Tchau Brasil!

I am currently on my plane back to the US and I am feeling some very mixed emotions. Over these past few weeks, I have really gotten to bond to Juliana’s family so saying goodbye to them was not the most fun thing that I did today at all. Elaine was almost in tears when she told me to come back to my Brazilian home whenever I want to, and Paulo gave me such an amazing big hug that I had to get a second one before REALLY walking away! Hugging Juliana for the last time for awhile was weird because she is such a permanent part of my life that it feels strange to say good bye to her ever. When I got to my gate and sat down, I got a text from her saying “miss having you around me” which is Juliana-English for “I miss having you near me” which is a very very sweet message to get and I felt exactly the same way. Just sitting next to her, I feel such a connection. And with Juliana I never worry about the future because she is mine and I am in hers no matter what and for as long as possible. :) 

Okay, okay, you probably want to hear about my last few days in Brazil and see some pictures. You are lucky that I am so dedicated because this flight happens to have lots of movies that I am actually interested in watching, soooo this kind of feels like homework but I will get through it and we will all be happy! 

The past week was a mixture of lot of different types of calm days. Juliana and I were so tired when we got back from Rio! She took a five hour nap and I watched a movie with Victor and then we ate dinner and went to sleep hahah. I was still a little bit sick so we spent lots of time together drinking tea and talking about whatever, you know, like friends do. 

On Sunday the whole family headed out to the country side to visit Juliana’s grandparents from her Mother’s side of the family. We had a big Brazilian BBQ and all the aunts and uncles and cousins came! It was a sunny day and they had a really pretty garden and pool. It wasn’t warm enough to swim, but it was warm enough to sit by the pool and drink some caipirinha and feel summery in the middle of winter! Juliana’s dad made us caipirinha because I needed to try it before I left, and it was pretty good! The food we ate for lunch was absolutely AMAZING. Seriously, the best chicken of my life. I don’t know what they did to make that chicken but it was so delicious hahah. We spent the afternoon there! I braided Juliana and her cousin’s hair and we played a little Pateca! When the day started winding down, Juliana and I made plans to go grocery shopping so that we could trade a bunch of recipes. That night, we went to the grocery store and got all sorts of things for the recipes, and also mango and guava because I hadn’t had enough of the inexpensive and delicious fruit that Brazil has to offer, and we had to change that. 

On Monday morning, we spent quite a bit of time making different foods! I showed Juliana how to make the special oatmeal my mom and Sky always used to make (oats, chia seeds, plain yogurt, peanut butter, and apple, a banana, and some honey) and then I taught Juliana and her mom how to make some yummy “healthy” cookies that my mom always makes! In return, I was taught how to make brigadiero and that it is delicious when served with bananas hahah. Cooking with Juliana and her mom was very fun! Everything turned out different than it does at home, of course, but it was still pretty delicious! Elaine really wants to use the recipe to sell to all her cookie clients, and I think that is a great idea because they are sooo good! I think people will love them! 

On Tuesday, Juliana and I got up early to have acai at the mall for breakfast before doing some souvenir shopping. It was the girliest day I have had in a very long time hahah. The breakfast was very nice, and the shopping was pretty funny because neither of us usually enjoy it very much. But we are Sally and Juliana, and we always find a way to have fun together! :) We even went and got our nails done hahaha. And afterwards, we had an amazing lunch and the restaurant gave us free dessert! 

After all the mall stuff, Juliana and I took an uber to her other grandparents’ house (the Father’s side) to have coffee and do a little meeting and catching up. Both sets of grandparents were very nice, and I am glad I got a chance to meet them! The grandpa found out there is a certain Brazilian candy I really like (called Pacoca) and he brought out his secret stash and I thought that was very sweet hahah. 

