The first day, I arrived at Belo Horizonte, where the trip began. That first night exchange students were arriving from morning till evening. So many kids would get shipped in groups. When I got there I met my friend Naime, I already knew her from before but I was so glad to see a familiar face. We would go around asking everyones names, after introducing ourselves. There were 89 other students from 21 different countries. Everyone from the same country was sort of the same. For example, the people from denmark, were skinny, tall, blond hair, and blue eyes. The people from Germany had strong facial features, also blond hair and blue eyes. The people from Mexico were tan and had brown hair and brown eyes. It was cool how every country had a typical sterotypical person (if those are even the right words). All these people seemed so different, little did I know they would become my family. Anyways, in BH we went to a Forró dance lesson class. Forró is a type of dance here in Brasil. It was decently awkward because a lot of people didnt know one another and we had to dance with a partner. It was very funny because no one had good rythm and it was funny because everyone was struggling. Fast forward to the first destination: Brasilia. Every morning we would get up at around 5:30-6:00 AM, we would then put our suitcases on the bus at around 6:30 AM and then leave by 7:00 AM. That was about every other day/ every two days. We would then fill up 2 big busses and live on that bus for about 12 hours, every journey. We would only stop once around 12:20 PM for lunch. Talk about carsickness. Anyways, in Brasilia, we just went around seeing a lot of Government buildings type of things in Washington DC.
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| View from my room |
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| A famous church |
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| the family |
After Brasilia we set off for another long bus ride to Lençóis - Chapada Diamantina. Here we arrived at a five star hotel, it was amazing. All the girls had their own little bungalow's to live in for the next four days! We all were just chilling out, around the pool, with the mountains in the background. Here we did a lot of trekking. We hiked to these waterfalls, and we even slid down them! It was a special waterfall where it was turned into a natural water slide and we could ride down it. It was super cool. The water felt so nice, taking a dip in the cool water after hiking about an hour in the blazing, Brasilian sun. We also went to a cave. We went down into a cave with only a torch light, and it was pitch black, as well as, dead silent. Our guide shut off the light at one point far into the cave, and everyone was silent. I had never heard anything that quiet before. If that makes any sense.We then went to a zip line. We zipped lined down to the clearest water I have ever swimmed in. My dream ever since I was little, was always to swim in clear blue water, and I reached that dream this day.We went snorkling in this cave too. We had flashlights and it was so cool, the deep blue water, swimming under rocks, the sound of pure water trickling down the rocks, and the occasional cherp of a bat flying above you. I have never been in such an awesome experience.
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| The zipline |
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| on top of the zipline, my friend Jenny (Mexico) |
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Where we went snorkling
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| Snorkling! |
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| Snorkling |
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| The cave |
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| The waterfall slide |
After Lençóis we were on the bus for another 12 hours to Maceió. This was the first beach that we were going to visit, finally! We went to the beach. We had to take a boat to the island that we stayed at for the day. A beautiful beach and blazing sun down on the hot sand. There was also a big Flee market close to our hotel, a bunch of exchange students stopped by there to shop the next day. We also took these sailboats out on the water to this sand bar. it was called the Natural water pools. Everyone was playing in the water and having a great time. The water was so warm too! One night we also went to a Forró dance bar. We could practice what we learned the first days in our Forró lessons, and we did.
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| Dancing on the way to the island |
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| The island beach |
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| Paradise |
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| The beach |
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| More beach |
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| My friend Eva (France) and I on the boat |
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| The boat |
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| Natural pools, my friend Naime (Mexico) |
From Maceió we went to Natal. Natal was the city most north on our trip. It is closest to the Ecuador line, and it is very hot there. Some days even get up to 15 hours of sunlight. In Natal we also went to the beach. Our hotel over looked the beach, it was beautiful. We visited the biggest cashew tree in the world. It was massive, so many branches but all coming only from one trunk. After the tree visiting we went to relax on the beach. The beach was so fun. The water was warm, and the waves were crashing. When we got back to the hotel we got ready for the Luau we were going to have. We went to this beautiful hotel and in the back near the pool, had an area set up for us. There was a big pool, an area with pool and fooseball tables, a bar with fresh fruit to eat, and a DJ. All of it was just for us, exchange students. In Natal we also went to the beach, but we didnt just drive the busses to the beach. We took these buggy cars to the beach. We road up and down the dunes, sand whipping in our faces, racing and almost falling a few times, yelling out. It was so awesome. We would stop a few times to take pictures and get a drink, but it was such a rush!
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| The Cashew Tree |
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| The fruit the cashew comes from |
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| Just one tree |
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| Biggest Cashew tree in the world |
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| The beach we went to |
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| Blessing (South Africa), Naime (Mexico), Me, Toa (Ecuador) |
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| The world |
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| USA |
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| Some of the girls |
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| The buggies on the dunes |
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| Naime (Mexico), Sandro (Germany), Me |
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| Riding the buggies |
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| Our rides |
After Natal, we took a quick trip to visit Recife. In Recife, we took time to give the toys and souvenirs we bought in Natal to the children in a school that is located in a rough area. When we visited that school we all gave the children our Christmas/Holiday gifts! Some people had stickers from home, some had little trinkets they bought, and some had souvenirs they had bought at another city. The kids were all so cute and they appreciated us coming to visit so much. Then we had a little bit of free time and down time, to go to the supermarket, or what not. After that we got ready for the talent show. It was so funny. My friend Fre (USA), my friend Ashleigh (Canada), and I, danced to the song "Jump On It". We all wore similar clothes and had made up a routine to the song. It was a lot of fun" Some other acts included, beatboxing, more dancing, singing, and even the rubix cube made an appearence. The next days we took a tour through Old Recife. We visited a town called Olinda and there we visited some old churches and houses, it was beautiful. We ended out tour in the grand mall of Recife. This mall is the second biggest shopping center in all of Brasil.
