This morning we took a ferry down the Guaiba River out of Porto Alegre. Sunshiny and windy - everyone broke out the sunglasses. The water is polluted almost everywhere in this area because sewage and chemical waste gets dumped into it, so it's murky, lakeweed floating on the surface like heads of lettuce. (The sewage treatment is part of why we're not supposed to flush toilet paper here - it's thrown into the trash instead, which is thankfully changed often.) Further out, though, the water looked blue enough, rimmed by green shoreline with lots of trees. The river trip took us past prosperous island homes - huge houses with beautiful architecture, landscaped lawns sloping down to private decks with sunrooms and barbeque setups. Some of us met a young boy and his mother, both of whom spoke excellent English, and they chatted with us for a while, pointing out and explaining things. We passed a rusty ship half-sunk on one of the banks and were told it had been left there as a symbolic protest of how polluted the river water is. Some of us, on Fernando's recommendation, tried a fruit pop/energy drink on the ferry, something like a cross between Dr. Pepper and cream soda.
Once we returned to the river port, Juanita led us on a walking tour past some historic buildings, like the oldst church in Porto Alegre. It was closed because it was lunchtime, so we took the hint and headed to a buffet restaurant where we again stuffed ourselves with Brazilian foods: lots of fruit, salad, black bean stew on rice, risotto, stuffed eggplant, baked pineapple with cinanmon, and sushi (often made with fruit or vegetables instead of fish). The restaurants we've been to so far have all been buffets, which have one price for everyone, and each person is given a slip with the drink menu which the waiter marks up when you order; you pay at the door and show the stamped slip to get out the door. Very efficient!
After lunch, we boarded our bus for a 20-minute drive to Canoas, where we spend the afternoon and evening. At the university, Unilasalle, we met a group of English-speaking students who gave us a tour of their very lovely campus. It's a Catholic university not much older than Concordia. One of the things they showed us was a meditational walk past carved depictions of Christ's journey to the cross, all smooth red brick pathway under luxuriant trees and out through a castle-like gate to a prayer shrine at the end. Their breathtaking chapel, where we had the privelege of singing, is dedicated to St. Joseph, with lots of gilding, bright paintings, a grand piano, a pipe organ, and a fantastic acoustical space. After our tour, we had refreshments - the orange juice here is so much better than at home! - and had some time to visit with the students.
The concert this evening went very well; for some, it was the high point of our tour so far. With the luggage, we had all of our instruments back. Our audience was very receptive, probably helped by the fact that many of our songs are sacred Latin texts and one is in Portuguese - apparently our accents are 'cute', but people seem to enjoy the attempts! Last night we got a standing ovation, and after our concert we were told that in Brazil, that means people really enjoyed the concert and are asking for an encore. When people stood up tonight, we were ready this time with an encore. We made Fernando cry, and he wasn't the only one.
Still coming down off the concert high, we went to a pizza restaurant, where we were again served a ridiculous amount of food. Pizza flavours we'd never encountered before: corn, broccoli, chicken heart, stroganoff, and of course cheese, which Brazilians seem to put on everything conceivable. Just when we thought they were done, they brought dessert pizzas - chocolate, M&M, cinnamon and banana, and coconut. According to Jacob, our schedule has been bus, sing, stuff yourself, bus, hostel, sleep, coffee, bus, stuff yourself, bus, sing, ad nauseam. (Well, hopefully not.)
Apparently Porto Alegre serves smaller portions of food than other cities in Brazil. We're doomed.
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