Our next stop: the miniscule city of Jericoacoara, 7 hours past Fortaleza. I´m just going to throw this out there: this was probably the coolest place on the trip. First, our giant bus couldn´t pass through the sand dunes to get there—that´s how Jeri (as I and the locals call it) receives its first cool point. When I arrived in the jeeps, I started feeling really sick. I got in my hotel room and napped for a few hours and felt better after. I´m happy to say that I only spent this short afternoon sick—others were not as lucky as I was.

This portion of the trip was filled with free time and the bed and breakfast we stayed at was filled with hammocks where we could nap, watch episodes of “The O.C.” (we had been watching it on the bus but then were forbidden due to our obsession—Mom I can sense the look of disapproval but you will know that I fully took advantage of my travels and didn´t just stay in the hotel and watch American TV shows) and just hang out talking. Bed and breakfast = cool point #2. In Jeri, there weren´t paved streets; the roads were pure sand. So walking around the town was really like walking around on the beach. Jeri is right on the ocean and walking to the beach from our bed and breakfast took about 10 minutes, passing by the shops and little restaurants. At night (this was another safe night-walking place) there were always hippies selling things on the side of the road (I didn´t mention this before, but this is extremely common in the northeastern Brazilian cities) and live music at the cafés. One day, we took buggies into the dunes to this beautiful fresh water lake to spend the day. It was incredibly beautiful but as we were returning to Jeri, it started pouring rain. And yes it stung, but thankfully we all had our sunglasses which protected part of my face. In my buggy, I was with three German girls and we sang horribly but with spirit on the return.

Me and my German girls:

Though Jeri was amazing, we could only spend three days there. So, after another day on the bus, we began to head back down south again and arrived in Natal. We saw the city, visited an old Portuguese fort and went to the beach. One night in Natal, a group of the exchangers went to the Claudia Leitte (one of the most famous Brazilian singers) concert which was energetic and I didn´t stop jumping for several hours. Here´s one of her most famous songs:

Another two bus days (Remember that Brazil is biger than the U.S. if you don´t include Alaska, so of course there was a lot of driving involved) we arrived Itacaré. This was definitely a beach part of the trip.

Here I am, just before hiking to absolutely the most beautiful beach I have ever been to:

Next stop: Arraial D´ajuda, another small town which was filled with adorable shops and cafés to eat in. We had a lot of free time to walk around town.

Here I am, walking the streets one afternoon:

Porto Seguro was another place we visited–a day trip while we were still in Arraial Dájuda. It was where the Portuguese first landed in the year 1500 and we saw the first church constructed in Brazil (which is such a Catholic country, it is a very big deal).

Here is a large chunk of our group blocking the marking stone that declared Brazil a Portuguese territory:

Then, two more days on the bus and, gasp, Rio de Janeiro. And yes. It lived up to its expectations. We saw the famous sites:

Going up Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain) in the teleferico:

 On a different note, here´s the one of the world famous favelas (NOTE: Of course Rio de Janeiro is a dangerous city, but I never felt nervous there. Yes, there is a lot of poverty but it´s not like the news portrays–I had a safe and fantastic time)

We had a samba and “funk” class too, which was hilarious with all us foreigners. Funk basically a style of Brazilian music that originated in Rio and is best compared to dirty rap as is the style of dancing, which you can probably see by the photo:

At Brazil´s most famous icon, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer):

And here, at Ipanema beach:

And then the last night, on Copacabana:

And then the next day, I flew back to Londrina and switched host families. And then the day after that, I went to Florianópolis for Carnaval. And that was that. Ha no but really, the trip was incredible. Especially writing this, I appreciate everything even more.

So quick shout out: Dad and Mom–thank you so much for the opportunity of a lifetime to see and understand the diversity and immense size of Brazil. It was one of the highlights of my exchange and I had such a fun time and made some good friends (you know who you are!).

NOTE: Because what I am writing takes place in February (Yes! Now I´m just one month behind…) I will write one more post about Carnaval soon and then one on my small weekend trips to São Paulo and Curitiba. Also, a very special event is coming up. This Sunday, March 28th, my blood family (As I decided to call them) is coming to BRAZIL! Haha yes, the image is quite entertaining. Anyway, here are the plans.

