After six days at sea we finally arrived in Brazil. The time at sea went by pretty fast and the time in Brazil went by even faster. While at sea we crossed the equator and celebrated Neptune Day. It's tradition on Neptune day to shave your head and gets fish guts dumped all over you. A surprising number of people actually did it all, even a lot of girls. It was interesting to see it all happening but by the end of the morning the top deck smelled horribly of fish and the whole deck was covered in orange water from all the fish guts. We didn't have any classes in celebration of Neptune Day so we just relaxed outside for most of the day after everything was cleaned up. On Wednesday we docked in Salvador, Brazil. Salvador is an amazing city and there is so much going on. On the first day I went on a bus tour of the city. Our tour guide was amazing and new a lot about the history of the city. It was crazy to see the favelas which are the slums in Brazil located right next to the city and the upper class houses. Although there's a large gap between the rich and poor here it was amazing how they lived so close to each other without any problems. After the bus tour we went to a welcome reception where we got to meet some Brazilian students and try some local foods. There was also a performance of Capoiera which is a martial arts inspired dance. It was really cool seeing that and then they even gave the students a chance to try it out. After the Capoiera show a Carnival band performed for us. The reception was a lot of fun and a good way to start off the time in Brazil. The next morning I left really early to go to Iguassu Falls. The falls are larger than Niagara Falls. After about six hours of traveling we finally made it to the hotel which was located directly across from the water falls. We had a chance that afternoon to walk around the Brazilian side of the falls. That night we went to dinner and saw a dance performance with dances from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, the three countries that surround the falls. The next morning we were up early and went into Argentina to see the falls from that side. The falls were absolutely amazing. We got a chance to ride a boat into the falls which was a great experience. After the boat ride we went on a truck ride through the rainforest. The rest of the day we just hung out around the hotel and on the Brazilian side of the falls. That night everyone on the trip basically hung out around the pool. I got to meet a lot of other people on the ship. Later on some Germans came outside and we got to hang out with them. There were about 15 of us that spent the entire night out by the pool just hanging out getting to know everyone. We all finally decided to go in around 4. On the last day in Iguassu we visited the Itiapu Dam which is one of the wonders of the modern world. The dam was actually pretty interesting to see and the dam creates enough energy to supply 90% of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil. After the dam we went to an aviary where a lot of the birds were able to fly free. The trip to Iguassu was a great experience and it was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. After getting home that night from Iguassu around 10:30, my friends were waiting for me to go to a music festival. In Salvador they were having a five day music festival. I'm so happy Cheron convinced me to go to the festival because I was ready to crash after not getting any sleep the night before either but it was worth staying up all night again and getting a chance to check out the festival. The festival was really cool because it was all local people unlike Iguassu which had mainly been tourist. We stayed at the festival until 5 am when it finally died down. After we left the festival we went to the beach and watched the sun rise. We finally made it back to the ship around 6. The next day was our last in port so I woke up early so I could get a chance to see more of Salvador. I went to the markets on upper city and just walked around the square. Later a group of us got an authentic Brazilian lunch together before heading out to a soccer game. The game was between two states in Brazil but it was a lot of fun. The entire game was really close and ended in a 1-1 tie. Everyone in the stadium was going crazy the whole time. It was just really cool to see that much enthusiasm from a crowd. In all Brazil was great. Although I was a little sleep deprived I enjoyed everything I did in this port and had no regrets. We're at sea for another 8 days before we reach South Africa which is one of the ports I'm looking forward to the most. I have a Safari planned already and I want to either go sky diving or caged shark diving while I'm there too. "The things we regret most in life are the risks we never took."
Hey Shovey,
You sound like u are having so much fun and your entries sound like exerpts from national geographic. I am so happy that you had the oppurtunity to do this and enjoy it because you deserve ever second of it! I love you and I miss you..Can't wait to hear about South Africa. xoxoxoxox P.s. girls really shaved their heads?? Wow...I'm glad you didn't because you know your hair wouldn... show all
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