Rio for Carnaval!!

It's here! It's here! Like kids anxiously waiting until Christmas morning, we piled off our 24 hour bus ride from Itacare into the Rio de Janeiro station. The day of Carnaval in Rio had finally arrived!! Carnaval is celebrated in every Brazilian city, as we got a sneak preview while travelling through Recife, Olinda, and Salvador, but Rio's party is the biggest and flashiest of them all!!!

Tired but excited, we gathered our belongings and made our way through the station. We quickly realized that we had not heard from our Rio couch surfing host. After a few quick phone calls to previous hosts and some couchsurf emailing, we decided it best to check out the hostel situation. Che Legarto Ipanema Beach Hostel had space for three so we quickly booked it, jumped in a taxi and were on our way. On the ride to the hostel, we got a quick glimpse of the city with a view of Corcovado(statue of Christ on the hill), Maracana stadium signs, Leblon Beach, and the favelas on the hillside.

After settling into the hostel, we headed out to check out the beach scene. We walked a block down to Ipanema Beach where we noticed the sea of volley and foot volley nets. Our faces lit up as we hurried back to the hostel to grab our suits and volleyball, and ended up playing until the sun went down. As we headed back to the hostel, we noticed a large stadium on the beach. Just our luck! There was a girl's beach volleyball tournament that weekend!!! Stooookkeeddd...

When we got back to the hostel, we freshened up and were heading out to dinner when we noticed a large gathering in the lobby. Free Caipirinhas from 8to9. We couldn't pass the offer up! We met a lot of various travellers from Australia, England, and Argentina, . We exchanged travel stories over drinks which quickly turned into a night of competitive drinking games! Standard.

We woke up for breakfast and headed down for another day at the beach. We volleyed for a bit, frolicked in the waves, and managed to get a sweet tan before we realized it was time to go back. We giddily made our way back to the hostel to await Dylan's arrival. As we sat in the hostel lobby, we saw his taxi arrive, bystanders must have thought he was a celebrity, as we ran down the street and tackled him. "BAMed" in Brazil"

After a small struggle with Dylan's bank back in America, we were ready to go. We headed into town for a sushi dinner! Definitely, the best sushi that we have had thus far in Brasil, then we headed for the bars catching Dylan up on all of our Brazilian experiences and stories! He was probably extremely overwhelmed at us rambling at him and making him try various Brazilian dishes and beer.

The next morning we woke up early and headed down to the beach volleyball tournament. The tournament was awesome. When we entered the general admission tunnel of the stadium, they handed us free "Faz um 21" gear consisting of a sweet tank, hand clappers, and sunscreen. They continued to throw out free prizes throughout the tournament and soak our side with a hose while a giant Sun character entertained the crowd during timeouts from the game. As for the tournament, it consisted of the top 8 Brazilian women competing in a round robin tournament to earn the "Best of the Beach" title. They begged Michelle and I to join in, but we kindly declined the offer. Hahaha.

After the tournament, Dylan and I ventured down the rest of Ipanema and onto Copacabana beach. The walk there was insane. I wasn't sure which way to look. The streets looked as if Mardi Gras, Isla Vista Halloween, Floatopia, and the Manhattan Beach six man were all thrown together on the streets of Rio. We enjoyed watching the competitive foot volei games, browsing the trinkets sold by street vendors, observing the ridiculous costumes of Carnaval goers, taking pictures of the giant sand sculptures, as well as following along the giant Bloco parades. The Blocos were awesome. A band played atop a large truck while samba dancers danced in front, schools played instruments, and the rest of the crowds followed along behind it. Definitely a spectacle to see. When we finally made it back to the hostel after a long day of beach going, we were excited to see that Michelle had found our Kiwi friend that we had met in Itacare. We enjoyed caipirinas in the lobby, and then ventured upstairs to enjoy wine on the balcony before heading out for another night of Carnaval.