March 28-March 31: Rio de Janeiro (without me sadly)

March 31-April 5: ARAPONGAS and FAMILY REUNION!

April 5-April 8: Iguazu Falls

And then my family returns to the U.S. and I return to A. Pong as we gangsters like to say. And then I will switch to my third and final host family. Weird to think that everything is passing by crazily fast? Extremely.

Now after writing this short novel, I am ready to be done blogging.

Até a próxima família e amigos! Until the next time family and friends!

Anne out.

It all started on January 12th, when a small van came to pick me and the few other exchangers from my district and region and take us from Londrina to Curitiba (the capital of Paraná) to meet up with even more exchangers and then finally to São Paulo to officially begin the trip.

This was our sick ride:

In total, I think there were 42 exchangers–though (and this seems to be a common theme) there were 11 Germans and 7 Mexicans, which already accounts for one half of the group. There were 3 other Americans in the group too.

After the initial night in São Paulo (we didn´t get to see any of the city but we spent the night there) we took our first all-day bus ride to Brasilia, the country´s capital, which is located in the center of the country. We did a whirlwind day tour, covering many famous buildings, such as the president´s house, the famous cathedral, the legislative building, etc. etc. Brasilia was built specifically to be the country´s capital and thus is very organized. This year, Brasilia celebrated 50 years as the capital, which had previously been Rio de Janeiro.

Look who´s proud to be an American in front of the legislative building!

Then the next day, we hopped in the bat mobile and drove to the small, historically preserved town of Lençois, located in the big state of Bahia. This town was so much to walk around and was filled with little shops. The town is so small that it was safe to walk around at night alone, which I can´t say about all Brazilian towns.

A street in Lençois:

Lençois was an action packed part of the trip. We went on hikes, explored a cave, went river swimming, and climbed up a mountain for an incredible view. We stayed in this adorable bed and breakfast type place. There were hammocks and little nooks to hang out and talk with the other exchangers on the trip. It was in this town that I truly realized I was in another part of Brazil–the people stated to look different, the accent was very different, and I was just beginning to feel how hot it was.

After Lençois, which is in the interior of Bahia, we headed to the city of Salvador (the third largest city in Brazil). We went to see where the sea turtles hatch and had our first sight of the ocean on the trip. We did a city tour and had an afternoon of shopping and got a feel for the city. One of the cool things about Bahia is that it is the center of Afro-Brazilian culture and it is obvious. The people are darker and there were people on the corners doing capoeira (Brazilian dance/martial arts) and women dressed in traditional clothing trying to take photos with the tourists. One night, some of the exchangers who were interested and our guide, Rangel, went to the concert of the band Olodum–an afro-brazilian group that seriously knows how to do a good show. They have a lot of percussion and it was one of my favorite nights of the trip. Unfortunately I couldn´t take my camera but here´s a Youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqkpCY3MQuU&feature=related  that shows what the music is like. I tried to find a clip from one of their concerts but it didn´t have good quality music. But in summary it was fantastic.

I´m being hatched in Bahia:

On our last day in Salvador, we took a boat out about 2 hours to spend the day out on an island basically all to ourselves. It was so incredibly gorgeous and it was so nice to just be there with the other exchangers. We brought our own lunches (which consisted of cookies, cracker, and various other items of extremely cheap food) and swam and walked on the beach.

After Salvador, we began going north up the coast, stopping in Recife. After a city tour, we hit up the beach, Porto de Galinhas.

In Porto de Galinhas before going out on one of these little boats to snorkel:

After Recife, we went to the city of Fortaleza. This is getting closer and closer to the equator, so even though hot just felt hot, the sun felt stronger and stronger. In Fortaleza, one night we went to a street fair and did some shopping. I actually got a caricature drawn of  me and two friends (both German…)

So just to give you, the reader an idea, two weeks have past. It is now February. I have only really been burned once on the trip. I´ve been getting to know a lot of the other exchangers. I typically have German friends, which is absolutely fantastic and I definitely got in touch with my European roots, but I strangely felt guilty that I wasn´t  fluent in German…

I think this is a good breaking point for today. That is the first half of the trip. I will have to do another post regarding the second half–seeing as it´s almost April I will get on that soon.