On my last day in Brazil, Juliana and I made oatmeal again, and then I showed her how to make banana bread. Juliana’s mom had made Brazilian pudim which is an extremely tasty dessert that is kind of like a flan, so I traded my banana bread for that recipe. In the afternoon, Juliana and I went to a supermarket so I could get some snacks for the plane and use the few Reais I had left to get some groceries I can’t buy in the States. I really wanted to take coconut on the plane with me, so we bought one but when we got home it was way to difficult to chop up! Juliana’s dad totally came to the rescue and spent at least 25 minutes working on the coconut but he totally suceeded and it was a miracle! We had to leave the house at 5:30, even though my flight woulnd’t leave until 11:30, because of all of the traffic going into Sao Paulo. I was skeptical about this, thinking we would arrive way too early, but I ended up being very wrong hahah because what should have been an hour drive took over three hours! I said goodbye to Juliana’s mom and brothers at the house because they had things they needed to do, and Juliana and her father and I took off to the airport. After awhle sitting in traffic, Juliana and I got pretty punch-drunk and began to sing and dance and laugh about everything. I was having so much fun with her and kept forgetting I was on my way to say goodbye, and everytime I remembered I just wanted to freeze time and not have to go anywhere. It occured to me on that car ride that I really should have tried harder to learn Portuguese. The biggest reason I didn’t try very hard was because I wanted to talk with Juliana as much as possible, and we are so much better at speaking English together! But I realized as Juliana and her dad talked in the car that I could understand almost all the words they were saying to each other, and that if I had made an effort, I could have managed to communicate with her parents more which would have meant a lot to them. My favorite part of the drive was when Juliana’s dad began to bargain with the guys selling food to the cars stopped in traffic. It was bumper-to-bumper for about three hours, so lots of young people were running around different snacks. Paulo decided to see how low he could make people go with the chocolate bars, and we ended up with five of them in the back seat hahaha. Juliana and I ate one right away because we were hungry and crazy in the back seat! It was pretty good chocolate haha and perfect for the long ride. When we were about 10 minutes from the airport, Paulo asked me which terminal to go to, and I had no idea so I decided to pull up the itenerary on my phone. I studied my phone screen for a few seconds, and then I saw something that made my heart actually skip a beat: the date. We thought we had gotten to the airport two hours early, but really we were 22 hours late. I had missed my flight! I don’t know what I said, but I began to panic. I told Juliana and her dad and they didn’t know what to say, but it only took them seconds to take on the task of calming me down. I was shocked and confused and embarrassed and worried about what would happen. A tiny part of me hoped people at the airport would understand, but it was such a big dumb mistake that in my heart I knew better. Juliana’s dad has knee problems and cannot walk very far, but he made a huge effort to come with us and talk to the airline about what to do next. The Latam employees apologized about not being able to help, but offered me another ticket for only 3000 American dollars which I gracefully declined hahah. We sat down and I got out my computer and found a flight online for 1000 and I bought it using some of the money I have been saving all year for when I go to a four year college. Spending that much felt pretty terrible because it was such a silly mistake, and I was pretty shaken up because I really wanted to go home right then and sleep in my bed and not be on vacation anymore, but I couldn’t! I felt very stuck in Brazil. Juliana’s father told me that everything happens for a reason, though, and that I must clearly still have something I need to do in Portuguese. This entire time, Juliana had been translating for me so I could talk to her parents, but in that moment I remembered how I had regretted not making an effort to speak with her family in their language, and put together a sloppy sentence saying that I was going to learn Portuguese within the next day! From then on, the entire car ride home, and even when I was just with Juliana, I spoke in Portuguese! It came pretty quickly because I had been hearing it for three weeks, and even though I can’t pronounce everything and I mess up most of the words, people understand me now! I was pretty excited about this when we got home. Juliana’s family was pretty surprised that I could say so much after an hour of practice with Juliana in the car hahah. We ate pizza for dinner that night and talked about what had happened. I realized how lucky I was to have soemthing like that happen in a place where I felt so safe and loved! I went to bed, feeling emotionally exhausted and nervous about travelling the next day, but lucky to be okay.