The next morning while we enjoyed breakfast at the hostel, we got a chance to catch the final game of the volleyball tournament. Our favorite player Maria won the tournament!!! Dylan and I headed back down to the beach for a couple hours. I felt it was my duty to get the white boy some sun before he headed back to Cali. Haha, he burned nicely as he sported his Brazilian speedo. There were millions of people out and about on the beach. We found it difficult to even make our way back up to the street from the water due to the vast amount of people chairs, tables, and umbrellas. On our way back to the hostel we enjoyed watching more bloco parades in the streets as well as the large gatherings of groups in their various costumes. Another awesome day at the beach!

We headed back to the hostel to pick up Michelle and head into the city for late lunch/early dinner. The city was just as crazy as the beach as people gathered around pubs in there costumes and vendors sold costumes along the streets. After a slight food coma nap, we mingled in the lobby, played drinking games, then headed out with our British hostelmates to Copacabana. Not much was going on in the bit of Copa that we were at, so we headed back to the Ipanema beach party. Live music, cold drinks, and good company can always distract us as we found ourselves bringing up the sun.

It was a bit of slow moving morning or should I say afternoon due to the festivities the night before. We were a bit bummed that we slept through the boat party, but made up for it with Carnaval festivities in Gavaea. We took a taxi to the Gavea courtyard park where thousands of costumed people gathered around the blocos to parade through the streets. A couple hours later, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night ahead. We made our way down to the beach to enjoy more Carnaval spectacles. Later that evening Michelle and Dylan headed to the all night Samba parade... so heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's MICHELLE!

Dylan and I decided kinda late that we wanted to go and forgot that atm's close at 10PM. So we headed out to the sambradrome with 90 reais in our pockets. Taxi cost 25. We figured we'd find a bloco type party on the outside of the sambrodrome that would be a lot of fun. However, as soon as we saw the spectacle that was occurring inside, we wanted to get in. We found a scalper who was asking 80 reais for two tickets.. we looked at each other, pulled out our last 65 and offered it to him. I mean.. it was an all night event so we could get a cab to an atm in the morning, right? After a bit of haggling and us trying to explain with vivid hand gestures that that was ALL the money we had, he agreed to sell them to us. We made our way through the crowds and finally found some seats with a decent view. We were seated in section 6, which is at the very end of the 1.5 mile long stadium/parade venue. Could you imagine dancing samba for 1.5 MILES? These people are crazy. :) Soooo.. we watched/danced/learned the samba songs for hours. The floats were beyond amazing. Every one is incredibly unique and there are thousands upon thousands of people for every samba school. Every school had about 5 giant floats each. As corny as it sounds, every sense was stimulated (minus taste since we had no money left to buy food, beer or even water). The music boomed. The colors of the elaborate costumes were beautiful and watching the tens upon thousands of people dance throughout the stadium was a sight to see. The smell of body odor and sweaty strangers dancing too close for comfort was.. well.. an experience. We didn't even think about our money or lackthereof situation until we noticed the empty bleachers to our left and realized that we were witnessing the grand finale for the night. It was still dark out.. no atm would open for at least an hour and a half. Shooooooooot.. so we followed the crowds out which turned into a street parade in its own right. The crowds thinned out eventually and we realized that we were just following a small group of people.. the sun was starting to rise however so we just needed a place to sit down and wait for the atms to open. We found a little breakfast place that accepted credit cards (thank god) and waited out the rising sun.. We found an atm, hailed a taxi and made it back to our hostel just in time for breakfast (8AM). Crazy night. :) Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack to youuuuuuuuuu BRITTANY!

The next day we decided that we should see a bit of what Rio had to offer besides Carnaval. We caught a taxi and headed to Pao de Acucar aka Sugar Loaf, which rises where Guanabara Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. We took a cable car up to Morro da Urca and Pao de Acucar to enjoy the beautiful view. Facing inland you could see right over the city, from Centro and the Santos Dumont airport all the way through Flamengo and Botafogo. Facing Praia back towards the cable car terminal and to the left, we could see the sweep of Copacabana and on into Ipanema and back from the coast the mountains rise to the Pargue Nacional da Tijuca. We found lounge chairs and relaxed at the top enjoy the gorgeous views. Absolutely BREATHTAKING!!

