I´m sitting in our hostel in Rio! This has been an interesting hostel thus far. We flew in two days ago and found out that we had 12 people to a room - guys and girls mixed. It was an adventurous time -- all clean fun, of course -- but they have everything cleared up now.

The people here are quite friendly and more speak English than in the other places we have been. It´s still hard to locate some vegetarian food, though...haha.

Anyway, Foz Do Iguaçu was an incredible experience...I still can´t believe how magnificent it was. The first day we spent tourin the Argentinian side of the falls. It was a whopping 115F which meant I was a hot, sweaty, sunburnt mess when all was said and done! It was completely worth it, though. We spent most of the day walking and everywhere we went there was another breathtaking view of the waterfalls. I felt like I took a bajillion photos (more like 150) of just the falls. It was like I couldnt get enough.

Im not sure what it is about waterfalls that is so alluring but in general they seem to captivate audiences of all ages. These were especially beautiful, though. One of the things that struck me most was how almighty and powerful they are..but along the borders are quiet waters and flowerbuds. That has to be one of my favorite contrasts that nature provides.

As the day went on we all got hotter, hotter and even hotter..to cap everything off we took a boatride under the waterfalls. It was INCREDIBLE..felt so good! Everyone cheered and pleaded for more...haha.






The following day we went to a bird zoo-esque type place. I met a few Toucan Sams and a parrot that said ´´hola´´ every 5 seconds. I´m not a huge fan of captive animals but this place seemed better than most at home. The majority of thins were in natural environments typical of their habitat..and they were mostly native animals.






We also saw the falls that day except this time it was from the Brasilian side. It was a more encompassing view, too -- I stil cannot get over how massive those things are. They are actually a little daunting but I felt safe nestled behind the gated borders.






That evening David and I went to this sweet pizzaria. It was only R$22 (US 13$) for both of us and the food was awesome and it filled me up! Waiters kept coming around offering us different types of vegetariano pizza. My favorite kind was spinach, tuna and heart of palm!

The people there were SO nice. They seemed happy that we were there..even the customers were all grins. Lots of smiles were exchanged and when we left it was a sad kind of parting..its interesting the way that works considering the huge communication barrier. At least I know the word vegetariano.




Back to the current...we are here in RIO de JANIERO! Yesterday morning we visited the favelas (equivalent to US slums and ghettos..but much worse). This was something I was looking forward to most of all. For me it is so important to see parts of the world that aren´t as well off. It makes me grateful..I appreciate what I have and what my country has to offer. I´m one of the least patriotic people in the US..but going to Egypt and and Brasil has definitely made me see that the US is not that bad.

Anyway, the favela experience was eye-opening. I heard about how scary the slums are and how the people were ´´bad.´´ Yes there were drug dealers on site, trash everywhere, open sewers and tattered clothing. Still, the people were so friendly and warm toward us. They liked to have their picture taken -- they liked to see the pictures on our digital cameras.

We stopped at a bakery and come some delicious donuts and there was even a school there. It was very clean in the school and the children loved us! They even had a school nurse and 3 cafeteria lades..it was relieving to see a glimmer of hope, if you will, amidst the mucky roads.

Overall, it was an eye opening experience and I am grateful for seeing it. I couldnt imagine living that way my whole life..I have a lot of respect for those people.














Comments (0)

Whew! I am finally back from the Amazon and let me tell you - that place is not for the lighthearted. I still cant believe I went through all that. We arrived in Manaus on the 13th and stayed at this little hotel. Members of our group complained about its quality but I say that a few roaches never hurt anyone. Plus, we were about to experience something tenfold two roaches in the shower.

I was so nervous before leaving for the Amazon. No shower, makeup, perfume, deoderant..for four whole days. That doesnt sound too bad but YOU should try not showering for 4 days when youre a hot sweaty mess with no deoderant. Our whole group reaked!

To make this easy for you, Im going to give a day by day encounter of my 4-day stay in the wild, wild Amazon (with a few pictures, of course)!

Day 1
It was a long, long ride to the rainforest. We started by van and then switched over to fastboat. Traveling toward our destination we came across something called the ´´meeting of the waters.´´ It was so cool! T here are two rivers that come together but they do not melt into one another. As a result there is a very distinct line - sort of like oil and water seperating. One was black, the other a muddy brown. They each have different acidity levels, temperatures and current speeds which make them seperate.

We switched to van again, and then another boat ride that lasted for an hour and a half. Along the way our guide, an Amazon RF native named Elso, pointed out some pink and grey dolphins splashing around our boat. By this time I was really, really excited!

