Brazil : I-Phone Pics

2/20/2015

Happy Friday!!!

I LOVE Fridays soo much. I only teach 2-3 classes & have the rest of the day to lesson plan. AND then [usually] Friday nights are my best nights sleep. ANND I get to sleep in on Saturdays [well, thats until like 9:30 tops, for a gal who's body is used to getting up at 6]. Anywho, brace yourself- because this is a BIG, l o n g, HUGE post. I put all the writting [well most of it] on the front end- so just keep scrolling to see the pictures, because there is A L O T.

So I can not believe that we are [over] half way through February, and I have yet to share photos with you gals from my trip to Brazil [over Christmas + new years]. I honestly am a little disappointed in myself, in that I didn’t really take that many photos while we were there. I used my i-phone and Fuji Instax camera [polaroid pictures] the most, which work just fine for me [the i-phone can take some pretty amazing photos, and makes editing a snap!] :) I mean, my boyfriend is a photographer and we were traveling with a photographer [well for 4 days]- so I figured I could mostly enjoy the moments and leave it up to the pros to capture them! hehe BUT today I am here to share with you, all of my i-phone pictures that I took while in Rio.

Rio De Janerio is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Which I guess, I can't fairly say that- as I haven’t traveled very many places in the world…but It is the most beautiful I have seen, for sure! The views are breath taking. Mountains, beaches and trees every which way you look. Even in the Favalas [the slums/ghettos] the views were amazing! The weather was hot. SOO hot. I have lived in the south my whole life, so I know a thing or two about hot, hot summers- with outrageous humidity…BUT compared to Rio, we have nothing to complain about! It was 100+ degrees everyday with the humidity at 75% +. There wasn’t air conditioner hardly anywhere [well compared to America- land of AC], so basically you felt like you were in a sauna no matter where you were at.

On the beach at sunset in Copacabana & in Ipanema, as soon as the sun has gone down- everyone claps! As this is the first break you have gotten from the scorching sun all day long! And who ever said New York City is the city that never sleeps- well I guess that person had never been to Rio before. Brazilians are up all hours of the day! Seriously, you could leave at 6 in the morning and people are out working, living their lives, relaxing on the beach, etc- and same thing at 3 in the morning! AND babies at bars, its a thing there. One night [at like 2 am], we saw a man and a woman riding a motorcycle...with two toddlers smushed in between the two of them - all with out helmets! Oh, the driving laws, or lack there of- provides for interesting car rides. If your planning a visit- I suggest just using cabs [they aren't too expensive there] and driving in Rio [heck, just trying to cross the street] will make you feel like you in a real life game of Frogger.

I feel like in America, were all hustle-bustle, work work work! In Brazil- it seems like everyones [speaking very generally here] goal is to work little, and enjoy life ALOT! It really did show me that I need to slow down, and just enjoy my life, the people in it, the good food + drinks that we have been blessed with and to just BE where ever I am. Brazilians may not have as much materialistically [and generally] speaking- but as a people, the culture seems so full of life and joy- no matter your social class!

Lastly, other than the fact that you could see a man walking down the city streets in a speedo, or a lady in a string, thong bikini- the thing that stuck out most to me was that people were NOT constantly on their phones or tablets. In fact, I didn't even see that many tablets or laptops at all! I know that Rio is a very ‘dangerous’, high crime place- so maybe people just aren't flashy, or leave their things at home. One day we wanted to find a coffee shop to take our laptops and do some work, but there wasn’t really a place for that. We eventually found a Starbucks, and that was the only time we saw folks with laptops. So it was refreshing to not have that feeling of needing to be on your phone, laptop, iPad- always getting things done, or checking in on something. The internet connection was pretty terrible too, so it made just putting everything away super easy- and I LOVED it!

Okay, well enough with the stories- I could babble on and on about or trip. I loved it so much!!! If you are planing to travel to Brazil, and want more info- I'd love to help you out + give suggestions. I am no expert- BUT I can let you in on what I do know. I actually got great advice from a gal I don't even know, via Facebook on places to visit/things to do while we were there, simply by making a post/status and asking for suggestions and I am so happy I did because it was a HUGE help. SO now for the pictures...

The Views :

S U N N Y --->

<--- G L O O M Y

Blue abyss

The Selfies :

The Love Birds :

Soo Many [B E A U T I F U L] Sunsets :

The Yummies :

And Everything Else :

My Favorite Thing :

Our first few nights there, we stayed with a local Brazilian photographer, that my brother is friends with. We would stay in for some meals to save monies- and to enjoy some authentic Brazilian fresh cooking! One night for dinner, our host opened a bottle of wine for us and we were eating pizza [Pizza + wine = best thing ever] and I had this moment- thinking, how many times in life am I going to be sitting in someones kitchen, across the world eating + drinking + enjoying the convo + love + laughter + company of folks I don't even speak the same language as?!?! Lets face it, Chris don't speak any Portuguese, so communitcating was always interesting + fun! Lots of pointing, charades and google tanslate :)

Least Favorite thing :

Well other than the constant sweating, I'd have to go with the bathroom practices. Lets just say you don't flush your toliet paper there. So you could be at the nicest resturant and go to the bathroom and see a little trash can full of toliet paper with other peoples pee + poo on it. :/ I know this is just apart of traveling and submerging yourself into other cultures, but I'm just being honest. I was so happy to get back to my bed and my toliet! hehe

Wellll I offically think that this is my longest post ever! But I hope it has you dreaming of warmer days and helping you feel a little cozier, on this cold one! I will share my polariod pictures later on :)