Our last night, we headed to a bar in Leblon. Then, we made our way back down the beach road towards Ipanema. We returned to the hostel for drinks and games then back out for more Carnaval. We called it a night and headed back to our rooms, only to be woken up at 5 in the morning by our British hostelmates who were frantically searching for money. They had gotten in trouble with the British police and needed money to pay them off. Startled and confused by the situation, we lent them some money... Silly British boys...

The next morning, we were woken by aKiwi visitor! Happy to see that he had made it through Carnaval, he convinced us to stay in Rio for another day. We headed to the bus station to buy our tickets to Floripa for the following day and check in our luggage. Then, we headed back to their Beach Hostel for a pool party.

At night, we met up with some fellow UCSB gauchos on the metro and headed to Maracana stadium for a futebol game. Flamengo vs Botafogo!!! Huge match! We sat on the Flamengo side and joined along with their fans cheers. Teatro seemed to be a crowd favorite which means theatre due to all the players rolling on the ground begging for foul calls. Flamengo ended up losing 2to1! The crowd was definitely disappointed.

After the game, Dylan and I headed down to the beach to see if there was any Carnaval nightlife left. We frolicked down Ipanema and Copacabana having a lot of photo fun with boats and tractors along the beach. We ended the night at a club dancing the night away. When the sun was bound to come up, we realized we were not really sure of how to get back to the Kiwis hostel. We decide to head back to Che Legarto the hostel that we were staying at for Carnaval to see if any of our friends were still there. The place was a bit deserted so we found empty beds and called it a night! The next day we were off to Floripa. Carnaval was probably one of the most amazing experiences! Everyone should go at least once in there lifetime. The pictures we put up are only a glimpse of it. The disposables are bound to have much more!!!

Itacare

Itacare was the first city we were on our own. In the five cities beforehand, we had locals hosting us and taking us out to see the sights of Brasil. Our hosts held our hands as we leaned on them to order us food, buy our bus tickets, and usher us around their cities. But Itacare was bound to be different.. not only did we have to change buses and buy our OWN BUS TICKETS but we had to take a taxi, check into our hostel and take care of ourselves for the five days we were going to spend there.

Well, turns out that Itacare is such a huge tourist town that all the locals speak at least a little bit of English. We actually ended up speaking LESS portuguese than in any other city. Bummer.

After our overnight bus and 6AM bus switch in Ilheus, we arrived in Itacare at 830AM to overcast skies. While on our last bus, an Aussie asked us what hostel we were going to stay in. We made small talk and he told us about travelling all over south america with his friends who were a couple. Before we knew it we were in Itacare. Britt and I started walking to get a cab and the Aussie followed us.. "Um.. can I share a taxi with you girls? my friends wanna get a nice hotel room but I want to stay in the hostel with you guys." And that's how we adopted an Aussie.

When we arrived at the hostel, they had lost our reservations. "Not a problem", the woman said, "but it will be a few hours before we have beds for you girls. You are more than welcome to leave your stuff here though and head to the beach.. however, we have a bed available for your aussie friend." Dan, the aussie, immediately took her up on the offer and headed up to his room to shower and get some much needed rest.. and left Britt and I to fend off the weather and head to the beach. How rude! We went to the beach and quickly fell asleep to be woken up about an hour later by a rain storm. We raced back to the hostel before the sky opened up more. It poured and there was thunder and lightning for the rest of the day. We ended up in the same room as Dan.. who was just waking up from his beauty sleep nap when we finally got a bed.

That night, we headed out to the jungle bar with people from our hostel. In our 6 bedroom dorm room, there were people from Australia, New Zealand, Norway and England. At the bar, there was a live band playing forro music (our favorite!). We tried to show our new kiwi and aussie friends how to dance to it.. but they were absolutely hopeless.

The next day, we were on a mission to buy our bus tickets to Rio.. we had an idea of where the ticket office was but decided to explore the small town and visit the stores. Well.. we never found the ticket office but we did find a VOLLEYBALL. Finally, after being in Brasil for almost a month, we could play some beach volley. We went down to praia da concha in the late afternoon and peppered until our arms were bruised and red. The ball we bought was a crappy indoor ball.. so it is really light and super hard. Oh well, at least its round.

