An Iranian, an Indian and a Pakistani walk into a ...

... bird park. I rounded out the group as the American contingent. We'd hopped on a bus to get there, after skipping out on afternoon electrical engineering talks at their conference.

Some of the birds at Parque das Aves were a bit wary of us...

Luckily however, we happened upon a friendly toucan who offered to show us around and introduce us to all the birds.

Including some birds not so thrilled about their cages (hard not to sympathize),

 And others, who didn't feel quite so caged in.

 

 
We said thanks to the birds for their hospitality and headed to the gift shop.

And now that we knew the bus route, the next day we would know exactly how to get to the waterfalls, located not much further down the road. Hopefully, we would run into some of their relatives there...

Waterfalls everywhere, but I'm showing you towels

Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

This was one of the groovy towels that greeted my boyfriend and I when we made it to our hotel room in the quiet town of Foz do Iguaçu.

A flickr reader named NoNo Joe described this creation in the following manner: "Looks like it sucked on a lemon."

The housekeepers created these fancy towel formations for us on the first day. And the second. But on the third day?
On the third day, they folded them like normal. Did we fail to show our appreciation of towel origami, I wonder?!

And yes, I have some pictures of the beautiful scenery of the area (hint: expect some photos with waterfalls. I'll try to control how many I post), but I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, despite the gorgeous sunset outside the window.

Therefore, just as we were greeted with the artistic vision of these towels at least one day before we were awed by the natural wonders of the area, I will also start y'all with this random piece of my adventures as a tourist and then move onto bigger things.

Time to Get Touristy!

My boyfriend flew into town this afternoon with only a backpack.

Because his bags hadn't followed him quite as quickly. 

So, they'll be delivered to where I'm living in Porto Alegre sometime after we arrive in Foz de Iguaçu, where he's going to a symposium on circuits and systems and we're going to enjoy some amazing waterfalls.

This meant that for his first afternoon in this lovely city full of beautiful green trees, we had to do his least favorite thing: clothes shopping.

Seriously, I'm not sure he's actually gone clothes shopping since 1979. (And no, it's not because I've been buying clothes for him).

I haven't paid too much attention to men's clothing here, so I dragged him into a C&A downtown with blaring pop music (oh yeah, Spice Girls was on the playlist) just because it was cheap and I figured there'd be some basic options.

Poor man.

I tried to help him get it over with as soon as possible, and considering his zombie-I've-just-been-traveling-for-21-hours-how-am-I-supposed-to-figure-out-my-clothing-size-in-a-foreign-country state and my you-like-it-let's-buy-it-let's-go-let's-go-let's-go state, we did pretty well.

LUCKILY, he's already got some gaucho culture under his belt. Before we ventured into the shopping insanity, we stopped by the travel agent to rent a car for the first few days of March. And there, he was able to try his first chimarrão. Everyone looked at him anxiously and asked, "Did you like it?" I'm not sure if his "Yes, it's good, I like anything with caffeine" was as enthusiastic a response as they desired. But, he did drink it all. 

We fly out of here at a god-awful early hour tomorrow. And, surprising as it may appear, I'm not bringing my laptop. And yes, I do anticipate some separation anxiety. I figure I'm going to really test out this enjoy-being-with-my-boyfriend-and-detox-from-the-incessant-need-to-obsessively-check-the-internet-far-more-frequently-than-called-for thing.

So, see y'all a few days from now!

Typical

Under the Highway
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

I've always wanted to avoid being the "typical American tourist." Part of that comes from growing up on an island that quadruples in size during the summer. Tourists cross the street there as though they are in Disneyland and the roads (and the cars in them) are make-believe.

So, I never wanted to be perceived as a tourist. And, especially in my teens, I'd go out of my way to pretend that I wasn't one. Even if I was completely lost. I do recall being flattered at being confused for a Spaniard at age 16 when I was studying in Granada. However, the confused people were American tourists asking me in broken Spanish if I knew how to get to the nearest McDonald's. The locals weren't fooled.

And so I sometimes felt that I didn't want to be perceived as an American. It had something to do with the stereotype of American tourists as boorish and uncouth. I didn't want to be labeled that way.

Yesterday, I saw a piece titled "My American Friends" posted by friend of mine on Facebook, who for a while was an American living in England. I thought it offered a different (or perhaps more nuanced) perspective of what us Americans can be like when we travel abroad. In the article, Geoff Dyer writes:

"The archetypal American abroad is perceived as loud and crass even though actually existing American tourists are distinguished by the way they address bus drivers and bartenders as “sir” and are effusive in their thanks when any small service is rendered. We look on with some confusion at these encounters because, on the one hand, the Americans seem a bit country-bumpkinish, and, on the other, good manners are a form of sophistication."

The article's worth a read and you can go here to find it.

It'll be interesting to experience what it is like to be an American in Brazil. I'll be especially curious to hear what the kids I'll be working with have to say about Americans and America.

---
Reference:

Dyer, G. (2009, December 31). My American friends. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/books/review/Dyer-t.html