A few stories from the past month and a half

Well folks, I know I haven't really written anything here, buuut, I figured not many people were following me, so this last post is more for me than anything, but here is a summary of everything. Ive spent the last month and a half in Salvador, and it has been amazing! I spent two weeks in the neighborhood Mussurunga with a girl Couchsurfer named Tiana. She was super sweet, and it was good for me because she didnt speak english so I got to practice my portuguese! Than after that I ended up in this house with 5 guys studying here to become Petroleum Engineers, one of the best jobs in Brazil. I celebrated Carnaval with them and it was CRAZY! Ive never seen so many people. It was also a little frightening at times, people getting beat up by cops, fights breaking out, people passed out on the ground. It was utter chaos but not always so scary, it was definitely mostly fun. It was hard work to party this hard for 6 days straight, and took its toll on my feet. One day the pain was so bad I decided to go to one of the hospital booths and I was hoping to get some aspirin or something, next thing I know they are telling me to roll over and they pull down my shorts and give me a shot in my butt, good news is it really helped my feet hurt less, bad news I have no idea what the heck it was they gave me and it hurt! I was also really lucky, I was able to sneak into a bunch of really expensive stuff for free, so of course thats a good thing. Since Carnaval, Ive been taking it easy for sure, Im still staying with the engineers, and they have been a godsend, I couldnt have asked for nicer people to get to spend my last month with, I am VERY lucky. However, since it is so comfortable here and they have a pool, I spend most of my days at the house, but hey Ive been travelling around for over five months, Im ready to just relax and live, so thats what Im doing, Im done playing tourist. Its hard to believe Im coming home so soon though, trying to get all the stuff ready, lists of everything I will need to buy and do when I get home, seeing as I only have 4 days before I have to head up to school, its going to be a hard transition for sure! There will be one last post after this, on my thoughts and feelings on this whole trip, so look forward to that!

Lençois and the Chapada Diamantina

So my latest stop, solo, is Lençois, and it is where I currently am! And it is absolutely gorgeous and megical! The town itself is very neat, and actually reminds me of Vashon, there are lots of hippies, a population of about 12,000, no chains, just local stores and restaurants, it is all very peaceful and nice. As it turns out I arrived one day after the beginning of a two week long festival here, so there is a street that is filled with stands and games and toys for the children, a little reminescent of Strawberry Festival, and there is also a concert every night, which I have yet to attend, due to the very hiking intensive days Ive been having that just tire me out way too much! But I arrived on Monday night, almost didnt get my luggage from the bus because the man who took my luggage and put it on the bus in Salvador didnt give me the slip so that I could pick it up when I arrived, so I was screwed, but luckily the cousin of my host family from Salvador was there to pick me up so he could help me, and after a lot of hastling I got my bags! The next day we went on a hike to two different waterfalls, and then do this river, it was all very beautiful, and its interesting because the water is really orange because of the sediments, mostly iron, so it makes the water look kinda dirty, but it isnt. Then I had a realzing night in preparation for the many hikes I was gonna do the next day. So yesterday I got up nice and early and set out on guided tour of the Chapada Diamantina. The first stop was a hike to this beautiful waterfall and a place to swim, which was very nice, seeing as it was hot and the hike was a bit trecherous! There were also people ziplining into the water, which was entertaining to watch. Then we went to this cave, which was my favorite part. We hiked really far into this huge cave, guided by a man holding a gaslit lantern, and halfway through the cave we all sat down, and he turned out the light, and we were plunged into absolute darkness, I don't think there is anywhere in the world where you could find a place so dark, your eyes never adjusted, it was just pure blackness, it was quite an experience, very interesting and a nice two minutes to think in silence. The next stop was another river for swimming in, the water was super blue and clear though and it was very beautiful, although there were a lot of little fish that followed me around and I definitely felt a few try and take nibbles outta me! So we got to relax there and eat lunch, very enjoyable. Then we headed to this cave where the water is supposed to be very clear and blue, which it was, but compared to what I had seen in Bonito it wasnt that impressive, but it was still nice. The last stop was a hike up the mountains and a view of the whole Chapada, which used to be an ocean millions of years ago, so it was very nice, but I was very exhausted by the end of the day and took a little snooze in the car. And today Im going to this big natural waterslide, so that should be cool, than I am heading back to Salvador!! I cant wait for that, and in a few weeks its Carnaval!!! Then the madness really begins!

