Brasiiiil!

Sorry this post is so late… we’re now less than 3 days away from Ft. Lauderdale and I’m finally done with all my papers, exams, projects and it’s time to relax and enjoy my last few days at sea.. I’m sitting outside right now staring at the ocean- it’s so blue and sparkly. In about an our we should be able to see Puerto Rico from the ship—I wish they would stop there and let us go swimming for a little bit!! But anyway, we have our Alumni Ball tonight with a fancy dinner and dance so that should be really nice. it’s so sad to think I’ll never see a lot of these people ever again! it’s been such a perfect group of people to travel the world with and some of the most talented people I’ve ever met as well. but it’s awesome to now know people from almost every state so I can visit people all over the country :) Now to begin writing about our last port…..

Oh Brasil….what a perfect place to conclude this journey around the world. I never gave much thought to being in Brazil since it was our last port and I never thought the time would come.. but I think it ended up being one of my favorite places (I don’t know how many times I’ve said that about each country.. =P ) Everything is so lively and colorful and everyone is always dancing and drumming and celebrating life. I love it! South/central America is definitely the place where I belong, and I can see myself living here out of every country I’ve traveled to.
I woke up for sunrise on the 21st to watch us coming into the enormous city of Salvador. It’s a coast lined with tall buildings, beaches, and colorful houses piled up on hills. The weather was looking pretty ominous with dark storm clouds and rain showers but it ended up clearing up to become a beautiful day. The first thing I did was get off the ship with Allyn and our friend Sarah to find the bus station and buy our overnight tickets to Lencois. The three of us had decided to stay for a few days in Chapada Diamantina National Park, about 6 hours inland from Salvador. So we got in a cab and drove through the city, having our first look at Brazil. It’s beautiful- so colorful and tropical, lots of hills with houses and buildings built into them- and I never imagined how big of a city it would be! I think I’m always surprised by how much bigger cities are than I imagine them. We got out at the bus station- also a lot bigger than I thought- and managed to get our tickets for what we hoped were the right dates and times….. there are a lot less English-speakers than most of the places we’ve been and even though they could partially understand my Spanish, I could not understand their Portuguese! I was able to figure out a lot of the signs and menus though because many of the words look similar to Spanish. Anyway, while at the bus station we stopped in the supermarket to stock up for the depressing and long way home, and then headed back to the ship. I had an FDP for the rest of the day which I was not looking forward too after being frustrated with most of the SAS trips, but it turned out to be an incredible incredible day.
We left on a bus with a lot of kids from my digital storytelling class and a bunch of others- an extremely energetic group of people, which was fun, and headed off towards a favela (the name for slum or really poor neighborhood in Brazil) called Saramandaia. We were going to have a first hand look into the lives of people in the favelas, and to visit Grupo Cultural Arte Consciente, a project started by 3 young guys of the favela to teach and empower kids with art and keep them away from violence and crime. They have built themselves up in an amazing way and created a community of talented, happy kids who otherwise might get caught up in a life of violence and drugs. Although small-scale, they’ve been extremely influential and powerful- out of 1500 community service action groups in Brazil, they were ranked as the 7th best!! So we met the guys, Alex, Fabio, and Marcos, who teach boxing, circus arts, drumming, and graffiti to the kids. But first Alex led us through Saradmandaia, a maze of narrow streets lined with colorful houses, people sitting in their windows and balconies smiling at us, kids running and biking all around, and hill after hill of houses in the distance which just look like solid walls of colorful shacks. It was actually a quite amazing and beautiful sight- despite the fact that it is such a poor neighborhood- these people are so full of color and life that just makes it beautiful. The coolest grafitti covered almost every wall and the houses were all some shade of turquoise, yellow, or red, with little bird cages hanging out on the porches. Alex showed us the community “playground”, which was simply a big area of dirt/ a junk yard, where a bunch of kids biked and played around. We also saw their school, a tiny health clinic which serves their 40,000 residents, and the community gardens which grows much of their food. We then walked into the project’s building, where we met all the kids who participate and they performed for us. One boy who’s 15 years old has become some kind of boxing champion in Brazil just from their program. They also did juggling, all kinds of incredible acrobatics, trapeze, and contortion type stuff, a funny mime performance, and then a huge drumming ensemble. They were all soo talented and all they have is this little one room building with a beat-up mat and a trapeze. The drumming was so loud and powerful and after a while the whole room turned into one big drumming and dancing party- everyone joined in and it was SO crazy and SO much fun. Some SAS kids brought their drums from Ghana and played along and everyone else just went crazy dancing with the kids and feeling the rhythm of the drums. Some of the Brazilian guys even broke into capoeira and started doing flips and stuff- they are so talented and full of energy!! I danced with one little girl (who was SOOOO adorable) the whole time and she loved me and got so attached to me. She played with my hair and I gave her one of my bracelets… I just wish I could understand what she was saying! So the whole drumming and dance rave lasted like an hour until we were all so hot and dying for water that we had to stop. It was so cool though just to let loose and be dancing and laughing with these kids and celebrate the incredible things they have done for themselves. I was just having one of those moments the entire time- hearing the rhythm of the drums, the colors around me, the enthusiasm of Alex and Marcos and the kids, their passion for fun and being active, everyone letting loose and getting into it- (even my professors going wild!)- the strength and empowerment, just looking around me, realizing I’m in Brazil….. it sounds silly when I write it, but it was such a great moment. We finally had to leave and say goodbye to the kids, but our energy continued on the bus ride home- the drumming, the happiness, the enthusiasm. good day :) wonderful people.
