The Last Night

Yet again, not much was on the schedule for the day. I woke up around 10:30 and took a shower and started thinking about what I would pack where, and where everything was. Ana walked in the door a little bit later on her lunch break, saying that she needed to go to the mall, so she asked if I would like to come along. I said sure, and we headed out. She needed to get some pictures developed and some special edits done to some, so we did that, and that took about an hour. While I was waiting I ran into Yago, Blake, Michael, and Andre. We said hi and talked for a little bit but they had to go and pack, just like me. Once Ana was done at the photo place, we walked around the mall in case I wanted to pick up any last minute things. Nothing caught my eye, but we stopped into a little grocery store so I could  buy some snacks for the trip home. We bought some chips and chocolate and headed out. I knew that I would need to get going on packing so I was a little anxious. Once we got home, I started gathering all of my things and placing them in the correct suitcase. Once everything was in, the weigh-in was due to happen. I weighed the big bag, my checked bag, and hoped that it would be under 50 pounds. The scale beeped and as I dared to peek at it, it read 59.25 lbs. Well, that was a problem.

I called my mom and thought about what we could do, and we came up with a solution. I must buy another cheap bag, and put 15 pounds of clothes or other stuff in it from the big bag. I would check my two bags, and then have Nikki (who was only checking 1 bag) check my other bag under her name. I didn't have time to figure out what bag I was going to use or when I would have enough time to get it, because we had to head off to the sleepover. I left a note on Ana's bed that explained the whole situation.

The sleepover was a blast! We all arrived, one by one to Julia and Mileah's house. It is a very nice house, three stories! We hung out for a while playing Guitar Hero and watching soap operas in portuguese, but that got old after a while. Finally, at about 2:30, we decided to put in Harry Potter. I have managed to see this Harry Potter probably about 6 times throughout the duration of the trip, but I gritted my teeth and watched it. Well, more like slept through it.

The movie was finally over at around 4:30, and some people wanted to go to sleep. Bruce organized the boys to go in one room and girls in another, and we instantly fell asleep.

We were all woken up about 10, which seemed like 5 because we had gone to bed so late. We cleaned up everything and had one last Brazilian breakfast. What an unforgettable last night in Brazil...

A Farewell

I woke up this morning around 10. Ana had already left for work and Marcelo was working on something at the table, so I got on the computer. We didn't really do anything all day until about 7:00 tonight, which was when we headed to the farewell party. When we drove up I could hardly believe that it was a farewell party, it made ours look much worse. It was held at one of those kids fun places, with the little rides and trampolines. In the main room it was all dark and there was a DJ at one end of the room. There was a fog machine going which highlighted the green lasers perfectly. We all rode the rides and danced for a few hours, and it was a great farewell party. There was lots of loud music, dancing, it was unreal. Then all the lights came on and we did the new version of the candlelight ceremony. There was a ball of string, which started at one person, in this case, Mileah. She would say what about this experience she enjoyed and what impacted her, and then she would throw it to somebody else. This process would continue until everybody had gone, each holding on the the string. It created a dreamcatcher, held together by all of us. It was clever, really, and thanks to Bruce and Maria for the idea of the dreamcatcher. We can truly catch dreams now...

Rio - The Real Deal

4:00 am-Everybody involved in the interchange arrives at Kathe and Nikki's house to get on the bus to Rio de Janeiro (River of January). And I thought that 7:00 was a bad time. I don't think that I even remember anything that happened in the morning, just after we woke up. Every single person on the bus fell asleep within the first 10 minutes of the bus ride. I was one of the first people to wake up in the morning so I listened to my iPod for a bit. It was very cool to recognize some landmarks and buildings as we were driving into Rio. When I came to Brazil last February with Colorado Children's Chorale, Rio de Janeiro was my favorite place, and we got a very informational tour, and I have remembered a lot.

As we were driving into the city, I pointed out the Christ the Redeemer statue standing with open arms on the top of Corcovado mountain.

