Spring (Fall) Break in Brazil

So I have been absolutely terrible about blogging, but unless you care to hear about me going to the beach every single day and drinking caipirinhas all night, there really hasn't been too many exciting events to tell. Right now I am chilling at the São Paulo airport waiting for my connecting flight to Rio!!!  I am so excited!  Despite getting robbed at knife point by 4 kids last year and losing a bunch of my stuff, it still is my favorite city!  I can't wait!

So what have I been up to?

I have been going to several of the beaches here and believe I am up to about 13 of the 42 beaches the lovely Island of Florianópolis has to offer.  Besides working on my tan, I have also been working on my surfing.  My friend took me on his short board a few weeks ago, and I also had a lesson.  The lesson was also in pretty much Portuguese, which turns out, I pretty much understood all of it, mainly due to  my Jiu Jitsu classes.  Besides that instruction, I have been surfing most days here and am still only ok.  I heard it takes about a year of going almost daily to get decent so I don't feel too bad, besides this is fun practice!!

Two Saturdays past, I went to a music festival here that played a variety of music.  It was $40r or $20usd for all the vodka/beer you could drink and included the entrance fee.  For the fist hour of the festival, only the ladies were allowed in. The girl from the hostel I went with and I thought it was that way so the girls would get all liquored and loosened up for the boys, but after one drink and 20 minutes we knew why - male strippers!!  They were originally dressed as the Brazilian army and navy.  

But then they got down to this!

I even got pulled up for a dance.

And for some reason a giant duck was there as well.  It was a good time.

 

Another day here I did an organized hike to Lagoina de Leste.  It was an hour hike to the beach and made me realize I was in no way prepared for Maccu Picchu.  It was a good opportunity to start to break in my boots.  

This past Saturday, I went to an amazing party called Carnafacul.  It was a Carnaval style party and was amazing!  It was in the center of the city and before you even went in you could by drinks/food locals were selling for cheaper than inside.  The other hostel-ers I went with and I had a few drinks, got our shirts included with the ticket, reconstructed the shirts abd went on in.  Let me just say, the Brazilians very much dress up whenever they go out.  These ladies had completely decked out their shirts with sequins, adornments and styling that you wouldn't even recognize the original shirt.  Anyway, the festival itself had so many people and a massive tour bus drove by with a band/dancers/djs on top throughout the crowd.  It was basically a massive street party.  What I really love about Brazil, is so much happens outside.  I eat outside, surf outside, dance, drink, etc. outside.  I think all this fresh air (and sleep) is doing wonders for my health.  

Here are some sweet photos from the party!

Another interesting thing that has happened was I went to eat and had feijoada, which is a typical Brazilian dish made with rice, beans and meat.  I was trying to cut the piece of meat and it wouldn't cut!  On closer inspection, I realized it was the nose of the pig!!!!  Ewww!!!  You can definitely see the nostrils and even tiny hairs on it.  Yuck.  I doubt that would pass health code laws in the U.S. 

Although what does pass in the U.S. is Diet Coke! Apparently any drinks with aspartame are not allowed here.  Not happy.  They do have coke zero, but I am just not a fan.  I hope Colombia, the next country I head to June 13, allows Diet Coke!  I have a craving!!!

Anyway, off to go board my plane.  But, now that I am traveling more, I anticipate more exciting things to write about and more time waiting for my method of transit and hope to post more!

Beijos,

Kendra