4/13/16 – 4/25/16
(excerpts taken straight from my journal I kept during my 2016 trip to Brazil)
4-20-16
Sooo, I’ve been so busy here that I haven’t been able to write at all. We left on the 13th to fly to Brazil at around 8:30AM. My mom drove me, we picked up Desi along the way, and we were off!
When we got to the airport we were a little nervous because it wasn’t letting us check in at the kiosk, but we got in line and made it through. (The woman helping us was very impressed at how well we packed in just a carry on).
After we passed the test of the size requirements for our luggage, we got in line for security. We got a little tripped up because of Desi’s make-up wipes (for some reason) but the nips made it through! (and that was honestly our biggest concern).
Next stop was our gate, but first… Dunks. I got my iced coffee (this time with plenty of time to spare). We spent the next hour and a half buying snacks and taking selfies (necessities). Our flight was only about an hour and a half to New York so we probably over did it on the snacks. But we’d rather be safe than sorry right?
When we got to New York, we had a six hour layover… so we hit the bar(s). We stopped at a restaurant to meet up with Ash and Nathan and get lunch. We got burgers (and of course Desi and I got mimosas).
After lunch, Ash and Nate had to catch their flight. Desi and I still had about 2 hours before our flight… so we went to another bar… We got a drink (and took a few more selfies) and then headed to our gate. We still had some time, so we laid around the airport… like literally laid on the floor in our terminal. Some of the security guards were laughing at us, but hey, we were comfortable.
When we were in line to board the plane, we realized that no one around us was speaking English. That’s when the culture shock started to hit us. We grabbed some last minute water bottles (they were double the price as the ones in Boston) and boarded the plane.
I didn’t think the flight was too bad because I basically slept the whole time, but I guess I was the only one out of us that did. We took off at 7:30PM. There was a lot of turbulence in the beginning so we didn’t eat dinner until 10:00PM. It was tortellini and not half bad. After dinner, I passed out and slept until 3:00AM when they woke us up for breakfast. I was still full from dinner, so I just saved the roll and butter and went back to bed.
The flight was about 10 hours so we landed in Sao Paulo at around 6:30AM Brazil time (they’re an hour ahead of us). We had an hour and a half before our next flight, but we needed all the time we could get. The airport was huge and no one spoke English. We were trying to ask a woman at the terminal if we were in the right place, but we couldn’t communicate with each other very well. So Desi and I figured that if our tickets scanned, than we were in the right place. They scanned and we made our way through security for the third time (we were pros at this point).
When we made it through (the nips survived all three security points) we were completely lost. We went to the gate where we thought our flight was, and it was wrong. Then we looked at the screen of gate numbers and it said our gate was at the other end of the terminal. So we walked all the way back to where we started so we could ask someone. (By this point we were dripping sweat). When we asked someone, he told us a completely different gate number than what was on the screen. We were pressed for time, so we basically ran to the gate (which was at the other end of the terminal again). We got on our third and final flight to Florianopolis “Floripa” to see Mira!
When we were finally in Florianopolis, we had some trouble communicating, but we got money out of the ATM, and got a cab to our Airbnb. We met the owner of the house, Michael, and he was so nice and funny (and also loved practicing his English with us). He gave us a little tour of the house and then left (and went upstairs where he lived with his mom).
Desi and I unpacked and crashed. Ash and Nathan arrived shortly after us. We all showered and got ready before Mira and Tom came over.
Mira had made us an entire itinerary for our stay there, with time frames and everything (and of course it was all color coordinated). Then she helped us get Groupon’s for a Brazilian Steak House.
We took cabs to the mall “Floripa Shopping” and we got Havaianas, which are very popular in Brazil. They are flip-flops made of rubber instead of foam so they last a lot longer. Desi and I both got navy blue ones with the Brazilian flag on the strap, and Ash got navy blue with pink flowers.