So I came back to the ship in a great mood to find that many people did not have such a great first day in Salvador. Allyn and Courtney had been back for a little while after walking around the historical part of town and said they had heard of at least 15 people from the ship being mugged and robbed, during the day right in public! and this was just of people they’ve talked to! People had their cameras stolen, their wallets, their cell phones, and my friend Lauren had her necklace ripped right off her neck. So this really scared people the first day and unfortunately gave them an immediate bad impression of Brazil. I don’t know why after traveling the world for 3 months people still thought they should carry all their valuables with them and not think anything could happen, especially when they warned us the most about being careful in Brazil.… So I guess it was a little reality check. Anyway, most people were way too scared to go out that night so we just stayed on the ship, which was probably better to relax for a bit before taking our overnight bus at midnight.
We went back to the bus station with some of my other friends who were also going to Lencois, and pretty much most of the bus turned out to be SAS kids. It was a surprisingly comfortable bus—at this point I don’t expect much at all anymore—so I was able to sleep through most of the night except for being freezing the whole time. I woke up to us arriving at the tiny bus station in Lencois at about 6am, and when I got off there was a guy holding a sign with my name and I was still basically asleep so I had no idea how he knew my name. but then I remembered the hostel we were staying at said they would pick us up from the bus, so me Allyn and Sarah followed this guy into his 1969 falling apart baby blue Volkswagen van- the cutest car I’ve ever seen. The roads of Lencois are all cobblestone or uneven slabs of rocks, so as you can imagine it was a pretty bumpy ride in this van. It broke down a few times on the way (it was only a 5 minute ride), struggling up the bumpy rock hills, but we finally made it to our tropical magical treehouse. That’s really the only way I could think to describe this adorable hostel- Pousada dos Duendes- a tropical little treehouse in the cutest town in the world. It wasn’t actually a treehouse but it was this little open air complex built in the trees and gardens with balconies and hammocks and colors and murals all over the walls. I just fell in love with it, and with the whole town. Lencois is a tiny town where everybody knows everybody. You can walk to anywhere in town in less than 10 minutes, and it is completely surrounded by the most beautiful national park (I think) in the world.. (of what I’ve seen). The streets are all cobblestone and lined with colorful stone houses and tropical plants. Everyone is outside and it is so pleasantly quiet because there are practically no cars- besides a few vans doing tours into the park, all I saw the entire time was a few locals on motorbikes. Everyone is so happy and it’s probably one of the safest places in Brazil. One of the girls at the hostel laughed at us when we asked if it would be okay for the three of us to walk around at night—complete change from Salvador—it’s just a relaxed laidback atmosphere with no worries :) We had only less than 3 days there and before we left I knew my whole way around town and had seen some of the Brazilians we met multiple times hanging out in different places. Most of them had grown up there and never left… what a perfect place to grow up in. ahhh I just want to go back there so badly! I think this 3 day trip into Lencois and the park ended up being my favorite 3 days of this entire trip, and I would go back there in a heartbeat.
