FISL 8.0

Welcome to Porto Alegre and the 8th Foro Internacional de Software Livre, or FISL (pronounced FEEZ-lee), a gathering of thousands of free software enthusiasts, the ultimate geek networking event, and one of only two places I’ve been anywhere in the world where there’s never a line for the ladies’ room. (in case you were wondering, the other was Phoenix Landing in Boston during Sunday morning Arsenal games). I’ve spent the last three days attending talks, running into old free culture contacts, meeting tons of new people, and trying not to let anyone see that my computer still runs on *gasp* Windows 2000 Office.

Porto Alegre is a nice city, seemingly laid-back and big into gaucho (cowboy) culture, with enough german (meaning blond) immigration that I might almost be able to pass for Brazilian, as long as I don’t open my mouth. It’s a smallish city, with gently rolling hills, rivers but no real beaches, and lots of brightly colored buildings that remind me of the way I think Miami might look, if I remembered it at all. But it got me thinking about how badly I need to get out of the cities in general. Not because I don’t like them — living in big metropoli has definitely grown on me — but because in a place like this, or on the tiled sidewalks of Rio de Janeiro’s Zona Sul, it’s too easy to completely forget that paved streets and tidy apartment buildings are nowhere near the reality for much of Brazil’s population. Strangely, when I’m in Rio, going to Rocinha is a way for me to escape the hype — seedy, tourist-infested Copacabana, self-consciously hip Ipanema, and classy and exclusive Leblon (maybe that was harsh — I like Zona Sul, I swear!). But the only time I’ve ever seen the Brazilian countryside is on the bus between Rio to Sao Paulo the first time I visited. And technically, I slept for almost the entire bus ride.

But back to Porto Alegre: partially because I was feeling adventurous and partially because I was feeling cheap (bizarrely, hotels aren’t counted as “travel expenses” for my stipend) I took the Hospitality Club plunge and at the last minute decided to ditch my hotel and stay with a girl and her family who I met through the site. I admit that I was a little nervous, but it’s been a really good experience — the family is great and it’s been a blast getting to hang out with locals instead of haunting the hotel restaurant (well, okay — I’ve been at the conference from early til late every day except the first day I was here. But still). The only thing is that I forgot how “cold” 73 degrees feels when you haven’t had a day below 82 in almost 2 months.

Tomorrow afternoon I’m going to be braving even more extreme temperatures — I hear it’s gotten down to the low 60s(!) in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I’ll be spending the next week at a meetup of Latin American Fulbrighters. I’m excited to go to Uruguay, even though I’m not thrilled about the format of the meeting: a solid week of 20-minute PowerPoint presentations is not something I tend to look forward to. But on the bright side, it will be awesome to meet other people doing work in the region, I’ll get to talk some espanol (or try), and you can be absolutely sure I’ll take full advantage of the opportunity to drink some real, non-Parmalat milk.