Later that day, we found a net with some local brasilian boys playing on it. We peppered around them for a few minutes before some boys who were off joined in. Combining our broken portugese with their broken english got us a game on the court. Although we didn't play poorly, we did lose (no excuses or anything but it was a guys net and we were playing against guys soooo.. haha). We enjoyed the hype though, as the town gathered around our court to watch the American girls take on the Brazillian guys!

The next day, we took our volleyball and bruised arms and cruised to the "first beach." Itacare has four beaches in a row that are little coves. After soaking up way too much sun and peppering with new friends, we decided to walk along the rocks back to praia da concha. What we thought would be a 15 minute walk turned into an hour and a half excursion through deserted cliffs, rocks, and coves. Twas beautiful and very cool. There were a bunch of tide pools along the way that boasted colorful fish, huge crabs, and who knows what else. When we finally made it back to our hostel, there was a capoeira circle happening in the park. We missed out on seeing capoeira in Salvador so we were definitely stoked. There was music being played and everyone was chanting along to their songs. The men who participated were super talented.. they could do flips and twists and crazy things with their "Rock hard..HOT" bodies. Capoeira originated during slavery times in Brasil. The African slaves created this dance/chant ritual which they called religion when actually they were training to revolt against their portuguese owners. The dance looks like martial arts with rhythm and there is no body contact. Check the video on my facebook page to get a better idea. Anyway.. so the men were very athletic but also young girls participated. They had to have been around 8 to 10 years old and the things they could do were amazing as well.

At the capoeira, we met two boys from Cali. Not only were these the first Americans we had come across, but Californians!! whoo.. haha. One was from San Diego and the other was from Sacramento. We had dinner with them that night and definitely felt at home using our cali english.

A little later that night, we realized something.. It was SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!! We walked up and down the street and finally found a small bar that was showing the game. Of'course, the only people in there were from the US.. actually, they were all part of a wedding party from Massachusetts! we befriended them but enjoyed cheering for the saints, much to their dismay. Drew Breezzzeeee! :)

On Monday, we went to the second beach. Life is hard.. so many beaches, soooo little time. That night was the last for our adopted aussie friend. He had to catch a bus the next morning at 7AM. When we got back to the hostel after dinner, Dan was brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed. Britt and I convinced him it was his going away party and he needed to hang out with us. Before we knew it, we were closing the yellow house bar at 5AM with our aussies, kiwis, cali boys, the wedding party and some locals we met. We all went to the beach to watch the sunrise over the ocean. Apparently, the morning is when the GIANT sand crabs come out of their holes because they were EVERYWHERE on the beach.. scary. I've had nightmares about it since.

Tuesday was our last day in Itacare before RIOOOOOOOOO for carnaval. We went to a big breakfast where I got eggs, coffee, juice, a roll, fruit plate and cake for 8.50 reais.. equivalent to about 4.25US.. stoked. We relaxed for most of the day because it was raining again and Rio was right around the corner. However, that night we met some new kiwis and ended up bringing up the sun again only to jump on our bus at 10AM sans sleep.. good thing our bus to Rio was 26 hours long.. probably slept for 24 of them. :) Next stop CARNAVAL!

Salvador

Sorry for another late post... Here is our blog from our days in Salvador February 2-February4


Our host from Maceio dropped us off at the bus station, and we were on our way to Salvador. This bus ride was a bit tricky. At 5am, we stopped in Aracaju. We thought that we were supposed to get off the bus and get on another one. So we got off, grabbed our bags and went walking around the bus station driving to decide where to go. We finally decided to use our broken portuguese to spit out "onde vamos agora?" (where do we go now?). The man directed us back to the same bus that we had just gotten off! ugh.. When we finally arrived in Salvador, we took a taxi to our hosts house.



