Destination: Brazil!

After saving for almost TWO YEARS to go on this trip, we finally did it. Originally we had planned to go for the World Cup. But, due to Justin being in school, prices going up ridiculously high, and the danger of it all, we decided to postpone it until he was finished with Nursing School. As a present to ourselves to try and salvage the year from Hell, we went on this trip. Richie was farmed out to Justin's mom, my mom, and my aunt for the two weeks.

So, here is what crammed into our two week vacation!

Here we are, all packed and ready for the 20 hour venture down there. Two weeks stuffed into two manageable backpacks. We do NOT do checked bags. We don't trust other people with our luggage and we don't pay fees. Some people think we're weird. I think it's smart. Plus, try rolling a suitcase through cobblestones of Rio de Janeiro or through dirt roads in Bahia. Backpacks are way easier.

(Mmmm.... hot chocolate  soy milk with hazelnut from Millcreek Coffee Roasters...)

After our 8 hour overnight flight from Atlanta to Brasilia, we awoke from our one hour of sleep bright eyed and bushy tailed.  (Not.) I got all glammed up by brushing my teeth in the airport bathroom, put on some deodorant and our sweet friend Alice picked us up from the airport. We went straight to a padaria (bakery) for breakfast and took it to her apartment.

BRASILIA!

Why Brasilia? Justin served his mission there and stays in contact with people there. I've grown really attached to the Rocha and Lima family. The Rochas (which literally means "rock" in portuguese) are a sweet family of four, Adriana, Ruebervan, Gabriel, and Arthur. They are loud, spunky, funny, and just sweet salt of the earth people. The Limas, Alice, Smenia, and Icaro are also sweet, fun, intelligent, and compassionate people. They all speak English fluently so it's easy for me to talk to them. We came to Brasilia really just to see them. 

This is Alice in her apartment doorway. She took us to the Rocha family's house, where we stayed in Brasilia for naps, lunch, and popsicles with Adriana Rocha. One of Justin's favorite popsicles in Brazil that you definitely can't get here are the corn popsicles. I know it sounds gross, but it's actually delicious. Weird, yes. But delicious.

That afternoon after napping and a traditional lunch of rice, beans, beets, pumpkin and green beans (and meat for the meat eaters) Alice took us downtown. We went to a gorgeous, mid-century Catholic Cathedral. Brasilia is actually a really funky city. It's their capital and it's only 50 years old. I guess this dude several hundred years ago had a vision about Brasilia being a great place to live where people would have a good life. Then in the 60's his vision was fulfilled when the president decided to have the capital in the middle of the country and mowed down all this forest and built a city for the government. It's actually shaped like an airplane. The government buildings are in the "cockpit," shopping and retail in the fuselage, and the suburbs in the wings. If you see it from satellite on Google Earth it really looks like an airplane. All the government buildings are midcentury modern and have really crazy architecture. Like Washington DC, there really isn't anything to do there other than visit museums and government buildings.

This cathedral is the lightest, happiest cathedral I've been in.

After the cathedral we went to Lago Sul (south lake) that is in the wealthier part of the city and hung out to watch the sun set. On the banks we watched three different women come to take their wedding dress pictures. Along the park adjacent to the lake are also a bunch of buildings, including catholic churches to hold weddings.

After the lake we went for my first bowl of acai! Oh my goodness. Heaven in a bowl. It's basically frozen acai berries, blended with sugar, topped with granola and bananas... and bonus! It's vegan. We had to drive in downtown rush hour first, though. Crappy Brazilian roads, motorists with bad emissions, and crazy drivers make rush hour stupid. We may have carbon monoxide poisoning, but we had a gorgeous view.

The next day we went downtown again. The first stop was the "Flag Exhibition" of one of their museums. It was hilarious. The flags were papers printed on copy paper, taped to poster board on display. It looked like my 6th grade report on flags. Hilarious.

We went to a mall to eat and get money. And TRUST ME, the malls down there are amazing. Better than ours. I had a delicious bowl of pumpkin quinoa soup (YUM) and amazing pineapple mint juice. The juice in Brazil is the best in the world! Seriously, it's all fresh and natural and mind blowing. Then we walked a bunch. Downtown they had a giant "I love Brasilia" sign set up. So naturally I forced Justin to take some adorable pictures with me. He wasn't pleased.