Our fist stop for the day was the Christ the Redeemer statue. We all got off of the bus and got in line to get tickets to go take the Trem de Corcovado, the train that takes us up to the top of the mountain. It is about a 20 minute ride, so we bought our tickets and got on the train. When we got to the top, there are exactly 220 stairs (Blake counted) to get to the top point of Corcovado. The view from the top is magnificent. You can see all of Rio and all of Guanabara bay, which is beautiful in every aspect. The statue is breathtaking. It stands so high above our head and watches over the city, it is hard to look up to the top of it it is so tall. We all gawked around for a while and then headed back down the stairs to enjoy some fresh juice and peruse the shops. I found some nice souvenirs and then we headed back down. We got back in the bus and headed for downtown Rio. We drove along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, both of which are very famous. The sidewalk at Copacabana was pointed out to us-it is one of the most famous sidewalks in the world. We enjoyed some lunch, buffet style, with Guarana of course. We walked to Copacabana and had the chance to walk on the sand and stick our feet in the water, and then it was back on the bus.

It turns out that Rio de Janeiro is a candidate to host the 2016 summer olympics. There was an area that we bought a ticket to that had information about it and some shops that would help pick Rio to host the olympics. We went to a ferris wheel that could give us an amazing view of all of the city. We got on and took in the amazing view. The ride only lasted a few minutes, but it was fun. We walked back to the bus and then drove around Rio for a while. We got to see a lot of the local areas and just see the city. After that we headed to Sugarloaf mountain. 

To get to the top of sugarloaf you have to take a gondola to a smaller mountain, and then another gondola from there to Sugarloaf. We got our tickets and headed up. We didn't spend any time at the first mountain because time was crunched. The view from the top of Sugarloaf is truly breathtaking. You can see everything, even Christ the Redeemer. We hung out at the top for probably about an hour or so. What we were really waiting for was the sunset, and it was truly worth the wait. The view of the entire Guanabara bay, seeing all the beaches and the mountains, and Christ the Redeemer, all silhouetted against an orange sky, it is simply incredible. We all snapped some nice pictures, but no matter how hard we tried, nothing could capture the breathtaking view of this gorgeous city.

We were pried back down the mountain, and then we headed for the bakery to snack on some cheese bread and Guarana, which we inhaled. We all got on the bus, and some of us stayed up and some fell asleep. 

Around 11, we stopped at a mall about halfway back to São Jose for some dinner. We all woke up and realized we were hungry. We shoveled in some food, bought some snacks and hit the road again. This time, almost everybody instantly fell asleep. What seemed like 20 minutes later, we all were woken up by the lights of the bus, back in São Jose. We all cleaned up the bus and headed home and crashed. More tomorrow...

National Night

It seems like everything here in Brazil has been late. We arrived at Carol's apartment building 2.5 hours late to start planning for the USA national night. And that was only the boys-the girls and Bruce arrived almost 45 minutes after that. Before the girls arrived, the boys began preparing the dessert-toffee. Blake had brought his favorite recipe so we got started on that. We had some difficulty getting all of the measurements correct because here in Brazil they don't use cups, so we had to do some conversions. The ovens here don't have specific temperature markings, just a temperature dial for hotter or cooler. The first batch didn't turn out very well-we didn't have any Pam cooking spray and the oven was way too hot, but the next batch turned out delicious!

Once everybody else arrived we split up into one group for cooking and another for decorating. I was assigned to decorating, so I went upstairs and Bruce busted out the decorations and games. I set my sights on finding how to hang a 100 foot plastic banner with red white and blue streamers coming off of it. At first we tried to put it around the edge of the room, but there was already another group putting up another one that looked the same there. And suddenly, I had an idea. We duct-taped the end of the streamer to a full water bottle and threw it out the window. After navigating it away from people under us's balconies and TV dishes, we tied it to the window frame and went to see how close it was. It was probably only about 10 feet too short from reaching the ground, and that makes sense seeing as that we were on the 11th floor and the streamer was 100 feet long.

