Zach's Brazil Trip w/ Alexei and his family. New Years 2002 - Back
I went to Brazil for 2-1/2
weeks to see Alexei. I spent New Years in a beach house between Sao Paulo and
Rio de Janeiro with Alexei and his family. The islands and beaches we visited
along the coast between Sao Paulo and Rio were amazing. The mountains and rain
forest came right up to the ocean and between each mountain was a beautiful
beach. We saw some really cool waterfalls also. There was one on the island of
Ihlabela that was so smooth you could slide down it (there are some pictures of
us sliding down it below). We had to take a taxi into the rain forest in the
center of the island to get to it. Then we covered ourselves with bug spray and
citronella oil to keep the mosquitoes off of us. They had a bucket on a pole
with a hose coming out of it and you basically took a shower in citronella oil.
It helped but the mosquitoes still ate us. It was definitely worth getting a few
mosquito bites though.
After New Years we flew to Rio for a couple days and stayed
with Alexei's cousin. The plane ticket from Soa Paulo to Rio was about US$60 and
the tickets were hand written. They didn't check our ID's and there were no
assigned seats. They did have free beer on the flight though. The samba school,
Salguiero, that we visited in Rio was really cool. If you ever go there make
sure you visit a samba school. This is were the samba bands and dancers practice
for carnival. It is cheap and tons of fun even if your a white boy that can't
samba dance. We also went to see the giant Christ the you have probably
seen on TV or pictures of. This was my second time there. The view of Rio from
there is amazing. Hang Gliding from the mountains over Rio is really popular.
Next year we are spending New Years in Rio and I'm going to go Hang Gliding on
that trip no matter what.
This was hands down the best place I have ever spent a New
Years and I'm going to do it again in 2003!
