So...It's been a while. Mainly I've been doing school work (or at least acting like it) and hanging out in Rio for the past month. Three weekends, however, I left the city and the beach for something a little different.
The first trip, dont't remeber the dates but a few weeks ago, was to a small town called Bananal in Sao Paulo state. I have a friend there who's family owns a farm. Farm is a slightly deceptive word though. It was more like 3,000 acres of rainforest, with a farm house, orchard, and garden in the middle of it. And there was a waterfall 50m away from the back door to the house. Needless to say, it was pretty sweet. We spent the weekend hiking around the forest and swimming in the waterfalls, wasn't bad at all. Just wish we had more time there. I got to drive the way back (we rented cars) and thats still a highlight of my trip so far.
A couple of weeks ago the school organized a trip for the international students to a mountain resort not too far from Rio. It was just a day trip. We hiked, played volleyball, soccer, and swam. Then, about 2 hours before it was time to go, they brought out the slip 'n slide. Thats where I spent the remainder of my time. Overall the day was really good.
Last weekend I went with 6 other students to a city nearby called Teresopolis, from there we hiked to another city called Petropolis. It was a 3 day hike, although, with proper motivation, it can be done in 1. We took it nice and easy though because the park was just so pretty. The first day we ran into some complications with registering and whatnot at the bottom of the trail, after a few hours of talking and arguing we finally made it onto the trail. It was fairly easy, just a little steep and wet at times but not bad. Second day was a little different. We were around 2000m high for most of the day, and the clouds seemed to be at about that hieght too. After getting lost once or twice in the fog and poorly marked trail we made it to the camp site. The third day was much more pleasant, the sun was out and we were headed downhill the whole time. Got to town and found our way to the bus stop to get a ride back to Rio.
Also, for those of you who don't know, I am no longer living with a Brazilian family. I moved in to an apartment with 6 other students not too far from where I used to live. Its been going good. I only get a bed every other week though, since me and my roomate, Joe, only have one bed in our room. Other than that it is good.
The first trip, dont't remeber the dates but a few weeks ago, was to a small town called Bananal in Sao Paulo state. I have a friend there who's family owns a farm. Farm is a slightly deceptive word though. It was more like 3,000 acres of rainforest, with a farm house, orchard, and garden in the middle of it. And there was a waterfall 50m away from the back door to the house. Needless to say, it was pretty sweet. We spent the weekend hiking around the forest and swimming in the waterfalls, wasn't bad at all. Just wish we had more time there. I got to drive the way back (we rented cars) and thats still a highlight of my trip so far.
A couple of weeks ago the school organized a trip for the international students to a mountain resort not too far from Rio. It was just a day trip. We hiked, played volleyball, soccer, and swam. Then, about 2 hours before it was time to go, they brought out the slip 'n slide. Thats where I spent the remainder of my time. Overall the day was really good.
Last weekend I went with 6 other students to a city nearby called Teresopolis, from there we hiked to another city called Petropolis. It was a 3 day hike, although, with proper motivation, it can be done in 1. We took it nice and easy though because the park was just so pretty. The first day we ran into some complications with registering and whatnot at the bottom of the trail, after a few hours of talking and arguing we finally made it onto the trail. It was fairly easy, just a little steep and wet at times but not bad. Second day was a little different. We were around 2000m high for most of the day, and the clouds seemed to be at about that hieght too. After getting lost once or twice in the fog and poorly marked trail we made it to the camp site. The third day was much more pleasant, the sun was out and we were headed downhill the whole time. Got to town and found our way to the bus stop to get a ride back to Rio.
Also, for those of you who don't know, I am no longer living with a Brazilian family. I moved in to an apartment with 6 other students not too far from where I used to live. Its been going good. I only get a bed every other week though, since me and my roomate, Joe, only have one bed in our room. Other than that it is good.