All was well until the wind picked up. Because of the sudden high winds and the large amount of surface area for the wind to catch on, the banner went around the corner of the building. It managed to get itself caught in some cables and hooks on the side of the building and then break. Bruce said that before we were allowed to leave the building, it had to come down, so Michael and I headed down the elevator looking for a solution. We went to where the bottom of it was and glanced over to some private storage units where we spotted the bottom of a ladder. We ran over to the ladder and took it off its hook and placed it on the side of the building. Michael held the bottom while I climbed up the ladder, barely reaching the bottom of the water bottle. I grabbed it, and luckily it came loose very easily. As I was climbing down from the ladder, we glanced over and saw the security guard walking in our direction, so we quickly put the ladder away, grabbed the streamer and ran to the elevator. We made it back upstairs just in time to finish up setting up all of the games and decorations.

After finishing up some last minute things, everybody arrived. We had some games and appetizers for people to entertain themselves as we were waiting for everybody to arrive. Once everybody arrived, we all got into our costumes. We explained what they were and what they represented in the United States and then gave a preview of what we would be doing. We all did the Cha Cha Slide in our costumes and then had everybody enjoy some macaroni and cheese that Nikki and Gen had prepared from scratch. Everybody loved it, and then we hit the games. Everybody loved all of them! We played them for a couple of hours and hung out until about 10:30 when we all started to get tired and thought that it was about time that we were heading home. We cleaned up the mess that we had made in the kitchen, took down all of the decorations, and headed out. We all wanted to get our sleep because we would have to get up early for Rio tomorrow...

Beach Paradise

It looked like the trend of waking up early had become more of a regular event. I don't necessarily know if I see that as a good thing, but it was a nice change from waking up at 1:00, as nice as that was. We woke up around 8:30 and somehow planned to get to Yago and Andre's house around 9. Bruce had come to spend the night because he though it would be easier for Maria not to have to drive him to Yago's because Maria and the girls weren't planning on leaving until later in the afternoon. We woke up and Bruce and I took showers, and I double checked my bag to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. I didn't see anything crucial that was still sitting in the closet, so I zipped it up and put it next to the front door. We made it to Yago's and talked to his parents for a while and then we headed out towards the Beach.

We were headed to a beach that was a little ways Southwest of Caragua. It took about 1.5 hours to get there, so I listened to my iPod and talked to Michael and Yago. About 20 minutes before we were there, we stopped at a rest stop and looked at a nice waterfall. We took some pictures and then continued heading to the beach house. 

When we got there, it was very nice. There was a nice covered patio where we could hang out, in addition to a beautiful living room and kitchen area. Upstairs was my bedroom, where me, Bruce, Blake, and Michael slept, and the other bedroom for the Brazilians. We all settled in and changed our clothes and headed for the Beach. The beach we went to was about 5 minutes away, and it was beautiful. The waves were fantastic! We went though some that were probably almost 8 feet tall! We enjoyed the water for a couple hours, and I had the chance to enjoy some coconut water, straight from the coconut! We headed home and had some dinner, hung out for the night, and went to sleep. We tried to watch Lord of the Rings, but we all fell asleep and finally everybody but Michael went to bed before the movie was over.

I was the first one to wake up other than Marta and Aldo (Yago and Andre's parents). I walked downstairs to a delicious breakfast spread put out for us. I later learned that this was the way Yago and Andre had been eating every day! There was bread, rolls, cream cheese, butter, jelly, juices of all kinds, cereal, Brigadeiro cake, passion fruit cake, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, everything! We all woke up at different times to enjoy this delicious breakfast. We decided that today we were going to meet the girls so we called the up and we decided that we were going to meet them at the private beach that was part of the place the Kathe lives. We all met there and enjoyed some more waves, all just as good! We stayed there for a few hours and then we all met back at the kind-of clubhouse area for some snacks. We had french fries and I enjoyed some fresh passion fruit juice and strawberry juice with condensed milk. It was all very yummy! We went back to Kathe's house where we immediately jumped into the pool in her backyard. We swam and played games for a while and then had some dinner. Yet again, it was all very delicious. We stayed and hung out for a few more hours and then headed home. One interesting thing that happened while we were there was that a truck drove down the street and behind it a huge fog would appear. There was a rig on the back of the truck that let out huge amounts of insect repellant-like stuff into the air that created a huge fog. It stayed for about 15 minutes.

