BRAZIL!!!!!

Wow! Ryan and I had the most amazing time for 16 days in Brazil. This is going to be quite a long post, so I apologize in advance, but we had so much fun there's so much to say!
Maureen packed the children up 4 days before our departure and took them to Tennessee to stay with Jon and Jen (maureen's brother and sis-in-law). Thankyou thankyou thankyou again! They had a fabulous time as well, but that will be another post! Friday night Maureen flew out of Knoxville and met up with Ryan and his parents in Atlanta to catch our first flight out of the country to Rio, Brazil! Equipped with sleeping masks, sleeping pills, and as comfortable as we could be we flew 9 hours over night and landed in Rio, Saturday morning. (We didn't sleep much). There we met Paulo and Elouisa(friends from Myriam's grade school) and stayed with them in there beautiful home right off Inpenema beach (the beach just south of Copacobana). We thoroughly enjoyed 5 days of beach and tourisim. We saw the twin brothers, the christ statue, sugar loaf, and went to a soccer game at Maracana (the largest soccer stadium).




We saw Copacobana beach (with the sand sculpture), of course did some market shopping, and beach go-ers shopping! The food was amazing. Lots of fish, rice, beans, and Guarana. We quickly learned to drink only bottled water-and to ask for it Sem-gas (without gas). Ryan's portuegese CD's learning helped as we tried to commuicate and I even remembered some Spanish-well it's better then nothing-right? Let's just say we were so grateful that Mom was there with her portuegese! And that most of the people we stayed with spoke english. As with any big city there is poverty. We saw the big favella's of Rio. Their homes are all up in the mountains. We had some fun rides in Taxi's and loved walking along the beaches. They have some amazing tile patterns in the paveways that distinguish the cities. Rio was wonderful.









Our next stop= Curitiba! Pedro, Ryan's cousin (with all the sweet hookups-seriously!)picked us up and first stop-chiaroscurio (all you can eat meat bbq). We stuffed our faces and Pedro laughed at all we ate! It was heavenly. A crazy drive through the country with Pedro at the wheel and we went to see their beautiful home and family in Jaragua. Their daughter Silva and son Guillerme were so fun and once again we were surrounded by english speakers. The food was amazing, they had fish and shrimp and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Pedro has a home theater we watched movies on. The gals enjoyed a day at the salon, while the men went to a Ford dealership. Ryan liked seeing all the different cars and even driving one! We enjoyed celebrating our 4th of July with their celebration of a pioneer farmer! It wasn't fireworks, but there was plenty of entertainment and food! Pedro, Paula and family then took us to their beautiful beach home on the coast in Camboriu (Santa Catarina)! Their beach home was beautiful! Complete windows overlooking the ocean. We ate, and ate, and went sightseeing, and ate! Did I say the food was amazing? And company even more amazing! Thanks for all the wonderful hospitality and fun! We really enjoyed being with Pedro's family. They were fun.















Our final flight south was to Porto Alegre Ryan's mom's home town. We were greeted so kindly by Patricia and Ricardo and their son Authur. After getting all our luggage, we went straight to another Churhascurio (meat bbq)! It was delicious once again, and we stuffed our faces! We met Patricia's family-Jaun, Edwarda, and Hafa, and Ronaldo and fam, and Ricardo and family. The english was a little less now, but we made up for it in sign language, Spanish and lots of interrupting mom for translations! We were delighted to be with the families and had a great visit. Off we were again this time by bus 3 hours south to Rio Grande. Christine's sons, Rhodrigo and Guillerme picked us up and drove to Cassino (beach coast) to Renito's beach house. We were surprised to see so many people at night time! Amelita, Christine, Adrianna, and some yummy tortillini soup! Oh it was so good! We enjoyed going to the beach, Ryan getting in some quick sand, driving on the beach, shopping in the only grocery store, lunches at Amelita's, and taking a boat tour to the thin strip off Brazil. We also went to lunch with Juqua, and had dinner at Armando's. We loved playing games at night at the beach house with Rubens the cousins. We were spoiled and literealy they killed the fatted lamb. Saturday morning! Saturday night was a visit to Chritine and Lala's farm where they BBQ-ed, rode horses, played games. And in the evening the twins cooked dinner and we danced the night away. We couldn't believe how fast time flew by. It was so wonderful to meet so many wonderful people, who are family we've never seen, but always heard about. And saying good bye, was so hard to do. Literally because of the language, and emotionally because of all the love. We had such a great time. Thank you to so many people who came, helped, cooked, cleaned, entertained, and loved. It was so wonderful! A trip of a lifetime!