That night we went to the Sao Joao festival. Sao Joao is a Catholic festival that is huge in Brazil. It's morphed into a festival celebrating the hick culture of the north. People dress in cowboy/hick attire of plaid shirts, jeans, straw hats, and boots. Kinda like Sadie Hawkins? The food is all northern food, the music is "forro" (pronouced fo-ho) that is kinda like their country music. They also showcase their version of line dancing. And the flags. Not sure what they're for. But it looks awesome. Ceilandia, the suburb of Brasilia that we stayed in, hosted a giant Sao Joao festival. It was super fun. I couldn't really find anything to eat. But the Rochas found their favorite dish, cow cartilage. (NASTY.) And then we danced! So fun.

The next day was spent at Itaquira. A two hour drive outside of Brasilia and we were at this great national park with a huge waterfall. We swam cold water which impressed a lot of Brasilians that were there. It was gorgeous!

We even got Ruebervan to jump in and took a picture of him underwater with the Go Pro.

The next day we went to church at Justin's ward from his mission. It's a little weird going to a ward that actually sings the hymns... even when there is literally zero piano accompaniment. Hmm... maybe our ward could take a leaf out of the Ceilandia ward's book? After church we went to a picnic downtown at the city park, which is bigger than Central Park with Alice's family. In Brazil picnics include hanging hammocks and taking naps in them. Why don't we do that in the USA?!? That night we drove with the Rochas to a pond to watch Super Moon.

Apparently for the World Cup they built a ton of these "outdoor gyms" all over Brazil. I don't know why. But now apparently they are only used by old people and young crazies like these weirdos.

The next day we said goodbye to our sweet friends and trekked out of Brasilia to Bahia! This was a bit of a surprise for Justin that I had arranged. I did some research a few months prior to find a quiet, out of the way, laid back spot with beautiful beaches. Low and behold, Boipeba Island fit the ticket. The island was in the state of Bahia, which is known for its large black population, heavy southern style food, pristine beaches, colorful buildings and houses, and surfing.

ILHA DE BOIPEBA

When I say it was a trek to get here, I'm serious. Reubervan drove us an hour to the airport. We took a plane to Sao Paulo (2 hours) and then to Salvador (2 more hours). Then we got a taxi from the airport to the ferry terminal (40 minutes). Then we took the ferry from Salvador to Bom Despacho (1 hour). There we met our driver and drove down to another port (1 hour 40 minutes). From there, we got in speedboat- yes! a speedboat. It was night time by now and we rode the boat on the moonlit river past the mangrove forests to the island (40 minutes). It was beautiful, romantic, and freezing. Finally! We were at the island. It was 8:30 pm.

We were starving so we sought out some food and realized that on an island that doesn't have cars, got electricity 7 years ago, and only has a handful of businesses, scouting for food in the dark is tough. Luckily we found some street food of tapioca. Tapioca is a typically Bahian food where you put the flour of tapioca root on a fry pan, let it melt, then add sweet or savory ingredients, fold it over like a quesadilla and eat it. Yum. 

Afterward we got to Face Time with this adorable baby. I missed him SO much. It made my heart sing to hear him squeal, "mamamamama!" His face lit up and my week was complete.

The next morning we got up, walked 100 feet to the beach, and got this gorgeous view.

Not bad right?

We stayed in this awesome pousada (kinda like a bed and breakfast) and had a hammock on the balcony. It was cozy and quaint, lacked TV, something that we were looking for. It was perfect.

Over the next few days we did a lot of nothing. We read on the beach, walked all over the beach on the island, ate food, and relaxed. This is an example of how tiny the island was. Notice zero cars and no roads? This is the "town square."

During low tide the beach looked like this.

Sunset was amazing. I wish I could say goodbye to each day with this view.

We loved reading together on the beach. The sand made the most naturally beautiful designs.

We walked half and hour from our side of the island to Cueira beach. This was, in my opinion, the most beautiful beach on the island of Boipeba. I did some yoga on the beach and got some stares.

Behind the beach was a huge natural coconut grove.

This bizarre sign oddly had some sage advice, "Let's save our culture, less cyber. From Indian tribes, pirates of peace."

One day it rained all day. We didn't care. We decided to go to another beach called "Morere" (pronounced more-a-ray). So we walked 10 miles in the rain. Through the coconut groves, mangrove forests, and jungle, we arrived at Morere.

Some say the this beach looks like the surface of the moon in low tide. I agree. Not my favorite, but beautiful in it's own unique way. We sang, "walking on the moon" by the Police while we were here.

