Brazil: Ponta Negra

       For this part of our adventure we got a rental car so that we could drive the 2 hours out from Rio with ease. Ok, so maybe the word ease wasn’t the right choice. Driving in Brazil is crazy! Drivers do what they want when they want to do it, lane markings mean nothing, and people walk down the middle of the streets trying to sell snacks. It was a sad sight to see. Once we escaped from the hustle and bustle of Rio it was pretty much smooth(er) sailing from there. We reached our destination of Ponta Negra around 8pm. We told our host we would be there at 7pm…Woops. When we arrived there, the door and gate were locked. Fffff. We wandered around a bit hoping that someone would come by soon to let us in. Dad made a few phone

calls, but with no luck. Eventually, JT and I discovered that the front lawn could be accessed by using parkour. I immediately volunteered to do it. I climbed the concrete wall and jumped into the yard. I walked around to see if anyone was nearby and I heard voices coming from inside! I initially wanted to knock on the window to say we were there but then figured that may not be the best thing to do in Brazil. I didn’t want to lose my life that night because someone thought I was a burglar or something. I ran back to the car and relayed the news to the guys. We again went up to the gate and started shouting and pounding extra hard. The inhabitants finally came out and asked "Oh, did you honk?? We didn't hear a horn." How were we supposed to know that's what they wanted us to do? Anyway, they seemed really sorry that they made us wait and ushered us inside. They were a family of 3 and the husband was actually the groundskeeper for the house, not the owner. They were all very nice and friendly. We settled in and man oh man did we have heaps of space! We each had our own room, bathroom, a common living room with a TV that had shows in ENGLISH, a big kitchen, a patio with a brick stove, and a POOL!! But even better than that was the view from the pool deck. Oh my goodness I could not get enough. We had the beach on the left and the mountains on the right. Best of both worlds and we could see for miles and miles! Absolutely stunning. We then

went to the grocery store to stock up on food. When we found a store, no one spoke English...not again! We wanted some meat and cheese to make sandwiches and the lady behind the counter called over someone else who worked there. She was really really sweet and wanted to help us so badly but her English was very poor. She only knew a few words. We asked which meat was her favorite or which were good and she goes "Ah this one, very good. Oh this one, very good. Very good. Very good. Oh I like this very good." Well evidently they were ALL "very good" haha. We just chose one at random, bought a few other items, and headed home. We went to bed shortly after this, completely exhausted.

       On Tuesday we went to the beach the whole day. It was a 5 minute drive and you could see our place, Casa Azul, from the shore. It stuck out like a sour thumb due to its color. After a

relaxing time on the beach, which included watching a bunch of surfers, we went back home to prepare for the USA vs Belgium game. We watched it on the TV in our living room instead of going to a local bar because 1. There didn't seem to be many places to go in the village and 2. We would be screaming our heads off and disrupting the entire place. Well the screaming our heads off was definitely accurate. Especially in the last 10 minutes of extra time. Man, that game gave me a heart attack. Unfortunately we didn't come out with the win....anddd now America goes back to caring about baseball/football/basketball and throwing soccer under the rug. Hopefully everyone will get excited again when the women play in the World Cup in Canada next summer! We went to bed with sore hearts and sad faces. At least we were in this gorgeous place with an incredible overlook :)

Wednesday was our last day in Brazil. Dad and I had a flight leaving from Rio at 10:30pm and JT's flight was at 6pm. Dad and I took to the beach for the day while JT relaxed poolside. I don't have the beach in Blacksburg so I needed to take full advantage of it! After the beach, Dad and I explored the cute village for a little bit. We were trying to find the grocery store again but were failing miserably; which was confusing considering how small the village was! It was so obvious that we didn't come from the area and were just wandering around hopelessly. Confused Americans coming through! We eventually bumped into our friend from the store by happenstance and she showed us the way. Our savior! After collecting the needed items, we drove back to Casa Azul to pack and then drive back to Rio. I miss this place! It was so tranquil and relaxing! It was nice to get away from the craziness of Rio and have our own little slice of heaven. It was the perfect way to wrap up the trip. We dropped JT off and then Dad and I drove