Today on my last day in Brazil, I got up early to make pancakes for Elaine and Paul before working on cookies all day with Elaine! The cookies are pretty tedious work, but it felt good to lessen her work load and I enjoyed talking to her all day! Juliana was at work until 3pm, but when she got home she joined in on the cookie making. I honestly felt pretty anxious for most of the day because of all the flight drama the night before. I just wanted know that everything would be okay with the new flight I had booked! The busy work helped with that quite a bit! In the afternoon, Juliana’s grandparents came over for some coffee and cake, so I got to see them one last time! Before I knew it, we were packing up and heading to the airport again. This time, the airport we had to go to was only twenty minutes away, and almost the whole family was able to come! I cuddled Juliana in the back seat the whole way to the airport, and now I am on the plane. 

All of my clothes were packed up so I had to borrow some hahah.

I have been able to speak only in Portuguese with everyone in the airport and now with all the flight attendants on the plane! It’s crazy how much I picked up without realizing it. I even got a compliment from the lady who checked my bording pass!! 

I am so sleepy hahaha. I started writing this at 11 when I got on the plane, and now its 1:09am and I am not even sure my sentences are making sense. I apologize for the low quality of this last blog post, but there is so much to write about and I don’t have all the energy I need. I feel like there are so many happy things I want to tell you about but I can’t remember all of them, and so many ideas that I wanted to share that I’ve forgotten. Maybe I will remember when my flight lands in Florida and I can fix this post hahaha. Okay, that is all for now. If Juliana is reading this, I jus want to say thank you again for being my favorite person and for making this wonderful tirp possible. I love you so much! 

Rio de Janeiro

Ohhhh my goodness! I can’t believe that I just spent an entire week with Juliana Rosa in Rio de Janeiro! I have always heard about how amazing Rio is, but I didn’t ever plan on coming here until I was older and less broke, but somehow Juliana made it happen, and that is just one small example of how amazing she is. :)

It was a very interesting week, and not a single day here was repetitive in any way! I actually feel pretty lucky to have been here on the coldest winter day of Rio this year hahah (it was like 68 degrees Farenheit) but to also have spent a day in the sun on the beach! I feel nothing but gratitude for everything I have been able to see thanks to Juliana and all the wonderful hospitality shown to me by Bruno’s family. Everytime I think I’ve met all the incredible people, I am taught that more and more and more exist! 

 

After arriving at the airport on the first day, we took an uber to Bruno’s grandma’s house to have lunch and drop off our bags. She prepared a lovely lunch of meat, beans, rice, farofa, and potatoes, and it was all very tasty. Shortly after, we took about a half hour walk to Cordova so we could take the train up to the Cristo statue. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got to the top! Not only was the statue about 10 times taller than I had imagined, but the view was one of the most amazing views that I had ever seen in my whole life! You can see all of Rio from the top! It is the tallest mountain and it was a sunny day and the water was so blue! Since it was so late in the day, we got to see the sunset up there. We watched the sky turn from pink, to red, to purple, and then we watched the city lights turn on, one by one, and it was like watching the stars come out! You can’t really see stars in Rio, because it is a big city, but up there I didn’t really care about that! Looking down at Rio it occured to me that I had never seen a city that was RIGHT between the sea and the mountains before. I prefer my nature without city all over it, but I have to admit that all that nature makes Rio look very very nice! 

 

 

On our second day in Rio, it wasn’t very warm at all. The sky was cloudy and it was slightly drizzly, but it was still about 72 degrees Farenheit! We decided to wear not-so-summery clothes and go on a long walk around the city. We started at the Museum of Tomorrow, and then walked along the water for awhile and looked at all the boats. It was explained to me that the walk we were doing was the Olympic Walk and at the end of it we saw the Olympic Torch! We then headed into the city and walked around a bit more. We went on a tour of a church (I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t want to offend anyone) and then went to a very old library that Juliana promplty fell in love with hahaha. It was a pretty impressive library! There were a lot of super old books in French, but we weren’t allowed to touch them. Later that evening when we got home, we all sat around and hung out until we were hungry, and then we walked down the street to a little restaurant and I tried tapioca! In Brazil, tapioca is a very thin sort of bread/tortilla/naan looking thing that you an put sandwich-y things in. I didn’t think the tapioca actually tasted like anything, but the chicken and tomato inside was very good! I was also just happy to try a food that we don’t have in the US. :)

 

Coffee!

