Dear Irene,
I would first like to thank you, for encouraging me to enter the competition and I could not believe that I won. As soon as they called out my name on the radio, I went running around my house, crazy, jumping up and down on my small bed, which I think I ruined the springs in it. Although it’s a pity you could not come with me, because the fact is that I had a spectacular holiday. There was a variety of choices on where to go, but none of them interests me except for one that I have not tried yet, and that was ‘Rafts and river journeys’ in the Amazon river, Brazil. I have never, in my life, experienced river journeys and I heard it could be a lot of fun and dangerous so I can face my fears.
My best friend, Mike, and I went on a first class ticket in Brasilia Airlines that was very comfortable for a six-hour trip. As we landed on the capital of Brazil, Brasilia we didn’t imagine that this city can be strikingly beautiful, and fortunately is a lot better than Jeddah. We then met our raft experts in the airport. They were both female, which was really unexpected, because the experts are usually male, well one of them is called Joila and the other one’s called Lavita, I find Lavita very attractive. She had a tall, fit body, long blonde hair and a face more beautiful than Cindy Crawford. They took us to the city. The city had unspoiled landscapes, different types of antique markets around a distinctive building, there were several skyscrapers in the middle of the city, but that didn’t spoil the scenery, if you were in the middle of the city you would see lime-green mountains at a very long distance. They drove us to their camp, which was far out of the city and nearby the Amazon River. The campsite was in a charming location, along the campsite was pale green bushes around the campsite, caravans just beside the entrance was very big because it is used for their office, a small lake can be seen just a few hundred metres beside the camp for us to practice, there is an exotic view if you looked on top of the small hill, it was as if you were on top of the world.
Lavita firstly showed us to our small white caravans for us to unpack.
As I was reading, I noticed that most of the characters involved in Crossing the Mangrove have strong opinions stemming from race and class perspective. They live their lives with harsh lenses of judgment by categorizing their fellow Guadeloupian neighbors by race, success, heritage and gender. Francis Sancher came to inhabit the island of Guadeloupe, and people became suspicious of this “foreign stranger”. I found it interesting that most of the women within the novel felt positively towards Francis Sancher, while the men had a strong distaste for him. Though interestingly enough each character seemed to be powerfully drawn to this strange man. “The women secretly had a soft spot for this mastic-bully of a man, so tall and straight under his silvery head of hair. But the men couldn’t stomach him and called him all sorts of names”. In the beginning of the story, no one knew where he actually descended but many liked to guess. Cuba was the main rumor, “As soon as we’d heard he was a Cuban, Papa declared there were too many foreigners in Guadeloupe and that he should be deported with a...
I would like to dedicate this book to my parents, D Paul and Judy. My love of art and travel, as well as my sense of determination comes directly from them, and I love them deeply for it. I would also like to thank my supportive husband, Jason, without whom I would be lost and adrift. My friend and publisher, Kemberlee, has given me much support and inspiration, as well.
The United States and Mexico share a 2000-miles border stretching from the Golf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. The border region is shared by ten states, wetlands, numerous mountain ranges, canyons, rivers and deserts. The U.S.-Mexico border is “Situated between a developed nation and a developing one, the U.S. -Mexico Border Region is a formally defined transnational region of land. The region extends approximately 2,000 miles along the full length of the international boundary, 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) north and south of the border and 62.5 miles into the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.” The economic, political and social changes continue reshaping the relationship between the two nations and provide direct and indirect prosperity to communities along the border, and across the country. However, despite these opportunities the border region is confronted with many environmental issues including environmental degradation that affects air, water, and soil quality along the Rio Grande River. The environmental degradation results in destruction of ecosystems by human activities.
“Tourist Attractions, Performing Race and Masculinity in Brazil’s Sexual Economy” ventures into the Brazilian sexual economy and the facets that develop, shape, and reproduce garoto’s sexuality and identity. The topics this paper will discuss are: the way tourist perceive sex worker’s performance of Brazilianness, Race, and Masculinity, Gregory Mitchell’s reframing of prostitution through sexual, performative, and affective labor, how sexuality is produced and reproduced by the tourists and sex workers, and finally the nature of the tourists’ quest for authenticity. In addition, a critical question will be presented that inquires on the advent of social media, dating apps, and technology in Brazil’s sexual economy. Brazil as the largest country
What I hope to gain from living and working in the United States is a lot, I hope to be more open to the world culture and people, to be more global citizen than before, to challenge myself more and be developed but the most thing that I hope to gain is the feeling that I felt in Brazil.
The river trip is a camping trip near the Georgia coast that my dad and his friends have gone on since 1998. Every year during my youth, my dad would make preparations, and I would ask, “When can I go on the trip?” He would always say “You can when you get older.” until he relented and allowed me to go at age twelve. From that moment, I began counting down the days. The time until I turned twelve felt like an eternity to my young self. When the time finally arrived for me to prepare for the trip, I was in a state of disbelief; the long-awaited moment had come.
