Florianopolis is a must for any trip to Brazil. It’s hard to believe that this stop was an improvisation, as it was one of the most breathtaking stops on our journey. The island of Florianopolis is large with a big hill separating the side closest to the landmass of Brazil and the side closest to the Atlantic Ocean. The first night we arrived from Porto Alegre, we explored a beach and climbed some rocks, and I got some souvenir Havaianas flip flops. After stopping at our hotel, we ended the night with a trip back to the coast and celebrated our health and safety with a delicious seafood medley. We were all grateful as were our instructors, so this felt like a fitting celebration to mark the end of our difficulties.

The next morning, we spent the day exploring a new beach, climbing rocks, battling waves, hiking around, and enjoying the best açai we’ve ever had. This day is engrained in my mind as one of my favorite experiences ever.

Following this decompressing morning, we flew out to Foz do Iguaçu, and checked into a beautiful Wyndham close to the heart of this tourist town. The rooms were huge, there was a pool and a spa, but the first thing we checked out was the closest halal place we could find. My friend Oday had been hankering for some halal meat the entire trip, but due to the circumstances in Rio Grande do Sul and the low Muslim population, the availability for meat he could eat was nonexistent. The short time table in Florianopolis also meant limited availability to research and find halal restaurants. Now that we were in Iguaçu, there were many options choose from, so I helped Oday find a suitable option and make a plan to visit. We grabbed an Uber with Dr. Kerestes and our friend Tyler, and had an amazing meal together. We also got to explore some souvenir shops after.

The next day, we ventured to the reason why Iguaçu is a tourist town: Foz do Iguaçu. One of the 7 wonders of the natural world, the falls cannot be described in words. We took our normal bus to outside the park, then an internal bus to the entrance of the walking section. From there, people were piling in, gathered all around the railings to capture the beauty of the falls. Waterfalls fill your field of view as you gaze over the guardrail, the surrounding green forest encapsulated in your periphery. We had a tour guide that led us through the park, giving us facts about the falls and the environment. We even got to see some native wildlife – The Coati. This distant relative of the raccoon was adorable and quite active on the trail. The further we ventured closer to the falls, the more mist and water droplets filled the air. We reached this center platform that extended out to the middle of the falls. The encompassing 360 degree view of the falls was mesmerizing, and extremely wet. Donning a poncho wasn’t enough, the airborne mist was relentless. But it was worth it to see the double rainbow halo over the edge of the platform. We finished this excursion with the classic Brazilian buffet, on top of the falls such that we could see the intersection of the Argentinian, Paraguayan, and Brazilian regions of the falls.

The day after, we visited the Itaipu Dam. This marvel of a hydroelectric plant sits on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, who split the generated power 50-50. This dam powers all of Paraguay, with enough excess that they sell some of the energy back to Brazil, powering close to 30% of the country. We were first driven to the top of the dam, seeing the huge reservoir of water on one side and the enormous descent down to the processing and control facilities at the bottom of the dam. It was breathtakingly nerve wracking. The scale on which people construct these engineering feats is almost unfathomable. And to think that this dam, although it does power a small country, can’t even power all of Brazil with a majority of its energy output. It couldn’t even power Brazil with all of its energy output; it’s truly a testament to the scale of both the dam and the country of Brazil.

We drove down to the base of the dam, where all the facilities lie, and once again I was awestruck by the scale of the dam. It hit 10x harder at the bottom, the walls of the dam towering over everyone and everything unilaterally. Plus, the sustainable engineer part of me was deeply satisfied to know that this hydroelectric dam is producing sustainable, clean energy constantly. After we took pictures, we headed inside, getting a look at a cross sectional map of the dam. Despite being at ground level, or what we thought was ground level, there were more than 50 floors beneath us of control and maintenance facilities. We journeyed further into the dam, we were shown an enormous hollow chasm. Walking across the chasm bridge, it stretched from the true bottom of the dam all the way to the top. The tour guide proceeded to fill his bottle with water, went over to the edge, spill the water, and told us to listen. We waited and waited, each second passing by adding to our disbelief of the depth of this drop. Until finally…the splatter of water hitting water at the bottom of the chasm finally rang out, filling the whole room with that splashing sound. We did all but refuse when he offered to demonstrate it again. We were then taken to the control facilities, which was truly a single facility but copied across the border of Paraguay and Brazil. We got to peer into the room from above and the side, seeing the apparent gold line on the floor marking the border between the two countries. When we were above the room, the border was a line that we ourselves could cross, and so we walked, jumped, and treaded over it numerous times. Due to the power distribution scheme of the dam, the control rooms needed to be doubled to accommodate the monitoring of each country’s distributed power. The Brazil side expected only monitored the Brazilian energy grid that the dam supplied, and the same thing for Paraguay. Besides monitoring, the control room also controls water output and thus power output from the dam. There are multiple gates lining the inner middle region of the dam, and only 1 was open while we were there. But, when the countries need more power output, up to 9 gates can be open to allow the hydroelectric turbine to spin, generating power. Additionally, the gates can be controlled such that gates are only partially open, ensuring that power output closely matches power demand and no energy is wasted. Finishing up with the control rooms, we split into two groups, venturing down to the turbines. We saw this long stretch of numerous enormous red dots lining the ground, which were the covers for the turbines for maintenance work. Diving deeper into the facility, we reached the humid, noisy, lubricating oil-covered motor room. Avoiding oil puddles, and ignoring the hearing-damage-inducing noise, we saw the room with only one turbine spinning at 50/60Hz. Considering a small motor, this was not insanely fast, but this turbine filled this room. Not only that, there were as many turbines as red dots on the above floor, all of which contributing to the energy output and rotational inertia that could and had powered these countries for decades. The noise was nothing compared to the inspiration of these turbines.

Our tour concluded, marking the official end of the study abroad experience as a whole. We got to peruse the tourist welcome area of the facility, and saw some more Coatis on the way out, but now it was time to pack up and go home. We celebrated our last night there, with raucous banter and good times, and we left early the next morning. Truly, Brazil was not the perfect study abroad experience, nor is anything really, but it was so unique that it will stick with me for the rest of my life. The ups and downs of Porto Alegre, and the redemption that was Florianopolis and Foz do Iguaçu were pivotal in forming my impression and admiration for this country. A beautiful country with a rich and diverse culture, thriving companies, amazing food, catchy music, a familiar feeling yet nuanced native language, and many experiences that were and are still yet to be had, Brazil cannot be understated and will never be forgotten.

*These blogs are backdated between the end of April and the middle of May due to extenuating circumstances*