(Concrete) Jungle

It has been adventure after adventure here...

Hung out in Valparaiso, Chile, for four days and it was beeeeyoootiful! We had such a loverly hostel with a super cool owner who we barbecued and drank bottle after bottle of Chilean wine with on our last night. Then it was off to Uruguay! Our flight was only 2 hours total, but due to delays, rain, etc., we ended up spending most of the day in the airport, playing hangman, Ispy, and testing perfumes in the airport shops. Yaay.

Montevideo was a really cool city. It has a lot of colonial charm, with old buildings, cobbled streets, narrow alleys, and lots of cute outdoor markets and restaurants. The exchange rate was better here which made me happy of course! We didn't do much except eat and get our hair done. Yes, it was truly relaxing. Oh, and we found a bar called Shannon Pub, so of course I had to capture the moment. How truly spesh...

Another looooong bus ride after a couple days in Montevideo and we were finally in Brazil!!! It was probably the worst bus ride ever. Dinner looked like spam meatloaf with canned green beans inside. And it smelled like ass. Needless to say we were starving once we arrived in Florianopolis! Luckily for us it is really hard to go hungry here. Well, in our case that applies everywhere...

Now we are in beautiful Floripa, staying on Ilha Santa Catalina 50 meters from the beach! We have done so much here...tanned, surfed for the first time ever (I know, I'm from California...), ate deeelish seafood (ooh, I conquered my fear of peeling whole shrimp!! I just really hate looking at their eyes...), we got our nails done, swam in our lovely hotel pool, went out dancing and drinking with the locals...whew.

I have to tell you about this one day though. We have affectionately dubbed it "The Day From Hell." We were looking in our guide books for cool beaches to go explore and their was one on the south of the island. Originally we wanted to rent a car, but (big American surprise) none of us could drive a stick, and it was waaay expensive to rent an automatic. So one of the ladies that works at our pousada (inn) called her friend and she offered to drive us around for the day for 60 reais (like $30). We all drove to the south to this beach called Lagohina do Leste which we could only access by a trail which was rumored to take 2 1/2 hours to walk. But we thought, "oh, what the hell, we're here, it will be long, but it's probably an overestimation."

Not only was it not an overestimation, they neglected to mention that it is straight up like three different mountains, which are covered by cacti, sharp rocks, and mud. We should have brought machetes, boots, rope, and a tent. We were in our bikinis and flip flops. Shit was crazy. We were almost dead by the time we got there. On a positive note, the beach was beautiful: perfect water temperature, white sand, and deserted, except for two Argentinian guys. We were all smiles...

Until we realized we had to walk back. The only thing that kept me going was thinking about the cold, delicious, pint of beer that I was going to inhale when we got back. But so many times, I thought about stopping and living there in the jungle. We could have built a mud house and ate mud pies! Seriously though, I think my life flashed before my eyes. Oh wait, that was just the afternoon Brazilian sun and plethora of mosquitos in my face...

Good thing is we made friends with the Brazilian girl, Paula, who is super cool. She is a teacher and invited us to come speak with her students the next day, then we would all go out. We came and hung out with a bunch of 12 year old surfer kids and then went out for sushi. Paula brought her boyfriend and two of her friends and it was officially a fiesta! We all went dancing at a club called Foho, which is probably the incorrect spelling. It is the name of a type of dance and music they were playing that night, kind of like salsa. We all were taught how to dance by the many willing (sometimes too willing) Brazilian men...

Tonight we are going to a reggae club with Paula (there is a really big rasta/reggae scene out here) and tomorrow we are going surfing again!! I will try not to eat as much shit as I did last time, but I guess the only way to learn is to know what it feels like to get battered by a wave, swallow a gallon of sea water, have the board hit you in the face, and then try to avoid all that. Good technique, huh?

We are flying to Salvador on Sunday, classes start on Wednesday. Oh shit!

Pics coming soon...
*Besitos*