Brazil

Hello from Brazil!! I was 100% looking past Brazil and thinking about South Africa and it caught me by surprise. It was amazing and I’m honestly not sure if I’ll have more fun in any other country. They scared the shit out of us before we got into port. We were here for the last day of Carnival (Carnival is like mardi gras, but a million times better and crazier) which is the day before lent starts. Nothing is open during carnival because it is just one large party that every one in Salvador (and the rest of the world) attends. They are in the book of world records for the largest party ever. Naturally, the people who are in charge of our safety were laying it on pretty thick. They told us everyone gets robbed, and fights break out in the street, then the police come in and hit everyone with sticks till it is under control. There are trucks that drive around the streets, and on top, a famous band or singer plays. It sounded fun because you can buy a tshirt to match the specific truck that you like best, then you are like in the parade and you walk inside of ropes that keep out the people who can’t afford shirts So directly outside of the ropes, all the people are angry that they’re not inside so they march with the parade, but they end up pushing each other like it’s a mosh pit occasionally. They told us that if you are pretty and make eye contact with a local, they will kiss you. And also that you WILL get pick pocketed…. All these crazy stories that I totally didn’t believe, how could that be true... I am pretty good at telling when someone is just trying to make an impression and when it’s the truth. So I was cautious, but of course I was excited to see what it was like. We got to Brazil at 530 in the morning. (ps, Dad, I saw my first sunrise 14 days into the trip) We had some meetings and they checked our passports and then we were off the boat by 10ish. Brazil is broken up into parts. Lower brazil and then you can take a elevator to the upper city. So we headed up to the upper city and tried to get a little oriented with the streets. We walked around and found a little diner off the main street that we got this mango juice that everyone was raving about. So delicious. Every restaurant and house has a juicer and they just juice whatever fruit they have to make juice. No sugar, nothing added, just straight juice. Probably one of my favorite things I had the whole time I was here. Then we tried the most famous local drink. They take limes and smash them at the bottom of the cup, then they add sugar and rum. I happen to hate rum, so I didn’t like this local favorite much, but I had to try it because I was here. The entire country of brazil speaks Portuguese and a little bit of Spanish so of course we got around okay, but it was slightly difficult. Some guys sat next to me and were trying to tell me how much they love one of brazil’s soccer teams. I got the idea and tried to tell them that I love American football, but I think they were drunk. So after that we walked around and realized carniaval was starting. The trucks I was talking about go around a set pattern that is like a loop so its not exactly a parade, but its like a track they follow. So we saw a truck and went to see what it was like. On the way towards the truck, I was looking around, and a brazilian tried to kiss me!! Just like they told us. He fortunately didn’t get me, but I was very surprised, but it was funny to us. So the first float we saw was Eveci, a singer similar to Britney spears but before she became a wack job. It was fun to see her because we had learned about her in class on the boat. So as she came by, we started walking with the float then realized we were in the middle of people they call ‘popcorn’ the people who get rowdy next to the roped off section of the floats. It was scary but luckily a local scooped up the other girls (Mal and Nel) I was with and saved us while Alex (the guy that takes care of us) was pushed down the street and into a tree. We got him back and decided to get outta there. So on our way home, we go to an intersection where we had to cross the street to get back to the boat but Eveci’s float was coming by again. So we were just standing there watching, and a group of 5 guys came and pushed us all together while the other people with them had their hands in all of our pockets. It happened so fast and we didn’t even know what was going on till we felt all of the hands feeling around for money. It was the craziest feeling ever because we were pushed together like at a really crowded concert so they were was nothing we could do about it. If I had had my camera with me, it would have been gone (for sure.) After we got out of there, we accessed the damage and in our group of 4 people, we had 2 pairs of sunglasses, a pack of cigarettes and a sheet of paper from Mal’s pocket that had Portuguese- English translations. HaHaHa. They stole her translations. I was proud of everyone for not having anything valuable in their pockets and was excited that nothing bad happened to us. Then we all went back to the boat and showered. Later, Alex convinced me to buy a tshirt with him (and like 50 other SAS students) to get inside of the ropes for the Fat Boy Slim truck. They were 250 R which is about $150. Most expensive shirt I have ever bought but I was really excited about going. So we go to the official carnival and were inside of the ropes of what the locals called ‘fat boy sem.’ It was probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life up until this point. For those of you who have seen the second matrix… the rave in the middle of the movie where they are celebrating zion… it was exactly like that but moving. Everyone was sooooo swearty and pushing each other and dancing and we all matched. Exactly like the movie. We weren’t in a cave tho. Alex had a disposable camera and I hope the pictures are amazing because it is the only way we’ll have any photographic evidence of the night. In the middle of the loop, so kid looked at me and goes “oh, did you just get out of the shower? (because I was drenched in sweat and water that people were throwing around ) and I looked at him and go “You must have too.” It was crazy and we didn’t get home till 4. then left the next morning at 5:30 for a city north west of Salvador called Lencois. (pronounced Len-Soy-s) I guarantee I’ll go back to Lencois. It was nothing like Salvador. It wasn’t scary, you could leave your valuables out in the open and no one would touch them it was safe and I loved it there. On the bus ride there, it took super long. It was supposed to be a 6 hour trip, but we had to stop for an hour because there was an accident in front of us where a woman went head on into a bus. I have no idea if she is alive. It took like 8 hours total and it was hot in the bus. When we got there, we met a guy named Washington. He was a short-ish Brazilian who owned a “pasada” which is sort of like a hostel, really basic and cheap hotel. He was wonderful and became my favorite local. We put our stuff in his house/hotel and went on a 2.5 hour hike around the town. It was so beautiful. Unlike any hike I’ve ever been on. It was sooo beautiful and even the pictures I plan on posting on this blog won’t be anything like what we actually saw. We hiked for like an hour then stopped at a waterfall where we swam and took pictures because we were amazed. Then we hiked for another 30 mins and found an even better waterfall. It was ridiculous. After we got home, we went to get dinner and hang out in town. Washington was wonderful to us. Very very friendly, he introduced us to all of his friends and we really felt like we experienced Lencois in a way that not many people go to. The next day the pasada made us the most delicious breakfast I had ever had. It was the best fruit, juice, and sandwiches I had ever tasted. Then to top it off, they made us this delicious chocolate cake. After breakfast, we went on a 10 hour hike where we stopped at two amazing places. The first one was this huge huge waterfall. Probably like half of a football field. And by it there were rocks you could jump off. Two heights, one was like 14 feet and the other one was about 3 stories tall. Instead of jumping off the little one then getting scared or not liking it, I went straight for the tall one. Washington was at the top of the rocks telling everyone how to jump with out ending up doing a belly flop and he tried to convince me to do the little one first because he didn’t want me to get hurt. I did it anyways and it was fine. I was sitting there with Mal and Nel and Washington and I said to Washington “this is so beautiful” and he said “I don’t know what is more beautiful, this waterfall or you.” I was flattered, but it was so cute. He later ended up confessing his love to me by the end of the trip. How many people have a local fall in love with them while visiting a country? Just me. Nel joked and said that she and Mal had to get someone to fall in love with them in Costa Rica and Mauritius so we could have an amazing time like we did in Lencois. Next, we climed back the way we had gotten there and we went to this rock slide. It was kinda like at ohio pyle’s slide rock where the water runs over the rock and you slide down. Only difference is it was much more fun. Everyone slid down on their bums, but the locals and guides who had been there like every day surfed down on their feet. Then when they got to the end of the slide where the rock met the pool of water, they jumped and did dives and stuff. It was so amazing. They were so good at it. I loved it. I have a couple videos of it so when I get back you can watch them. So we got back and then we out to hang out in the town where we heard some live music and ate some delicious crispy pizza. The next day we were leaving at 1:15 so we didn’t have much time to do anything crazy. We walked past a tree on the way there where there was a boa in the tree. Mel was scared so we hurried past it. Washington took us to this little area that had these deep holes that the locals dove into. It was so fun but were there for a little. They showed us some Capoera before we left and then we were on our way home. Capoera is that slow dance fighting that slaves used to do so they could practice fighting but the slave owners didn’t know since it looked like a dance. It super cool. There were lots of flips, and bending with a combination of sweeping kick and other crazy stuff. The locals were getting the boa out of the tree so the tourists didn’t get scared or eaten ( and so they could charge people money to take pictures of the snake) the snake was huge. Washington hold the snake while we took free pictures (because he liked us) it was large. Awesome. Then we said our goodbyes and came back to Salvador. It was an amazing trip and I loved every second of it. I am going to try to add some pictures to this blog, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll show everyone when I get home. I love you all and I miss you lots. Please send awesome emails in the next 10 days when we’ll be on the boat on the way to South Africa. It is going to be a very long voyage. I will probably write again during that trip unless I don’t have time because of homework which is entirely possibly. I have like 5 papers to write and I’m trying not to think about it until I have to write it. I hope you are getting all of my free post cards! Keep the mail coming!! Love you all!!!

PS, the good news is i posted my blog at an internet cafe for 1$ for a half hour of internet. the bad news is you only get to see one picture. there are plenty more to come.

PSS, GO PENS

PSS, thank you giants.