to the Maracana Stadium - the biggest stadium in the world at one point in time. It was ginormous! We then ate dinner at this cute "restaurant". I put it in quotes because it was about the size of a large living room but the one waiter was dressed to the nines. After this, we headed to the airport for the 9 hour flight to Miami. The trip came to a close and I must say it's nice to be back in America. Brazil is so impoverished and being able to speak English again was a breath of fresh air! I do want to return to Rio one day for a week or so but other than that I love America more! I can't say the same for when I arrived back from Australia. That country will always hold a special place in my heart. One day I will return there as well.

Well, that's all folks! 4 continents down and a World Cup under my belt! I’m truly blessed to have these opportunities :)

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

Oh man where to begin. Rio de Janeiro was a whirlwind. We only were able to stay in Rio for 3 days which is definitely not enough time! We packed our days to the brim with activities and made the best of it. I will need to return to Rio someday just so I can experience the area for a full week.

We began our Rio experience Friday night around 10PM when we arrived in the airport. After settling into our new apartment (and receiving heaps of Brazil spirit-wear from our host!) we took to the streets of Ipanema. We were about 2 blocks from Ipanema Beach and Rio was

definitely a change from our past home in Manaus. There was activity everywhere you looked. Our place was a TON bigger as well. We had a balcony that overlooked the streets and the mountains were in the background. It was gorgeous. Anyway, we went to a popular restaurant down the street and had a late night dinner around midnight. We then returned to our place to rest and prepare for FanFest on Copacabana Beach the next day!

  

Saturday morning was very quick paced. We hopped on the new metro system Brazil has and arrived at Copacabana at 10:30AM. We met up with Andre, our good pal from the jungle tour. It just happened to work out that he traveled to Rio after Manaus as well. We all walked toward FanFest with hundreds of people. It was insane. Before we walked in we had to go through security. This place wasn’t messing around. We then walked into the fenced area and glanced around at the marvel before us. There was a massive screen about 100 yards away and games and bars galore. As we

walked in a band was playing on the stage below the big screen. It was very fast paced music and all the Brazilians were dancing samba or just jumping around like lunatics. The energy in this one area was off the charts. It made me feel excited just to watch. We planned to get into FanFest at 11AM because we thought the game started at noon. Well, we didn’t take into consideration the 1 hour time difference. So instead of being 1 hour early, we were 2 hours early. It was kinda tiresome to stand around for 2 hours but thankfully the band was playing really energized music and the crowd was responding. It also turned out to be a good thing because by the time it was noon, people were cramming in like sardines. We definitely wouldn’t have gotten the spot we did if we came later. With 30 minutes until game time I could barely say I had 4 feet to myself. I situated a towel on the ground to claim some space but even that didn’t deter people from walking all over it. SO MANY PEOPLE. The game began and the place was electric. There’s something about being surrounded by sweaty hardcore soccer fans – nothing can beat it. The energy was contagious and our party sported the spirit-wear our host gave us. Thank goodness she did because otherwise we would have been outcasts. Every single person was wearing Brazil colors. Well, except for the Chile fans. But they all huddled together and created their own little island. I hoped to God they wouldn’t get beaten up. At halftime Dad and I left to go to the beach and get away from the huge crowds. I was feeling a little claustrophobic. Getting out of FanFest – oh geez was that an experience in itself. Just imagine you are standing on one end of a football field and want to get to the other but there is a sea of people who are sweaty and drunk. It was tough stuff. Thankfully, I tailgated an Argentina fan out of the place. He pushed through all the people and did the hard work for me. There were some points where I literally didn’t think we were going to make it out. The crowd was so thick at points that there seemed to be no exit. FINALLY, after about 15minutes of forcing a path, we made it out. Hallelujah! Fresh air and my own personal space! I was so relieved. We laid on the beach for a bit but I didn’t go in the water because evidently it’s some of the nastiest water in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of Rio’s sewage seeps into the ocean….so sad. We then took naps near a big screen on the beach while waiting for the game to end. We were awoken by the screams of Brazilian fans. The game had gone into overtime and penalty kicks were about to begin. It was entertaining because I could determine the score based on the cheers or sobs of the crowds. Then, the game winning PK was taken. Brazil scored and chaos ensued. I have seen some crazy scenes but this beat them all. Immediately the crowds jumped up and down and all their faces were full of happiness and excitement. I saw beers being thrown in the air, people kissing random strangers, and fans falling on the ground and creating dog piles. I’ve never seen so many make out sessions on my entire life. Oh and get this, one guy literally ran from one end of the beach to the other and chest bumped some random dude and continued to high five and hug other people. And all of these people welcomed the gestures with open arms. After all this settled down (which believe me took a long while), we headed back to our place to shower and then to Lapa for dinner and nightlife.
        We took the metro to Lapa and met up with Andre once again. Andre was super cool and I'm very glad he was able to join us in our adventures. He was very lively and always had fun stories or comments. We ate dinner outside in an alleyway that was streamed with flags from all the various countries around the world. It was a neat atmosphere and one of the things I liked most about Brazil was that nearly every restaurant had the option to sit outside. We had an incredible dinner (Brazil food never disappoints) and then searched for the infamous Rio party