Then we made our way to the steak house “Ataliba”. I’ve never been to a Brazilian Steak House, but it was amazing and I’ll have to keep an eye out for them now. It was a buffet of salad, rice, veggies, etc. Servers would walk around with giant skewers of different types of steak and serve them to you. Everything was so good, even the giant table of desserts that we loaded up on. Before we left, we ran to the bathroom. I was in shock because they had a little machine that dispensed mouthwash and floss. (Mira told us that Brazilians are very concerned about their personal hygiene, mostly dental). I wish we had them in the U.S. because it was very refreshing after dinner.
After, we headed back to our Airbnb for an early night because we were still tired from traveling for 30 hours. We all fell asleep very quickly.
4-21-16
The next morning we woke up early and had a surf lesson! We went to a beach called “Praia Joaquina”. On our way to the beach, we stopped at a bakery and a farmers market. At the bakery, we got a bunch of mini pastries filled with meat, cheese, and Nutella (not all together). My favorite are the ones filled with cheese, they’re called “Pao de Queijo”. Then at the farmers market, we got a bunch of fruit and veggies for the day, including ¼ a watermelon. Everything was so cheap because $1 = 3.5R (Reais/Real).
We headed to the surf school and met our instructor Lucas. He gave us surf shirts, made us sign waivers (basically saying if we die it’s our own fault) and taught us the basic steps of surfing. Then he told us to grab a board and head to the beach. He had us wait in the shallow water and one by one head out deeper to him. He would have us lay on our boards and when a wave came, he would push us with the wave. There were three steps to get up on the board.
- Jump your feet up to the middle of the board so ones a little behind the other and you’re in a very low squat.
- Push your body up with your arms so you’re in a crouching, standing position.
- Stand up taller and move towards the front of the board so the back won’t drag and you’ll move faster.
I got up on my first try, and after a few times I learned how to move my feet up and go faster. After about an hour of surfing, we headed back to shore and Lucas taught us how to say “sick” in Portuguese, “Erado!” There was another guy in our class who was from Rio and he moved to Florianopolis for his girlfriend. His English was almost perfect (like most people who say they only know a little bit of English…). We brought our boards back to the surf shop and headed to the beach for the rest of the day.
On our way to the beach, we bought congas (which is what Brazilians use instead of towels on the beach). We also bought coconuts because you need a picture with one while in Brazil.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach. We had a table with an umbrella, so we ordered some food and drinks. I ordered a salad, which was really just a plate with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and quail eggs. We spent a few hours on the beach and then hopped on the bus back home.
We stopped at a grocery store on the way home… and that’s when I started to feel sick. After we checked out, I ran outside and puked between two parked cars. Luckily we took a cab back to the Airbnb instead of walking. (I also threw up in the cab). Desi was trying to tell the cab driver to pull over, but he didn’t understand English. I literally threw up in my hand and threw it out the window… as we passed a packed bus stop… But somehow neither the cab driver nor Nathan (who was in the front seat) noticed I was puking.
When we got home it was around 5PM and I went straight to bed. I would have slept through the night, but Ash woke Desi and I up at 10PM to tell us that her and Nathan were cooking dinner and the glass top on the stove had shattered. It was all over the kitchen floor. A piece had cut Nathans foot, so there was blood on the floor from the kitchen to the bathroom. Ash saw the blood, turned white, and ran to the bathroom to puke. It was at this point that we all decided to stay in for the night and miss Igor’s party. We cleaned up the blood and all of the glass, and we headed back to bed. We didn’t have Wi-Fi at the time so we couldn’t tell Mira that we weren’t going to make it. I tried to message Mira and Tom on all social media and hoped for the best.
4-23-16
The next day we slept in and then met up with Mira and Tom. They took us on a walk to a waterfall. We walked through a neighborhood called “Correga Grande”, which was a bunch of cute, little, colorful houses in a quiet area. We got to the woods and it was just a short walk to the waterfall. The waterfall was called “Pocao” and was pretty crowded, but we jumped right in. A few locals were diving off the tall cliffs. After about an hour and a half there, we decided to head back and get food.
On our way to dinner, we stopped to get Acai. It was my first time having it; safe to say I’m addicted now. For dinner we decided to get burgers at a place near Mira’s called C.S.C. They were amazing. After dinner we went home and crashed because we had a big day ahead of us.
