About two weeks ago, Paul and I went on the International Plant Trek to Brazil with some of Paul's classmates and a few from the 2013 class. We had such a great time with fun people. Although, I do feel that the SO's had much more fun while the LGO's were visiting manufacturing plants...WE SAW MONKEYS! What's not to love about monkeys? I'll get to that story, but first, the pictures:
We arrive in Sao Paulo Saturday and went out and about both Saturday and Sunday. Our hotel was nice, but I think the most amazing thing about Brazil is the people. I'm quite sure that Brazilians are the nicest people on the face of the planet. There was not one person that we approached that was not willing to help to the best of his/her ability. The language barrier was not as difficult it seemed, since I basically just spoke Spanish to everyone. I think they appreciated the effort. The people really want to make sure that we stayed safe and were truly sweet in every way.
Either way, first stop in Sao Paulo, el Mercado Municipal
It's just a meat sandwich...and it was gross
El Mercado
Tons of pretty fruit
Our friends
Spices
The next stop, the Cathedral
The sign above says LGO...of course they made the MIT
After our weekend galavanting around the city, the LGO went off to see Dell, and the SO's (Kendall, Alanna, and myself) all went out to hike. I don't have too many photos from that adventure, but it certainly was one!
We used nothing but public transit and it was fairly smooth sailing...until we got more on the outskirts of the city. We had to take another bus, but we did not seem to find where to catch it and basically lost faith in it. So we walked around, trying to find another bus stop. We made it to another one and had the most ridiculous break down in communication I ever witnessed. I spoke Spanish, the bus drivers did not really understand it. We tried a taxi, and the taxi kept telling us no, which seemed odd, since we knew where we wanted to head toward. But everyone was insistent on it. Not that way. So, we talked to some police officers and they told us that the way we wanted to go via taxi was dangerous. Thank you Brazilians for looking out for the stubborn Americans.
So, instead, we went another direction and saw this huge beaver looking thing at a public park and it looked awesome! Unfortunately, I do not have those photos, because I forgot the camera battery. Sadness. But this is what it looked like:
Now that's a beaver! And it's adorable! We called them Beaverje, but they are called Capybara
When we finally made it to the reserve that we originally wanted to hike, we found it was closed. WHY?! However, a nice man was at the gate and he seemed to understand we came a long way...AND HE LET US IN! We were in a haven, all by ourselves. We did a nice long loop, and enjoyed the beauty of the nature around us...ALONE! We got a beautiful view of the city (which is ridiculously massive by the way...3rd largest in the world I think...there are bigger cities?!). We also saw monkeys! Tons of monkeys! Too bad, no pictures. I'll update once I get them.
A view of Sao Paulo
Again...but jumping!
We went home after our epic day and the next day, while the LGOs were at GM, we went to a small little artisan town. It was a quieter day, but it was pretty little city.
Through the Looking Glass
Here's Paul at GM:
The next day was the fly to Manaus, the city in the Amazon, but first, we went to the beach! We didn't have too much of a beach day, since it poured 2 hours after we arrived. Luckily, we were eating lunch when the worst part hit and we did get to enjoy an hour or so of sunshine.
Beach
The last day for the LGOs to visit a plant was on Thursday and they saw Samsung while the SO's just visited the city.
The LGOs seemed very impressed with how welcoming Samsung was and even some of the workers took us out on the town that night to see live music. We had a great time, no matter how disgustingly hot and humid it was (it was 100% humidity...even Atlanta can't compete!).
Friday was AMAZON ADVENTURE DAY! We got to climb a 40 meter tree and swim in some wonderful water with a waterfall. We enjoyed it, despite how hungry we got.
Learning how to climb
Adorable
This is specifically to gross out my mom. My elbow looks busted, but it's not
Hanging around
Going up
At the top
Walking about
Waterfall
Hunger games to us
Shout out to the North Cobb folk!
Swimming downstream
Flower
We had a great time and we were exhausted when we came back to the hotel. But that did not deter us from our last day out in Manaus.
This is the opera house that is basically world famous. It was built by rubber barons who were too bored with living in an enormous rainforest, so they created this beautiful opera house, still functioning.
Fountain
The top part was neat
We then headed down to the water. Manaus is situated on the Rio Negro, which is a tributary that nearby flows into the Amazon river. When the two rivers meet, the do not immediately mix, but keep this weird division, which you will see later. We decided we wanted to take a boat out to see the Meeting of the Waters and through some haggling, we got an awesome price for an awesome experience.
Connor and Alanna
Gas station..on the water!
Flag
Meeting of the waters
When you touch the two waters, the darker one (Rio Negro) is WARMER than the light brown (Amazon). It was strange.
For David
We didn't too much else, but what an amazing adventure and what a wonderful way to learn about Brazil. We came home, tired and me bruised, but very thankful. We are fortunate and have just fallen in love with this little planet called Earth. I will leave you with this last picture of the MIT folk, hanging around. Now, I must get my laundry and enjoy the 70 degree weather!!!
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