scene. Well it didn't take too long to find it! We literally walked three blocks and the streets were MOBBED with people. And times 10 of what we experienced in Centro Manaus which means, thanks to my math oriented mind, it was like Bourbon Street in New Orleans multiplied by 1000. It seemed that whichever bar/club we picked we wouldn't be disappointed. I wanted to find one with live music where people were dancing samba or maybe salsa. We found one that was half indoor and half outdoor. We had to wait at least 30 minutes for people to leave so that we could be assigned a "table." They did this so that people didn't leave without paying the cover. We didn't mind waiting though because the streets next to us were hoppin’ with activity. A guy was walking around selling tequila shots and Andre edged me to get one. I was a little concerned about how he was selling it, maybe it wasn't the safest to drink, but then I saw that it was Jose Cuervo so it was legit. I took the shot and the guy didn't speak English so he started pouring me another one! No no no. I don't want to die tonight. Eventually a guy who spoke English acted as a translator and helped me out. My savior! After this, we were still waiting. So Andre bought us all beers at the stand nearby. Sure enough, soon after this they

 let us in. Oh but we weren't allowed to bring in outside drinks. Of course. I ended up sneaking it in anyway by just holding it at my hip but evidently the two guys got caught by the security guard. They were forced to chug them before entering. Ah, the perks of being a woman :) We were seated at a table and the guys ordered drinks while I continued to secretly sip my “beer from the outside”. The guys didn't really want to dance so I went without them to the dance floor and found a partner to dance with. It was so much fun! The band took a break shortly after that and I returned to my seat. We talked a bit and then the band started playing again. I almost convinced Andre to come out and dance with me but I think he needed a little more liquid courage. So I decided I would ask the lively group of Brazilians behind us if any of them were interested. As soon as I went up to one of the girls she got so excited! And she spoke English! Double win. Then all her friends crowded around me and couldn't stop asking me questions or just saying "Oh my gosh you're from America!? That's so cool!" Evidently, being an American automatically makes you popular and the best person ever. I'm not

gonna lie, I was enjoying the attention. Then all their guy friends tried to dance with me. Now I was feeling a little overwhelmed, but they backed off after the first 3 intense minutes. They were all super nice! And hilarious. They told me their names but there were so many that I don't remember any of them...then they wanted to take a photo with me. This was the 3rd time this happened in Brazil. I've come to the conclusion that all Brazilians secretly (or not so secretly) want to be American. After chatting and dancing with them for a while, I went back to my table. Andre mentioned that when I walked over to the Brazilian group, it looked like a pack of wolves attacking prey. That sounds about right haha. They were really nice and fun and I'm glad I got to meet them! We all left shortly after that. It was a great night!