We headed home and attempted to watch Lord of the Rings 2, and actually did well. We all stayed awake for the whole movie, and it was very good. We all went to bed and got some nice sleep for the next day. We woke up around 10, and enjoyed more breakfast, just the same again! I can't believe that that is how some people eat every day, it is incredible! We headed off back to the beach, the same one we had gone to the first day. We tried to call the girls, but nobody answered their phone so we just had to go alone. We stayed for a couple hours, surfing the waves and enjoying coconut water, and then we headed home. We planed on going to the mall later that night so we all had to get cleaned up before we could go. There was supposedly internet access, but when we got there it was closed for the night. We still had some dinner and then walked over to the cultural center where we looked at some art and the like. We all went home and then watched some TV and late-night movies.

We had to wake up a little earlier than usual because we were planning on leaving in the morning. We all woke up around 8:30 and packed our bags and enjoyed even more breakfast. We packed the cars and headed back. We were supposed to get back at noon so the Americans could plan the national night, but there was some traffic so we didn't get back until about 1:00. Now we are all back and getting ready to meet up again so we can get ready! More to come...

São Paulo

7:00 in the morning is not always the most welcoming time to meet with a group of 13 other sleep-deprived kids, but I guess everything runs a little differently here. Unfortunately, I only got 5 hours of sleep last night because of the differences in wake up times from the day before. I woke up at 6, having to leave the house at 7 for the São Paulo city tour. We all met in front of Nikki's house then and got into our bus and headed off to São Paulo. It is about a 1 hour and 20 minute drive, but I noticed that we kept stopping for Ze to go to the bathroom-maybe 4 or 5 times. I thought that something was probably up unless he had just drank 6 gallons of water. I asked Maria if he was OK and she said that he wasn't feeling at his best, actually worse than less than at his best. He was really nauseous and just didn't feel good all around. When we arrived in São Paulo and got off of the bus to do a walking part of the tour, Marcelo met up with us and took Ze back home, but don't worry, he is feeling fine now. We walked into a Cathedral and through one of the main parts of the city where we ended at a small café. We all got espresso and brigadeiro and had a nice break from walking. We met back up with our bus and then had some time on the bus while we went to another part of the city.

We got out of the bus and I realized that I recognized the buildings. I looked down the street and we were very close to the hotel that I had stayed at when I was in São Paulo previoiusly. I recognized all the buildings, I already have pictures of almost everything in the area! It felt really cool being in the same place I had already been...IN BRAZIL!!! We walked around some more and ended up in a bookstore where I picked up a Dave Matthews Band album and the newest Fall Out Boy CD that just came out. We spent some time in the nice air conditioned bookstore and then walked back outside to brave the heat. We met our bus again close-by and headed for some lunch. I enjoyed a pastel, a sort of deep fried large pocket with cheese and meat inside, and of course, Guarana Antarctica. From there, we drove to a nice park where we sat down and rested for about a half an hour. From there, we went to a local shopping mall where we spent a couple of hours there.

Of course, all of the girls were very excited to get some new clothes, whereas the boys just trudged around and tried on sunglasses. I was going to buy a nice new pair of Oakley Gascans, but I looked down and the price was 500 Reals, YIKES!!! I guess I'll just have to wait to find a better price. We spent lots of time just hanging out and then finally had some dinner and headed back to the bus. Everybody slept on the bus except for me, Nikki, Gen, Blake, and Bruce. We talked about a variety of things, and it was nice to spend more time with them. Unfortunately, when we stepped off the bus Gen came over to me and told me that the happy couple was no more. They had decided that they were going to break up on the bus ride back. I guess they just didn't work, but had some fun while it lasted!

