there in person!


View from the smaller falls in another part of the park

Itaipu Dam

On Friday night I visited the Itaipu Dam. This was a very controversial building project when they started in the 70s, but now it is considered one of the modern wonders of the world. It’s definitely an impressive structure and the energy it generates is split between Brazil and Paraguay 50-50. It supplies 90% of Paraguay’s energy and close to 75% of Brazil’s. I think in the long run it may be a very good source of natural energy. But, of course, to build it, they had to destroy huge wildlife areas and cut down millions of trees. To compensate for this, Itaipu has planted 44 million trees and there are wild life refuge centers in both Brazil and Paraguay. They also have created a fish ladder similar to the Ballard Locks in Seattle to help the fish get around the dam and survive. I think they are doing what they can, but so far it can’t make up for the species lost or the rain forest they had to cut down to build the dam.

On Friday and Saturday nights they have a light show. So, I thought that meant light show in the Disney or Vegas fashion with colored lights flashing all around, like the water show at Disney world I saw 18 years ago. Anyway, we had to go to the visitor center, board a bus to get to the dam, and then once we were there, they showed us another video about Itaipu. This was fine except that the video must have been made in the early 80s. The music was something out of “Dallas” and looked like the old filmstrips we watched in middle school; it was like an instant flashback to history class on the industrial revolution or something:)

Then, after the video, they started to light up the dam, which was very beautiful and quite impressive. But, I was waiting for them to do something with the lights and nothing happened. I took two pictures, and then I heard an announcement saying, “Okay, that’s our light show. Thank you for coming”. I thought, you have to be kidding. This was just lights, not a light show. I must have misunderstood the Portuguese for this. But, still, to get everyone on buses, and to go all that way just to see a quick lighting of the dam seems silly. They could do so much more. Granted, it is a huge structure, and I’m sure it’s very expensive, but still. The one good thing was that on the way out, the buses drove up close to the dam so that you could see how big the structures actually were. Overall, I would say it was not worth attending. But I do have a couple of nice photos, which are attached here.

Animal sightings so far

Coati: they are all over the park, especially the Argentinian side, and are like a symbol of Foz do Iguacu, similar to the buffalo in Yellowstone. Supposedly they are not dangerous, but people were going up close and taking pictures and petting them, which is disgusting because they are in the raccoon family and spend most of their time in garbage cans! (See photo).


Capivara: largest rodents in the world, are also all over the area. I saw several in the Wild life reguge on the Brazilian side.



Beautiful birds in the Argentina park



Monkeys


Deer


Interesting looking ducks



Cows from the Londrina fair: cross breed to look like mint chocolate chip!

Cheesiest Mexican restaurant ever

My students asked me if I would like to go to a Mexican restaurant with them this evening - the only one in Londrina. I said, of course. I was looking forward to spicy food, finally, and good tortillas and Margaritas. I should have known never to get your hopes up for good Mexican food far from Mexico! Not that the American version of Mexican food is necessarily very authentic, but I love it, and I think it has to be closer than what I found here. There are no jalepenos, at least not that I've found in this region, and all the food is fried. It's so greasy! That's okay once in a while, but I was really craving regular burritos or enchiladas with beans and spicy sauce. Not to be. I ate a little bit and did try the Margarita, which wasn't too bad.

But the evening wasn't a total flop. The best part was that a photographer comes around to your table and hands out sombreros for you to wear while he takes your picture. It's right out of Epcot Center - Mexico in Disney World! They take your picture and post it on a website that you can access for free, they just want the free publicity for the restaurant. I felt like we were in The Three Amigos!:)

Photos from UEL (the university)

The office where we work at the university. These are the students who help out on the projects, and some of the teachers too. Our St. Patrick's Day decorations are on the door of the office, and were the best we could do in a country that is completely unfamiliar with Ireland!:)

Easter down on the farm

Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen and down the mountain side...

My Easter looked more like Ireland than Brazil:)


This year, I was invited to one of the French professor's family's country farm in Parana for Easter. It was very nice. Here is a photo of us with one of her great nephews in their very large, Catholic familiy:)


We had a nice weekend sitting around doing nothing but eating and lounging by the pool. However this was slightly clouded by the constant smell of cows and horses and the enormous amount of flies!! If you didn't cover your glass with your hand while you weren't drinking you would have a couple of flies swimming in your beer after a minute or so! But flies and other insects or smelly animals aside, it was a nice place to relax. The weather must have been close to 90degrees both days - a world away from what most of you are experiencing, I know! On Saturday we had a birthday lunch for one of the sisters and we all ate in the barn (tables were set up for us) since there weere so many people. There was the customary rice and beans and salad, beets, carrots and various meat dishes, plus lasagne. They always have to throw some extra Italian carb into the mix in order for it to be a real Brazilian buffet! No wonder my stomach has been upset here with all the various dishes. They are all good, but it's not our usual mix:) Then it rained hard, thunder storm style and we were out in the barn. It looked like The Wizard of Oz. But once that passed and the rain died down somewhat, we got the most magnificent rainbow (I'm attaching a few picutres and a short video blurb too). Just spectacular. And with all the green rolling hills, it looked more like Europe than Brazil. On Easter Sunday, we all met back at the barn (we had been staying in town at the parents' actual house) for left overs and swimming at the pool. It was nice to relax, but the Brazilian style of doing nothing but sitting, drinking beer and sitting some more is a little too laid back for me; although the pool was nice. There wasn't any special Easter tradition that I saw except to pass out chocolate, which we ate a lot of. No Easter bunnies, though:) I hope you all had a great holiday too!

Easter is for the cows: views from the farm



Double rainbow. But where's the pot of gold?

First podcast for NAP at UEL, Londrina, Brazil