Sooo the next day was rough. I had been working up a pretty nasty cold the past 3 days and so when I woke up I was congested that I couldn’t breathe. Not to mention since we drank so much the night before I didn’t get much rest. It was poor planning on our part but I don’t regret it :) This was the day that we went to the famous Corcavado Mountain which has the Christ Redeemer statue and a view of the Rio Harbor that is listed in the 7 Natural Wonder of the World. We woke up at 6:30AM so that we could be at the ticket booth at 8AM. People had warned us that if we went any later that the mountain gets so crowded with people that it’s barely worth it. We took a van all the way to the steps leading to the statue. We were walking up and all of a sudden I was struck with terror. For those who do not know, I’m terrified of heights. I don’t know why at this moment it all came rushing out of nowhere, but I couldn’t move. I started hyperventilating a little

and was worried I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the top! My dad stayed back with me as the guys continued to climb. I focused on taking really deep breaths and not thinking so much. After about 10 minutes of this I continued, very very slowly, to the top. From the top, the views are simply stunning. I cannot adequately describe how gorgeous the overlook is. Here are a few words I think could attempt to describe it: outstanding, incredible, breathtaking, pulchritudinous, awe-inspiring, beautiful, remarkable. There were tons of people soaking up the view too but thankfully there was still room on the platform to mosey around. By the time we left it was jam packed and I was feeling uncomfortable. I’m so glad we got there as early as possible! We left and ate lunch on the beach. At this time I felt like my head was going to explode. Climbing up to the statue had made my ears pop and they were stuck like that since I was so congested. I literally wanted to lie on the ground and take a nap. It was the worst I’ve felt in a very long time. I was definitely not being good company and I couldn’t even talk without feeling sick. We then headed back to the apartment where I collapsed on the bed. The guys went to Ipanema Beach but I had to skip out because I was sweating and could barely stand up. I was worried I had caught something serious. Thankfully, all this passed after I woke up from my 2 hours nap. Phew! I still felt uneasy but much better than I was 2 hours prior. We all went to dinner at a steakhouse restaurant called Garota de Ipanema which is where the

famous song The Girl from Ipanema was written. I had actually never heard of it but I believed them! Dinner here was fan-freakin-tastic and definitely on the list of best meals in Brazil. A match was being shown on tv (of course) and there came a point when it was so intense that absolutely no one was eating their meal. All eyes were glued on the tv. I miss Brazil and its passion for soccer… We headed home and Andre went back to his place in Copacabana. Finally we may get a good night’s rest!

Monday was our last day in Rio :( Next on our tourist list was to visit Sugarloaf Mountain. To get to the top of the mountain you take a cable car from a lower mountain next to it and to reach this first mountain you can either take a cable car or hike it. We opted to hike it. The hike was very scenic as the trail winded around and traveled right next to some gorgeous bodies of water. It was pretty flat in the beginning and I was beginning to wonder if we were in the right place.