After a bit of time to get freshened up, we headed out to the celebration of yemanja. Yemanja is the goddess of the sea. This street party was like nothing we had seen before. Thousands upon thousands of people crowded onto the beach front street to dance behind bands playing on top of trucks. The girls that we were with pushed us right into the middle of it. At times, it felt like we were in a mosh pit as people pushed up against us and we hardly had room to even breathe. Britt and I hung onto our pockets for dear life as people blatantly tried to pick pocket us all over the place. About an hour into the festival, I felt a guy slip my phone out of my pocket. We both started yelling and the guy frantically tried to pass it to a friend who dropped it onto the ground into a dozen pieces. We picked them up and somehow our piece of crap phone still worked! Hooray! Hahahaha so we made it out of the celebration alive and with all of our stuff..

The next day, our host took us to see some of the sights of salvador. We went to praia da barra and the lighthouse. We watched the sun set over the ocean for the first time since we have been in Brasil (Salvador is on the tip of a large bay). That night, we went out to Pelourinho.. one of the more popular night spots in the city. Our host took us to a reggae concert and tried to convince us that Salvador was not all bad and show us that there was more to the huge city than pick pocketers and people looking to take advantage of tourists. Even with a fun day and night under our belts, we were ready to leave Salvador bright and early the next morning. Our next stop, Itacare, was guaranteed to be better.. small touristy safe surf city..

Maceio

Sorry for another late blog... here is a blog from our days in Maceio ~January 28- February 1~

After a couple amazing days in Recife, we were off to Maceio for the week. We had a mellow four hour bus ride. We napped, enjoyed the scenery, learned Portuguese, and reminisced about our various travel memories of Brazil thus far. As we started to get closer to Maceio, our usual worries set in. Where should we get off? Would we recognize our host? I mean, it had been so long since we had met him in Texas. Our bus was running very late and his phone of course was not working, what would Plan B be? After many failed attempts of getting a hold of him on the bus, we began to sing Bob Marley "Don't Worry About a Thing because Every Little thing is gonna be alright".

And it was. Sure enough, Aldo was there, and we couldn't have been more excited to see him! He took us down to the beach to one of his favorite places to eat.. Chuvitos! Although, we didn't get the traditional sanduiche according to him, it was one of the most amazing things I have tasted in Brazil thus far. We definitely need to get a Chuvitos in California. After, we we went to La Poana, a little restaurant/bar on the water, for drinks and to catch up a bit. I mean, it had been years since we had met him in the states. We told him about the places we had been in Brazil thus far, and he assured us that Maceio was better!

The night was still young so we headed to his beach house at Praia do Frances to get settled in and ready for the night ahead. We were speechless when we saw his beach house. The house reminded us of a house from the Real World MTV series. It was set up with 4 beds/4baths/several dining and lounge areas/full outside bar/pool/hammocks/etc. I could definitely live here! After a tour of the house, we went for a dip in the pool and enjoyed cerveja gelada, our favorite!

Later that evening, we headed to a club Le Hotel Night set up with House Music and an Axe band. We got to meet up with old friends from Joao Pessoa, our second stop on the Brazilian journey, because they were in Maceio for the weekend for a friend's wedding. It was so awesome to catch up with them . We laughed as Aldo used his Texas drivers licence to get into the club and order drinks. Just three Americans entering a Brazilian bar. The band was great, and we had an awesome time dancing the night away.

The next morning, we headed to Praia do Frances. We laid on the beach basking in the Brazilian sun, yes in Brazilian bikinis! We are fitting in so well. After we had been there a bit, a cloud covered the sun and chuva(rain)! Five minutes later, the rain had passed, and the sun was back out. Such strange weather, but hey we can't complain! As the tide quickly rose, we decided it was time to go. We headed back to the beach house for a Churrasco(barbeque). Aldo's housekeeper made the most amazing traditional Brazilian food. We were in heaven. They brought out their best pimenta sauce to see if we could handle it. We loved it.... Aldo cried! Guess, Brazilians can't handle the heat like Americans haha.