BREAKING NEWS: The Huber-Solso clan (aka Bob, Chris, and Jane) will be coming to visit me in Brazil! They fly down Saturday, to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday the 28th of March and then spend a fews days in the Marvalous City until they finally arrive to Arapongas on the 31st at night. After spending 5 days (including Easter) getting to know my families and seeing what I´ve been up to, I head with them to Iguazu Falls until the 8th of April, when they return to the U.S. and I return to Arapongas.

When I return home (Brazilian home) I will change to my third and final host family. I know I still am owing some information about my second host family, but I am so far behind I will eventually get to it…

I will work on Part 2 soon, hopefully before my family comes so I won´t get even more behind. Thanks for being so pacient with me and I appreciate you reading. It makes me feel better about myself that people still care about what I´m up to!

Beijos do Brasil! Kisses from Brazil!

What I am about to say might provoke different reactions. Some may become angry. Others, upset. Others just downright jealous. Tonight, after being back in Arapongas for 10 days, I am going on another trip. This one, not so long, but a 4 day stint in Sao Paulo with the host parents and another exchanger, Mizuki from Japan. So here is what I propose. I write three posts. First, this one. Second, about my Northeast trip. Third,Carnaval in Florianpolis. Oh, deviation in plan, make that 4 posts, because then Iwill need to write about Sao Paulo.

But real quick, about the recent times in Arapongas.

I have switched host families. I am now with the Pennacchi family, Milton and Ruth, and their 16 year old daughter Gisela. My host dad helps run the family business (they package candies or something of the likes) and my host mom stays at home but also tapes a cooking show in Arapongas. My host sister Gi is super sweet and my other host sister, Isabela is doing exchange in Japan and loving it.

 I have also switched schools and now attend Colégio Mae do Divino Amor. It´s interesting to see how schools can be different and I´m meeting a lot of new people (Like always! It never really stops). I´ve been watching a lot of Gossip Girl with Gisela (Second season´s killing me inside again). I have  started doing pilates with Gi on Mondays and also am singing in a Catholic church choir (Would I have ever predicted this? I´m going with a no). I also will continue my painting class which I´m reallylooking forward too.

But I have to eat lunch! Will write soon! I promise! Beijos!

So, in summary, on December 20th, I left my wonderful town of Arapongas and went to the beach in the city of Camboriú, in the southern state of Santa Catarina. It´s about a 6 ot 7 hour drive, but it was definitely worth it. My host family (yes, I am still with my first host family) has an apartment RIGHT on the beach in the absolute center of the city so we could basically walk everywhere that we needed to. The actual populaion is about 200,00 but during Christmas and New Year, there are about 600,000 people there–basically a majority of Arapongas goes there to vacation, so I saw a lot of people I knew.

A typical day would go something like this. Wake up, eat breakfast in bed, get into bikini, put on sun block and lay on the beach until 12 or 1. The waves there were really nice–big enough to make a splash but not giant, so we spent a lot of time in the water. We would also walk down the beach, which was very long because it ran the length of the city.

In the afternoons we went out for a late lunch, walked around, went shopping, went for drives to the nearby beaches, whatever we felt like.

But…the two weeks in Camboriú weren´t just relaxing.

I did a ropes course:

Towards the end of the trip, we also went to an amusement park called Beto Carrero:

But before skipping ahead too much, I want to talk a little about New Year in Brazil. They have so many cool traditions and superstitions here. First of all, everyone dresses in white. It´s to symbolize peace in the upcoming year, and other colors have meaning too. For example, red is love, yellow is money.

Here I am with my family (plus uncle and grandparents) in our apartment, getting ready for 2010:

And the great part was that we could see ALL the fireworks they set off from the ocean right from our balcony:

I came back to Arapongas on January 5th and now, I am leaving on a month long trip to Northeastern Brazil for one month! A whole month! I will try to write one post if I can at an internet cafe or something, just saying: It´s okay, I´m alive and having the time of my life. I will of course write a full report and include pictures after, but actually here´s the thing. I come back from the Northeast trip on February 11th and then go to celebrate Carnaval in the city of Florianópolis on the 12th of February! So I won´te really be home until February 18th. And upon my return, I will be changing host families. So there will be a lot to report after this.