Tomorrow we all head out back to Ubatuba for the beach sleepover. All of the boys are sleeping at Yago's house and the girls at Kathe's. Gen is heading off on a cruise so she won't be there, but I'm sure we can still have some fun! I won't be able to get on and tell you all what is happening, but more to come on the 12th...

The Undead Spider-by Mileah Rayburn

It started with a first sighting, and then came a chain reaction of everyone at the minicamp spotting the giant spiders and their young on the ceilings of the ranch. There was fear in the air. They crawled like...well, they crawled like spiders. But they were the size of large pine cones, dangling above our heads like we were so vulnerable, their legs each moving like they had a mind of their own.  

It wasn’t long before four heroes emerged: Bruce, the leader. Michael, the strange. Blake, the determined. And, Skye, the, umm, well, Skye... Together they hatched a devious plan to rid the minicamp of the spiders once and for all. 

Armed with nothing more than a ladder, a broom, and a can of bug spray, the brave ones set off on their epic quest.

But little did they know that when Bruce climbed the ladder, hundreds of tiny newborn spiders would be poised for the attack. Unfortunately, there were. But, with his amazing wits and quick reaction, Bruce lifted in his hand the only weapon available, and vaporized hundreds in a cloud of poisonous mist. 

Unfortunately, this little move made the largest spider of all very angry, and out it came, hissing and dripping from it’s lengthy fangs a deadly venom. 

But, just as it was ready to attack, Blake threw the can of bug spray with perfect agility and aim to Bruce, and once more, the button was pressed, freezing a half of the spider. 

As the heroes retreated, there was a sudden movement. The creature WASN”T DEAD!

With another swift move, Michael knocked the spider from it’s dangling web with the end of the broom and Skye leaped to the rescue, ending it’s life with a shower of bug spray...again.

But still, IT DIDN”T DIE!

Finally, one last burst of heroism brought the brave ones to a level they’d never hit before. They trapped the spider in a plastic drinking glass and fed it skillfully to another of it’s kind. 

A new found light washed over the camp now. Some cheered, some shivered, some cried. All except for the heroes, who walked off in a cloud of victory to eat their chocolate breakfast cereal. 

(All events depicted in this story are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me god. This is a true story-it really happened.)

Minicamp

Well, let's start before the minicamp even started. The morning of January 5 we woke up a little bit earlier than I have been used to, but I was glad to have the chance to actually do a little bit more in the day. We were supposed to wake up around 10, but I asked Ana if I could get woken up around 9:30. I took a nice shower and then rechecked that I had everything that I needed for the mini-camp packed. There were a couple things that I needed to get done like email parents, post here, etc. so I got that all done. I had some frosted flakes for breakfast, and then I headed off for mini-camp. We arrived to Ze's family's farm around noon, but before that we had to meet Bruce, Maria, Gen, and Carol at one of Ana's English schools because they didn't remember how to get to the farm. They followed us there and we were greeted by friendly and familiar faces. Ana and Marcelo had to rush off back to São Jose, but luckily Ana had already given me the tour of the farm and told me where everything we would need would be.

I gave Bruce and Maria the tour, and, as Ana asked, showed them where everything was. We divided up each of the meals and put them into bins, and then I had some time to socialize. I went around to all of my friends and instantly started chattering away about all of family week. Each person had an different and interesting variation on how they spent their week. Everybody spent it at the beach except for Lane, who spent it in the mountains of Brazil. She enjoyed her week very much, but is also looking forward to the beach, because she is the only one that hasn't walked on Brazilian sand yet. We all had some time to hang out and get settled in the house, and then we had some activities. 

