Ok...Rio

Ok wow ok. There's so much to catch up on!!! Since the last post we've gone to Rio, Itaipu, Parana, Foz do Iguaçu, Argentina, Paraguy (kinda....) and we're going to Brasilia next week. Oh, we went to Curitiba too.

Rio was amazing. I loved it so much!! The first night there we went to this little restaurant guy that served as much pizza as you want...they just keep bringing it out. And they have the best dessert pizzas here in Brazil. I love them! Like, bannanas and cinnamon. Anyways, the hotel was nice too. It was nice to shower in hot water!! Well, hot relative to our apt. I don't think Brazil believes in hot water. Also, our hotel was right on Copacabana beach. That beach was pretty cool! Except one day I had a bit of a problem with the tide or something and had a hard time doing things such as living and breathing air, not water, but I finally made it back to shore and this old man came up and started yelling at me for not knowing the sea. Haha.

We went to Pao de acucar one night. Oh man the view was incredible!!! I couldn't figure out how to write labels or flip my pictures...but at least they're up, right?! But the picture of me standing with darkness and lights behind me...yeah that was on pao de acucar. The view was incredible. Also, we rode these trolley like things up to the spot and it was kinda shady, but fun.

The next morning we rode a train up to the big Cristo statue. The statue was cool...but you can only stare at a statue for so long. The view was pretty good, and for a little bit we were in a cloud. I'm gonna be honest though, my favorite part of the statue trip was when we were riding the train back down the mountain and a little samba band joined and played for us. That was so fun!!

Also, in Rio we went to a futebol game. It was so fun!! We went to this way big stadium, biggest in Brazil, and there were soooo many people. We were only allowed to go because the teams weren't that big and weren't from Rio, but the fans were still intense. And there were policemen on horses with swords and other guys with big clubs. I'm glad we went in a group!!

On Sunday after church we went to a garden in Rio and it was so cool! Lots of my pictures that I put up are from there. Also, Joseph was walking along a path and ran back and got us because there were monkeys everywhere!!! It was soo cool! They were just swinging around in the trees and dropping stuff. So that was cool. We also drove by and under the flavella that The Hulk was filmed in.

Ok we were home for two days and then off to Foz do Iguacu and Curitiba. That was a fun trip. The waterfalls are so pretty!! We spent a day in Argentina looking at the falls, and that was amazing. Their side is sooo much better than the Brazilian side, I think! I got some great pictures there, and man you come back so wet!

When we were in Foz we went to a churrascuria, which is pretty much all the meat that you ever thought existed, and they just keep bringing it until you tell them to stop. But while I was there a friend convinced me to try some of the more questionable meat that I wouldn't call meat...but yeah. I ate a turkey testicle, which is pretty good until you're half way through chewing and remember what you stuck in your mouth and then you want to vomit. I also had a chicken heart, which wasn't as good. But the pinnapple there is sooo good!! Warm and covered in brown sugar and maybe cinanmon, I can't remember.

Sunday after church we went on over to Curitiba, which was like a 7 hour drive. The night before a couple of us explored Foz and found this little grocery store and bought picnic food for the next day. We felt so cute. Haha. Oh also, before leaving Foz we drove into Paraguy, but we didn't stop. We just turned around. I think it was kinda like a "hey we're in Paraguy. Tell your friends..now it's time to turn around" but hey, I've been in Paraguy. The picture of us in hard hats is when we toured the dam at Iguacu. And believe me, every dam joke that could be made was made. For hours. In one of the pictures I'm straddling the border between Brazil and Paraguy. We also went to a spot in Argentina where you can be in Argentina and see Brazil and Paraguy, across the Parana river.

But anyways, we drove to Curitiba. And somebody put Pride and Prejudice on the bus' tv system. The six hour version. That was terrible. But we survived, and our hotel in Curitiba was soooo nice!!! We were kinda surly that we got there so late and had to leave early the next morning. But a couple of us stayed up late and played cards in the hall and then just visited until a hotel worker came and said we weren't allowed to be there. So I went to bed around 2:30 and then heard such a ruckus outside!! We found out in the morning that somebody had tried to steal our bus but couldn't get in. Something happened to the breaks though and our bus went down the street and took out three light posts, then stopped when it met a car. So...with no bus, we had all morning to explore Curitiba! We felt bad for the bus and the company...but free time was great! A new bus got to us around 11 and we saw the tourist places that we wanted to see in about an hour so we could make it back to sao paulo before too late. We did see the new Curitiba temple.

Oh also, there was a really cool street fair in Rio and I got a hammack slash other things too.

Ok and then we got back to Sao Paulo. We'll be here till next Tuesday, and then we're off for Brasilia, Brazil's capital. After that we're home for a few days and then off to a new beach in Sao Paulo (Ubatuba) and then off to the States!! Wow. I come home three weeks from tomorrow, which is so crazy to me! Don't worry that I still don't speak Portuguese. Oops. Seems to me that that was a goal for coming down here.

Oh we go on field trips after school sometimes. Last week we went to this place that had all kinds of mal-formed fetus' and such. It was cool/sad/creepy. Ok that's about it!

Oh also, I've noticed that I do the out-stretched arms thing in lots of pictures. All well. Also, those little animal guys (kuatis) are everywhere!! They're like Brazil's racoons. They're always getting into trash. Oh, and the picture of me and the guy eating those things is from when we went to Campos do Jordao. And those are pasteis. And they're amazing. That one we were eating was like chocolate and strawberrys fried in this bread. It was so so so good. Also, we rode horses too. And that was so amazingly fun. Ok love you bye. Slash Karen, the pinnaple reminds me of you. You would have loved it! But it would have killed you. Tis life.

Oh and the last picture is what the inside of our busses look like. We spend sooo much time on them. But the seats go back and they have water for you, and you don't have to wear seatbelt.s :) Also, Steve, can you imagine the size of the antenna!! Maybe I can sneak one back :)