ANYWAY, back to our trip- So we arrived at the hostel and luckily they let us into our room early to take a nap before breakfast. We only got to sleep for about 30 minutes because we wanted to do a tour into the park and they left at 9. So we went downstairs and had breakfast which they provided- and it was amazing! they have a kitchen there and breakfast was a little buffet of all these little homemade dishes and wonderful coffee…. I felt so at home. This little guy Dodo was bringing out all the dishes and we became friends and he told us he would take us to the waterslide the next day. He said he goes surfing there which we were confused about but we would later find out..! So anywho we went and looked at all the tours the pousada offered so we could decide what to do, and we decided on a full day tour to see caves, waterfalls, and climb a mountain to watch the sunset :) And I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.
Me, Allyn, Sarah, and this girl Valerie who was on our bus that night were all doing the tour, so we got in the van and started off. We actually became good friends with Valerie and spent most of our time in Chapada with her- I think she’s in her late 20’s and she had been spending a few weeks traveling around Brazil, aand she knew some Portuguese which was helpful. We had a Portuguese speaking guide and luckily an English speaking guide named Pedro who took us around for the day. First we had a beautiful drive through the park, passing miles and miles of open fields and valleys, surrounded in all directions by mountains. It was gorgeous- even in the morning fog and drizzle. We got out where we would climb down to explore the cave Gruta da Lapa Doce. We made the steep descent down to where the cave opened up- a ginormous archway of rock and sand that disappeared into a black abyss. I don’t know if I heard him right but Pedro said this cave extended for 27km in…! I know we didn’t walk that far but it seemed like we walked forever… it just kept going and going. So we started in, led by a Brazilian man with one small oil-lamp, and stopped to look at all the insane rock formations forming from both the roof and the ground. I think the cave was made of mostly calcite, and the whole ground was fine sand and smooth rock. As we walked farther and looked back the little opening of light got smaller and smaller until we were in complete darkness except for the lamp. These rock formations were incredible though- one looked like a mushroom of sparkling crystals and another looked just like an elephant. We just kept walking and walking- I’ve been in some caves before but never knew ones this big existed!! I was just scared the lamp would go out and we’d be lost down there forever. At one point we turned out the light and sat in the black stillness for a while. It was quieter than silence, like a whole other world that exists below while everything else is going on above. I opened and closed my eyes and there was no difference- it was such a peaceful but almost creepy experience. Luckily the lamp turned back on and we continued through the abyss, until we finally saw a speck of light up ahead. We finally reached the opening and it looked like an avalanche of boulders that had come crashing down and if one more big one came it would close off the whole thing. So we climbed up and back into the noisy daylight- such a strange feeling!
We hiked back up to the road and along the way found a HUGE centipede that pooped on Sarah’s hand, and then walked back along the dirt road to where we started. It’s weird to think the cave must be right under us the whole way. It’s really like a whole other world down there. We got in the van and headed to a cheap churrascaria for lunch- it’s like a Brazilian unlimited buffet of salad and meat that they cut off the skewer for you. It was delicious, and we tried some Brazilian sweets for dessert like this amazing coconut bread and brigadeiros, these popular chocolate fudge balls. yum. They also serve guarana everywhere—a soft drink made from the guarana fruit—which kind of tastes like ginger ale but 200x better, if that’s possible. So after being stuffed and happy we drove through the park until we reached another adorable pousada and outdoor restaurant where a hike started down to the Cachoeira do Diabo (I think) waterfalls. All the pousadas in the park are so adorable.. they’re all based around ecotourism and are just full of hammocks and gardens and trees and little outdoor restaurants with delicious homemade meals. I decided I’m going to start my own pousada in Lencois and live there forever :) but anyway, we hiked down to where we reached the natural orange pools and waterfalls. Pedro caught us a lizard on the way which was pretty impressive cause they move soo fast! The first waterfall was so neat- kind of like the natural waterslide we went to the next day, it’s just a wide stream of water sliding down a long slab of rock into the pool below. But Pedro kept us going to the “better” waterfalls, and when we got to the top of them we could see how incredible they were. These Brazilians had made a zipline from the top going all the way across the pool until they jumped off just before hitting the rocks at the end. It looked like so much fun. So we rushed down the pretty pink and white rock and jumped in the freezing orange water. It was definitely a workout swimming to the base of the falls- the current was so powerful and made it almost impossible to get there. But I made it and me and Allyn got behind the falls and sat up on the rocks in our little cave. It was so cool. We sat there forever, just watching the world from behind the falling water. It was another one of those moments. So we played in the water for a while and explored around the rocks and other little falls, and then hiked back up to the road.