 Then, the climb appeared. It was SUPER steep. One of the steepest hikes I’ve done for sure. It was a beautiful trail through the thick forest on the mountain. We heard that sometimes monkeys can be seen on the mountain but unfortunately we didn’t come across any. Shoulda stashed some bananas in our pockets to lure them out! We reached the top within an hour and the views were fabulous. We, however, did not look so fabulous. Sweatastic. We continued our venture toward Sugarloaf by finding the cable car terminal. When I came up to it I stopped in my tracks. Another day for Julie to conquer her fears...can she do it a second day in a row? I looked up to our destination and it was up in the clouds. I literally could not see the top because it was hidden by the clouds. This freaked me out even more. Eventually after much mental persuasion, I entered the cable car. I yelled, “I call middle!” No one challenged me. As we rode up, I made a point of looking through the photos on my camera to distract me. Even doing this I was still aware of how high we were traveling and was shaking. We reached the top and I had tears in my eyes. I was definitely more scared this time around than yesterday. But I made it!!! I was so proud of myself. I bought a celebratory Brahma beer to help calm my nerves. It worked! I’ve decided that next time I do something like this I’m going to have a beer beforehand. The views were outstanding. On one side of the mountain you could see a little harbor with hundreds of sail boats and on the other you could see Copacabana Beach. It was hard to determine which view was better between Sugarloaf and yesterday’s Corcovado. I gave Corcovado the 1st place award but Sugarloaf was a close second. From Sugarloaf you could also see all the favelas tucked away in the valleys. Definitely the places we avoided all trip due to their extremely dangerous nature. We enjoyed the views for about an hour and then headed back into the cable car. This time, I was able to stand on side and look out the windows! I attributed it to my Brahma. We returned to ground level and took a taxi back to our place. We then parted ways with Andre (sadly), packed our things, and prepared for our next destination – Ponta Negra!

Brazil: Manaus and the Amazon

Our first week in Brazil was spent in the gloriously humid city of Manaus. Since it’s located in the middle of the Amazon, every single day was above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the heat started as early as 8am. On an average day I had a several streams of sweat flowing down my back. My favorite part of the day was taking a shower. I will never complain about heat ever again! Manaus is isolated due to the surrounding rivers and the only way to get there is by plane or boat. They are currently trying to build a road so people can actually drive there during the dry season. We used our first day to get accustomed to the area and get a feel for the bus system. The buses drive crazy fast and make you fear for your life! They don’t even wait for you to pay before the driver decides to leave the stop. It was actually a neat system where you enter the bus and you are contained by a turnstyle until you pay the attendant. This allows the driver to continue with minimal wait times. So awesome! My transportation nerdiness is showing... Everyone always paid before they had to get off but I wondered what would happen if you didn’t end up paying. I guess you’re eternally stuck in the turnstyle portion of the bus. We explored Centro Manaus which was basically the only part of the city that had any major activity. In Manaus there was a massive language barrier. I would say 4% of the population spoke English. And when I say English, I mean completely broken English. Thankfully, people from other countries were there for the World Cup as well and they spoke English. I never knew how much I appreciated being able to talk to whoever whenever. I love meeting new people and so when I couldn’t carry out a conversation with the locals it was really depressing. Even though there was a language barrier we were still treated as celebrities. I’m not kidding. Many of the locals wanted to take pictures with us because we were American! One guy in particular, Simon, had showed us other pictures he had with Americans and there were about 6! Even as we walked down the street cars would honk at us and wave. I felt like a movie star :) Move over Jennifer Aniston! On our bus trip back to Andrea House (this is where we stayed for the week) some English speaking people jumped on the bus. We were immediately drawn to them because we could carry out a conversation. It turned out that they were Australians! Kerrie, Andy, and Brett. Super chill and awesome people who had just returned from a Jungle Tour. We became instant friends. We were all surprised that we were both going to the Dom Pedro area. Most people stay in Centro. Kerrie asks, “And whereee are you going in Dom Pedro?” “Andrea House” “US TOO!” It was a freakish coincidence and it was great because then we could ask them a bunch of questions about Manaus and how to get to certain places.


The second day was all about the USA vs Portugal match. Oh man was that an experience! So much patriotism for America and the stadium was huge! I felt like I was back at a Lane Stadium football game because of all the hype and cheering. When we pulled ahead of Portugal near the end the stands went completely NUTS. But then the unspeakable happened in the last 20 seconds and the match ended in a tie….let’s not talk about it.