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| Giving toys to the kids |
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| Jedrek (Poland), Poppy (Australia), Arturo (Mexico) |
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| Singing: Blessing (South Aftrica), Nicola (New Zealand) |
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| 1 minute 10 seconds. Luiz (Mexico) |
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| Dancing Belguim/France style |
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| Singing: Original song made by them |
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| Dancing |
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| Jump On It! Ashleigh, Fre, Me |
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| I dont even know |
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| The Germans dancing |
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| Im a Barbie Girl |
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| India |
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| Churches |
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| More churches |
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| Museums |
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| Fre (USA) |
After we left Recife, we went to Salvador. The first day we spent at the beach of Porto Galinhas. We visited this TAMAR project, it was a project with the sea turtles. It was just like a little acquarium. We then went to the Olodum, a percussion band of Salvador. We danced a lot, it was so fun. We visited a lot of historical places here in Salvador. The famous church of the Bomfim. Where they sell lembrance ribbons and when you put it on you tie it 3 times and make 1 wish for each knot. By the end of the day I am pretty sure everyone had one on their wrist. We then went to a huge flee market shopping place. This consisted of 3 floors of stores just like in Canal street or something. Selling little trinkets or souvenirs to bring home with you. After Salvador we headed off to Porto Seguro. This was a short stop. Just a bunch of Historical places we visited. We even went to the cross where the first Mass was held here in Brasil.
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| Porto Galinhas |
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| TAMAR Project |
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| Bomfim |
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| Lembranças |
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| Surrounding the church |
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| Elevator |
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| The beautiful Bahia woman, and Fre (USA) |
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| Bahia |
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| Salvador |
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| Where Michael Jackson staged one of his videos |
After, we spent some time in Rio de Janeiro! The part of the trip most people were looking forward to, but also meant it was near the end or our vacation. Our hotel was right near famous Copacabana beach. We had free time to walk to boardwalk and take in the beauty of this wonderful city. The next day we went to visit Cristo. This was such an incredible statue. The scenery behind him of all the city, and the amazingly giant Jesus Crist standing in front of you, as you look up to his arms spread in the shape of a cross. After we took the usual tourist pictures we went to Sugar Loaf. As some people (canadians) thought it was a sweet bread factory, the others knew it was just another spot to see the city from above. The next that we went to Favela da Roçinha. This is the biggest slum in Latin America. As Roçinha is very dangerous and we were not able to enter, we had the chance to walk through another Favela, it seemed just as big. All the houses smushed together as if they were built as one big house and the pathways were made after. As we walked through the small trails between houses and it seemed as if we were stuck in a maze. A window of one house barely touching the front door to another house. It was really sad that people had to live this way. I had never seen anything like it and it opened my eyes.
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| Sugar Loaf |
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| The famous picture infront of Cristo |
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| Me |
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| Obviously had to have the beautiful flag |
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| Cristo himself |
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| Tourists |
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| Favela da Roçinha |
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| Walking through the Favela |
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| more houses |
After we spent our time in Rio we went to the last location of our trip, Angra dos Reis. It was a beautiful little island, and the hotel was just to us. First we took a day long boat trip, riding around, occausionally stopping so we could jump off the boat and swim in the clear blue water, tanning on the upper deck, and listening to music. It was all just a fun day! We finally arrived on the island and the hotel was an outside layout, rooms here and there all overlooking the water. That night we all got ready for the ending party. It was so sad, 89 individuals in the beginning, from around the world, spending 1 month together, all ending as 1 family. I am proud to say these people are my family, and I will never forget them. Well, yes, we took the night handing out our Rotary cards and pins from your country. Here is a quick overview, each Rotary Exchange Student has their own business card that he/she makes, including their home address, email, name, picture, and phone number. They also have pins or bracelets with something to do from his/her home country. When a Rotary Exchange Student meets another member of Rotary or another exchange student, they trade pins and cards. Each student has a navy blue blazer (colors vary from country to country) to put the pins on from around the world. Usually when their year is over the blazer weighs a few pounds and is pretty strange looking, but totally original. I, however, am proud to wear my blazer around and show off how many people I know from around the world. So after we traded pins and cards to eachother, we had dinner. Then a DJ showed up and we danced all night! Since Debora told us we didn't have to sleep in our assigned rooms and we didnt have a curfew for that night, it was literally ALL night. Three other girls and I ended up crashing in a room with a double sized bed, it was a tight squeeze but it was warm. We weren't there for long before being woken up by cold water being thrown onto us, by a few of the German boys. It was a rude awakening, but the party was a good ending just being with everyone. The next morning we woke up early and had breakfast. The mood was super gloomy and sad that we were finally saying our last goodbyes. As we all cried and gave hugs to everyone saying our goodbyes to the family that would never be the same again. Yes, some of us live together here, and some will visit, but not every one of those people will be together at the same time, like we were for that unforgettable month. I love you all and I miss you terribly, thank you for making this trip the best of my life. Beijos, Ave.
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| The boat ride |
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| Brasil |
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| Swimming in the clear water |
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| Jumping off the boat |
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| View from my room |
