Mineirão

In our second week in Belo Horizonte, we took a visit to Mineirão, the famous soccer stadium in Pampulha, that will host games during the 2014 World Cup.  The stadium, newly renovated, was very beautiful and grand.

In the very same room where press conferences will be occurring after the World Cup games, we heard a lecture about the planning involved with and the politics behind preparing for this grand event.  Our presenter told us that Mineirão was on time with renovations and that planning and infrastructure changes on such a large scale will be a great learning experience for Brazil to grow from.

While these experiences may help Brazil in organization and planning, there are some doubts about how the World Cup will impact the economy in the long term.  Our presenter assured all of us that Brazil was going to benefit financially due to these games because rather than building excessive, unnecessary stadiums, hotels, and transit systems in order to receive those who are coming for the games, Brazil is already in desperate need of these infrastructure changes.  The idea is that, rather than creating a huge bubble to fill with the influx of tourists and having it collapse once the tourists all leave, this growth is already necessary for Brazil.

For example, once the games are over, many of the hotels will be converted into office spaces, and many of the new taxis are already necessary for the city.  In this sense, the funding from the games can be seen as a way to receive the funding necessary to expand the infrastructure of a nation that is already experiencing growing pains.

While past experiences shows us that in most cases, the World Cup leaves a country with less financial gain than initially anticipated, Brazilians remain quite optimistic that this is not the case for their country. I am very curious to see what happens within the next few years after the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics have been completed and the dust has settled.

Rio de Janeiro

Last week we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, which literally means "River of January" because when the Portuguese first came into the bay, they believed it to be the mouth of a large river.  While this was not true, it stuck and the city still goes by this name.  While on top of the Corcovado Mountain to see the Cristo Redentor, I suddenly realized how appropriate this name truly is for such a magnificent city.    Half awake from the long hours of traveling and the over exhaustion, I suddenly felt wide-awake and completely awe struck by the view before me.  There truly are no words to explain how amazing it was and my photos can only capture a small display of the magnitude of this city.  

To look at this photo and see the contrasts between the natural beauties of this Earth and all that we as humans have created on this land is eye-opening when seen from such a large scale.  While there is no river of water in Rio, the city itself can be seen as a large, unified body, moving through the valleys, weaving its way around the mountains that have long inhabited this land.  The people here have not sought to overcome or dominate the mountains that tower over their skyscrapers, but instead have found ways to work around and through them, giving the appearance of a river flowing.  This body of concrete and glass, while fiercely powerful and carrying great momentum, is still humbled by the realities of gravity.  

These feelings of wonder and amazement were combatted in my mind by another thought that continued to stir in the back of my mind, only to grow louder the next day, atop of the Pão de Açúcar.  

While this view was equally breathtaking, I could not help but think of what this land must have looked like when the Portuguese first arrived in what they thought was the mouth of a river.  Were the shoreline without developments, the bay clear of boats, and the forests endless?  What were these men thinking when they first came upon this land?  What they saw as a blank slate that has now been so deeply carved into.  Is this the discovery of the Americas?

Today, racism is illegal in Brazil, but almost every day I see and hear it around me.  Whether it is in the eyes of the dark-skinned, frail child, no older than eight years old, who asks for the scraps of my friend's food or the cries of the starved woman as she begs for money.  Who should be charged for these crimes?  Should someone be held accountable for the systems of oppression that have forced human beings into these situations?

As the people of Rio have shown, it is impossible to combat nature, but systems of oppression are not like the water cycle or the steep slopes of mountains, they are man-made institutions.  While many efforts have already begun, we cannot continue to be resigned to allowing oppressive systems continue to flow freely.  Rather, we must proactively search for ways to channel these systems back to their origin and allow nature to heal the scars we've left on the Earth.