We woke up early the next morning to go on a trip with Mira’s school. We walked to meet them at the bus stop, but the bus was late and we never ended up meeting up with them. When we got to the bus terminal, we walked a short distance and ended up on the lake.
We weren’t quite sure how to find the class, so we hopped on the boat and hoped for the best. The boat ride was about 30 minutes long, and when we got off we decided that we might as well make our own plans for the day because we couldn’t find the class.
We hiked up a little through the woods, and found a waterfall. We hiked up to the top of the waterfall and sat under it. The rocks were very slippery and everyone fell at least once. We took a million pictures and cooled off in the water before we made our way back down.
For lunch we stopped at a little restaurant along the hike. We got chicken/fish, salad, fries, rice, and beans all for 15R. This was also where I tried “Guarana” for the first time. It’s a very popular Brazilian soda, which I thought tasted like raspberry ginger ale.
After lunch, we continued on our hike (which ended up being a lot longer than we thought it would be). We stopped at a little shop for some souvenirs along the way and watched the kids who lived in the neighborhood dance and play together. The hike started off going through cute little neighborhoods, and then led into the woods. We hiked through the woods for about 3 hours (for an hour we had a dog following us). He didn’t have a collar so we figured he was homeless, but he stayed right by our sides for a long time. At one point, he disappeared while chasing after another dog, but after a few minutes he came jogging up behind us.
The hike was along the lake “Costa da Lagoa”, and there were beautiful views. When we finally finished the hike, we were sweaty and covered in dirt. We also realized that we had walked about 10 miles that day. We were exhausted so we decided to take a cab home instead of the bus and walking. For dinner, Ash and Nathan redeemed themselves and cooked us pasta and chicken. Then we all showered and crashed by 10:00PM.
The next morning, Mira had class, so we were on our own all day. We met up with Tom and he took us to a buffet place called “Padaria”. It was all you can eat style for about 18R (besides the steak which is weighed).
After lunch, Tom had to go home and work, so the four of us were on our own. We decided to try and go paddle boarding (since I was the only one that had done it before). We headed towards the beaches, and stopped along the shore of the lake when we saw paddleboards. It was about 30R a board, so we got two and shared. The place on the lake was called “Marina da Conceicao”. We had an hour with the boards but only used them for about 45 minutes because we were hot and the water was warm and not refreshing.
We decided to head to the beach, this time “Praia Mole”. It was about a 30-minute walk, mostly uphill, but it was so worth it. The sand was white, the water was blue, and the views of the hills surrounding us were amazing. We stayed for an hour, swimming, taking a million pictures, and watching the sunset.
When we left the beach, we were going to walk back but it was dark out, so we decided to try and navigate the bus system. Luckily when we got to the bus stop, there were two French people who spoke English and went to the university, so they helped us out. They helped us get off at the right stop, find an ATM, and then invited us to get a drink with them. Sadly, when we got to the restaurant they were taking us to, it was closed. We decided to go separate ways, but the French girl drew us a map of the best beaches on the island before she left. We thanked them bot a lot and then headed in different directions.
Mira told us to check out the area with the food trucks because they had a lot of different options for good food and a mini skate park in the back. For some reason they weren’t open, so we decided to just head back to the Airbnb to eat and shower.
That night, we went out to a wine bar “Pipa Cantina de Vinhos”, where they made their own wine and beer. Nathan and I split a bottle of red, and I also had a glass of white peach wine (which was so good). We also met Mira’s friend Shabby, who was also studying at UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catanna). The owner of the bar turned up the music and began to samba around the bar (Shabby joined too). When we left, we decided to walk home because it wasn’t that far. Shabby decided to go to another bar to watch a game.
On our way home, Tom wanted to stop and try this place called “Space Food”. I’m not really sure what he got, but it was basically every type of delicious food you could imagine in a bun. Our walk back home was a lot of fun. We sweat, laughed, and literally almost peed our pants.
4-28-16
So I’ve been slacking a lot on this journal but I’m back home now and I’ll finish writing about the rest of the trip.
