I’ve had quite a tough two weeks. I felt physically exhausted and one of the few things I managed to do in my free time was reading the news. This is a killing combination. You feel down because you’re not well and you spend the day reading about the brutality of this world. Not a good idea.
Fortunately, Facebook came to the scene. With its brilliant logarithmic power, it managed to offer me a personalised advertisement: Greenpeace Brasil. From the moment I clicked on the website, things started to move very fast. I found out that Brazil was going to join the world climate march on Sunday. The protests were organised in many different cities around the globe to show that people care about the outcome of the climate change conference held in Paris (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34953626). And Sao Paolo was going to show its support as well!
This was a moment to stop crying over what is happening in the world and be part of the world again. On Thursday, I contacted couchsurfers in Sao Paolo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CouchSurfing) and found a Brazilian who was willing to host me over the weekend. I searched for information on what else to do during my stay and when and where my bus was leaving from on Friday. All excited that I’m being active again, I went to bed. And I slept and slept and slept. Then I slept a bit more. At 11, three hours after my bus to Sao Paolo had left, I thought that it was the right time to wake up.
The bus was gone and the next one was leaving in four hours. Challenge accepted. Instead of going to the bus station, I went to the high way and stuck my thumb up. After seven minutes of waiting, a car stopped and offered me a lift. Never mind that the driver was not going the direction I needed. I got into the car and went. Only later after reading the map more carefully I realised that I was extending my trip of about 50 km.
However, the extension probably also shortened the trip. The other car that picked me up went directly to Sao Paolo. The driver spoke perfect English and we managed to talk to each other for 5 hours of our trip. He seemed very happy to tell me about his country and I was very happy to learn from him. We even went for dinner together. When he was leaving, he told me that he commutes regularly to Sao Paolo and that I can go with him any time. It might be that he won’t go by car but in a private jet with his son who is a pilot, but I’m welcome to join in both cases.
I spent a great Saturday and Friday night in Sao Paolo. Thanks to couchsurfing I managed to meet lots of local people who took me to the theatre and other different social events.
On Sunday, the main part of my programme came. The march was planned to start at 14 with art performance before that. The square was crowded since morning, but unfortunately the crowd were mainly people who came shopping. However, the closer to the march time, the more eco-friendly people appeared in the scene.
At about two, people formed a huge group (I would guess of about 300 people) and they started to get ready for the march. What I saw then, I haven’t seen before. An incredibly heavy rain as if one was under a waterfall. Nevertheless, we were there. Ready to show that we care about our future. There were musicians in the crowd who played with the rhythm of the rain. People were dancing, laughing and marching.
We walked down Paulista, the main avenue, and headed to Ibirapuera park which is about 3 km far away. There were all sorts of different organisations, individuals, a few politicians and representatives of companies supporting green energy. All were there with the same aim – to stop the climate change. What surprised me, however, was that a few groups did not want to take part in the protests next to the “green companies” and instead they organised their own small march 3 hours earlier. What I did not know is that even the question of sustainability splits the supporters on the line of left and right.
Anyway, we all met later on in Ibirapuera park where an outdoor concert took place. The rain stopped. The band played songs with environmental themes (I think) and rock rhythm (very interesting combination). People drank beer and enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere of being surrounded by similarly minded people.
Myself, I ended up in an incredibly good company. In the city of Sao Paolo which has 10 million inhabitants, I started to talk to two guys and as it turned out, on
e of them was from the Czech Republic. The other was his Brazilian friend who invited us later on to his place for dinner, hot shower and shelter after I missed my bus again.
I read the news and got depressed. Then I shut the computer. I learned about the country from the locals and I was part of their everyday life. I supported an idea that I strongly believe in and I felt to be part of the world. The beautiful world full of kindness and good people. I think there is still hope for the human kind.
Teach in Brazil 