Quite the Adventures

Last weekend we had a long weekend due to a Catholic holiday so we decided to venture outside of our comfort zone. We planned a trip to the island of Ilha Grande with the two other American teachers at the school. The island was about three hours away, two hours in a van and one on a boat. We took some time to just hang out on the beach but spent most of the weekend on a boat touring around. The majority of the island is forest. We did two different boat tours. The first one was of the south side of the island, which is open ocean. These were mostly beaches where we would just jump out of the boat and float around. The second tour we did was of the north side and was only two major stops but the main attraction was a snorkeling area. This is where we spent most of the day and had a lot of fun swimming with the fish. My favorite part of the weekend was the hike we did to the highest point on the island. Our guide was incredibly friendly and clearly just loves living life on the island. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we could not see the sunrise but it was still 100% worth it to hike up to the top in the middle of the night.

Lucky for us we were also able to celebrate teacher’s day this with a nice day off. I think we should start to make this holiday a big deal in the states…just saying, the kids and parents treated everyone like gods the entire day before. We decided to celebrate by running off a cliff called Pedra Bonita. We went hang gliding to see a bird’s eye view of the coast. I would do this 100 times over again. One of the coolest experiences ever.

This weekend we kept pretty low key to recover from all of our adventures. It also was raining most of the weekend. We did venture out this morning because Erin found a ‘diner’ called Gringo’s café, which served a typical American breakfast, along with other diner like food. It hit the spot. Sometimes we just want eggs and sausage (with a side of mac and cheese) for breakfast instead of bread and butter. Looking forward to some more crazy adventures.

The little tiny peak sticking up in the middle is what we climbed.

Round 2!!

On fist Friday we were invited to go out with some of the younger teachers for a couple drinks by the beach. It was a lot of fun and of course they made us try the signature drink of Rio, a Caipirinha. Our first weekend in Rio, we participated in Clean up Rio, which was on one of the biggest and most popular beach here. After we worked with the school at the event we just hung out on the beach. The scenery on the beach is unreal. There are so many mountains and cliffs with islands and coastlines forever. We also wondered to find the botanical gardens, which we were expecting to be a lot closer than it actually was. A lot of walking but we found a lot of restaurants that we want to try. In the gardens we saw a ton of wild monkeys and cactuses.

During the week we spend most of our time in school and doing schoolwork so that we can try to avoid have a lot of work to do on the weekends. But sometimes we do not feel like eating the leftovers from school so we found a Brazilian pizza and juice shop near our villa. P.S. the pizza supper tasty but no NY pizza. The manager also must have enjoyed our company because he capped our night with a beer on him. I think we will keep giving him our business.

We have also found another spot for sunsets looking out onto the Christ statue. One of the girls that Erin had met last year on her trio here from LaSalle in Rio took us here. She also stayed and later took us out to learn more about the area. We found the metro stop and the mall where we can take out cash. Some important information we need to continue out journey. This same weekend we experienced a Brazilian Mexican restaurant that was more of a show than a dinner. There was a mariachi band playing the entire time. The food was good too but the peer pressure to take a shot of tequila by the band and the waiter was a little much. It was a fun time though. Definitely somewhere I would go back.

Sunday we sent to a different beach that is more popular among the people that live around here do to safety on Sundays. I actually preferred this beach because of the quaint feeling it had. There were not as many vendors and they were not nearly as aggressive. This beach was basically wedged between two cliffs and a military base. It was beautiful.

Through this week I worked more with the students one on one and in small groups to help them with review and schoolwork they had missed. I have enjoyed getting to know the students. They are all very eager to learn all about the states and how I saw all the word in the English language. As we all know 8 year olds are pretty straightforward. Therefore I will inform you that Erin, Jill and I have all received notes from parents about little boys that have crushes and how funny they think we talk. There is nothing I can do but laugh.

This weekend was full of street fairs full of art and food. Yesterday was very humid and it misted most of the day. We went to a set of stairs tucked behind the town that were covered in mosaic work. From the bottom it was a true work of art. We continued into the art festival on a street similar to Jay street in Schenectady.  Everything was hand crafted or collected; I can guarantee you will receive something from here. I found something that would fit everyone. Today it poured most of the day but we did not want to sit in the villa all day so we ventured out to the hippie fair that happens every Sunday. This was another art festival that had anything from wood cravings and painting to fine jewelry.  After we were successfully soaked we found a bar and grill to sit in and people watcher the soccer fans. Lets be honest none of us watch soccer. PS today was our first bus excursion without assistance from another teacher we work with.

I apologize for typos or anything that doesn’t make sense. It is my ramble and not fully proofread  haha J

BTW the avocados are usually used for desserts here but they taste the same. However, they are nearly double the size!

Mango ice pop served on the beach! Best fruit pop I have ever had!