So International Competitions are always exciting because not only do you get to have all of the fun/excitement that comes with competing, but you also have the opportunity to have the new/exciting experience of being exposed to new cultures/languages/people/and sometimes obstacles/adversity.
So, the Pan-Am's is in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil this year. Something I was very excited about because I've never been to Brazil, and it's my first opportunity to compete in an international meet in the Open Division.
Let me preface this with saying: I made it to my destination safe and sound, with nothing but great experiences with the people I've encountered along the way. However, the journey here was definitely an experience I'm not gonna forget. I'll be doing my best to update my log while I'm here with not only info on the meet-- but my experience of the country/culture.
Traveling
So in an effort to be cost efficient, the flight I booked wasn't direct-- and had a long-ish layover. I went from Boston to Miami to Brasilia to Ribeirao Preto. Now-- the ~7 hour layover was in Miami, so that made life a bit easier, and 7 hours was nothing in comparison to the 14 hour layover I had last summer in Frankfurt (on the way to South Africa). But once I got to Brasilia, things got a bit complicated.
So I had about ~2 hours between landing in Brasilia, and having to make my connection to Ribeirao. In that time I needed to, de-plane, go get my giant checked bag, go through customs, get my boarding ticket for the connection flight, re-check my bag, go through security, and HOPEFULLY find something I can eat (being careful since I need to make weight). While trying to do all this, keep in mind I'm in the Brasilia airport where everyone speaks Portuguese (and from my experience, only Portuguese). I should've been better prepared.
I was able to get my bag checked and make it through security with some creative hand gestures, and Spanish (which some airport employees were somewhat able to understand)-- without getting into any trouble. I had ~25 minutes to spare.
Once I was in, I proceeded to find my gate and then try to find food that I could eat. Unfortunately, all (with the exception of McDonalds) of the restaurants menus were in Portuguese and I had no way of knowing what I was ordering/ if it would be "weight cut" friendly. In different circumstances I would've just ordered at random-- but while cutting weight you don't such luxuries. I had to settle for a McDonalds breakfast sandwich picked apart/eating only the things I could "safely" have.
Then I found out that there was a gate change-- but all the announcements that were being made were in Portuguese. Using some detective skills/ context clues (a repeated message of some sort being announced near my gate area with numbers in the sentence) I proceeded to "ask" (taking my ticket, pointing at it and the gate asking in Spanish-- idk how, but it worked) if this was my gate. She shook her head, and proceeded to point me to the proper gate. I was finally on the last leg of my travels to Ribeirao-- running on little to no sleep, little to no food, and carry on + PL bag in hand.
To be continued...