BRAZIL, PART 2

DAY 6: Our first day in Natal we went with Jefson to The 3 Kings Fortress. It was like a mini castle. We were able to walk there through some shallow ocean water.

We thought the English translation of the sign was rather hilarious. Then a bunch of school boys walked in on Jared pulling up his pants after using the bathroom. Oops

After the fortress, Jefson dropped us off at one of the nicer beaches and we just hung out the rest of the day. The boys went on a walk to see the whole beach. We just body surfed, looked for rocks and slept. They all got sunburnt, suckers.

DAY 7: Jefson took us to the local aquarium. They had monkeys! Which we thought was interesting.

All the guys touched a Nurse shark. It was too deep for me to reach though.

Some alligators.

I'm not sure how this tree is holding this snake.

We got to watch some kid swim with the sharks!

After the aquarium Jefson took us to get a popsicle and it was a great view.

Pete and Jared climbed to the top of the tree.

After this Jefson had to go to work so he took us to his father-in-law's who took us to a beach about 2+ hours from Natal. We were basically kidnapped and made to take these pictures. Looking back, I'm glad we got them because they make me laugh!

After taking these silly pictures we went to the actual beach of love. You can kind of tell in this picture that the coast line is in a heart shape.

After playing at the beach for about an hour we went to the largest cashew tree in the world. We were cold and hungry and not very excited at this point, but it was super cool. All the branches would dive into the ground and then come back up.

Birds eye view. It took up a whole city block.

After we were taken home we went out for some interesting pizza. The owner/waiter was very excited to have Americans in his store.

DAY 8: Our last day in Natal we went on a buggy ride. It was an all day excursion. Our guide/driver was pretty funny and super nice. However the first part of our trip it started raining, a lot. It got really cold being in that buggy. Luckily it warmed up and we dried quick.

At our first stop we just walked around and took a quick picture since it was still raining. Plus, the area they were showing us was a swamp.

So throughout this endeavor we were driving through a nation park of just dunes. Our driver said that certain dunes don't change and those were the ones we were able to drive on and a few had some serious drops. Very exciting.

The tide was in on one of the areas we needed to cross so we loaded up the buggy on a fairy and were off.

Jared was pretty excited.

We got to hang out at this lake/pond area and have lunch. Jared found a bench press station and indulged himself. They also played some more frisbee.

The next area was pretty cool. The boys went down this gigantic water slide into a lake. It had started raining again at this point so I didn't go because I wanted to stay warm. I did find a few souvenirs for our ourselves though.

The last area we went we played in some tide pools. Pete found a few crabs and played with them.

Sure do love this kid.

Our drive back to the city.

We went to dinner at this 5 star restaurant and it was the nicest place I have ever been! We had delicious passion fruit, pineapple with mint and acerola juices.

This was our first main course. Lobster, yucca and rice with raisins. IT WAS SO TASTY! I still dream about this dinner. If only I could remake it!

After dinner Jefson and Julia gave us gifts to remember our stay with them, but we also had a gift for them. A movie gift card! Apparently those aren't very common in Brazil. No one knew what Pete and Austin were asking for.

BRAZIL, PART 1

To be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to remember every single detail from this amazing vacation we were able to have with Austin and Jared. But alas, I realized the pictures we took were in chronological order :)

So lets start with our flight to Rio. Austin had to take an earlier flight because we messed up the algorithm when we had to re-buy our tickets after the Mexican airline changed our time of departure and arriving city to Sao Paolo. I don't think I've ever seen Pete so frustrated in our entire marriage. After that phone call, which in total lasted over 2+ hours, I bought him a sodalicious cookie to make him feel better, but back at the airport. We boarded our flight to Miami 2 hours after Austin left and our plane was having mechanical problems so we sat on the tarmac for almost 3 hours without food or drink and then flew for 5 hours without any food. I thought I was going to die. Then everyone with a connecting flight had to run to the terminal of the next flight because it technically was suppose to leve 10 minutes before we landed. Jared, Pete and I ran feverishly through the airport to catch on flight to Rio with Austin. We just prayed our luggage made it too. And it did!

Once we were through customs in Rio de Janeiro we took a cab to our hotel which was 3 blocks from the 2 beaches. It was pretty nice but since we couldn't check in just yet we grabbed our swim my suits and walked both beaches brainstorming everything we wanted to do. 