When we got back we did laundry in the shower. I told you we pack light. We only pack about 5 days worth of clothes. Then we take a dry sack, throw our clothes in, add water and detergent, then roll the bag around on the ground and agitate it for 15 minutes. Rinse in the shower, wring out, and hang it on the balcony. Voila.

Do you like what humidity does to my hair?

We were starving that night so we went into town and stopped at this creperie, Casa Namoa. So good! Crepes are strangely a big thing down there. I got a mushroom/eggplant one and Justin a tomato cheese one. Delicious!

The last day we spent on Cueira. We even brought running shoes to run laps along the sand. The weather could not have been more perfect. I mean... LOOK at this!

 Everyday this Argentine guy would walk the beaches with his basket of empanadas. Most of the time he had some vegan ones. We bought from him every time. Delicious! And... bonus! We did not die of food poisoning.

Each night after dinner we hung out in the pousada's library and read books in hammocks while listening to the ambiance of the restaurant adjacent play their music and serve food. It was so relaxing.

Whenever we walked through the village, we passed the hospital. We noticed they have an ER department. Justin thought maybe they were hiring?

We also found a house for sale right on the beach front. I think we could make this Brazilian island life work!

One of the things that really depresses me about Brazil is the stray dogs. The island had so many of them. I bought some dog food at the grocery store so I could feed any I ran into. I also saw a sweet girl I swear had just had puppies. On the day we left I saw her with her babies! I was SO excited to give them food. It really made the trip to Boipeba complete.

After loving on these puppies and momma, we left the island to head to Rio de Janeiro. This time we decided on public transit. BIG mistake. The bus driver lied to us about how fast we could get there (since they were a private bus and not government funded they try to pack as many people on, regardless of how long it takes). We ALMOST missed our flight. We were starting to consider our options of going home early from Brazil if we couldn't make our flight to Rio. We barely made the last ferry over and paid our taxi driver extra not to take us the tourist route, but the most direct way to the airport. Fortunately, we barely made our flight!

RIO DE JANEIRO

 We had decided to go to Rio sort of on a whim. Flights were cheap, and we couldn't think of 8 days worth of stuff to do in Brasilia. So we decided to spend 4 days in Rio. 

By the time we got in it was dark. We took a bus to the subway. Two stops later we were in our neighborhood of Catete (pronouced Cah-teh-tay). We walked up this super steep, long, winding hill to our hostel.

 It was my first hostel experience. And definitely NOT my favorite. It wasn't a very nice place. But it was in a safe neighborhood, and the sheets were clean. So that's all I'm going to say about that. My mom would probably freak out if she saw it. We got dinner and tried to go to bed. I say "tried" because it was Saturday night in Rio. Seriously, the loud, thumping music did not stop all night. It was still going in the morning. We were not happy.
But, we did wake up to this view, which wasn't awful.

 It was Sunday and we didn't think we would make church. So we decided to walk a bunch. We ate breakfast and left the hostel.

 This was the view from our neighborhood. You can kind of see the Corcovado (Christ statue) up on the hill.

This was the neighborhood we were in. Cobblestone streets, wall to wall colonial built housing, and jungle trying to overtake the city. Rio is so charming in the morning.

Brazil is all about the street art. Some of it quite remarkable and beautiful. Others are.... awful. This was in our neighborhood. Kinda funny. Some soccer players holding their need to go to the bathroom. And this, with the caption, "melted cup" referring to the catastrophe that was the Brazil vs. Germany game during the World Cup last month.

 
As we walked down the streets towards the beach, we noticed a Sunday farmer's market and naturally I HAD to go. Farmer's markets are my happy place.

On Sundays they close the streets down close to the beach for exercise. We saw a few different 5k and 10k races coming to an end. There were runners, bikers, roller bladers, acro yoga, soccer, basketball, etc. all going. It was SO busy! The energy was amazing with all the people out, the beautiful sun, the beach of Flamengo and Botafogo, and the mountains jutting up out of the metropolitan area. Rio is definitely the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

After walking several hours we made it to the base of Pao de Acucar. Also known as Sugar Loaf. The tram to get to the top was expensive and you can't hike it without rock climbing the last little bit. Instead, we walked up the Claudio Mortinho trail to the base of the smaller mountain adjacent called Morro Urca. We then found this steep trail and hiked up to the top. From there we had a great view of Sugar Loaf and 360 degree views of the city.

