Planeta Agua: Learning Portuguese in Peru?

 The more I learn about Latin America, the more I learn about the importance of Brazil in South America. I wanted to learn more, so a few months ago, I started taking a Portuguese class at a Brazilian institute here. 

I'm still at a basic level, but I understand enough to interpret this beautiful song about water. By Guilherme Arantes, it's called Planeta Agua. My favorite line is the one about the water always returning humbly deep within the earth, after giving us so many awe-inspiring phenomena.

Água que nasce na fonte serena do mundo

Water that's born in the serene spring of the world

E que abre um profundo grotão

And that opens a deep canyon

Água que faz inocente riacho e deságua na corrente do ribeirão

Water that makes an innocent creek and consumes the current on the riverbed

Águas escuras dos rios que levam a fertilidade ao sertão

Dark waters of the rivers that bring fertility to the desert

Águas que banham aldeias e matam a sede da população

Waters that bathe villages and kill the thirst of the population

Águas que caem das pedras no véu das cascatas, ronco de trovão

Waters that fall from the rocks of the waterfalls, thundering down

E depois dormem tranqüilas no leito dos lagos, no leito doslagos

And afterwards sleeps calmy on the lakebed, the lakebed

Água dos igarapés, onde Iara, a mãe d'água é misteriosa canção

Water from the , where Iara*, the water's mother sings her mysterious song

Água que o sol evapora, pro céu vai embora, virar nuvem de algodão

Water that the sun evaporates, then makes into cotton clouds

Gotas de água da chuva, alegre arco-íris sobre a plantação

Drops of rain hearten a rainbow over the plantation

Gotas de água da chuva, tão tristes, são lágrimas na inundação

Drops of rain, so sad, are the tears of the flood

Águas que movem moinhos são as mesmas águas que encharcam ochão

Waters that move mills are the same waters that fall from the cliff

E sempre voltam humildes pro fundo da terra, pro fundo da terra

And they always go back to their humble state, deep in the earth, deep in the earth.

Terra, planeta água (2x)

Land, water planeta

*Iara is a fabled mermaid in Brasil who enchants sailors with her beautiful sea song. Those who hear the song never return.