Still, Im not gonna lie. By the time we finally reached our destination I felt pretty out of my element. Picture a blonde, very pale girly girl who is usually clad in pink and adorned with eyeshadow and earrings miles away from the ´´real world.´´ The minute I stepped off the boat a wasp the size of my palm (exaggerating a bit...) buzzed into my face. Its whole posse followed. That, my friend, would be the least of my worries.

Anyway..after a hearty lunch we took a canoe (our only mode of transporation the whole time) to some lowland forests. My sweet blood seemed to attract ALL the mosquitos within seconds. We werent out for too long - just went to see this HUGE tree.. I couldn´t believe my eyes.

Afterward we went to fish for..get this...´PIRANHAS! Let me tell you, I was feeling lucky. I caught four of those bad boys. The whole rest of the night I was teased about how the animals in the rainforest were buzzing about Wendy Gould - savage beast! haha. How ironic is it that Im vegetarian? That night we had piranha soup - just the heads cut off in some salty water. Muy delicioso!

Later that night, after dinner, we went Alligator and Caimen hunting. Elso caught three with his bare hands and brought them back to the fort for us to look at and hold. At one point someone dropped an alligator inside and it ran around rampant for a good 3 minutes! Screams, jumps and yelps ensued. It was one of the most hysterical moments of my life!

Despite the chaos, I slept very very well in my hammock that night.



Big tree in the lowland forests!


Piranhas we caught...four of those are mine!


Day 2
The next morning we woke up at around 630 and had fresh eggs, manioc and fruit. We boarded our canoes and went searching for SLOTHS! Those things are only my most favorite anymal in the WHOLE WORLD. Polar bears are a close second. I had never met one before..I seriously love sloths 10x more now that I´ve ment one. Elso found one high up in a tree and we parked our canoes. Him, Matthew and Johnny Cage (tour guide assistants) went with him and cut down the tree. 45 minutes later they returned with the most adorable 3-toed sloth ever. I love how they always bear a silly grin! I actually got to hold it too. We fell in love and it was sad to see her climb another tree.

Afterward we took a 2-3 hour hike in the rainforest (lowlands). Elso pointed out medicinal plants. We didn´t encounter many animals but the mosquitos were all over the place.

We came back, ate some lunch and headed back out to visit a native family. There we made Manioc, a staple in almost every single Brazilians diet. Its similar to cornmeal but is made from the root of a tree. It´s very healthy for you and full of protein! We brought back out home made goods and had some at dinner. Yum!

Before bed we went spear-fishing so that we could have some for breakfast in the morning! Again, I slept very very well in my hammock that night, despite seeing thre spiders bigger than my head inside our little jungalo!


SLOTH! My favorite animal in the WHOLE world!


Out in the lowlands romping around. This is Elso (left) and Johnny Cage.

Day 3
Oh boy! This was the day we woke up VERY early to go birdwatching. It was so hard to make myself get out of that hammock. I just wanted to sleep all day. It was worth it though - the birds were plentiful, beautiful and full of song.

We came back and got ready for the night I had been dreading most - a night in the highland rainforest. EEPS! By this time I was already stinky, my hair was greasy, frizzy and stringy and I just wanted a shower. Not a rough night. But out we went.

When we arrived to our ´´camp site´´ if you will, we had to build our sleeping quarters. We needed a place to hang out hammocks. ´The boys went out and cut down my trees (mostly our tour guides...haha) and that thing was put together in about 4 hours. Those are some real men!

Elso asked the women to collect some dry wood in the meantime. We weren´t very successful. We all went out (in the same direction, mind you)in search of some ´´dry´´ wood. It was very difficult to find considering we were in the RAINFOREST. We all came back with 1-2 twigs (some with green leaves on them). Needless to say, they didn´t use any of our wood. Now I know the difference between dry and wet wood...

After all was said and done, we scarfed down dinner - watermonk fish roasted over a home-made fire with beans and rice. We ate with bamboo spoons made by Elso. After dinner we went on a hike, found some nuts to eat and then 2 hours later headed back to camp. I was SO exhausted but hardly slept a wink. Before bed we found at least 3 deadly spiders and 1 snake - the second most deadly in the whole Amazon. It was coming toward my hammock - NO LIE! Scariest night of my life.


Building camp!


Cooking some yummy food! It was so good!


Bamboo leaves for bowls and bamboo sticks for utensils!

