Sao Paulo, Brazil

So this is about two months late… but Marta had to wait on me again…
Our AMAZING Brazil trip started with a long Airplane ride to Sao Paulo. First we left Seattle with our friends the Burgers… While we waited in Atlanta it poured down rain… well apparently our stuff got left outside in the rain because when we arrived in Sao Paulo all of our stuff was wet, and not just misty but really wet.






After landing we had the adventure of figuring out how to get to our hostel. A bus ride and an hour on the subway got us close enough to walk the twenty blocks or so. This is a pic of marta at our hostel with our wet clothes hung out to dry, it was raining so it took a couple of days.








One of the best things about the trip was that Joel got to visit some friends of his from his mission. Ilma and Nuna were very gracious and made us some yummy food. Marta loved the dessert.



We walked around a lot, took the bus a couple times, but the subway was awesome... it was the best way to get around.



Here we are in a favela, Chuck was taking pics and got a couple good ones. It was crazy how many people there were that lived so close together. The houses went on forever and ever it seemed.





We went to the Sao Paulo Temple and had a great time. It was Beautiful. One of the highlights of the trip for sure.



This was in a Brazilian BBQ Restruant, which was amazing.... and cheap.

While at the temple we made some American friends who wanted to take us around to some great spots to see things and for souveginers. We went to a place called Embue which we did find lots of treasures. It was a cool little shopping area where all the streets are blocked off from cars.

Paraty Brazil

You see dogs everywhere you go in Brazil but this one was too funny to not take a picture of. This is the doorway into a resturant. Pretty funny.

The town of Paraty was not in are original plans. Our friends from the Hostel and the temple warned us about the town we had orginally booked to stay. They said it was not a safe place and referred us to Paraty. We really liked Paraty and hope to go back someday. It has a totally different feel then all the other places we went to. It had great shops and tons of places to eat at. It had beautiful churches and colorful stores(doorways) and colorful boats.









We ventured out on an all day jeep tour visiting some water falls and water holes to swim in. It was pretty fun but the water was pretty cold. The first spot was a natural water slide which this year they have had a lot of rain so we lucked out and were able to go on it. The tour guy said it usually doesn't have enough water this time of the year. It had plenty for us. I was a bit of a chicken but I did eventually go and then I managed to lose a contact. But it was fun. The boys played in the big waterfall and swung from the trees. Our tour guide was fun, we named him Tarzan with is green speedo. The end of the trip we ended at an old coffee plantation and had a yummy meal.









At one of the stops we got to see them take the sugar cane and make fresh sugar cane juice and the distillery that makes it into Rum. Fresh sugar cane juice is so yummy. If you ever get a chance to have it you have to try it. We drank it with different juices added to it. Lemon drinks we my famorite.






The Church on a Rock



The Night life in Paraty was fun. It was definately a beautiful town day and night.

Buzios Brazil

The 2nd half of our trip was supposed to be luxurious. We had booked at a timeshare (RCI)in the coastal town of Buzios Brazil. Its about a one and a half hour drive from Rio de Janerio. Its well known for being where the rich and famous go in Brazil. Let me not dwell on the bitter disappointment we felt when we arrived and found it was out in the middle of no where. It was far from everything and we had to rent a car to get anywhere or rent a taxi. The Moral of the story, you don't always get what you thinking your getting when you do things online. We had expected to have laundry service the 2nd week. Oh there was laundry service it was just you pay per article of clothing with undies and bikini bottoms being the cheapest at $2.50. This is where I started to be real grumpy. We had no phones the Internet was a joke and the list did go on and on. So we decided that we would only complain for that first day we where there.



We went on two different boat trips. They where pretty fun the weather was great. I did get a little sick on the first boat. We were brave and swam out in the deep water with who knows what lurking down below. The boat stopped several times to let us swim in the water. Then for lunch we stopped off the shore of one of the beaches. You could swim in or get on the little paddle boat. The beach was beautiful but all the people trying to sell you things was annoying.




Diana and I wanted to kidnap so many of the adorable little children of Brazil. They where all so cute. This little boy was adorable he was walking his little truck around the streets of the shopping district it was so cute.

We had plenty of yummy fresh fruit while in Brazil. The pineapple and oranges and the little bananas were my favorite. There were people all over selling fruit along sides the roads. Banana trees grow wild everywhere.

This is a picture of are beach. We did end up liking it the best. Mainly because it hardly had anybody else on it. We had the best waves too. I managed to actually get out there and play around in the water a few times. That was my first time to swim in the ocean. The salt water is so weird and hurts when you swallow to much of it. The water was the perfect temperature. I was not as brave as the rest of the group they would go pretty far out from shore. Diana and I had some good laughs of the waves crashing into us and knocking us over and washing us up on to shore. I had so much sand in my swim suit it felt like I had pooped my pants.

Joel was seriously like a little kid. He went swimming everyday we where there. Buy the end of the week he got the whole body surfing thing down. He had also made friends with a kid from Rio. I have probably 50 some odd pictures of trying to capture Joel in the waves. I refrained from posting all of them.

This is a picture of me in the neighboring town of Cabo frio. We went there a few times. This is a picture at a fort and me up on the rocks waving the flag upside down, oops. This is where we would of gone to church. If we could of found it. This is the most confusing town I had every been in.

These are some of our Brazilian friends we made. We had two meals with them. It was really yummy food.

This is just another beach in Buzios. It was kind of a inlet and they had wind surfers out in the water. This is three days after are first boat trip and Chuck managed to get fried in the sun so he is covered up and not feeling to great.