Contributed Photo
Not often are people able to tell the story about the time they tracked down Golden Lion Tamarins, an endangered primate, in the Atlantic Rainforest just to feed them a banana or when they witnessed a 600 pound sea turtle lay nearly 100 eggs at 2:00 a.m. Or perhaps the story about following a capybara, the largest living rodent, through dense brush and mud at midnight. Even the time when they watched the explosion of new life when 200 brand new baby sea turtles hatched and waddled on a wet, sandy beach with crowds of human gapers staring in frozen wonder and amazement. It was through a three credit lab course “Vertebrate Zoology” offered through the Biology Department with a diverse group of entertaining classmates, Brazilian friends, two friendly and dedicated teachers Dr. Ashley McKay and Dr. Brian Walker, and the support of Fairfield University that I was able to experience this memorable trip in Brazil
Visiting Brazil during winter break was a life-changing event. Before the trip, I was an ethnocentric individual who had never ventured out of the country and naively thought America was the center of the world. All my prior knowledge of Brazil came from the Disney Movie “The Three Caballeros”, a Brazilian restaurant near my home, rumors of their beautiful women, and their undying obsession with soccer (futbol). Little did I know I was about to arrive in one of the most beautiful and friendly places on earth where all of my stereotypes would wash away.
It was like entering an alien world or the land of Pandora out of “Avatar.” Everything was so different from the USA, yet its function was similar. The wildlife was uniquely distinct and odd and the forests were brimming with elaborate trees and vegetation, not common to North America.
The people had very different social dynamics. I occasionally found myself staring down a hairy 300-pound man in a speedo (“sunga”) walking his dogs down the street with his family and saw women of all ages in skimpy bikinis that were so revealing they would be charged for public nudity in America. Also, the food was usually covered with absurd amounts of salt and the drinks were packed full of sugar.
While my friends up north were in the midst of fierce winter storms, I was in the humid rainforests and sunny beaches of Brazil enjoying the South American Christmas season.
I learned so much about the Brazilian people, customs, wildlife, and culture and was quick to appreciate the fact that this country is quite different from the United States. This proved to be my first real breath of fresh cultural air. The Brazilian folks were relaxed. There was no rush, no materialism, no mansions, no frowns, and most importantly, everyone seemed to be enjoying a relaxed and simple life.
My most memorable experience of the trip occurred on my first day in Farol when we arrived on a wild Friday night to a city that was bumping (literally) from the loud music. As a group, we walked across the street to the enclosure where we gathered up hundreds of baby turtles and began releasing them onto the beach near the ocean. In a sudden epiphany, I realized that every aspect of my Brazilian experience was happening right before my eyes. At my feet were hundreds of baby turtles struggling down the soaking beach towards the water. In front of me was the expansive Atlantic Ocean with foamy waves beating the earth. Above me was a midnight black sky twinkling with more glowing stars than I have ever seen in my lifetime. To top it off, behind me was the main street in Farol where hundreds of people in speedos and colorful clothing were dancing, hanging out, and listening to the loud-speaker systems booming from passing cars. I was completely immersed in the nature, wildlife, beauty, and culture of Brazil and it was quite a breathtaking experience.
All of the students returned from Brazil having gathered data for a number of unique personal projects. Some of these projects included time spent casting nets and recording the diversity of fish in a lake, video taping the adventures of tracking down Golden Lion Tamarins through the rainforest for a documentary, recording frog vocalizations for comparisons between two swamps, a monitoring of bird diversity, and a pilot study of temperature differences between different sea turtle nests. Our work added to previous research and it left us knowing that we contributed to the understanding of the diverse Brazilian wildlife. Throughout the semester we will organize and eventually present our projects to an audience in Bannow.
The adventure into Brazil was incredibly fun and eye opening. I would recommend this winter break trip to all Fairfield students who want to partake on an adventure of a lifetime. This trip was full of nonstop action due to expert arranging by our teachers that avoided the usual tourist bus tours and long waits. We dove into the culture and tasted every bit of it from the dense rainforest, to the dusty old blue and white Yacht club run by two shirtless men, to the bouncing city of Farol, and to the calming boat ride with underwater swimming with sea turtles. These and other events will remain etched in my mind for many decades to come.
Leave a Reply