After that amazing meal, we relaxed in redes(hammocks) that were scattered about the backyard. Michelle and I are in love with hammocks. If there is a hammock, we will probably opt to sleep in that rather than our own bed. We are definitely going to buy one in Floriapa to bring back to the States. There are so many things about this culture that we love and want to bring home with us to share with all of you!

We didn't relax for long though as we headed to Barra for Aldo's friend's family party. Everyone there was so welcoming and friendly. We taught them American drinking games of course, and then we headed out to the after party. The after party was probably at one of the most amazing beach houses Michelle and I have ever seen. The house was set with a huge pool, deck, and back yard that connected right into a private beach. These people are living the life! The girls taught us Forro, Frevo, and Samba! They were extremely patient with us as we butchered the dances, but I like to think by the end of the night, we got the hang of it. Probably the coolest group of people in Maceio. We closed out the evening by bringing up the sun, taking a photo shoot with the sunset, and going for a morning swim! Such an amazing night.

I awoke earlier than the other two the following morning so I joined Aldo's dad and uncle out by the pool. I used my various Portuguese phrases to communicate with them. My Portuguese isn't great, but it is definitely better than when we started out in Natal. Luckily, they knew a bit of English to go along with my bit of Portuguese. After a late breakfast by the pool, we headed back to Barra beach for the day. We tried feijado for the first time at the family BBQ. They kept mentioning something about cow tongue.... I'm hoping that wasn't in it!

We headed to Maceio for the evening as we enjoyed drinks at La Poana. Apparently, Michelle and I don't look like Americans. The waiter thought we were Brazilian until he heard us speaking in English! Haha, we fit in as long as we don't talk. After dinner and drinks, we headed back to the beach house for a late night Jam sesh. Aldo plays the guitar extremely well.... the singing not so much... haha just kidding Aldo!

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day. There was extremely tropical rain and weather so we relaxed outside in the redes (hammocks). It was definitely nice to lay low after a busy couple of days. We headed to the bus station to buy our tickets for the following day and enjoyed Tapioca com coconut e queijo down by the beach! We went to an outdoor bar and watched Aldo's futebol team lose to Flamengo. He wasn't too happy. Apparently, we are bad luck charms. It was interesting to see all the hype around the sport as people dressed in their team's jerseys and talked smack in Portuguese. The bar was absolutely packed and people crowded around outside on the streets.

Then, we headed to Chuvitos! We couldn't leave Maceio without having another sanduiche! Aldo made us order all by ourselves and get the traditional Chuvitos! Although we were a bit nervous, we got the order right maybe with an additional coke here or there; but hey, it worked out! We got a taste of how small Maceio is though as we ran into a guy at Chuvitos that we had met at Le Hotel Night! Such a small town!

On Monday, our last day in Maceio, we went to Piscina Naturales(Natural Pools). We took a Jangada (small sail boat) to a spot in the middle of the ocean that at low tide forms natural pools around the reefs. It was absolutely amazing. The water was so clear we could see these fish that we had eaten for dinner the night before. The only place that I could compare it to would maybe be Joao Pessoa's rising island at low tide.

As our lawyer host Aldo headed back to work we lounged around his flat in Maceio preparing for our travels that evening. Aldo was sad to see us leave so when he got off work he cooked us a romantic meal of Brie, crackers, wine, and Italian pasta for our going away meal! Apparently, we ruined his traditional dish though with all the pimenta.

At midnight, he took us to the bus station. We said our good byes. and we were off to Salvador. We had such an amazing time in Maceio. We were sad to leave and will definitely miss it, but are looking forward to coming back to visit real soon!

Recife

Sorry for the late post but here is our blog from our Days in Recife (January 25th to January 29)

So, we made it out of Recife alive for those of you who were a bit worried, and we had an absolutely amazing time. Our journey began with a two hour bus ride which was very relaxing until we realized that we had no idea where we were supposed to get off the bus. When the majority of the bus got up from their seats to exit the bus, we assumed that we should make our way towards the front. The bus driver began talking rapidly in Portuguese at us. We gave him "the deer in headlight" face, and sheepishly said in Portuguese, "I´m sorry. We don´t understand. We don't speak Portuguese." Luckily, a man seated near the front came to the rescue as he translated to the bus driver where we needed to go.