We started with a few energizers, and then moved on to some running activities. Maria and Yago worked together to change some classic running games into water-related games. For instance, the classic game of eagle's nest, where there is a base on each side with balls that you have to steal and bring to your side, there were water balloons. If the water balloon popped, you were out, and also got wet, which was a nice chance to cool down! Then we had a deeper game, which all of us completely missed the point of. Between three trees, Bruce had tied a string that we were supposed to get over without touching it or going under it at all. Our goal was to get over the string like he had said, but we resorted to things like mass jail-breaks and the like. Bruce's goal for us was for us to work together, even if there wasn't a feasible solution to getting out of the triangle. We played some more activities, but eventually all of us ended up getting pushed into the pool, or just falling accidentally in Lane's case. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, mostly freetime. But we have been enjoying all the time to hang out and get to know each other better!

The next day, we all woke up around 8:45, totaling in about 6 hours of sleep. We enjoyed some cereal and coffee for breakfast, and then got started with our day. We have all found out that Andre and Michael really like to sleep, given that in addition to at night, each of them have slept for about 3 hours each day at random times. Most of the day was freetime, but we did have some activities such as the Mickey Mouse game and Yard Sale. Yet again, most of the day was pretty uneventful, but very fun. There was a large activity and importance laid down towards the spider activity. There are many spiders in Brazil, and most of them are about 5 times the size of the ones that we are used to. The ones that stared at us from the ceilings of Ze's farm were approximately 3 inches long, and probably 2 inches wide. Next I will post an original account from Mileah, keep your eyes open!

Other than the spider hunt, the most exciting part of the day was the newfound display of love binding the United States of America and Brazil. The first display was when Michael and Carol were found outside washing the dishes together, even though only Carol was on cleaning duty. They were smiling and laughing when we found them, which instantly made us start the search. We knew that something was up, so instantly, Bruce, me, Gen, Nikki, and Blake were on the hunt for any suspicious activity. We found an open window in the bathroom to spy on them from, but right after Bruce climbed up on top of a chair to peek, we all heard Michael yell "Bruce!!" in an disapproving tone. Apparently, he had seen us. All but Bruce had decided to give up the search, but Bruce was determined to get something on camera. The only problem with that plan, that we hadn't realized, was that he had forgotten his camera when he went out to find them. As we were socializing in the living room, we heard the back door open and Bruce ran in yelling "I need my camera, quick!!!" We all knew that he had found something interesting. I asked him what was happening and he said that he would explain later, he just needed his camera! I ran and grabbed his camera, and mine. He ran out of the door and sneaked across the side of the house. Unfortunately, a whole entourage of eager onlookers followed him, and disturbed the newfound couple. By the time Bruce had held his camera around the corner of the building, they had heard us and fled back into the house and suggested that nothing had been happening. They were both smiling, so we just had to ask. They admitted that they were attracted to each other and had kissed behind the house. So, congratulations to Michael and Carol! Then they sealed the deal with a quick kiss goodnight. 

Today we all woke up early, thanks to Bruce. It did take a little bit more work for Andre, though. Bruce had to jump on his bed and pick him up and have a pillow fight with his torso before he woke up. Getting him out of bed is a entire different story. Bruce had to pull his mattress out from under him before he would finally get out of his bed, and then he just got into a different bed! Well, finally he made it out of bread and we had breakfast. 

We had a nice quiet morning with some activities and freetime. We all said goodbye and then split up to go back to each of our families. Once we got home, I had about an hour to get settled back in and then we headed off to the mall. More to come tomorrow...

R$160

Well, the dynamics of this morning were a little different than usual. I fell asleep waiting for us to leave the beach for São Jose, and finally at around 5 Ana woke me and the other kids up so we could get in the car. I truly don't know how I managed to get all my things and make it all the way to the car in one piece. Only 1/16 awake, I gathered my computer, backpack, iPod, and camera and trudged down to the car. I got into the back seat, as usual, and instantly fell asleep. What felt like about 5 minutes later, I woke up and we were at their apartment, back in São Jose. It was actually about a 1.5 hour drive, but still I didn't have much sleep in, so I walked upstairs with everybody and jumped into bed. Actually, it was probably more close to a jump/plop. I woke up for good around 1:00, as usual.