So I want to send my love for all of you, wishing you a belated Happy New Year, though it is still 2010. I am thinking about home, but enjoying my time here more than I ever imagined.

Beijos do Brasil! Kisses from Brazil!

This past weekend, on Friday, December 19, I had my second graduation from high school! I didn´t actually graduate, but essentially “formatura” is a combination of our graduation ceremony and prom. It starts with the graduation, dinner, and then dancing until morning. My school, Colégio Prisma had somewhere between 50 and 60 kids graduate from the third year of high school and the “formatura” was combined with the 8th grade graduation too.

My host sister Thaís and I:

Here´s a big group at the “formatura”:

And the following night, my friend Isa´s cousin was graduating from one of the other private schools in Arapongas, Mãe do Divino Amor, and so we crashed that graduation too. It was basically the same thing, but a great excuse to get dressed up and party with friends.

I got home at around 4:30 and had to pack my bags to go to Iguazu Falls the next morning at 9.

I went to the Falls with my host family and friend Isa on Sunday, and when we arrived, the first thing we did was go to where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay intersect.

Here is my host mom, dad, and sister. We are in Brazil here, the bank on the left is Argentina, and the bank on the right is Paraguay:

On Monday, we went to Parque das Aves to see different tropical birds early in the morning.

Me and my new friend the Toucan:

And right after, I went to see IGUAZU FALLS IN A HELICOPTER!

If we are friends on Facebook, there is a quick video of me going up with my host mom. sister, and Isa getting in the helicopter and taking off!

After going in the helicopter, we went a little closer to the falls and went on this excursion called “Macuco Safari” which took us RIGHT under the falls in a boat! It was so amazing to feel the water pound us and after the initial shock of the first pass, I kept wanting to go back and feel the water again. We went 4 or 5 times under the falls.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the falls and it was truly amazing! I hope I go back some day.

On Tuesday, we went to Paraguay. And when Brazilians go to Paraguay, they go to shop. Everyone in my host family came back to Brazil with new cell phones. I bought perfume and a hair dryer. It was an exhaustive day of shopping over the border and it was nice to come back to the hotel to relax before returning to Arapongas on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Saturday the 19th, my host family celebrated our Christmas (because my family will not be in town for Christmas) by doing Secret Santa, which is actually different here. “Amigo Secreto” or “Secret Friend” starts the same as it does in the U.S.–everyone draws names and buys a present for the person whose name they drew. But to exchange the presents, everyone arrives with their purchased gift unmarked and one person begins by saying something along the lines of: “My secret friend is really special to me…blah blah” and they continue to say nice things about the person they chose until they reveal the person. It seems more personal than the version back in the states where we try to guess the purchaser…

I hate to just dash off like this when it´s been so long since I´ve written but I will be leaving in about a half hour to go to the city of Camboriu, in the southern state of Santa Caterina. Camboriu is close to the big all better-known city of Florianopolis and is the hot spot for the people of Arapongas to vacation. 3 out of the 4 Arapongas exchangers will be there for some time over the Christmas/New Year´s period of time.

I will be returning home on January 5th, so hopefully I will have gotten my fair share of sun in these 2+ weeks.

I want to wish everyone “Feliz Natal”–Merry Christmas and “Feliz Ano Novo”–Happy New Year. I am so thankful for all the wonderful opportunities I have had in 2009 and am looking forward to the next year of adventures. So…until 2010!

Anyway…recent activity. In November, I´ve gone to a lot of birthday parties. Now that I´m thinking about it, I think I have gone to a birthday party every weekend. The  past two weekend though, I have gone to two 15th birthday parties, which are a big deal here. It´s like “Sweet Sixteen” but with more tradition behind it and it´s more common to have a big 15th birthday party. The dress is semi-formal, so all the girls are dressed to the nines.

