Ibis Taubate State of Sao Paulo

... on our way to the farm. After 10 minutes or so of viewing gorgeous mountains in the distance and green countryside, we started down a rocky and bumpy dirt road. I wound my window up to decrease the dust and looked out. My friends, the cows, were there and a couple were even crossing the road as we drove by! Eléida had said that this was a ´´small´´ farm...now while the building itself is small, the amount of land they own is vast! At the house ...

... I neither find or hear anything so return to the stranded group with little more than a sweaty T-Shirt. By this time one more person had joined the two others dangerously dehydrated and our main concern is finding water or medication. Thankfully the person in shock has recovered and is now just resting, but as time goes by there is a growing concern that our stay may be seriously protracted. On a brighter note it is nice to see people group together and help ...

We went to the market square (like in Chile).... and we also went to see/compare prices at different stores (like Cosco)... just to get an idea of what things cost... it's quite expensive.... eeeeshhhh!!!! Also, even if you buy in large quantities, the price is the same as if you bought them individually, eg. 1 item ...

Yesterday we adventured around the neighbourhood... for me, this place reminds me of a mix between Chile and the Dominican Republic... some places are very modern, big buildings etc... others... not so much... and the cows are not too far away either... :) so far. I'm loving it! - Specially the food!!!! :) Anyone that knows me, knows how much I love food... so as I discover some yummy things I'll post them to share them with you :)

Ola. Here we are in Brazil, approx 4 days before our scheduled departure for Paris. Are we excited? I think so...how awesome, to travel Europe with your best friend, on next to no money, with matching bags from Sam's club that were on sale for 24 reais, with a rail pass and a student card and a whole lot of brand new underwear. This blog isnt just about underwear. We just got a whole bunch of new ones for our trip, which is very exci....ok I guess I have said enough about that.. Well ...

So I know I haven't written in here for awhile, it's been pretty busy and pretty awesome to hang out with my friend Andy again, and get to know this town, which is really cool. It's smaller, I like it more than SP and yeah, I'm going to look for my job here. I am tryng to start a business but I will learn Portuguese first, so hopefully that won't take long. I don't feel like writing much right now, but I thought I should say something in case anyone ...

... got all the good pics of us, dressed in gowns and flip flops. It was so crazy and American like, people even had there dogs in with them , which they dress up with clothes, shoes and hats. Ive even seen some for cats... but I don´t think Molly and Fern would forgive me if I tried to put them on them...... So we were whisked off to the wedding.... a rolls royce came to pick Bruna up.. she looked amazingly beautiful!!!! her dress was out of this world !!!! We got our dress rehersal walk ...

Going against any kind of prediction, we got 12 celsius on Campos do Jordão while the whole rest of Brazil was melting down on summer. My Carioca heart was freezing! We ate a lot (specialy those hot fudge strawberries... yummmy!), drank a lot of Malbec wine and hot chocolate, we shopped, we danced, we kissed the guys... Why bother when life can be that great?

I don't even have a religion, but seeing all this people's faith was interesting. Aparecida Basilica is beautiful, and, specially on october 12th, it gets really crowded with people praying.<br> There's a room full with things people left there as symbol of their faith. From simple letters to plaques of thankfullness, to wheelchairs they don't need anymore (since they've been cured by Our Lady Aparecida).

... and the bites are huge so that will look good if the sun actually comes out for me to sunbathe! On Tuesday we travelled to Paraty,found another hotel which is still being built and we are the first guests, so woken up early to banging! We must look for places that have already been built. We did have a lovely view (see photos)and had breakfast brought to the room. Again Simona got excited, this time by self-service ice-cream where you fill up ...