Would you prefer vacationing in a dense jungle or a scorching hot desert? Thankfully, I have had the privilege to do both. Over the past year, I have traveled to the beautiful rainforests of Costa Rica and the barren wilderness of Bonaire. By studying the parallels and differences of both destinations, one has the ability to understand the travel expectations, habitats, and activities of Costa Rica and Bonaire.
There are moments in life where, as events progress, you ask yourself “What the fuck is this?” If they are odd enough, you don’t say anything at all; you can only look on with a face of confusion and amazement with a slight aired of curiosity. These are things you cannot forget; even if you wanted to. Lucky for me, this moment happened the first weekend I went back to Brazil.
I desperately attempted to free myself from the relentless grasp of boredom. I looked out the window, but like the thousand times before, I saw nothing but farmland hugging the earth for miles. I was visiting my dad's home country, the Dominican Republic, for the first time in my life. The night before I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes the thoughts of all the enjoyable activities I would be doing flooded my mind. I couldn’t wait to go out to sea on my Uncle's small fishing boat, swimming in the crystal clear waters surrounding Punta Cana, and kayaking to a small nearby island with my parents. But first, I would have to experience a 3 hour long drive to go to the quinceanera of a cousin that I had never even met.
With a cold breeze in my hair, my shorts soaked with water, and bruises forming on my legs; I have never been happier. For the past four years I have been going to a summer camp, and last year I discovered a love for sailing. I could tell anyone fifteen different stores of my time at the camp, but learning how to sail is my favorite memory I had all summer The camp is called Miniwanca, which means, “Many waters”. It's a perfect place for people who love being on the water like me. When ever I think back about my time at that camp, I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning.
Federative Republic of Brazil, Brazil, is the fifth largest country in the world, both by geographical area and population. It is also the largest country in South America, bounded by Atlantic Ocean on the east. Brazil has a coastline of about 7,500 km and shares a border with almost every country in South America and covers half the continent. Brazil has an extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Two of these basins--the Amazon and Tocantins-Araguaia--account for more than half the total drainage area. The largest river in Brazil is the Amazon, which originates in the Andes and its tributaries covers 45.7 percent of the country, principally the north and west. Despite its large territorial region, population is mostly concentrated in few urban cities of its coast, like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo Salvador and João Pessoa. The interior region of the Brazil is mostly covered by rainforest basin of Amazon which remains sparsely settled.
Every once a year my family and I decide where to go for a vacation over the summer. This past summer we decided to go on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico.Our vacations are usually just by plane or by car, but this year my parents wanted to make it interesting and suggested that we go on a cruise. The next day we bought our tickets, parked our car in the lobby , and started up the escalating stairs to be approved. The moment I stepped into the ship I could feel the wave of adventure pushing me down with excitement.
Clink. Clink. Clink. The ride goes up slowly. Higher and higher, up and up and up, but we aren’t there yet. I was very fortunate to be able to go to Camp Gracanica (a serbian camp) in the summer for a week. My best friend Katarina encouraged me to go. I have been enjoying my time there and made many friends. I stayed in one tiny, cramped room with twelve girls with so many colorful bunk beds. We went to church morning and night for a week. One day, after church, we talked about Great America. We were able to pick partners and I chose Katarina. I was so excited to go with someone I am very close with. The next day we got up at six o’clock in the morning, with the pleasant sound of a cow bell in my ear. I slept on the bottom bunk with a cool
For this interview assignment, I had first chosen Brazil as my preferred country. Among all the Latin American countries, it is Brazil that I am more familiar and knowledgeable about for many reasons. I wanted to interview a Brazilian so that I could further expand my understanding of the country from a perspective of a native. But as several of my classmates had also picked Brazil as their favorite, it became difficult to find an interviewee for that many of us. As a result, I opted for another country, Peru. To me, Peru is a mysterious land. It is among the few American countries that I have only heard about. I hadn’t even known the capital until I researched online. Yet, I was still very excited to be exploring a nation that I am not aware of in anyway whatsoever. Through our teacher, we, Joshua and I, landed on a Peruvian who is ready to talk to us about her country. After exchanging few e-mails and messages, we decided to meet in a Gerlach Hall in the evening time. The interviewee, a female graduate student, was originally born in Peru and had immigrated to the United States of America at the age of two along with her family. Although she is an American citizen, she has constantly been in and out of the country and claims to have been an avid traveler.
Last spring I talked a friend of mine, my brother and my brothers friend to go to the Hoh Rainforest in the middle of it’s rainy season for a weekend backpacking trip. For those who