We got back in the car and drove to Morro do Pai Inácio, one of the tabletop mountains, just in time to climb for sunset. I had heard that if you go to Chapada this is a must see, and wow let me tell you… We climbed the steep rocks up the mountain for about an hour, and it was more than worth the effort. The 360 degree view from the top was INCREDIBLE. Not even my pictures can do it justice. The plateau at the top consisted of rocks with little pools of water, cactuses and shrubs, and a never-ending view beyond. The sun was at the perfect angle to make the all the mountains surrounding us shine bright green and yellow and the more distant ones a dark blue, and the clouds speckled them all with shadows. The three of us sat on the edge of a cliff for a while literally feeling on top of the world. We wandered around the top for a little while longer and Pedro tried to teach us some capoeira moves before we descended back down, watching the sun setting along the way. When we reached the bottom the clouds literally appeared to be on fire- I’ve never seen such a bright orange in the sky. We got back in the van, more than content with this perfect day in this beautiful part of the world, and headed back to the perfect little town of Lencois. Back at the pousada we took showers and relaxed for a bit before walking into the main square of town where all the little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and bars came alive at night. Walking down the cobblestone streets I just fell more and more in love with the town. All the little colorful restaurants put their tables and chairs outside in the streets and played music as people started coming out, exhausted from their treks into the park and ready to relax and enjoy the evening. We sat outside at this little Italian restaurant in the main square and ordered a delicious salad and pizza and caipirinhas, which I had been wanting to try. They are Brazil’s famous drinks, made with cachaca, sugarcane, and lime. And they were delicious. We were some of the only people out at dinner around 7 because most people don’t come out to eat until about 9 or so. We even saw Dodo and a bunch of other young Brazilian guys walking with textbooks through the square to their university classes. I didn’t even realize it was the middle of a school week! So we had a nice slow dinner and found some of our other SAS friends who wandered into the square, and later Dodo came and sat with us and then he took us over to the river where his friends were hanging out. It was funny because they were listening to popular American songs that we knew but they had no idea what the words were saying. So we tried to describe them through Dodo to them and they thought it was pretty funny. It was a great day and night- always awesome to hang out with the locals- and so nice to be able to walk all around this town with no worries, when we’re usually told to be so cautious. I loved it there.
I had forgotten that we had basically been up since the night before, getting so little sleep on the bus and then starting our day early, so we were exhausted. We decided to sleep in to about 9 or so the next morning, get breakfast, and decide what to do for the day. We woke up to beautiful weather, and went downstairs to have another wonderful homemade breakfast. There were a bunch more backpackers at the pousada now, and we sat down with this girl from Holland who had just gotten to Brazil. She was so nice, and had spent the last couple months I think in Argentina working on an organic farm. And she was just as surprised at how adorable and perfect the pousada was as we were. So anyway, Sarah Allyn and I decided to do a hike on our own from the pousada to some waterfalls close by. We got a map which didn’t make much sense so we just kind of walked through the little winding roads of town, seeing the cute little kids walking to school, and hoping we’d be able to find the trail. Somehow we easily found it, and we walked through the tropical magical wonderland until we reached another paradise. Walking there I seriously felt like I was in the secret garden or something- the trail was so peaceful and quiet and surrounded by tropical flowers, and we passed one man in a little hut selling coconuts and dream-catchers. What we arrived at was almost like this huge hill of rock, with water flowing down at all different points and flowing into hundreds of mini pools, with a picture-perfect view of the little colorful town at the bottom. I was in heaven- it didn’t even feel real. The rock all consisted of what looked like little stones of all different colors—bright turquoise, pink, white, black—all pressed down together and shaped by the water into one smooth soft surface. Me and Allyn had a couple slippery falls on the wet slick rocks haha. But this place was incredible- we explored all around, checking out the different pools and laying on the warm rock. Some Brazilian guys were there and would dive from pool to pool, jumping through the waterfalls and going all the way down the hill. I even saw Tarzan- literally this muscle man with tarzan hair standing on a rock looking out over the view meditating, stretching, and doing the separate nostril breathing I learned in the Art of Living Program. He stood in that same spot the entire 3 or so hours we were there- he was serious. This was just an everyday daily thing for these people- a few women came down to the lower pools to wash all their clothes, and laid them out to dry on the rock. I couldn’t imagine having a place like this as my home… really the only way to describe it is a magical wonderland…surrounded by a never-ending reserve of nature, so far from any big city… and so far (it felt like) from reality.