Day 4
I awoke several times to strange noises..at about 4 am I was up for good but refused to come out of my mosquito net until I worked up enough courage. I also wasnt too excited about putting on my stinky, soggy socks and shoes. I still shudder when I think about it! I managed to pull myself out around 6am. haha

Elso greeted me by saying, ´´Now that you have slept here and done this, you can go anywhere in the world and survive.´´ While I severely doubt the validity in that statement, I am still proud of myself for what I did. And now I am a new, improved Wendy. I learned that it´s actually fun to go without makeup for a week and its okay to get dirty. I learned that an insects primary goal in life is not to attack the human species and I also learned the difference between wet and dry wood.

We made breakfast - boiled eggs and coffee - and went out into the jungle for one last adventure. It turned out to be our most extreme yet! It lasted for almost 4 hours and included some tricky climbing up and down slick, steep and muddy areas. Many people fell..I was so exhausted I couldn´t even laugh very long when someone fell (doesn´t that sound mean...).

Our group encountered some really cool things..I can´t remember everything so I will just list some things that stuck out most!

1. Water vine - This is a vine that carries water up to flowers at the top of a tree. T here are three kinds - one is poisenous, one is bitter and the other is sweet and tasty! It is filtered through the vine and drinkable. We got to taste this and it was WONDERFUL.


Watervine - drinkable water (sweet to taste) at anyones fingertips (permitted you have a machete).

2. Tarantula - Suprirsingly, I was REALLY excited about this! I ran to the front of the line and wanted to hold it but wasn´t alloed. This particular one was bigger than most. It was called the bird-eating tarantula and if it bites humans they could lost different parts of the body (say..a hand) depending on where it bit. Yikes!


TARANTULA! This thing kills birds and eats em.

3. Mosquito tree - I can´t remember the particular name in Portuguse, but this is the name it translates to. You eat the bark, which is very very bitter (I tried some). It is used to treat Malaria and prevent mosquito bites. It makes the blood bitter so that mosquitos don´t want to bite you!

We saw a lot of other medicinal plants and tress. You can cure pretty much everything naturally. I love it! The whole time we were on our hike it was POURING down rain..a real monsoon! I have seriously never been that wet in my life.


Highland forest.

To be honest with you, I was glad when we finally got home. I felt like we´d never get back to Manaus. A shower never felt so good. While the dirt is washed away, the experience will forever be in my head. I am definitely a different person than I was last week.



Look forward to an entry in the next few days - I´ll talk about my experience in Foz Do Iquaçu - the largest, most beautiful waterfalls in the ENTIRE world!

Wendy


Comments (2)

I have been keeping a journal since I haven't been able to update this blog regularly. So, because it's the easiest thing to do, I´m posting bits and pieces of my journal entries right here for you. Words from the heart of Miss Wendy!



January 7, 2008
This morning we woke up early and visited Pelourinho again. It's really such a cool place - a bustling, active city! We walked to the square where slave trading once occured. It was such an odd experience. There had been SO much trading and abuse taking place many years ago - right where we were standing. And the whole history of it all seemed so far away..yet I could picture what it must have been like in my head.

Later we went to a really cool museum and then hit the beach! David and I bought a coconut and a guy with a machete broke the top open. We both drank the milk inside (with straws, of course). I felt like such a tourist! But the natives drink the coconut milk, too. Vendors all over the place with huge barrells full of bright green coconuts! The milk inside is refreshing. Perfect for a hot day. And all days are hot here in Brasil!











January 8, 2008
I swear I could never get annoyed by the music here. Even at 11:30 p.m. when there are drummers pounding away literally right outside my window and I'm trying to fall asleep ... it's such a unique experience. And the music is actually good and fun to listen to! Tonight there was a fabulous bosa nova (easy, light) performance right across the street. It started at about 6 p.m. and didn't stop until after 1 a.m. All the windows are wide open here so you could hear every single word and note. I was seranaded while taking a shower, while in the bathroom, while eating dinner, writing in my journal and even when I fell asleep! Music is such a huge part of this culture. I'm going to miss the passion for music - that's for sure.

In the afternoon we met with some people who live in Salvador. We talked about a lot of things regarding Bahia, Brasil and more specifically Salvador itself. One of the conversations that stood out the most to me was about the poorness of Salvador. This place is SO rich in terms of its agriculture fertility and diversity. I mean, there are myriad fruits and vegetables here that grow so well (I've never seen mangos so big!). But people are still so poor. Someone comes up to us at least 2-3x every 5 minutes asking for cash. They usually do tricks or try to sell you something cheap. We're told not to give any reals (Brasilian currency) to them. I've found that most beggars are children around 8-12 years old which makes it even harder.