The next day, Mira had class again so Tom was our tour guide. We went to a place called “Centro”, which was a big outdoor market. There were a bunch of tents, and they were all labeled as “Box #” so it was easy to navigate through.
For lunch, we went to a mall (because it was air conditioned). We decided to just eat at the food court, and we all got “Bob’s Burgers”. It’s like the McDonalds of Brazil, but waaay better. The burgers actually looked like they did in the pictures and weren’t flattened. Mira met us at the mall for lunch but then had to go back to her internship.
We walked around the market for a while, and then started to walk through the park. This is where all the tents are with the hand made souvenirs. I wanted to buy everything because the people selling them were mostly cute, older people. I bought a little turtle made of sand from an older man, a knit minion keychain from a woman, and a little painting from a younger man. The guy who was selling the paintings had hand painted them all and they were all very unique. There was a huge painting of a girl with an oxygen mask on, trying to smell a rose. Everyone was obsessed with it, especially Nathan. The painting I got is black, white, and blue with an eye.
After we shopped for a few hours, we met Mira at a bar named “Box 32” for drinks. They are famous for their Caipirinhas because they make their own Cachaca. (Caipirinhas are basically just really strong margs because they’re made with sugar cane and lime).
Mira and Tom told us about a famous tree that we passed that day and how important it is to Floripa. The name of the tree is “Figuera”. I also told Nathan that I’d pay him 10R if he ate a hot pepper… and he did. He seemed fine at first, but then he started sweating and chugging water and said his mouth was on fire. I felt kind of bad at first, but then he said he was fine and I paid him.
We decided to just head back home so we could pack and get some sleep because we were leaving for Rio the next morning.
4-29-16
The next morning, we woke up early and headed to the airport. Our flight was at 11:20AM so we got to Rio by 1:00PM. The Airbnb we were staying in was amazing. AND WE FINALLY HAD AC! We wanted to do a lot the day we got there, so we basically just dropped our stuff and headed out the door.
The first stop on our list was… lunch. In Brazil, lunch is their biggest meal, so most restaurants have a buffet style. We quickly got lunch (since we were all starving and lunch was almost over) and then headed out to find “Escadaria Selaron”.
In 1990, Jorge Selaron began renovating the steps that ran along the front of his house. Hi neighbors mocked him for his choice of colors because he used green, blue, and yellow (the colors of the Brazilian flag). He sold his paintings to fund his project and eventually covered all of the steps. There are 250 steps covered in over 2,000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world. Originally, tiles for the work were scavenged from various construction sites and piles of waste on the streets. Years later, most of them were donated by visitors. They were amazing to look at, with all of the bright colors neatly organized.
We jumped in cabs and headed to “Pao de Acucar”, Sugar Loaf. We took cable cars up to the top and saw the most beautiful views of the city. The cable car system was originally built in 1912. The first pulley was carried up the mountain by hand, and then used to transport the parts to build the cable car. There were two different cable cars that you had to take in order to get to the top. The first cable car took you from the base to the shorter mountain “Morro da Urca”, and then the second cable car would take you up to “Pao de Acucar”. We stayed up at the top to watch the sunset and then headed back down.
At the bottom, a man was selling popcorn. We all got some, sweet and salty, and it was the best popcorn I’ve ever had. When we got back to the Airbnb, we all showered and rested for a while before Mira and Tom made us dinner. They made pasta with veggies and chicken (it was soooooo good).
Then, Nathan really wanted to play kings, so we all grabbed some random beers at the store and started to play. We played for about two hours and finished most of the beers. Then we decided to head to bed because we had an early morning the next day.
5-2-16
The next morning, we woke up early so we could fit everything in that we had planned. We started off by seeing Christ The Redeemer “Cristo Redentor”. We missed the early booking, so we had to wait until 11:30. You have to take a train up to the top, so you have to buy a ticket early to get a seat on the train. We walked around the gift shops for a while and listened to all of the sales people say their prices are cheaper than the gift shops at the top. Finally it was our time to get on the train. Most of the ride is through the forest, but at some parts, there were openings where you could see really nice views of Rio.
