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EVENT

My Brazil Adventures and Christ the Redeemer

Type: event
Alias: Brazil Trips 2005, FISL 2005, CONISLI 2005, Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil Trip 2006, FISL 2006, FISL 7.0, FISL 12, FISL 13, YAPC::Brasil
Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre
Participants: Randal Schwartz, Ed Tuthill

  • My Brazil Adventures and Christ the Redeemer

  • Across multiple years, I made several unforgettable journeys to Brazil to speak at major open-source conferences (specifically FISL and YAPC::Brasil), explore the breathtaking sights of Rio de Janeiro, and experience the immense warmth of the Brazilian developer community. My close friend Ed Tuthill joined me on several of these Brazil trips, and we both thoroughly enjoyed hanging out and exploring Rio together.

  • The First Journey: FISL 6.0 & Rio (May 2005)

    • In May of 2005, I traveled to Porto Alegre to speak at FISL 6.0 (Fórum Internacional de Software Livre), which has always been one of the most vibrant, high-energy open-source conferences in the world.
    • Following the event, I headed to Rio de Janeiro. A massive highlight was ascending Mount Corcovado to stand directly beneath the towering Art Deco statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor). Standing there and looking out over the magnificent beaches, hills, and ocean was absolutely unforgettable. Ed joined me on this trip as well, and we had an absolute blast soaking in the incredible Rio atmosphere.
    • Flickr Collection: 2005-05 Brazil

  • The Second Journey: CONISLI & Sugarloaf (November 2005)

    • In November of 2005, I returned to Brazil to present at CONISLI (Congresso Internacional de Software Livre).
    • This second trip gave me the opportunity to return to Rio and make my second trek up to Christ the Redeemer—a view that was just as spectacular and breathtaking the second time around.
    • I also ascended Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) using the cable car system, taking in the dramatic panoramic views of Guanabara Bay, the city skyline, and Mount Corcovado framing the horizon.
    • Flickr Collection: 2005-11 Brazil

  • The Third Journey: FISL 7.0 & Corcovado with Ed Tuthill (April 2006)

    • In April of 2006, I returned to Brazil for a third time, heading to Porto Alegre for FISL 7.0.
    • After the conference, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro again and made my third ascent of Corcovado to visit Christ the Redeemer.
    • This time, my close friend Ed Tuthill (who also shared my weekend apartment setup in Tijuana) came along!
    • We have a fantastic visual memento of this climb in image-001.jpg of the Christ-the-Redeemer album: I am standing directly beneath the monumental statue in a pink-and-white striped shirt, and Ed is clearly visible in the lower left corner of the frame.
    • We also went up Sugarloaf Mountain again to capture the panoramic beauty of the bay and the Rio skyline.
    • Flickr Collection: 2006-04 Brazil and Snapshots from Apr 06 trip to Brazil, including FISL 2006

  • The Fourth Journey: April 2007

    • In April of 2007, I made my fourth trip to Brazil, returning to connect with the local open-source community.
    • Flickr Collection: 2007-04 Brazil

  • The Fifth Journey: April 2008

    • In April of 2008, I made a fifth trip to Brazil to participate in further open-source activities and explore the region.
    • Flickr Collection: 2008-04 Brazil

  • The Sixth Journey: FISL 12 & Copacabana (June–July 2011)

    • In June of 2011, I flew PDX-ATL-BSB-POA to Porto Alegre to present a keynote at FISL 12.
    • My keynote was titled "Lessons Learned from FLOSSing Weekly". I also agreed to lead a 3-hour tutorial/workshop covering Squeak Smalltalk and Seaside, which was attended by a small but highly inspired group.
    • After the Porto Alegre conference finished, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro to spend 5 days in Copacabana. During this time, I presented the same keynote to SERPRO and enjoyed catching up and hanging out with the Rio Perl Mongers.

  • The Seventh Journey: FISL 13 & Loss of Phone (July 2012)

    • In July of 2012, I returned to Porto Alegre for FISL 13 to present a 2-hour Git talk.
    • At the conference, I spotted a Brazilian Portuguese edition of the Camel Book.
    • A memorable (and somewhat stressful) highlight of the trip occurred when I lost my mobile phone during the post-conference afterparty at Espaço Cultural 512.

  • The Brazilian Developer Spirit

    • Beyond the world-class landscapes and monuments, the true highlight of these trips was the sheer passion of the Brazilian free software community. The developer Culture there has always treated open-source as a transformative movement, and the enthusiasm and hospitality I experienced made all these trips incredibly satisfying highlights of my global lectures.
    • During these travels, I even tried to pick up some Brazilian Portuguese (PT_BR) to better connect with everyone, but quickly discovered that it hopelessly collided with and confused my kindergarten-level Spanish! The overlapping vocabulary mixed with completely distinct pronunciations was a hilarious linguistic hurdle, but everyone was incredibly gracious anyway.

What links here

🔗Randal Schwartz
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.