 

The next morning, I woke up feeling pretty awful. I had the chills and my throat hurt and my head was pounding. I asked Juliana for some tea, but she said she didn’t know because it wasn’t her house and then Bruno didn’t know because it wasn’t his house so I had a little coffee to drink something warm before we left the house. I really, really, wanted to stay in bed and I felt pretty uncomfortable for the beginning of the day because I didn’t know how to be sick in Brazil! Then it occured to me that I am 20 now and need to learn to take care of myself, so i decided that that evening, I would go to a market and buy myself some tea and feel better the next day no matter what! That idea cheered me up, and then I was pleasanty surprised to learn that the plan for the day, since it was cold and rainy, was to go on a long drive and see the pretty coastal scenery. Bruno’s grandparents from the other side of the family had invited us to get lunch and then take us on a drive in the afternoon. This idea inpsired Bruno’s dad to rent a car in the morning and drive us to the top of a mountain! It all went pretty smoothly, except for a couple funny things. First of all, there was a good half hour where we kept trying to drive the car up a particularily steep hill, and it just couldn’t make it. The car would give up and start rolling backwards. I was terrified, but everyone else just seemed irritated so I just figured this happens in Brazil sometimes, and did my best not to worry. At one point, Juliana, Bruno, and I were instructed to get out of the car to see if we were makign it to heavy, so we stood in the rain while the car tried and failed again. Juliana wrapped a sweater over my head and around my neck to keep me from getting more sick or cold, and I thought it was very sweet of her hahah. Eventually we figured things out and made it up a hill using a different street, but when we got to the top, it was so cloudy and foggy that we couldn’t see anything but the trees in front of us! I wasn’t bothered at all though hahah. I was warm and safe and I thought it was kind of funny that we should experience such weather in Rio! Not at all consistent with the stereotypes of Rio hahah. :) Lunch with Bruno’s grandparents was amazing! They ordered everyone this delicious shrimp risotto, and Juliana ordered me tea and water for my throat! I was very grateful for that, and I felt nourished and happy during the long car ride we took after lunch. We went around the coast, stopping every once and awhile to take pictures. With the fog, parts of it reminded me of Mendocino, only the plants were very different! It was a nice choice for something to do on a wintery day. :) That evening when we got home, Juliana and I went to the market and I bought some tea and some cookies and after three cups of tea, I got in bed early and got a very very nice long night of sleep! 

 

On our fourth day in Rio, I woke up feeling still a little sick, but a lot better! My throat didn’t hurt anymore, it only felt weird (you know how throats do that) and my head didn’t hurt anymore! I still felt a little weak and shaky, but I had two delicious cups of tea for breakfast and the sun was out again and I only had two days left in Rio and I was determined to enjoy them no matter what! The first thing we did was return the rental car we had been using the day before. It was sunny and warm and the beach was only about a mile away from where we had to leave the car, so we decided to walk there! We walked all along Copacabana and then through a park to Ipanema! Next to Ipanema there was a really big rocky area and we decided to go climb on it. It ended up being a very nice and warm place to hang out, so we rested there for awhile. Juliana and Bruno climbed down to be near the water, and I stayed up high where I could see everything. My mom and sister and I have always enjoyed closing our eyes on the beach and listening. I thought of my mom and closed my eyes and rested my head on my knees for awhile because it is such a restful thing to do! A few minutes later, a man who I’m guessing was about 26 said something at me from about ten feet away. I looked up confused, and he said something else, looking right into my eyes, and gestured at the sky. I had no idea what he was saying, so I said that I didn’t speak Portuguese, and he said something about God and he said it over and over again. I felt uncomfortable because I couldn’t understand, and my inner-parisien was telling me to get up and walk away because I had given the appropriate 30 seconds to prove he wasn’t crazy, but I wasn’t convinced! He wasn’t flirting, and he didn’t seem angry, but he didn’t seem particularily nice. He was just very firm. He wanted me to know what he was saying but I couldn’t understand! Then he took a step towards me and I got up and left. He said something behind me but I kept walking until I was down where Juliana and Bruno were. I hung out with them and we put on lots of sunscreen and stayed for about 25 more minutes. When we decided to get up to eat something, we had to climb up the rock again and pass the man, who I didn’t want to see because the situation had been so weird! That’s when a boy (maybe 15 years old) came up to me and asked me if I speak English. I said yes, and he told me that the man who kept saying things to me earlier didn’t speak any English, but was afraid he had scared me or upset me. He had asked the boy to come over to me and tell me that the man only wanted me to know that God cares about me, and that I will be okay. I asked the boy why he was saying that, and the boy told me that the man thought I looked sad when I was sitting up on the rock with my eyes closed, and that he wanted to comfort me! I thanked the boy and asked him to tell the man that that was very sweet of him and that if I had understood Portuguese, I would have been much nicer! The boy went over and told the man this, and then I waved at them, and then they waved back, and then Juliana, Bruno, Bruno’s dad, and I, left to eat lunch. :)