Belo Horizonte ''Nao tem mar, mas tem bars''

So after my sister and I got too fed up with each other, we decided to part ways for the time being (without knowing it would be the last time we were together in Brazil) And I headed for Belo Horizonte and she headed to Floripa to see her boyfriend. It was a much called for escape from each other and turned out to be one of my favorite times in Brazil. My first host was a guy named Cidão, and he was awesome, and he had two ADORABLE dogs! My first night there he took me out to a bar with his friends and showed me what Belo Horizonte was all about: drinking. One of their friends, Jordan, is an actor there so I got to go to two plays he was in, and while I didnt understand most of the words that were said, they were comedies, so I could pick up on a few of the funny parts. And like I said, I am willing to try everything once, so on my second day, we went to the big Market and started drinking, again, only this time there was a twist! There was a shop next to the bar that sold fish, so Cidão went and bought a fish for everyone and we all had to grab it outta the bad, alive, and drop it into our beer glasses and swallow the fish whole and alive! I thought for sure I would gag or something, but it actually went down pretty easy! The rest of my time there in Belo had its ups and downs, but thankfully I was surounded by the nicest people ever! Highlights include getting to see different cover bands at Rock n Roll Bars, including The Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, and Queen, and they were actually pretty decent cover bands, i was impressed! But the best part of the city was definitely the people I met and the friends I made! I definitely spent the first half of my time there drinking way too much, but hey, its the place in Brazil that has the most bars per amount of people, and thats what they do, so I was just trying to adapt to local customs!! Anyways, I was supposed to only spend one week there, but due to some complications one week turned into one and a half and one and a half turned into two and a half, the poor people I was staying with just couldnt get rid of me! So instead they just moved me to a different house! Both places I stayed were amazing and both the families were super nice, and one day I slaved away in the kitchen for three hours cooking up a big delicious meal for the family and my friends, and it was a great success, everybody loved it and wanted the recipes! But alas, all good things have to come to an end, and I had to leave, but I miss this place everyday, and Im thinking of the ways I can make it back there soon!!

Side note on Soccer: I went to a soccer match, it wasnt a very big one so there were only a couple thousand people at the stadium but it was still a blast, I love the passion they have for soccer here, its incredible! I also love the fact they have cheers that everyone know and does and that it ususally involved swearing, they really how to make the games fun and exciting. But the security measures there are INSANE, there are police everywhere!! They sell food but you have to eat it with a plastic spoon, no forks and knives allowed (mind you its big peices of meat you are trying to eat) there is a HUGE ditch between the field and the stands so people dont rush the field, although people do still try to jump the pit. Also, the refs have to be escorted on and off the field by six cops(fully armed with beaters and shields), sports down here are a totally different story than in America but I much prefer the utter madness of it all down here!

Rio de Janeiro

Haha so it has been forever, doubt anybody bothers to check this anymore, but for my sake Im going to write some more because I have time to kill! Rio was VERY fun, we had crazy times there. Highlights include seeing Christ the Redeemer statue (besides the fact it took over 3 hours just to reach the statue and it was a BIG pain in the ass) Getting to party in Lapa, a really neat district in Rio that is most known for the ancient aqueducts that are lit up at night and really make for a picturesque neighborhood, also, thanks to the four days of HEAVY rain, that caused the street we were staying on to flood, and therefore we had to trek through half a foot of rain water mixed with trash anytime we wanted to leave. But it was all for a reason, the four days before New Years were terrible and wet but I woke up on New years eve to sun, and it stayed that way all through the celebrations (despite the man on the street selling umbrellas shouting VAI CHUVER, its going to rain). New Years was spectacular, the fireworks were amazing, and I cant imagine a better way to ring in the new year than swimming in the warm ocean and playing like children well into the night! It was an experience to say the least. But alas, we ate out too much, drank too much, and partied too much, and now we have no money, but was it worth it, I think so!

Weird Food I Have Eaten

So, while Im down here in Brazil, Ive decided to have an open mind about the food I eat. My first encounter with strange food, however, occurred by accident. In Brazil they have restaurants where the charge you per kilo of food you get and it is like a buffet, so one time we went to this per kilo restaurant and I loaded up on some rice and beans and meat, and I didnt look at the sign that said what type of meat I was getting, it wasn't until I finished eating it that my sister decided to tell me it was tongue, so that was a nice surprise, never would have eaten that if I had known what it was, but alas I ate it, and it wasnt so bad. All the other things I have tried have been willingly and knowingly. While in Floripa we went to many churrascas (BBQ's) and one of their favorite things to cook up is chicken hearts, they put about 8 per skewer and grill em up and chow down and tons of chicken hearts, so Ive been trying them each time, and they are tasty, but the idea still kinda freaks me out. Also we had chicken cooked in its own blood, with a lovely blood sauce on it, which again was actually pretty tasty. And while we didn't end up eating this, on Thanksgiving we tried to buy a whole chicken and cook it up, only to realize after we bought it that is still had all its insides AND its head and feet still attached, which was a pleasant surprise, so we just ended up throwing it out and getting some chicken breast instead. Anyways, those are the weirdest things I have eaten so far!

