Brazil

Whoa, Brazil was like nothing that I have done or seen before. I really don’t know where to start so I am just going to write everything that I can remember in the order that it happened. We got in at about 7 in the morning on Saturday. We were able to get off the ship at around 10:30 and as soon as we did we headed for ATM’s and a restaurant. We knew that Carnival started around 3 in the afternoon, because of what we had learned the night before in the pre-port meeting for Brazil, so we wanted to get some drinks and food before it did. The group I walked around with included my better guys friends on the ship, it was about 20 of us. We went to a small café in Salvador after searching for about 40 minutes for a clean place to eat. The food was another thing discussed in the pre-port meeting the night before. Since the water is so unhealthy and a lot of food is cooked in that water, they cautioned us to be very careful where we ate. So once we sat down to get food, my friends Keith, Albi and I decided we weren’t going to eat the food and just drink. Well that almost turned bad because of the heat of the sun in Salvador as well as my empty stomach. But I was fine. Beers were so cheap so we just kept them flowing to prepare for the rest of the days activities. The people who owned the little café were really funny and really enjoyed having our US dollars there. After being there for about an hour we left to go find carnival. By now, the sun was incredibly strong and people were starting to crowd the streets. We walked for so long, buying beers and merchandise along the way until we got to some of the more main parade areas. We bought shirts of the local blocos so that we could dance in their section. For the rest of the time we just dance and paraded in the streets. It was so much fun, we just went crazy. We actually ended up running into a girls group of SAS students who spent the rest of the time with us in the parade dancing. After about 3 hours of dancing we went back to the ship for dinner and it couldn’t have come soon enough for me. I was huuuuuuuuungry. Ashley had been in the girls group we met up with so I went back with her to eat and then we just passed out on the ship because we had a flight to Rio that night and had to leave for the airport at 4 in the morning. We ended up waking up at around midnight to finish packing and made sure we had everything and then passed out again until when we had to get up at 4. We met up with a bunch of SAS kids outside the ship who were also going to Rio independently and shared a cab with them to the airport. At the airport checking in and getting through security was so nice, so much easier than LAX or Dulles. It was really convenient. The flight to Rio was short, just under 2 hours and I passed for the whole flight. When we got off the plane and walked out into the baggage claim there was already a driver waiting there to give us a ride to our place. Our place was nice, small but had everything we needed and was right on Copacabana beach, we had such a nice view. Once we got there we went out on the beach and spent the whole day swimming, laying out and drinking a little. The sun was killer and we got really fried. After that we were so exhausted that we just went back to the room to pass out for a little bit. We watched a lot of Carnival on our TV while in the room. It was pretty much the only thing on. That night we went out to a really nice dinner and got our first of many “Baucus”. It’s this type of sandwich that has steak, a fried egg, tomato, cheese and ham on it. They were so good. I ended up having 3 more while in Rio, and I only had about 5 meals total while we were there. After that we took a cab to an area where carnival was going strong. We actually ran into a bunch of SAS kids who were also in Rio independently. We stayed there for about 2 hours, it was not as intense partying as Salvador but it did feel so much safer. The next day we hung out at this beautiful hotel where so of our friends from the ship were staying. This place was one of the nicest hotels I have ever been too. They had a pool on the 17th floor that looked over the whole city, beaches and mountains. I have a bunch of pictures from there. It was just breath-taking. We spent a ton of time on the beach that day; we had to rotate swimming and lying out because of how hot the sun was and how cold the pacific was. A lot of people were out surfing and partying on the beach. We didn’t leave the beach until about 4, and by that time even my back was burned, I know awful huh. We showered there got dressed and grabbed a burger on a small beach hut. Then we went back into the hotel and made a reservation at a churrascurria, like Amazonia and Texas de Brazil, in Aruba. The restaurant, called Porcao, was probably one of the top 3 restaurants I have ever eaten at. The salad bar was out of this world, and the meat was amazing. We ate and drank there for so long, it was by far the best meal that I have had since being on the ship. We were so dead after that meal that we just went back to the place and passed out. It was good though because we were planning on waking up early and going to the Corcovado, the Christ statue in Rio. We woke up at around 9 and left for the statue, after searching for an ATM for what felt like an hour. When we got to the statue we could not believe the view of the city as well as how beautiful the statue itself was. It was really cool being there on Fat Tuesday. It was extremely crowded with tourists and some people were there praying. We stayed there for awhile taking pictures and videos of the view. We also bought a bunch of souvenirs and I drank a bunch of cokes, which I gave up for lent. Our cab driver was the man, by the way. He took us all the way up the mountain and down to where he 1st picked us up for about 140 Reals. After we got back to our place we had only 5 hours until our flight so we decided to go shopping at the market place and get food before we left the best city that I have ever been too. I got a bunch of really cool stuff here but I was running out of money so I didn’t go as crazy as I wanted too. Everything was just so cheap though that it was so much fun. I got some really cool Brazilian soccer jerseys. We shopped for so long and then went to go get our last Bauru’s. We got to the airport a little early for our flight so we got some ice cream and beer to hold us over until we got back to Salvador. The plane ended up getting delayed too, which was annoying but the flight back was even shorter than the one we had to Rio. When we got back we just took it easy that night and told all of our friends about how much fun we had, we almost felt bad talking about because we were so obsessed with our time. The next day was our last in Brazil and it was really rainy in the morning. I got a bunch of stuff for the family and one more Rubinho soccer jersey! It’s so cool; it's their alternate blue jersey. It was only about 12.50 US dollars too. We came back to the ship for lunch and put our stuff away and then took a nap. For dinner, I took Ashley out to this really really good seafood place; apparently, it is one of the best in the city of Salvador. We got back to the ship about an hour before dock time and went to bed almost immediately, Brazil had punished us.
Well we now our on the way to Cape Town. I’m getting really excited for my 3 day safari, its going to be so much fun. Until next post, take it easy guys.