The four of us – Mary, Mike, Steve, and I – sit on Air Tran #8077 33,000 ft above sea level. The pilot announced it two minutes ago in English and about four minutes ago in Portuguese. It’s dark outside and I have no altimeter, so I’ll take his word for it.
The flight was a little delayed – about 30 minutes – something the pilot didn’t mention. Knowing the Brazilian time concept, he probably didn’t notice. We will land at close to 1 am Manaus time, which is about midnight in the time zone we came from (late note: actually Manaus and EDT are the same right now). Having all gotten up early to be at the airport at 8:30, we will be tired upon arrival. But I noted to the group that it is possible – given our lack of detailed itinerary and the reputation of our hosts – that sleep will be hours away when we arrive. We could be up late drinking and partying, honoring our role as rock stars.
Not knowing any rock stars, I realize that at least the analogy of being rock stars is useful for this trip. We will be partying with people we don’t know, traveling around on a schedule we don’t know and probably will only partially meet, and performing in front of adoring fans even as our voices struggle to spit out “Bom dia.”
None of us right now is actively preparing to be a rock star. No one is practicing Portuguese, reviewing our presentation, or even working on flirting, though Mike and I did seem to get approached by an older woman who needed instructions plugging in her computer. Once we showed her this remarkable task, she talked us up for a while.
That excitement aside, I write now to document the other excitement of facing our unknown. We are all at least explorers, willing to accept no itinerary, food with names we don’t recognize, malaria meds that mess with the brain, and, most of all, that slight discomfort that comes with being in someone else’s area. We may be rock stars, but we will also be guests, learning what we need to be good guests, educators, and ambassadors.
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