Brazilian Girls

Just wanted to write a little side note about Brazilian girls. They are INCREDIBLY nice, its insane! So right now we are couchsurfing with this guy and he took us to this club where his friend was having his birthday party and there were all these girls there (his friends) and when we arrived they all surrounded us and started talking to us and asking questions and were super nice and then when we tried to get in with our passport copies, the ppl at the club wouldnt let us in, and all the girls were like what the fuck, no this is bullshit, if they cant get in we arent going, so the 13 of us went to a different club. I was just surprised that they would change all their plans for us. And besides this, just our general experience with them has been great! I just think it is interesting because I know girls arent always so nice to other girls they dont know, so its been really refreshing!! Haha anyways random!

So much to say!

After three and a half wonderful weeks in Floripa, we decided it was time to head out! We ended up in Sao Paulo, the 4th largest city in the world. We stayed with our friend we met in Italy one fateful night 5 years ago, and it was spetacular! He had just finished school so he was able to show us around. The first day we went to two different museums, one of them was alright, just the usual artsy stuff but there was a graffiti exhibition that was really cool to see, and the other place we went to was full of crazy cool art from these guys called gemeos, you should check it out on google, type in street art as well, but it was a really awesome display. Then the next day we went to this tower which overlooked the entire city, which was slightly frightening to really see just how big the city was!! We also went to this giant indoor market, which besides the smell of the salted cod, was a fun experience. Then an all you could eat sushi restaurant for dinner, what more could you ask for. Oh and did I forget to mention the pimp apartment we stayed in?? We stayed with his family but his mom and dad were on vacation so it was just us and our friend Ricardo and his bro. We had two maids that cooked us all our meals (Delish) and who washed all our clothes and ironed and folded it all (she even folded my underwear) Which was such a luxury considering we have been washing our stuff in sinks (with cold water) and hang drying it, which wasnt really cleaning it at all!
So after two days in Sao Paulo we headed out to Ilha Bela where Ricardos family has house and it was also incredible. We spent our days relaxing in hammocks or on the beach (When weather permited) or cruising around the island on a boat blasting Black Eyed Peas (Mind you, seeing a 24 year old Brailian man singing all of Fergies words to My Humps is quite the site) We also hung out with a world class sailor, hes won a bunch of competitions and olympic stuff, anyways he took us to his friends houses. OMG these houses belonged in the poshest of neighborhoods in CA. There were two borthers and one had the house on the left the other the right, and their houses had huge balconies and all the walls were all windows and the view was amazing!! And in between their houses was their pool that cascaded over the deck and their own personal sauna, my dream house for sure!! Ricardos friends came out to the house and we all just partied and had amazing BBQs where they grilled shrimp and TONS of squid and FAT pieces of meat, which was absolutely delicious! All in all our time with Ricardo was unforgettable and incredible!
Now we are in Parati which technically should be really pretty but the rain has been unbearable! Our room in our hostel flooded and got all of our shit wet, ruined one of my dreses, destroyed a book we had just bought and it was just terrible, but the hostel didnt make us pay for our drinks and moved us to our own private room, which helped, but oh man I was pissed. And thanks to this wonderful weather, the beautiful beaches havent been so beautiful. We made it out to this place called Trindade and trekked through the jungle to get to these natural swimming pools, and it was so worth it because they were beautiful! Then it started pouring again, rain worse than I hae even seen in Seattle. All the rivers in Sao Paulo have overflowed and the city is flooding because there is so much rain, so we are trying to get as north as we can without missing too many beautiful places we wanted to go, but they are all beaches so with all this rain, we cant really do anything, which sucks. In Salvador where we started our trip, it has been sunny pretty much everyday since we left, and for the last month its been mostly cloudy or rainy, with only a few sunny days, so for those of you that thought it was always sunny here, its not!!
Anyways we are off to Rio de Janeiro, should be crazy!!! Sorry for the long post :)