After feeling a little burnt from the sun we left this paradise and walked back to town to get lunch and meet up with Dodo to go to the waterslides. Sarah wanted to take a nap in the hammock at the pousada so me and Allyn walked around town looking for a place to eat. I bought a banana from this little old lady at her produce stand, which was less than 5 cents, and then we went into this tiny restaurant which was more like a kitchen with one Brazilian lady in it. We got menus which were all in Portuguese, so we just pointed to an item and hoped for the best. I ordered pao com ovo, which was a freshly baked roll with scrambled eggs in it- quite delicious considering I never get eggs on the ship and I miss them so much! And allyn got a roll with chicken and tomato and lettuce. All the food there, even stuff as simple as this, is so fresh and homemade and delicious…. and our total for lunch was less than $2! I’m definitely going to miss that when I’m home, especially since a meal that costs $10 isn’t nearly as fresh as this stuff. Walking back home we spotted a sorvetoria, or little ice cream parlor where you scoop it yourself and make your own little sundae. Their ice cream is a lot better than ours too- it’s so light and flavorful but not so rich and creamy. But enough about food- we walked back, found Sarah but not Dodo, and decided just to make the hike to the natural waterslides on our own. This time we took the opposite direction out of town, going up some steep hills and passing little farms and more adorable colorful pousadas and little restaurants. There was also some land for sale which I could buy and start my pousada and restaurant and live there forever……
So we had a little bit more trouble finding the trail than we did earlier that morning, but we found it and it was a nice easy hike through the forest and then we descended down to the big pool below which the waterslide led into. This was the coolest thing ever- the natural waterslide was this long, wide slope of rock where the water crashed down and dropped into a huge pool at the bottom. We found a lot of SAS kids who were on our overnight bus there- they had been doing a couple day trek through the park with some Brazilian guys and they had been camping in some caves the night before. I watched them go down the slide- it took you sooo fast! I was scared it would rip my bathing suit bottoms completely off because they were way loose on me anyway, but I climbed up and went down—screaming the entire way—but without a problem :) except for the fact that it hurt pretty bad. I still have bruises on my legs and butt but it was worth it. So then we found out what Dodo meant when he said he goes surfing…. the Brazilian guys there would climb all the way up to the top and go down the whole way standing up- how I do not know- but it was just like surfing! those rocks are incredibly slippery though so I have no idea how they manage to do that without falling.. but it looked insanely fun. I talked to one of the guys who was surfing and asked if he knew Dodo, and he laughed and said of course he did, and they hang out there all the time. It’s so funny how everyone knows everyone. I was saying how much I love that place and the guy said he has never left- he’s probably in his 20’s and has grown up there but he really wants to leave- he wants to go to Florida! All I could think of was how undesirable Florida is compared to this paradise we were in. So that was kinda funny- but I mean I can understand wanting to leave after living your whole life in a town that small, just like me wanting to leave Poolesville!.. but different because Poolesville is not a magical tropical wonderland.
We played in the water for a long time and then Allyn and Sarah wanted to get going before the mosquitoes came out- for some reason mosquitoes have not been liking me on this trip.. I think total I’ve only had 2 bites!.. so we hiked back to town and back to the pousada, where the super nice people there let us use the shower again and relax in the hammocks after we had checked out since our bus didn’t leave til midnight again. So we relaxed and went back out into the main square of town where we met up with our other group of SAS friends and all had dinner at another Italian restaurant (for some reason the majority of restaurants in lencois are Italian), had some pretty amazing banana-honey-cinnamon crepes, and relaxed until it was time to head to the bus station. I slept a little bit better on the bus ride back to Salvador, but was still pretty exhausted from the whole trip. So we got back on the ship and slept for a few hours before a fun day in the city.
