2nd Day Carnaval ( Sat)

We went to the Copa beach, and I unfortunately got burnt on my back : (- just started peeling today, almost a week later). So many people on the beach! But it didn't ruin the view...

Met up with Michelle(Uof I), Jenny (from UofI), and Nicoli to go to a Bloco in Botafogo. We met up with some other Carioca (Person from Rio) friends of theirs and were taught how to Samba! I'm really bad though- I don't move my hips or my arms- don't know how I'm going to do tango! But it was fun. There we experienced many harmless cat calls and 'ficar'- the act of Cariocas, both male and female trying to get as many kisses (beijos) from the oppposite gender as possible. We were also called gringas so many times and stared at constantly, but hey it was all good fun. We even started to pick them out too!

1st Day of Carnival (Fri)

We had to wait an hour for a taxi to Copa- which was a half hour ride which only costed 30 Reis (18 USD). Not bad. We had an interesting convo about seat belts with the Taxi driver too. Ha. We stayed at a family friends's of Joana's- its small and was super messy- but we cleaned up and brought some chocolates 4 a thank you.

After familiarizing ourselves with Copa, and checking out the local hostel (Our soon to become our '2nd home') we met up with some people from Couchsurfing.com. Amazing website that's volunteer-based that basically tries to get people searching for a place to stay or someone to show them around cities which they are located. We originally asked Gabriel (not Joana's bro- a different one) to stay at his place, but he was already hosting an Irish girl, named Christine (she's been traveling for a whole year!). Anyway, we met up with him after many texts (we used Joana's old cell). Along with him came a group of couchsurfers: Christine (mentioned earlier), Cloudino (French man who lives in China), Tolga (Turkish man who lives in Buenos Aires), and we met up with Diego (Gabriel's cuz), and Chago (...friend). ( We went to a Bloco in Santa Teresa, which was up on a collina (large hill) which was so much fun! We then got some pizza and headed back to Diego's place to chow down and listen to Chago play some horrible music on his guitar-don't worry we told him it was bad.

All blocos entail a mixture of people, music, dancing, costumes, drag, confetti, streamers, spray/foam, water, sweat, beijos (kisses), cervajes, no sleep...

Thurs- 4th day in Brasil

All these posts will be from my week in Rio, except this one because I couldn't update my blog when I was there.

We went to a bar where Joana brother played guitar with his brother inlaw and a friend-I guess they play there every thurs. They were really good, and we got a song dedication! There we met most of Joana's family and her boyfriend, Bruno's, family. They are all lovely people and we had a nice time. We then got on a bus in Campinas for 7 hours to Rio de Janiero. The bus was pretty cold, but I could sleep. We saw Favelas (slums of Rio) when we first arrived in the city- they were sad but actually really interesting.

!Oi!

Today is the 3rd day of my trip to Brasil, I can't believe its been 3 days already. Yesterday I woke up around 11:30am, I guess I was trying to sleep off my jet lag- or maybe I just haven't allowed myself to sleep that late in ages. Nora and I went for a walk around Joana's block, after saying hi to the family's servant, Madianna, and took some pics (posted). We then lazily rested in the hammocks infront of her house- so comfy! We ate lunch with Joana- she came for her hour lunch break with her boyfriend, Bruno. Just as we were done with lunch it started raining cats & dogs (gatos e sigas). We waited the rain out and then went to Marta, Joana's aunt's, home to swim- a few houses away. She also has a lovely daughter named Elena and a cat and a dog. I surprisingly got somewhat of a base tan going- Nora unfortunately got burnt. We will be going to the pool again today.

We were then rained out by a long storm, which we waited out in Joana's house with an American filmed called the Iron Jawed Angels- it was about women suffrage- pretty interesting.

We then went shopping with Joana in town, came back for a light snack, figured some things out for Rio (pronounced Hio), and got lost on the way to the mall- it took us an hour and a half, when it should have taken us 1/2 an hour. Ha. We met up with Selena, Patricia, and Natalia, Joana's friends. They were very nice people who knew a little English and gave us some tips on Rio. We got home around 11:30pm and crashed.

The game plan for Rio is that we are taking a bus tonight at midnight and traveling for 7 hours to Rio, where we will be staying with a family friend of Joana's father, in COPA CABANNA! More info to come: )

Aterrissar (to land)

Landed in Sao Paolo, Brazil around noon today. The flight went by quickly, my neighbor and I had a few good conversations. We met a few friendly people at the airport too. (We are 4 hours behind). Nora and I were picked up by Joana's mother, Adrianna, and her brother, Gabriel at the airport. When we first walked outside we felt the heat (!quente!)- which is a lot better than what we left Chicago with (apparently there's supposed to be around 10 inches- 25 cm of snow).

The car ride from the airport back to Joana's house was about 2 and a 1/2 hours long- really pretty scenery- and some not so pretty. We saw some amazing houses and some slums. (See pics)

Their house is really cute and cozy, it has an upstairs and downstairs, I feel at home here. Her family is very nice and they have great food (comida/alimiento).

We spent some time today looking up places to stay in Rio de Janeiro, because our plans keep getting cancelled- bummer. But we have many other options for Carnaval near Sao Paolo if no one can take us in Rio. We also went swimming today at this beautiful pool that's used by its members. After swimming we took an unintended nap- it felt nice!

Now its time for some sleep! (goodnight- boa noite)!

Despegar! (take off)

Today is my last day in America! I have been packing for the last few days- had to fit 6 months into 44.2 lbs, that was tough! I'll be arriving in Sao Paolo, Brazil tomorrow with my friend from UofI, Nora, and staying with our friend Joanna, and going to Rio by bus for CARNIVAL!! So excited. Dancing, beaches, and a whole lot of fun in the sun!

I'll be in Argentina the 22nd of Feb for a week long orientation, then my classes (all en espanol) begin!

Tango