After climbing back down, we walked over to Ipanema beach. What a gorgeous place. It's too bad it's so horribly crowded. But we didn't mind the views.

 I was super tired after no sleep and so much walking and hiking.

We also went to this giant artisan fair that I don't have pictures of. It's literally called the "hippie fair." It's also the largest in the world. The art and craftsmanship was really stellar. I wish we would have bought more there. We just got a couple of blankets.

The next day we switched to our other hostel. SOOOOO much better. This place was awesome, close to the bus station and had awesome views of the Corcovado. If you go to Rio, I recommend it HIGHLY. Solar do Cosme. It didn't feel like a hostel at all. Just a tiny hotel with great hosts and a shared living area for movies and computer.

After checking in, we headed out to see Copacabana. This time rather than walk, we took the subway.

 This is the sidewalk next to the beach. Just like in the Disney movie Rio, Copa has all these sidewalks, plus tons of vendors and people. It was so touristy. On the other side of the street 1960s high rise hotels were side by side. Not my favorite place. We took a nap on the beach and then realized how cold, windy, and cloudy it was. So we left.

That night after showering and getting ready we went back downtown to see a Samba festival called "Pedra de Sal" or "Rock of Salt." Basically there's this dead end corner in a part of the city called Gamboa that has a giant rock face in the alleyway. Every year they celebrate samba, the music that was created with african origins. It's basically the equivalent of our jazz. People come, listen to guys play, sing along, dance, and drink.

We only stayed for 5 minutes after breathing in so much marajuana. So we walked around and ended here for dinner. Yup. KFC. They had rice and beans and that's what I ate for dinner. So much for our big night on the town?

I took a picture on the street on our way home and a guy stopped us and told us to put our camera away because it was so dangerous. It was like the 3rd or 4th time someone told us that during our time in Rio. Either they have way more crime than is reported, or people are overly cautious. Either way, it totally freaked me out. We were on a busy, crowded road and I really doubted someone would mug us in front of other people, but I was freaked out nonetheless.

The next day, against everyone's advice, we hiked up to the Corcovado. We learned something on our trip. Brasilians are so timid. They think you're going to get robbed no matter what you do. They told us not to hike without a guide because we'd get robbed or lost. Even after going to this grocery store to get snacks, the checkout lady wouldn't check us out without giving us a lecture first. I was starting to lose patience.

We rolled our eyes and went and hiked it anyway. I'm so glad we did. The hike itself was TOUGH. It was muddy, steep, and literally had a section with a chain pounded into a rock to hold onto. I can see why for some tourists, hiking it would be a bad idea. Fortunately, being outdoorsy regular hikers, it wasn't bad for us. But it was so worth it. We appreciated the Christ Redeemer statue that much more.

When we got to the top it was a very humbling, spiritual moment for me. I was a little overwhelmed by the spirit. The night before when we were at the samba festival I was overwhelmed from all the drinking, drugs, and immorality. Standing in the presence of that giant statue, that figure of Christ, who watches the city of Rio every day and all night, with all its sin and evil, was so symbolic. I had the scripture come to mind when Christ says he gathers Israel and that he will receive you always if you turn to him and repent. Especially with the statue's arms outstretched like that. I loved being there.

We walked down along the train tracks and the road.

After a nice shower and a nap, we headed out for Santa Teresa. If you've seen Rio, it's the part where they take the trolley up the hill to see the bulldog on the cobblestone streets. It's this really old part of the city with big victorian buildings that are not run by bohemian artists. Super cool place to be. But that day we came too late and everything was closed. So we just walked along the street and watched the sunset over the favelas (the ghettos).

That night we prepared to say goodbye. We ate our acai and went to bed.

Before heading to the airport we hit up the botanical gardens downtown. This is me right after a guard yelled at me for picking a patchouli leaf to smell. Justin told me to quit terrorizing the medicinal plants.

I loved this orchid gazebo.

Then we said goodbye to Rio. We took a taxi and went to the airport.

This was the Atlanta airport.

After not sleeping all night and having swollen feet and legs, we laid down and put our feet up to prevent deep vein thrombosis. Nerds.

During our 7 1/2 hour layover in Baltimore I blew up my sleeping pad and watched Netflix on my phone. We were so tired and felt so gross.

Finally we got home and were SO excited to see Richie. He wasn't too excited to see us. And he was getting sick. But next time, we are prepared with his passport. He is coming with!