I had some shopping that I needed to do, so the whole family piled into the car and we drove to the nearest mall, Shopping Colinas. We ate some quick lunch and then split up. Ze, Auguste, and Victor headed off to play some games at the arcade, and me, Ana, and Marcelo went shopping. All in all, it was very successful! The only problem we ran into was that I was on the search for a hat, and I really wanted an Oakley brand hat, but it was 160 Reals! YIKES!!! I ran into Julia and Mileah at the mall and after getting bombarded by their hugs, we talked for a minute. It was nice to see someone I hadn't seen in a while, and also get some juicy news! Apparently Mileah got her dream of kissing a Brazilian boy, one of Julia's friends. I'll have to get all the details and tell you tomorrow, but just wanted to give you all the heads up!

After that, we headed to Quiririm for afternoon coffee. We enjoyed some delicious Brazilian coffee and bread, and headed off to the Taubaté shopping center to get all the groceries for the mini-camp. So much food is needed for 16 people for 2 and a half days! We had planned on going to the movie Twilight after shopping, but it took to long we didn't have time. I had the chance to go to the place that the mini-camp will be, and it is going to be fantastic! There is a swimming pool, and lots of room inside and out!

We put all the groceries away and I got a tour, and then we headed back to Quiririm. We enjoyed some dinner at Marcelo's parents' house and then we headed back to São Jose. We all headed to our rooms to pack, and hopefully we are all ready for the mini-camp!

I won't be able to post over the mini-camp, but I will after that, and I'll include everything we did!

Morro do Santo Antonio

Yet again, another late start. I woke up this morning at around 1:15, which was a nice long rest for me. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to get up earlier than I am now. As expected, I didn't have breakfast because soon after I woke up, lunch was ready. Bruce and Maria joined us for lunch yet again before they trekked back to São Jose dos Campos. We had some delicious pineapple, some of the sweetest you could ever imagine. Perfectly complimenting it was some turkey and rice. I don't think that I have run into anything yet in Brazil that I have not enjoyed!

We got in the car and headed off to what I expected was the beach, but instead we turned towards the mountains that are very close to Caragua. The drive up to Morro do Santo Antonio could probably be categorized as off-roading, even though there was a road. It was nothing short of crazy! It was worth it, though. The view from the top of that mountain was amazing. You could see every single building in Caragua. The statue was breathtaking too, but nothing like the view. We also got a show, we got to watch somebody jump off of the top of the mountain to go paragliding. Apparently it is the main place where people jump from. There is even a ramp-like thing that jets off the top. There is a large cement area and then a cement ramp that jets off of the side of the mountain. It was very fun and interesting to watch them jump!

We trekked back down the mountain and began the hunt for some Açaí. So many people enjoy it so much, a lot of the places that we went to were sold out! Finally we found a nice little place on the beach to enjoy some. We drove back to the apartment and then jumped into the pool. It was a little bit too cool to go to the beach, but it's never too cold to jump into a pool! We swam for a couple of hours and then came back to the apartment. Soon after, we had dinner. We hung out after dinner for a little while and then hopped back into the far to go get some ice cream.

Getting ice cream here is very different than in the United States. There are just as many flavors, but it is all self-serve. You get your own scoops of ice cream, and you can mix and match as much as you want. You can put on as much or as little toppings as you want, it is amazing! We enjoyed some ice cream and then took a walk through downtown Caraguataguba. There were some nice lights on the trees, and it was a very enjoyable walk.

Now we are back at the apartment and packing to get ready to go. We are all just staying up until about 4 am and then leaving then. There is so much traffic here, apparently that is the only time of day where we will be able to go without adding 2 hours to our trip because of traffic. Well, that's all for now, but more to come soon...