We went to dinner and it was delicious! Granted it was steak and french fries, how could you go wrong with that?

DAY 1: We went to Jesus Christ the Redeemer. There were two different look out points as you go up the mountain and we all liked the first one the best. Probably because Pete and Jared loved watching the airplane fly by.

Once we arrived at the actually statue there were so many people taking selfies I couldn't help but laugh a little. It was really interesting reading the history of the site and statue of Christ, but it was all in portuguese so I don't remember any of it.

After that we went to lunch and walked to a lake that's in the middle of the city, rented a peddle boat and chased some birds in the process.

I didn't know I was in this picture, but it sure makes me laugh!

That evening we found an acai place and it was delicious! We only got a picture of Jared and myself before a homeless woman started asking us for money. It was awkward.

DAY 2: We woke up early to watch the sunrise and then Jared and Austin worked out on the beach.

Don't mind the light pole in the background, our photographer was from Germany.

After eating breakfast we went to Sugar Loaf Mountain which is another look out point of Rio. We got to ride a tram up to the top and one of the security guards was LDS so we chatted with him for a few minutes.

As we rode the first tram Pete kept taking pictures of us. They're so cute.

Once we got to the first level we found some statues so we thought it'd be funny to take pictures with them. After we found a bench and watched a helicopter take off. Pete and Jared were hoping for another airplane to fly by us but it never happened.

On the second level we found a monkey that would jump on peoples tables and steal sugar packets to eat. We found it very entertaining.

Behind us in this picture is Sugar Loaf. It was pretty cool. Once we got to the top they let you hike down the mountain so we did. I think I only flashed my garments a few times... Going downhill in a dress and sandals was probably not the best idea.

As we were hiking down Jared found a few vines to swing on and I can't help but laugh every time I see this video.

Later that evening we went to downtown Rio and walked around before we went to a soccer game between Curitiba and Vasco da Gama. The home team lost in stoppage time so we left rather quickly to avoid any fights.

This was in front of a museum and the statue was of a revolutionary named Tiradentes.

The boys found this gigantic skateboard and wanted to ride it but the tires were flat so we just took pictures.

This stadium was HUGE! And gave you the nastiest burgers. I think we took 2 years off of our lives eating them.

DAY 3:  It was a lovely Sunday in Rio. We were able to go to church and then the botanical gardens. I've never seen so many palm trees and uniques flowers and fish in one place before! I wish I could have one of these in my backyard one day!

After Jared was done drinking he hit his head on the fountain. It was sad.

This pond had some weird looking fish with gnarly teeth.

Jared got in trouble for taking this picture, apparently it can hurt the roots of the tree.

Pete likes to take pictures of flowers and leaves.

After walking around for a few hours we had early dinner being Feijoada, black bean stew. It use to be slave food back in the day. The owners would give the slaves all the left overs of the pig and they would make this. It was gross. To much skin, fat and pig hairs. Pete and Austin loved it though, it took them back to areas on their missions.

Once we digested we went back to the beach to watch the sunset. The boys brought their frisbee to throw around. A few brazilian boys came over and asked what they were doing so we taught them how to throw a frisbee and it was hilarious! I wish I had taken more pictures and videos. In the end we gave them Pete's frisbee and went home for the night.

This was the group that learned and played frisbee. They were really funny and entertaining.

DAY 4: WE WENT HANG GLIDING! It was so much fun. I wish I could do it all over again. As we were driving to the beach to go hang gliding there was a motorcyclist that was killed on the freeway so we had to drive though a favela (ghetto). It was crazy! It was a completely different world and smelt like poop. I'm happy we were able to see one while we were in Brazil though. Our cab driver was insane though and kept rolling down his window and talking to people randomly about the accident. When we arrived at the beach our guides/instructors were waiting for us and they were so nice! Mine spoke english and made me more comfortable with the idea of jumping off a mountain.

Pete's so cute in his get-up.

Here are a few pictures of us in the air :) It was like I was flying! My guy was a bit nicer than Pete's.. He let me fly the hang glider. T'was amazing!

DAY 5: It was our last morning in Rio so we went to the beach! The boys went surfing while I laid there people watching. After a few hours we went back to the airport to fly to Natal. In Natal we stayed with one of Austin's mission companions Jefson and his wife Julia. We didn't know he was married until we got there. It was a bit awkward.