On a ligher note, there are a lot of movements and projects that try to help these situations. It's at least encouraging to see that people notice a problem and are working toward a solution.



January 9, 2008
Today was AMAZING! This was exactly the kind of thing that I was expecting. We traveled by ferry to Itaparia, a small island off of Brasil. Once we were away from the ferry area, there were NO vendors or beggars. Just really friendly people who wanted to talk to us because we were there - not because we had money. After meeting with a pastor in a small church our group wandered around for a little while.

We ran into a bunch of little kids playing at the beach. It's their summer vacation after all! They were very happy to meet us! Even though they only spoke portuguese, we learned a lot from them. They loved it when we took their picture. They acted goofy and made silly faces then asked to see the camera to take a look! They'd giggle when they saw themselves. One boy had a pet spider monkey on a leash...I loved it!

They also did tricks for us and gathered random sea creatures from the ocean. Ha - they even teased the girls with gnarly looking crabs and thought it was super amusing to chase us around with them! They just laughed when we yelped! I was pretty calm though.

The whole experience was just perfect - very refreshing.









January 10, 2008
I've fallen ill. Turns out I have strep throat which is no fun. I wiped out early last night and spent the morning in bed, much to my dissatisfaction. What a bummer - especially since today is our last in Salvador. Still, though, the music playing all day long helped remind me that I was indeed in Salvador - not just at home resting! Again - the music is so nice here.

Anyway, it's strang here. You can get prescription medicine WITHOUT a prescription. I called my grandpa, who is a doctor, got a recommended prescription and went to the farmacia (pharmacy) to get it. Funny story - the medicine was from Lilly.

We went out to dinner a little bit ago. It was a "pay by the kilo" place. Very cheap and authentic! I loved it because it was inexpensive and tasty, to boot. You could also tell that it wasn't a touristy place. There were a bunch of natives eating and even some local vendors taking a break. It was fun.

Right now it's super busy outside. There was a huge marching band that just came through..now there is music across the street - some more Bosa Nova! My favorite. I'm definitely relishing my last night here in Salvador.

Tomorrow we head to Praie Do Forte, the turtle rescue island, then to Manuas and the Amazon Rainforest. I will probably not be able to update (due to the fact that I´ll be enjoying a lot of NATURE) until after I come back from the Amazon! Wish me luck..hopefully I don´t encounter too many anacondas!

CIOA!
Comments (3)

After 36 hours of SOLID transit time (literally..!), I have finally arrived to my destination: BRASIL! I've been planning for this trip for a year and to be honest with you, it's all so surreal now that I´m actually here.

Right now I'm sitting in our (very) warm hostel next to a few other travelers my age who are also kerplunking away on the computer. I regret to inform you that my ability to string words together in a coherent form is limited due to an extreme lack of sleep. However, I will try my best to capture the essence of Brasil at this hour of the day.

The windows are open and noises from the bar next door are making their way into this tiny room along with the occasional, yet very appreciated, cool breeze. It's relatively quiet inside but outside it's as noisy as can be, considering it´s 22.26 o'clock. I think that means it's almost 10:30pm. I could be very wrong. Telling military time is usually not my forte.

I just got back from an AMAZING dinner at this hoppin' resteraunt. I swear to all that is holy: I just had the best piece of salmon I've ever experienced. And the passion of Brasil's natives radiated across the whole joint. It's a Sunday night, mind you, in a catholic/protestant nation and the dance floor was PACKED. Everyone was dancing, laughing, throwing up their arms. I even felt the groove for a little while. Ooh and we tried these FABULOUS drinks that are really popular here. They are called Caipiranha or something of that nature..very reminiscent of a delicious mojita though much stronger and made with sugarcane liquer.

Everywhere we go people want to talk to us! Even this morning at the airport we bumped into a young gentleman who spoke only Portuguese. We actually learned a LOT about him and took the chance to teach each other a little about the others language. Then he broke out the guitar and sang us a few tunes.



It's so obvious that the people of Brasil are passionate about their country and want us to fully appreciate what this place has to offer. I've had a number of similar experiences here in the short time we've actually been able to interact with natives.

Anyway, today a small group of us also looked around the shops of historic Pelourinho: the old city. Cobblestone walkways, women in beautiful garb, lots of tiny shops filled with unique handcrafted items (with the inevitable touristy stuff, too).

Tomorrow we sight-see as a whole group. Look for more updates to come!

More pictures from today...

Cobblestone streets of Pelourinho!


A shop in Pelourinho


Encounter with a beautiful Brasilian woman!


Some handcrafted items in a Pelourinho shop



Comments (7)