Movie Day

Yet again, this morning we woke up late, but I guess that I'm getting used to it! We woke up around noon and I actually ate breakfast! We hung around the house for a while, and I got ready to go swimming. Unfortunately, the weather was worse than usual. Not anything drastic, just about 10 degrees cooler and a little rain, but we still didn't go to the beach. Ana invited Bruce and Maria over for lunch and to hang out with us for the afternoon. 30 minutes later, they showed up on doorstep demanding food and couch space. Eventually we decided to watch a movie, The Grudge 2. It was funny because it is a very predictable horror movie, but every time the grudge would jump out, all of the Brazilian kids would jump and scream! Then we decided to watch Fantastic Four because Bruce had only ever seen the second one. After that, we just had to watch the second one, because I had never seen that one! Finally at about 11:00 we were done watching movies and had some dinner. It was very delicious, potatoes stuffed with cream and cheddar cheese. We enjoyed some dinner and then dessert-peaches with sweetened condensed milk, very delicious! We hung out for a little bit longer, and then Bruce and Maria just headed home. Hopefully we can meet up with them again tomorrow at the beach. Today was pretty uneventful, but hopefully more tomorrow!

Late Start

I think that it's okay, once in a while, to sleep a little bit later than you had planned on. Today, all the kids woke up around 1:00 PM, give or take about fifteen minutes. It was the first day that I hadn't eaten breakfast as the first meal! I woke up, took a shower, and we sat down for lunch. It was delicious, as usual. We had penne pasta with marinara sauce and rice. Soon after that, we headed off to the beach. We went to a different beach then yesterday, and it was very nice. There was a freshwater river that streamed into the ocean, and it was really nice to watch the waves sort-of swim up the river. There was lots of beautiful scenery around it. We were only there for about 2 hours, but it was really very nice. Then, we drove home. There is so much traffic here, it is crazy! It's worse then Denver in my opinion. We lounged around the house and then had some dinner. Pizza again! There was ham and cheese and just cheese, it was all very delicious. Then we watched The Illusionist, and it turned out to be a pretty good movie. Now we are just hanging out again! I'm having lots of fun, more tomorrow...

New Year

For New Years we had ham, chicken, rice, and some pasta, and of course, Guarana! It is all very delicious, I wish you could try all the delicious food I am eating and trying here! Because it was such a late night last night, everybody got up around noon. I had some breakfast and then a little bit later some lunch. 

I found out that I really am not good at ping-pong, but I went down and played some friendly ping-pong with some of the other people in the building. Even though we are right next to the beach, we drove about 20 minutes down the road to a beach near here. We swam for a little bit and then I just soaked up some Vitamin D! I was introduced to this stuff called Acai. It has Acai berries, all mushed up and turned into kindof an ice cream, and then sweetened condensed milk on top, it is delicious! It is the perfect thing to cool down with on a hot day! The best thing about it, other than that it is delicious, is that it is really healthy! It is full of antioxidants and is pretty much like the world's best multivitamin. We were at the beach for a couple hours, and hopefully I got a little tan! We drove home, but on the way stopped at a roadside vendor for some pineapple, it is was some of the most delicious pineapple ever! It is so sweet! At home, I red some more until Bruce and Maria came over. I am already almost done with Twilight, and I only started a couple days ago! It is a really good book! Once Bruce and Maria were here, we talked for a bit and then ate some dinner. Then we walked out on the beach and watched the fireworks and do the ritual of hopping over seven waves, which is supposed to be good luck. It was all very fun! When we got back to the apartment, we sat down and the adults had some more champagne. I got out my computer, because Maria promised me to teach me some stuff about using Final Cut, the movie making program that I have no idea how to use. She pretty much does that for a living, I think, so she started to show me some stuff and told me that I should take some video and then the next time we are together she can show me more. I told her that there was no internet, but she checked anyway, and it ended up that somebody in the apartment complex has internet! I can't believe that I didn't even think to check! More to come....