The Brazilian Life

Hello again! We are so sorry for the lack of updates, but I guess we´ve just been too busy enjoying ourselves to actually sit down and write about it. We have been in Brazil now for almost 4 weeks, so this post will have to cover quite a bit!

After taking a cab across the border from Argentina to Brazil (yes, a cab..I didn´t know you could do that either), we hopped on a bus to start our Brazilian travels in Curitiba. There was not a whole lot to see or do in Curitiba, except for the Serra Verde Express, which is a very scenic train ride.

After our short stopover in Curitiba, we headed straight for Rio de Janeiro, where the Brazilian culture really comes alive. We spent a good week and a half there, soaking up the "carioca" lifestyle and meeting lots of people from all over the world. The Brazilians have a very laid-back lifestyle, devoting a lot of time to the beach and of course, fútbol (pronounced here as "foogee-ball"). They also like to use the thumbs-up sign...a lot. It basically means "tudo bem!", or it´s all good. This seemed a little funny at first, but now I find myself doing it all the time as well.

Rio itself is quite an amazing city. The sights we saw from the cab window alone as we were driving to our hostel were quite surreal--Copacabana beach, the Christ statue hovering over the city, Sugar Loaf and all the other unique rock formations, the favelas (or slums) tucked away up in the hills--it felt like a movie. We stayed in a hostel in Ipanema, just 2 blocks from the beach. It stays warm here year-round, so the beaches are crowded even in the winter, which is the current season here. Our hostel organized lots of activities, which we gladly participated in. On our 1st night, we went to a boat party in the Botafogo bay, which had great views of the Christ statue and Sugar Loaf mountain. We also went to a fútbol game in the famous Maracana stadium, the largest fútbol stadium in the world. But by far, one of the coolest things we did was take a tour into one of the favelas. Many people would not even dare to think about going into one of the many infamous shantytowns, especially if you´ve seen the movie City of God, but it was actually quite a popular tour and very safe. They encouraged us to take our cameras as the little kids love getting their photos taken and will actually ask you to take their photo. The favela that we went into was called Rocinho and is the largest in Rio, with about 200,000 people living there in the small houses stacked on top of one another. To begin the tour we each hopped on the back of a motorcycle taxi, which drove us through the winding streets to the top of the favela. Then our guide walked us down, through the tiny and often very polluted streets. Favelas are completely unrecognized by the city government and don´t even appear on maps, so the people living there have to make things work on their own, including basic services such as electricity and waste management. And they do manage to have a fully functioning city with restaurants, shops, schools, post office, etc. They even have a butcher shop where you can choose a live chicken from the cage and the butcher will kill it for you right there. Unfortunately, the favelas are run by gangs of drug dealers. However, the drug lords actually do try to keep peace and order in the favela, making sure people get what they need to live. And yes, they do carry guns, very large ones. We didn´t see any on our tour though. Anyway, it was all very interesting and part of the money that we paid for the tour goes to a children´s center there, which we visited at the end of our tour.

Most of our other days in Rio we spent at the beach, watching the surfers tackle the surprisingly large waves and the guys who play volleyball without using their hands..really incredible. However, it´s not so easy to relax at the beach because every 2 minutes a beach vendor comes by trying to sell you something. And you can get anything you want at the beach--beer, sunglasses, jewelry, sarongs, bikinis, henna tattoos, and lots of food. One of our favorites was the grilled provolone cheese on a stick, which they grill for you right there on the beach and then dip it in fresh oregano. Also the "agua de coco", which is coconut water that you drink straight out of the coconut after the guy hacks open a hole for you to stick your straw in--very refreshing.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Rio, making friends with people from Belgium, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, England, Australia, Bulgaria, Israel, Canada, Norway, and Switzerland. It was, however, quite expensive and so we needed to move on.

Our next stop was Salvador, which is in the Bahia state. It is Brazil´s 3rd largest city and the most African-influenced, due largely in part to heavy imports of African slaves many, many years ago. It actually really felt as though we were in Africa. Unfortunately though, Salvador is very well known for theft and muggings and so we stuck to our hostel a lot. We met a couple from Norway and 2 guys from England and hung out with them much of time. After a few days, all 6 of us booked flights up the north coast to Fortaleza. After a not so comfortable night sleeping in the airport, we caught a bus for a 7-hour drive to a very small and secluded beach town called Jericoacoara, where we´ve been now for almost a week. The last hour of the drive to get here has to be done in a 4WD vehicle because all of the roads are made of sand and the town is surrounded by rolling green hills, huge sand dunes, and palm trees. Throw in some cows and donkeys and it makes for a very interesting mix of scenery. I have never seen cows hanging out at the beach until now. Very bizarre. Even when we´re eating dinner in a restaurant, we´ll see a random cow or donkey walk by. And there are lots of dogs and cats everywhere and they will come sit by your table as you eat, begging for scraps of food.

We´ve had some really fantastic weather (although extremely hot) and so we´ve been spending a lot of time at the beach. At night, we head out for some Brazilian caipirinhas, the tasty lime, sugar, and cachaça drinks that taste a lot like margaritas. Two nights ago we celebrated the birthday of one of the Norwegians, Erik. The owner of the bar that we have been frequenting brought out a bowl of popcorn with a candle in it and we sang Happy Birthday.

We are not sure how much longer we´ll be here in Jeri, although we could easily spend another 2 weeks enjoying this very relaxed lifestyle. Even as I write this, Mike is sound asleep in a hammock, which is a very common sight around here. Also, the World Cup has started and so fútbol watching has become a big priority for everyone. For now though, our plans are to head to a few more beaches along the north coast of Brazil and then fly over to Peru and Bolivia before heading back to Argentina. We´ve still got 2 more months here in South America before we fly to New Zealand on Aug. 8th to continue our adventures on a new continent.

Thanks to everyone for all the emails and congratulations. We miss you all very much! Chau, chau!!