We then took an overnight jungle tour of the Amazon Rainforest! This was a really cool experience. We saw the Meeting of the Waters which is where the Rio Negra meets the Rio Amazona but the two rivers do not mix. There is a distinct line between the two. One is a light brown while the other is more blueish brown. Each has its own density, flow, depth, and other defining characteristics.  After this, we rode in 1970 Volkwagon hippie vans, saw iguanas, experienced the very poor conditioned dirt roads that including hundreds of potholes, and rode in a boat to our destination. We were situated deep within the Amazon Rainforest. When we finally reached our destination, our tour guide says, “Ok you all have 2 hours before lunch. Why don’t you take a nice refreshing dip in the Amazon River.” I was a little hesitant considering what dwells in these waters, both species and bacteria alike. But we did it anyway. The next day, all the guys were fishing off the dock in the same location. I asked, “Whatcha fishing for?” “Piranha” WHAT?! So we were unknowingly swimming with piranha. The tour guide was probably using us as live bait…dang.  Anyway, the day we arrived we took canoes and visited a small farm to learn about the culture.  The canoes had motors but they resembled motors that you would remove from a lawn mower. Not too powerful and very loud. On our way back to the hostel, we came across the most gorgeous sunset. Every picture I took was beyond belief.

At night we went for a canoe ride to search for alligators! It was wild. The stars were absolutely gorgeous that night. Being so far away from any civilization made them all very visible. The whole sky seemed to be sheeted by white specks. The only time I’ve seen more stars was when I was in the Outback in Australia. It was breathtaking. In the Southern Hemisphere you can see the Milky Way and the Southern Cross. You could actually see the Big Dipper too but it was really close to the horizon. During our stargazing, the other canoe caught 3 baby alligators! When we got back to our place everyone took turns holding them. I was terrified.  The next day we did a sunrise canoe ride which was around 5AM (the sun sets and rises VERY early in Brazil. Sunset is around 5:30PM). After that we did a legit jungle tour. That was one of my favorite parts of our trip. The group dynamic was pretty eclectic.  We had the very energized people who do whatever they want and are from Colombia/Spain, then the Swedish couple who is very sweet and write everything down that they learn, then the guys from Sao Paulo (Brazil), a girl who left her brother to go on this tour, a couple that isn’t afraid to show PDA every second, and 3 guys from Switzerland who didn’t speak English and laugh a lot. There was also a guy from Britain who was a daredevil and bald. We also met a really cool guy named Andre from Wisconsin. He became the fourth member of our own personal group. After the jungle tour we ate lunch and returned to Andrea House.

The next day we went to the zoo and watched the Switzerland vs Honduras match. This game definitely wasn’t as thrilling but our seats were outstanding! We were right behind the goal to the right. We were definitely on tv a few times. It wasn’t a close up of us but you could see our American flag! After the game we went to Centro Manaus to experience the nightlife. We met up with Andre and the Australians and it was wild. It was like Bourbon Street times one thousand. They had military men standing on watch towers to use force if necessary. This is the night we discovered the deadliness of the Caipirinha – Brazil’s well-known alcoholic beverage. This thing was STRONG. I would compare it to a Long Island Iced Tea but with more alcohol. Here’s how it’s made: place ice in cup, add heaps of sugar, add several lime chunks, dump in a massive amount of alcohol. I’d say at least 5 shots worth. Let’s put it this way, my dad had a fourth of it and was feeling realll good. And by that I mean I basically had to watch over him haha. When taking the bus back, Kerri and Dad decided to create a new sport called bus surfing. Basically you stand in the aisle and try not to use anything for support. This is especially tricky when the crazy bus driver takes sharp turns. It was very entertaining and all the Brazilian passengers were laughing.

Thursday we watched the USA vs Germany match at FanFest on the beach. That was pretty fun. Not too many people were there but after the game ended, we all went to the beach. The water was really interesting because it was a blackish red color. The Rio Negra is named adequately. On this night we went back into Centro and ate a delicious meal to celebrate our last night in Manaus.