Oi!(Hi in Portuguese, I'm not sure of the spelling)
About a week ago I came back from the most AMAZING week of my life in a tropical, diverse part of the world many will never get the chance to explore. My time in Brazil was undoubtedly the best trip I have ever taken (granted I haven't taken that many until this year abroad). The climate was perfect, not too hot, not too cold and the water was the most beautiful I've seen and was the perfect temperature. The first day we arrived in Sao Paolo which is a large, industrial city where we did a city tour including a beautiful cathedral. That night we went to a little bar to eat and danced to a live band! After that we got on the bus and slept all the way til Rio.....
When we fist arrived to Rio the first thing we did was go straight to the beach! It was a gorgeous day and the water looked and felt amazing. I bought my first souvenir, a Brazilian flag to use as a towel more or less (they use all of them like that at the beach).
After the beach we went to lunch at a delicious buffet close to the water and then headed to the hotel to shower. We weren't able to explore any more that day and the next it rained so we ended up going to a football stadium and a museum, which was actually in a pretty area next to the water.
The next day we had a tour of the favella, basically the slums of Rio de Janeiro but we learned a lot more about the areas than people think. Favellas are actually communities that run themselves, mainly because they have their own rules, they don't follow the rules of the government or normal police. The one we went to is the largest in Rio de Janeiro and even had two banks and a few schools. We walked through the favella with a guide who explained different things about the community and we also got a little tour of one of the guide's house.
After the tour of the favella, we went straight to see the Cristo, one of the most famous parts of Rio and Brazil as a whole. Although it was cloudy and freezing at the top, it was amazing to see something so famous all around the world.
The last night in Rio, we went to a club on a little island (it sounds bigger than it is, it was actually really small) and got to listen to a live band play Brazilian music (unfortunately we couldn't understand most of the songs). After the band was finished they played what was basically Brazilian regeaton, which was fun to hear too.
The next morning we headed off to Angra dos reis, a little town a few hours away from Rio with gorgeous islands in the Atlantic all around it. We rented a boat for the day and our whole group traveled to two amazing islands surrounded by blue-green water I had only seen in pictures before. We spent the whole day swimming in the water (it wasn't cold at all!) and soaking up the sun on the beaches. The next day we basically did the same thing and got to visit the 7th most beautiful beach in the world, so were told. For me, this was definitely the best part of the whole trip. I had never seen such an amazingly beautiful place and I loved swimming in the water because it was the perfect temperature, nothing like the beaches in Northern California. I could keep going on about the beauty, but I think only pictures can tell the story....
Truly a paradise...I loved Brazil and I want to go back one day! It was an incredible trip and I met so many great people as well. This was definitely my favorite trip so far!! I'll see you all in about two months, not much time left and then I'll be able to tell you all about my adventures in person!!
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