When we finally got to the top, we realized that you still had to hike up a decent amount to get to the actual top. We stopped at a few shops along the way, and before I knew it, I looked up and Christ was right there. The statue was designed by Carlos Oswald and sculpted by Paul Landowski in 1931. It’s made of soapstone and stands 125 ft. tall. It was built as a symbol of Christianity across the world. Christ was built with open arms, a symbol of peace. In October of 2006, it was added to the New 7 Wonders of the World. We took 5 million pictures at the top (using every single camera we brought). The selfies stick came in handy because it was really hard to get both yourself and Christ in a picture because he is so tall. A lot of people were lying down on the ground, taking pictures up, in order to get the whole statue.
It was getting pretty hot, there was barely any shade, and hundreds of people were trying to get pictures. Nathan, Ash and I headed down in order to find shade and food. We stopped at a little snack bar and got “Coxinhas” (a dough shaped into a drumstick surrounding creamy chicken). We sat in the shade and waited for Mira, Tom, and Desi to come down.
We all headed back down and got cabs to our next stop – The Botanical Garden. (I hailed the cab and gave him directions in Portuguese this time). When we got to the garden, we were all pretty tired, so it was very relaxing to be there. We walked through a cactus garden, and yes I walked into one and hurt myself. Then we passed a vine that was hanging, so we obviously all had to take a picture while swinging on it.
The next thing we passed was a green house. Inside there was a girl getting professional pictures taken, so we started posing for some of our own. Right outside we saw two guys eating fruit off of a tree, so we decided to try them too. I climbed up in the tree to pick some (they tasted like a sour apple). We threw some in our bags and kept going.
The next thing we saw was a little pond surrounded by trees and filled with the biggest lillypads I have ever seen. Then we looked down and saw huge fish. I couldn’t even see them at first because I was looking for smaller fish.
Next to the pond was a really cool gazebo-like rock structure. We had to wait a little in order to get a good picture because there were a million people running up to get their pictures taken. There was also another girl getting professional pictures taken (it must be in season). So we tried to not get her in our pictures because it didn’t look like she was going anywhere any time soon.
The sun was beginning to set, so we left the Botanical Garden and headed to the beaches. We went to the famous Copacabana, which was actually a mess. The beach was covered in trash. It’s a very big tourist attraction and thousands of people visit it every day. It gets very crowded and people are constantly leaving their trash. Watching the sunset on the beach was beautiful though, and the temperature dropped because of the ocean, cooling us off.
By this time, we were starving. We walked around downtown for about 20 minutes, going in and out of restaurants, looking at their menus and deciding what we wanted. Everyone was getting a little hangry, so we just decided on a sit down place outside. The place was called “Galitos Grill”. It wasn’t too expensive, and the food was amazing. I got steak, rice, beans and “Farofa” (a type of bread crumbs that you put on steak).
After dinner, we started walking home and that’s when we saw it… Starbucks! I had gone almost 10 days without coffee (a personal record). It was too late for me to drink coffee, so I just got a chocolate chip Frappuccino.
After we were satisfied with our Starbucks, we started heading back to our Airbnb. When we were in the station, Desi, Mira, and I stopped to look at the map. Nathan, Ash, and Tom kept going for some reason, and Ash and Tom got on the train before we got there. As Mira, Desi, and I were walking down the stairs, the train doors started to close. Ash and Tom, instead of getting off of the train, tried to hold open the doors. The doors shut and the look on their faces was priceless. The train pulled away and we couldn’t control our laughter. Even the security guard was smiling. The four of us caught the next train and when we pulled up to the next stop, we saw Ash and Tom sitting on a bench in the station. When they got on the train, we all instantly started laughing, and then continued to laugh the whole way home.
When we got back to the Airbnb, we all kind of did our own thing, but we sat in the living room and listened to music. One by one, each of us went to bed and at one point I looked up from writing and I realized I was the only one still up.
5-9-16
The next morning, Desi and I woke up early and went to the large shopping area in Rio. We were nervous when we were on the train because we were confused by the stop names. After debating for a while, we went with our gut feeling and hopped off. We let out a sigh of relief when we went up the escalator and saw the shopping center. We could have spent hours shopping because the stores were never ending. I ended up getting three Olympics tank tops, a shirt, a flag, and a small bottle that I could take sand home in (from Copacabana). We stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall place because it seemed pretty crowded. The walls were covered in tiles covered in oranges, and the orange juice we got there was the best I’ve ever had.
