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.



Ate Logo



Britt&Meesh

The Family Beach House at Praia da Pitangui

I always thought that I had a large family, but Andre's family makes the San Jose family look extemely small. Hard to imagine, I know. It seems like everyone is related here! On Friday after our adventures at Praia de Pipa, we went to Andre's cousins house for a night of fun. We quickly learned that the room full of boys that we were hanging out with were all related! We also learned that Brazilians do not sleep, as we found ourselves teaching them American drinking games and learning Brazilian Forro dancing until the sun rose and the rooster crowed at the break of dawn. After a bit of sleep, the boys cooked us another traditional Brazilian dish for lunch then we set out to the families summer beach house at Praia da Pitangui for the weekend. It was a weekend of Brazilian favorites- Beach, family, COLD beers, dancing/singing, eating, and more COLD beers. Cold beers is a must in Brazil. They will not drink it if it is warm. Actually, the way they drink beer is very different than in the states. At a bar, they will order one large beer (around 22 ounces) and then share it in little cups with everyone. No one drinks their own bottle or can. We also got a chance to play foot volley and volleyball during the day and even got to night swim with all of the cousins. It hadn't occured to us till yesterday that these past few days at the beach has been our first experience with the Atlantic Ocean. Very cool.

It is going to be very hard to leave Natal on Wednesday, the beaches are gorgeous and their family has been absolutely amazing to us. They have been helping us with our Portuguese, and we have even taught them a bit of English. We get a kick out of the way that they say our names though. Michelle is Mi-shelly and apparently Brittany is very hard for them to say. As they make up all kinds of ways to say Brittany. Even my nickname Britt seems to come out like Britch, not a nickname I'd like to have. I think I might need a Brazillian name for the rest of our travels.

We have two more eventful days in Natal until we begin our journey down to Joao Pessoa.

Ate Logo

Britt&Meesh

Praia da pipa

Sooo.. our journey continues with another full day of beautiful beaches. Our first stop was praia da pipa.. The water was crystal clear and almost too warm. What I really enjoyed was the cute town surrounding the beach with dozens of lojas (stores) and restaurantes. There were tourists everywhere yet everyone spoke Portuguese. Guess we were the only legit tourists.. Haha. Britt and I bought congas (sarong/beach towel) so we're practically locals now ;-) I also had an authentic acai bowl for lunch. It was surprisingly similar to the ones I got in Santa Cruz. Lastly, we decided that we're gonna buy little "hippie"bracelets at every city we go to. One down, 8 to go! Anyway, we spent enough time there to acquire a sun burn before packing our things to go to whatever else the boys had in mind. Turns out it was playing forro music in the car at full volume while yelling the lyrics while britt and I tried to understand any of the words. An hour of driving and "singing"later and we were at that largest caju tree in the world! How exciting! Hahaha but the tree was pretty crazy. It looked more like a shrub and covered a few acres!

We came back to the house a little early tonight.. After a long night last night and an early morning resulted in 4 hours of sleep, we're both ready for a nap before getting ready for tonight. Not sure how Brazilians do it.. they must have some sort of party gene along with the good looking gene, friendly gene, accomodating gene, etc.

Ate lago,

Britt&Meesh

First Day in Paradise

Oi! After 30 hours of traveling and four flights later, we made it to Natal late last night. So far, everything we have heard about Brazilians is true. They are beautiful, hospitable, outgoing, and friendly. The house that we are staying at is set up with our own room and bathroom. We were welcomed this morning into their home with a traditional Brazilian breakfast consisting of who knows what, but it tasted absolutely amazing. From there, our tour guide boys swept us off our feet on a big day of beach outings. We headed as far north as Touros to see its beautiful crystal clear water, rallied/offroaded through sand dunes, swam in the warm water at Praia de Maracaju, ziplined down a hill into Lagoa de Jacuma (a lake), and rafted our car on a basal (aka a giant piece of wood) back to Natal. We have been experimenting with various Brazilian foods/drinks such as Tapioca, Caju fruit, coconut water out of a coconut, Giant whole crab, caipirinha, coconut dolce, Brazilian coffee, Skol(the beer not the chewing tobacco, no worries mom), sucas, and farofa. Our portuguese is getting a bit better with only a few mishaps with soaps (to michelle it's shampoo and to brittany, lotion) and a few language barrier incidents with locals.. we're quickly learning that the phrase "me desculpe mais nao falo portugues" is essential to put a cease to awkward moments.

Other than that, we're getting taken out tonight for some dance lessons in forro.. should be entertaining at least.. and hitting up the "southside" of Natal amanha.

Ate lago e beijos,

Britt&Meesh

Night Before Braaaaaasil

So we leave tomorrow morning from LAX at 11:00AM.. and don't arrive in Brazil until 9:45PM.. the NEXT DAY. It's going to be a long 35 hours of traveling but maybe that'll give us some time to learn the beautiful Portuguese language. Or at least time chat it up with some airport bartenders. :) Our longest lay-over is in Rio de Janeiro for about nine hours. From there, we fly to Natal where we will be staying with a friend's family for the first week.

Ate lago e beijos!

Britt&Meesh