September - Brazil Trip

Our Brazil trip was amazing! We spent the whole month of September there. We enjoyed time with Cameron’s parents Ken and Kris and his brother Joel.

After a long trip there we finally arrived in Londrina Tuesday night. We flew into Sao Paulo and then took the bus to Londrina. The busses are comfortable so we were able to sleep almost the whole way. The weather was nice when we got there. We arrived at the end of winter when the weather was starting to get warm. I was so excited to finally be back in Brazil. I hadn’t been since our honeymoon 5 years ago. Cameron has been back a couple of times to renew his visa.

The day (Wednesday) after we arrived was a busy one. We had errands to run. We had some documents to send home via email for our job so that took some time. Then we had pedicures scheduled to make our toes nice for the beach! In between all that we made time to hit a Havianas store for new flip-flops and have lunch at a yummy per kilo restaurant. I also got to go see Cultural where Mom and Dad work. Then it was back to the house for unpacking and repacking. It was going to be a very quick night.

We got up at 3:30 am to get an early start Thursday before the sun and travel were in full swing. But it was worth a trip to the beach. A friend of the family allowed us to rent their house. It was a few blocks from the beach. I was so excited! It would be my first time to an Atlantic and Brazilian beach.

The weather was cool and rainy when we got there, but we were hopeful that it would clear. I was reminded that technically it was still winter there so this wasn’t abnormal. With high hopes we got settled in. We found a great per kilo restaurant there and had lunch. I found one of my favorite Brazilian foods – fried bananas! I also loved the chicken, fish, and salads. It is very close to American food, but at the same time it’s different.

Even though the weather didn’t clear much we had a fun week. We did get to go to the beach a few times – only once to lie out. I will admit that I did have to fight the “grumpys” a few times since the weather wasn’t cooperating, but it was nice just to be able to sit inside and read. The cool weather had a way of making me very lazy. I enjoyed getting into a good book, Safely Home by Randy Alcorn. I highly recommend it. I also got to journal a lot.

As a family we played a lot of games. Quiddler, Phase 10, Texas Uno, Pit, Dutch Blitz – to name a few. Great times! We also watched Brazilian TV. There weren’t too many channels, but the novellas were on that Mom liked. I quickly got involved with the drama. I had an interesting time trying to figure out what they were saying. Sometimes I could, and others they translated for me. It was hard being the only one who didn’t speak Portuguese. Someday. We stayed for a week and then headed home.

During the next week we went to the mall, had more yummy Brazilian food – pasteis, visited Mom and Dad’s church, had a going away party for Joel, who was going back to the states to attend Georgia State for his grad degree, and worked at the mission lunch. Yeah, that was a mouthful. Working at the lunch was a great time to work with Mom and Dad’s mission. It was a blessing! In between times I stayed home and worked on loading pictures and Cameron ran around town with Dad. I also helped Mom a little with lunch and laundry. The one great thing about Brazil is they take time to have their big meal at lunch – much healthier. Then they eat a smaller supper – well usually. I enjoyed putting up and taking clothes off the line outside. I miss having a dryer, but being able to hang it outside in the sun would make up for that.

The following weekend we took another road trip to Foz de Iguacu with Mom and Dad. We visited Parque dos Aves – a really amazing bird park. They allow people to walk through a lot of the aviaries. We were face to face with toucans, macaws and many other birds. God has a big imagination! We even got to hold a macaw at the end of the trail. That was really cool! We also got to go to Itaipu Dam. We took a tour of the outside and inside. Our tour guide took us inside the dam and showed us how it worked and we saw a turbine in action – it was loud and very interesting.

The main part of the trip was seeing Iguacu Falls. We went to the park after we saw the dam. It was a great walk. The park has been kept very natural so it is very green and beautiful. The falls is hard to describe in words. It was such an experience. The waterfall stretches over a mile and is made up of 275 individual waterfalls large and small. The highest part of the falls is over 270 feet high. The whole thing stretches out in a jagged line and then comes around in sort of a hook. The hook is where the really powerful parts are. There are different levels and on one level they have a lookout point that comes out right on top of the falls. That was intense and a bit scary – looking right over the edge of the cliff. The falls is shared with Argentina. They have a lookout point as well. It can be seen from across the ravine. All I can say is check out the pictures.

After we went to the falls we saw The Three Frontiers. It is a point where the Iguacu and Parana Rivers meet. This is the point where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay can all be seen. Each has a monument. Unfortunately, this is not something that is well advertised or hyped up so it was kind of quaint. I thought it was cool to be able to see stand in one South American country and see 2 others. When we were at the dam we were technically standing in Paraguay, but the dam is considered a neutral zone. I wanted to go to Argentina while were there, but there wasn’t time. There was just too much to do and see! Next time we might just have to take a trip to Buenos Aires – we would have to fly there.

It was a great weekend! We enjoyed it and packed it full of interesting sites. Since most everything closed early we didn’t over exhaust ourselves. The first night we even got to enjoy the indoor pool at our hotel. Oh and by the way – if you have ever seen The Mission with Robert Deniro and Jeremy Irons – they filmed some of the movie around Iguacu Falls. Check it out – it’s a good movie.

We had a nice drive back. I stayed awake for almost the whole thing. I had a nice time watching the countryside go by. I couldn’t believe how much it looked like the states. It was mostly farmland with fields and fields of crops – mostly corn and sugar cane. The huge differences were the occasional palm tree and the houses have different style roofing – red tile or aluminum. I love to see that the world is the same and yet so different at the same time. Something very different was the “squatters,” people who just found open land and moved onto it – the land was already owned, but they set up housing and small communities. Most were living in shacks with only a well for water. The government is trying to find a solution for this problem.

The last week and a half we were there went quickly. It was spent with Brazilian friends. We got to go to a Saturday night food fair and have more great Brazilian food including dolce de leite filled churros! We also went to a churrascaria – Brazilian meat house. This one had great meat and a great salad bar! They also had a pasta bar, but we didn’t attempt that, we were too full. Most of the great times always involve food! Life is funny that way! God gave us taste buds for a reason. The last Saturday we were there was beautiful and warm. We decided to go to a park in Londrina that was known for monkeys. I was excited about this and thought it would be really neat to see a monkey in the wild. Well, we didn’t get to see any monkeys, but we did get to see a lot of kuatis a native Brazilian animal that is probably in the American category of squirrels or raccoons. We also got to see the largest rodent in the world, the capybara. That was probably the most interesting.

We really had a great time! We got to see friends and family! This trip will be in our memories for a long time. In fact, I’m almost finished making a digital scrapbook. I’m hoping to be done with it before Christmas, and then I can get it printed. Be sure to check out all of the pictures.