Here I am, at my VERY FIRST “festa de 15 anos”:

(Left to Right: Sofia, an exchanger from Mexico, Me, and my host sister Thaís)

And then, this past weekend, I went to another party, at the same venue:

(I am here with Maurice, an exchanger from Germany)

Some other updates. Just over a week ago, the four exchangers that live in Arapongas were featured on a local cable cooking show. One of the hosts is my second host mom, Ruthi Pennachi. We didn´t have to prepare any food, but we were asked to talk about some of our Christmas traditions in our countries. Next year, each exchanger will be asked to help on the show and cook something traditional.

In this photo, from left to right: Ruthi (second host mother), Tim (from Denmark), Me, Sofia (from Mexico), Maurice (from Germany), and the show´s other host:

I only have one week remaining in school and then it´s vacation!!! At this time of year here in Brazil, people in the third year of high school, so my classmates, are taking tests called “vestibular.” Basically, the vestibular is an ACT like test that is specific to each college. So if you want to try and enter 3 schools, that is three tests right there. And here, there´s a tradition when someone passes their vestibular, they put on their school uniform and head out to the streets. There, their friends get them all dirty–we cracked eggs on their head, threw flour on them, smothered them in ketchup–whatever goes. After they get disgusting, they then ask people in cars for change, to celebrate their acceptance. So this past week, I went out in the streets with some girls who passed their vestibular. I think you will understand why I didn´t want to touch them in the photo…

So yes. I will enjoy the last week of school. And yes. I did see New Moon in theaters (Am I embarrassed? No. Exchangers have no shame).

And yes. I will be better and update more often.

By the way….Happy Thanksgiving! I will miss celebrating with the family in Texas this year, but I will Skype you all on Thursday. And I will also make and apple crisp for my host family.

Tchau!

But here are some photo highlighs:

Oktoberfest in the neighboring city of Rolândia:

All-night class (On October 23rd, we had class from 11 at night until 6 in the morning, in order to study for the big tests coming up in November).

I am in the back right side in white:

I went to the Rotary Indian party, which took place this past Saturday. I invited my friend Larissa, an exchanger from Germany to come with:

With my host mom, Maria do Carmo and my host sister, Thaís:

And with the whole group:

And strangely enough, yesterday my birthday! I can´t believe it but I am actually 19. I know I can´t complain about aging quickly, but 19 seems so much older than 18…

So thanks to all who have sent/will send birthday wishes!

Here I am, DRAMATICALLY blowing out my candles:

And with my host sister and friends, out for lunch:

November is quickly arriving and I will have reached the three month mark here in Brazil.

Stop by next time But until then, this has been Anne Huber´s blog, thanks for reading!

A map of Curitiba:

I left via bus at 11:30 0n Friday night and slept until 6:30 am when we arrived in the city. Camila picked us up from the bus station and we took the bus back to her apartment before having a quick breakfast and  leaving for our day of touristic bliss.

On Saturday, the main event was a train trip in the Serra do Mar. It was so gorgeous, I don´t think that the photos do any sort of justice. The train took us through the countryside for the morning until the groups on the train transferred into buses and we first went to a historically preserved town called Antonina. I tried traditional food there for lunch and then we walked around the town, stopping in the church and in a few little shops.

All on board! (I know cheesy but when can I ever say that?)

Just one of the gorgeous views:

It honestly felt like I was walking down the street of a small European town when we got off the train:

Then, on Sunday, we slept in a little and then headed to this huge street market! I was finally able to find some of the Brazilian bracelets I had been searching for in the limited market of Arapongas. We stopped at a free art museum, shopped, and ate a healthy lunch of french fries and Maracujá juice.

Some entertainment at the fair:

Afterwards, the group headed for the tourist spots using this bus system that only heads for Curitiba´s famous sites. That sounds good on paper, but really, the buses came every half hour, had long lines, and were full beyond capacity. That set aside, we had a really nice afternoon.

Here we are at the famous botanical gardens:

We also stopped by the Oscar Niemeyer Museum, fondly called “the eye” for what I think are obvious reasons:

Monday was a very relaxed day. We went to the Palladium Shopping Center which is something like the largest mall in Latin America and shopped and watched a movie at the theater there.