For lunch I had some salmon and passion fruit risotto! Weird huh?! Very interesting hahaha. After lunch we headed over to a place called Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) to take a gondola up to a very tall rock to see another beautiful view of Rio! We had to walk up a lot of stairs in the jungle to get to the base of the gondola, but it was all worth it, because we ran into some monkeys so my dreams came true!! I seriously thought the monkeys were squirrels, but I lost it when I realized they weren’t. Best part of my trip might have been seeing wild little monkeys on accident! 

 

 

Our last day of Rio was the warmest day of the week! Juliana and Bruno and I slept in until almost 11, had a late breakfast, and then put on our suits and headed to the beach! We decided to hang out at Ipanema because it looks a little cleaner than Copacabana and the waves looked more exciting! The sky was sooooo blue and the water was too, just a different shade! We rented an umbrella for protection and put on lots of sunscreen! Juliana and I wanted to swim, but we wanted to be very warm first, so we walked the length of Ipanema until we got to the rocks from the day before, hung out on them for a bit, and then walked back to Bruno and jumped in the water! The water was as cold as an outdoor pool in California hahah. Soooo it wasn’t exactly warm, but it was much warmer than the ocean in Northern California! I was still feeling a bit sick, but I wasn’t going to miss out on my only oportunity of this year to swim in Rio! We splashed around for a bit and then got out to dry off in the sand. :)

A while later, we packed up and ate a very yummy lunch by the ocean! After that, we walked along Ipanema, through the park, and over to Copacabana to go to the street market! We sat down at one point and shared a coconut, first drinking the water and then eating the inside. At the street market, we were able to find a few gifts we thought would make certain people happy (hint hint) and we enjoyed looking around at all the interesting and touristy booths. It got dark soon after that, so we took an uber back to the house and showered quickly before heading over to Bruno’s Uncle’s house for dinner. We ate all sorts of snacks and shared beer. I really wanted to be in bed with tea by that point but it was my last night in Rio, so I smiled and conversed until midnight just like everyone else hahah. 

 

 

This morning, I woke up feeling pretty rough but that was okay because all we had to do was pack up and get on the plane. Juliana and I snuck out of the house a little early to get breakfast at a nearby cafe because I really wanted some US time hahah. While we were eating, it occured to me how much I was looking forward to going back to Campinas. Rio was beautiful and we were lucky to have Bruno’s dad to drag us around everywhere, but I came to Brazil mostly excited about seeing Juliana, and I couldn’t wait to get back to her house with her family and just enjoy my last few days with them! Relaxing and doing whatever we want to do! And that is actaully where I am right now. :) I am in her bed, cuddled up with a blanket and some tea, and smiling as I tell you about all the cool stuff I just got to do! I am glad to be exactly where I am, which is a wonderful feeling, and I hope you love this blog as much as I love sharing it with you! :)