Up Up and Away!

Today I will finally be embarking on my trip to Brazil. It's been quiet a long time coming as I've been anticipating this day since I got the Brueggeman Fellowship that allowed me to go to Brazil. As I've watched other fellows take off to their destinations time has been moving really slow. However, the time is almost up I will be leaving for the airport in only a few hours and by tomorrow morning will be in Rio De Janeiro. Most of my itinerary within Brazil is almost set. While Rio I will be working for an NGO called Project Favela. There I will be working with children and adults helping them with their English speaking while also helping the adults with their business skills. I was really surprised when I first found out that in Brazil just about 20% of the economy is informal meaning that most businesses are not registered and typically are not taxable. After leaving Rio I will be traveling south to a city called Curitiba, this city has won awards for its sustainability projects with the help of the cities former mayor Jamie Lerner. While in Curitiba, I will be working with another NGO that is similar to the one I be volunteering at in Rio. After about two weeks in Curitiba I am planning on embarking on a trip to the Amazon. I've been in contact with some hostel's and tour guides there, but nothing is official. Anyway that about sums up my itinerary so far. I recently made a quick stop to the book store to pick up some reading materials. I got one from my brother that I am eager to read discussing the past eight world cups in the eyes of an American Soccer journalist who has attended last eight world cups and he discusses his journey throughout. Another book I got is titled The Gold Stantard. For those of you that don't no I love the HBO show Entourage and this book is about the one and only Ari Gold from the show. Anyway I will at least try to update this blog every few days. I also have an instagram that is simply my name without any spaces (daltonimwalle). My next blog will be when I am in Brazil. I'm feeling confident about Portuguese speaking and am eager to begin my journey in Brazil. Tchau! Tchau!