Allyn and I walked over to the Elevador Lacerda which is this big elevator that takes you from the lower city to the upper city which is the old historic center of Pelourinho. I bought some acaraje from a street stand on the way because both Liana and our interport student recommended it to me and it’s a pretty popular food in Salvador. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all but the guy took this ball made of I think beans and fried in palm oil, cut it in half and put in these spicy pastes made from shrimp and nuts and peppers and I really don’t know, and then piled on some peppers and onions and then mini shrimps still in the shell (which I assumed you ate but I’m not really sure).. Anyway, it was delicious as always and definitely a new experience, and I wish I had some right now. So we got up to the Pelourinho area which was gorgeous with its cobblestone streets and colonial architecture and incredible cathedrals. The view right outside the elevator looked over the beautiful blue bay and the lower city below. The famous percussion band Olodum was playing in one of the big squares of Pelourinho, and everything was so lively and colorful- I loved it. We sat outside at this little French place for lunch, where I got the most amazing bowl of acai frozen-ish yogurt with sliced bananas and granola… couldn’t ask for more. I forgot that the acai berry comes from the amazon so you see it everywhere in Brazil! We walked around a little more and then decided to make our way to the beach, so we took a short cab ride to Porto de Barra. The beach was of course so lively- a pretty small cove but crowded with locals playing soccer, paddle ball, doing flips and being crazy, and enjoying the sun and beautiful clear water. We found Zach and Isaac and a few other SAS kids in the mass of people, so we layed with them and had a perfect afternoon at the beach. Brazilians were walking around selling all sorts of food and drinks, from freshly fried fish to huge sticks of cheese that they grilled for you right over their little fires. And one man set up a caipirinha stand right next to us… lucky us :) But these were the most fresh and delicious drinks you can imagine…. you just picked a piece of fruit from a bowl and he peeled it, put it in a cup with sugar and mashed it all together, shook it up with some ice and cachaca and there you go! Zach got a kiwi one which tasted just like drinking straight kiwis. SO GOOD. Sooo then zach and I both fell asleep and took a nice nap on the beach to wake up to a gorgeous sunset over the water. It was getting darker but the best part was no one had left the beach! Everyone was still there, all the energy and activity the same as it had been all day- all the Brazilians just celebrating life :) We had nothing to do, nowhere to be and nothing to worry about, so we watched the sun setting slowly on our last night in port. Eventually we decided it was time for our next meal, since we hadn’t been lazy enough all day, so the group of us walked down the street to a restaurant to get some authentic Brazilian food. A bunch of people tried moqueca, a seafood or vegetable stew made with coconut milk and palm oil, and I got some shrimp curry with mangoes. Another amazing meal. It was sad realizing this was our last night in port together…. so we all talked and reflected for a long time and made the most of it. We all ended up going back to the ship and some people went back out, but I was still so sleepy and just passed out.
Our last day in port. Couldn’t believe the day would actually come. I had no plans, other than to go get our complementary breakfast at the hostel we had booked in Pelourinho the night before and did not stay at because Allyn was being weird..I don’t know/don’t really remember what the issue was….. but anyway I was determined to get some of our money’s worth. So we walked back to the elevator and into the upper city where the cute hostel was and got our nice homemade breakfast. We then walked into Igreja de Sao Francisco, where the Sunday church service was going on. This church was incredible- the entire inside was made of gold ornate designs and the ceilings were all painted, who knows how many years ago. It was such a sight- and perfect timing to watch the service going on! We then continued to wander around the cobblestone streets and explore the city a little more and happened to run into my professor Erika and our global studies professor Don. Erika said they were getting a group together and meeting on the ship at noon to go back to the favela we went to the first day and help paint the building for the Grupo Cultural program! I had such a great time there and thought helping this amazing organization would be a perfect last day in Brazil. So me and Allyn made our way back to the ship and decided to go along. There were about 20 of us and we all got in cabs and drove back to the favela, bought paint and got to work painting the entire inside of the building. We all were excited to help out and had so much energy so we got it done super fast, and then got to watch the Brazilian guys graffiti all the walls! They are so talented… they painted a guy on stilts juggling, a big Brazilian flag with the word “Paz” in the middle, and all sorts of designs and inspiring words…. the end result was so great. I wish I could’ve seen the kids faces when they saw their new building! Helping out with all these enthusiastic people and enjoying the time with all of them made my last day in Brazil perfect… it was sad, but a great way to end it. Exhausted, we all made it back to the ship just in time, and the crew had a huge barbeque waiting for us for dinner. It was a bittersweet feeling, getting on the ship for the last time, knowing the next land I’ll be on is the US.
So now with just a few days left, I’m really trying to enjoy myself and take everything in….. because time. moves. way. too. fast.
-Michele