After we had spent a few hours shopping, we decided to head to the beach to meet up with Ash and Nathan. As we were getting off the train, we ran into them. Perfect timing. The first beach was Copacabana, but Mira told us to keep walking because the beaches would get less and less crowded the further you went. We finally walked far enough and ended up at “Ipanema Beach”. We really wanted to go in the water so Desi and I ran down. The waves were so big, that we could barely go in up to our waists without being knocked over. We just hung out in the beach chairs that we rented for a few hours.
After we got our dosage of Rio beaches, we decided to head back to the Airbnb. On our way back, we stopped at a really cool store called “Café Bazar”. The front of the store had racks of clothes, shoes, and jewelry, and in the back of the store there was a full bar. There was also a bunch of cool paintings on the wall. Nathan and I both agreed that it was a really cool concept and decided that we were going to open our own. A perfect date night place, the woman can shop and instead of the men following them around, dragging their feet, they can sit at the bar. At this store, we found green flats with pineapples on them, and who else could pull these off besides Mira. We just HAD to buy them for her. We also wanted to get her a gift for being our tour guide for the past two weeks. We debated a while about which size to get her, but ended up getting the smaller pair.
After we bought the shoes, we all decided that we were starving. We started walking down the street and saw a Burger King. We all wanted some type of fat, greasy, unhealthy food. The line was way too long so Des and Ash just used the bathroom and then left. As we continued to walk, we found a McDonald’s. The line was also long, but not as long as Burger Kings, so it was a go for us. We all got Big Mac’s and fries and ate them in about five minutes… and then didn’t feel so good. After eating, we were supposed to meet Tom and Mira back at the beach. We waited where Mira told us to meet for 30 minutes and still didn’t see them, so we decided to head back. As we were getting on the train, we ran into them. Perfect timing again. We hopped on the train and when we got off, we stopped at a Bob’s Burgers to try their shakes. They were pretty good, but too filling. On our way back to the Airbnb, we grabbed some beers at the grocery store and had a calm night.
The next day, we got up and flew back to Floripa. We went back to “Padaria” to eat, and then headed back to our Airbnb to relax and pack up our stuff. We did some laundry, showered, and then everyone was getting ready to go out. I decided to stay in because I’m not a club person and I wanted to get up early and explore the island one last time. Desi, Ash and Nate all left to meet up with Mira and Tom. I walked down to the grocery store and bought a frozen pizza to make for dinner. I ate and watched a movie on my iPad before calling it a night.
The next morning, I got up around 7:00AM and Desi, Ash, and Nate still weren’t back. I ate breakfast and got dressed, and that’s when they came straggling through the kitchen. They said they went to the #1 nightclub in the world, “Green Valley”, and it was open all night. They also had some funny stories to share, such as, how the taxi driver overcharged them and threatened to call the cops if they didn’t pay, how Nathan couldn’t get into the club because he was wearing shorts, so he had to buy jeans from a man selling them out of a duffle bag in the street, how half of them got kicked out of the club and had no way to contact the others, and how Mira fell asleep on the bus and wouldn’t get up, so her and Tom got stuck and had to take it off the island and wait to come back. It sounded like they had a great time.
As they all went to bed, I headed off to the bus station to catch a bus to the beach. I hung out at the beach for a few hours, bought a few more souvenirs, and then headed back to the Airbnb. When I got back, I showered, packed up my stuff, and then we said goodbye to Michael. He gave us each a bag of popcorn and thanked us for choosing his home for our stay. We thanked him as well and then called a taxi to the airport.
Our flight home was easier to navigate, except for when we got to Sao Paulo again. We ended up on the wrong side of the airport, and had to take the sky shuttle to our gate. Luckily, we had enough time. We flew the rest of the way home with no problems, and Desi’s mom picked us up from the airport. It was an amazing trip! Tchau!