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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
Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre
Participants: Randal Schwartz, Ed Tuthill

  • My Brazil Adventures and Christ the Redeemer

  • Across 2005 and 2006, I made three unforgettable journeys to Brazil to speak at major open-source conferences, 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 three 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.