When we got to the Recife bus station, we were thrilled to see Igor and Thiago. They brought us to the house to drop off our stuff and freshen up for the afternoon and night ahead. We made our way down to the Olinda Pre-carnival. The celebration took place throughout the colorful, house lined, sloping streets of the city. It was a sight to see the Maracatu bands parade down the street followed by scary birds on sticks that looked like people on stilts from afar. We also learned how to dance Frevo in the streets which reminded us of the umbrella dance from Mary Poppins.

After the Pre-Carnival celebration, we made our way to a family birthday party. We enjoyed traditional foods and sang along to the boys playing guitar. When "I Cant get no Satisfaction" came on, Michelle and I belted out the chorus. The boys stopped playing and everyone turned and stared. Whoops, stupid American girls. Afterwards, we made our way back to the house to continue our Brazilian tradition of teaching every group of people we meet American drinking games. The boys always get a kick out of "Drive". Hopefully, we are leaving our mark on Brazilian drinking!

The next day, we went to lunch down at Boa Viagem. We opted out of going to this beach though due to the vast amounts of shark attacks. At night, Igor and David took us to Old Town Recife. The drive there was really interesting because we could see the way the city was broken up by rivers creating islands that are connected by various bridges. We wandered around the city looking at various old buildings and churches. As we made our way down one of the streets, we heard the loud playing of Maracatu. When we found the building where the music was coming from, the boys told the woman that we were Americans and would love to watch them practice for Carnaval. As we made our way up the stairs, Michelle and I were a little nervous to walk into a large classroom of people playing. When we made it to the top of the stairs, we were suprised to see that all that noise was coming from one Maracatu instructor and his student. It was very cool to watch though! After the class, we went to an outdoor bar&cafe to watch a live band perform. The band played a lot of classic American oldies songs that we were able to sing along to.

The following day, we woke up early and headed to Porta de Galinhas which was rated one of the most famous and beautiful beaches in Brazil. The origin of the name is Port of Chickens which explains the giant chicken figures throughout the small beach town. There were Jangadas throughout the water as well as various snorkelers swiming in the extremely clear water. Michelle tried RaspaRaspa which is the Brazilian version of shaved ice, and we bought another bracelet to add to our Brazilian collection.

For dinner, we went to a local sushi place. Brazilian sushi has a lot of cheese inside of it and there are a variety of sweet dessert sushi (very hmm.. unique?)... Definitely unusual compared to American or Japanese sushi! After dinner, the boys presented us with traditional gifts. Raoni gave us a "Fita do senhor do bonfim" wish bracelet from Salvador to add to our collection. The tradition of the bracelet is that you tie the bracelet with three knots and for each knot you make a wish. When the bracelet falls off, all of your wishes will come true! Then, Igor gave us Colar traditional beads. These beads are worn by males during the Salvador Carnival celebration. During the celebration, the males give them to the girls! We won't be in Salvador for Carnaval so we got ours early!

On Wednesday, we went sightseeing in Olinda to the Alto Dase. We enjoyed tapioca pancakes com chocolate e coconut e queijo as we enjoyed the view of the city from the top of the hill. We took pictures in front of various churches as well as with Giant Boneco dolls that are used in the Carnaval parades. We watched an outdoor maracatu rehearsal in the park. The group was all women varying in ages. Then, we headed home to get ready for our last night in Recife!

For our last night, David and Thiago took us to a Forro club. There was a live band, and we had a blast practicing our Forro. It is amazing how much better it has gotten since we first arrived in Natal! When the band was finished, they played American Techno music or as they call it here, House music. Michelle and I loved showing off our American dance moves as we cleared the dance floor. Another night of bringing up the sun. Bom Dia Recife!

Thursday, Igor and Raoni dropped us off at the bus station, and we were off to our next destination..... MACEIO!

Joao Pessoa

Oi! Tudo bem? Tonight is our last night in Joao Pessoa.. It has been a crazy couple of days. We arrived on Wednesday and went to all the historic (and massive) churches in the older part of town. Our host, Wilson, then took us to the easternmost part of the Americas (only 2200KM from Africa, however far that is..). After a delicious subway sandwich (brazilians don't eat any veggies.. britt and I have been going crazy!!), we went out for the night at a cachacaria. Cachaca is to Brazil as tequila is to Mexico. This restaurant boasted over 1000 different types of it! After eating and drinking a bit there, we headed out to a reggae concert.

The next morning, we headed out to cokueirinho beach. To get to the beach, we had to drive down a long palm tree lined road that opened up to a restaurant which Wilson's friend owned. It was absolutely incredible and the beach was picturesque.

Side note: Northeastern Brazilians DO NOT like hot food. Whenever we ask for pimenta (hot sauce), they look at us crazy and then gawk at us when we put it on our food. As for when we eat it? We get stared at as they wait for us to die from the heat. It's pretty funny. Britt and I have been ordering the hottest food on the menu and it doesn't even compare to mexi food.

Anyhoo, we then went to Praia de Tambaba.. the only recognized nudist beach in the northeast. No worries.. we stayed on the clothing side. :)

The next day, Wilson took us jet skiing out to an island that only exists at low tide.. There were dozens of boats everywhere along with bars, tables, restaurants on boats and SO MANY PEOPLE. As the tide rose, people starting packing up for the day but we hung out in the water until the whole island disappeared. Wilson let the two of us take his jet ski out. Besides a bloody lip (thanks Britch), we had a great time and thought everything was chill.. Until we got back and realized that not only were we jet skiing in an illegal zone, but we were doing it in front of the coast guard. Apparently, you are supposed to have a permit to jet ski? As soon as we got back where our friends were, Wilson frantically ripped us off the jet ski and told us to take off our life vests and lay low. Hahahahaha stupid american girls. After leaving, we watched the sunset over their river. They have a traditional where everyday at sunset, a man plays the saxophone in a boat on the river. It was pretty cool but definitely a lot of tourists so it was kinda hard to see.

That night, Wilson took us out to a club on the beach. It was fun and we brought up the sun (it rises at about 4:30AM) and went out to breakfast. Brazilians definitely don't appreciate sleep like we do in the states.. But we're enjoying it for now. :)

Our Last Night in Natal

Blog from yesterday before the internet went out. Will post pictures tomorrow.

Tonight is our last night in Natal. We just booked our bus tickets, and we are off to Joao Pessoa tomorrow morning. We are sad to leave but extremely excited for the adventures and destinations ahead. We have definitely made the most of our last two days here though. Yesterday, they took us to a popular restaurant called Mangai to taste Nordestino food, the cuisine of Brazil's dry cattle-raising Northeast. The restaurant had a smorgasbord of traditional favorites that we could choose from. The restaurant was interesting because it was buffet style and after you were done dishing up, you took your plate to a scale to weigh it to determine the price. The food was delicious, especially the assortment of desserts! Later that night, the boys took us to a dinner and drinks after. They really enjoyed our drinking game, Kings Cup.



Today, Andre and his family took us to Ponta Negra, a famous beach and neighborhood in Natal. The beach is lined with tents and huts selling food and clothes. It also offers lounge chairs, tables, umbrellas, and of course, cerveja gelada for beachgoers. We loved people watching at this beach, as people rode horses along the beach, children foot volleyed, vendors offered all sorts of items/food, while tourists and locals walked down the strip of beach. Our favorite vendor was an Argentinian surfer/hippie who cooked us amazing shrimp flambe, just like at something fishy.



When we got back from the beach, Rafael took us to view the historical sights of Natal. We got to see some amazing vintage buildings, churches, and houses as we strolled the streets downtown. Then, we went to Fortaleza dois Reis Magos which is considered the finest sixteenth century military construction on the Brazillian coast. We had fun learning the history and taking pictures with the artifacts.



We are off to a going away party tonight with the boys and more of their friends and family.



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Britt&Meesh