Here I am with a “Where the Wild Things Are” poster in Portuguese:

It was a really fun long weekend (everyone had the day off from school on Monday). I was exhausted after and we arrived back in Arapongas on Tuesday morning at 5:00 am. And here I am now, on a beautiful Wednesday. It´s before guitar lession, sitting here with my door open to the backyard, the sun shining, and I think I will call my mother right now (don´t be jealous dad, I can count on her to answer her phone more and plus, we´ll skype on Sunday ok?)

Tchau!

When I last left off, I had mentioned a sertenejo concert that was in the perspective future. And I in fact went. I went with two other exchangers, Maurice from Germany and Sofia from Mexico and then my host sister´s friends. We arrived at the venue at about 9:30 and were some of the first people there. Remember, this is Brazilian time! The concert was supposedly starting at 10:30 but we expected it to start a little later. They played house and funk (Brazilian rap) music until Janaynna (the BIG star) came out. So we were dancing to that music until 1:45 when the diva decided to start the concert. I wasn´t a huge fan of the music, but it was fun to finally go to a concert here.

Janaynna in action:

The group outside the venue:

On a different note, last week, I also introduced some Brazilians to the delicacy of chocolate chip cookies! I went over to my friend Luiza´s house with our friend Aline and we baked them. It had been so long, when I first had that little nibble of uncooked dough, well…I can´t explain the rush. Just joking, but it was really good.

Here we are at Luiza´s house:

Let´s just say I was skeptical when we put THESE in the oven:

Last weekend, Jay, the exchanger from India, came over to my house to cook and Indian churrasco (cook out). Maurice from Germany and I were the chef´s assistants and we had work to do! Jay cooked us a fantastic meal—I love Indian food and it was terrific to finally eat something spicy (In Brazil they don´t use much flavoring like that).

Jay, clearly proud of his work:

Anyway, the normal routine continues but I will post something next week about my trip to Curitiba, the capital of my state. It should be an incredible trip—I leave tonight at 11:30 on the overnight bus. I am going with what has become the normal travel group: Thaís (host sister), Isa (friend), and Junior (Isa´s brother). Isa´s sister studies medicine in Curitiba and so we will stay in her apartment. We don´t have school on Monday so we are returning late on Monday night. I´m sure school will be SUPER fun on Tuesday. But “vale a pena.” It´s worth it.

The thing is, I´m definitely getting a routine down. The Portuguese classes continue, every Tuesday and Thursday, as well as my guitar lessons on Wednesday. I go to school every morning at 7:15 until 12:15 when I come home for lunch.

I don´t have classes in the afternoon so I have a few hours in the afternoon of free time. But I had my first art class last Monday and I just joined a gym, so there goes my down time, but I´m quite fine with that.

Now that I´m thinking about it, it´s almost like my parents sent me to Brazil for finishing school—I´m learning art, music, dance, and a romance language. So congratulations mother and father, I am becoming highly accomplished and will come back a successful woman.

But Hopi Hari! On Spetember 11^th,  I went to an amusement park in the state of São Paulo called Hopi Hari. The group consisted of my host sister Thaís, her friend Isadora, Isadora´s brother, Junior, and I.

We caught a coach bus in Arapongas at about 11:00 pm on Friday night and had two stops on the overnight trip to the park. When we arrived at 8 am on Saturday we had an hour to wait before the park opened up. But we were super lucky because it had been raining during the week yet we had a beautiful day on Saturday.

We went on so many different rides. They have the world´s 5^th largest wooden rollercoaster so that was pretty exciting. We went on water rides.  We went on a roller coaster that is completely in the dark (which was especially fun when we went at night because it was TRULY dark).

Here are some pictures of the park:

But the best of all, which I sadly have no pictures of (they are on someone else´s camera) is when Junior and I went on the Pendulum. It is a “ride” of sorts,  more like thrill-seeking attraction…well I´ll just describe it. I had to put on a full-body harness and they linked me to Junior´s harness. They then hooked us up to a cord and we were laying face-down, parallel to the ground and cranked us about 50 some meters. We waited there for what seemed like 2 or 3 minutes (though it was about 15 seconds haha) and when we were given the signal, I pulled a cord and we free fell for a little before sort of swinging back and forth. For the majority of my blog followers who are Minnesotans, it´s like they have at Valley Fair. And it was absolutely incredible! But I forgot Portuguese for the first 10 seconds of the Pendulum and yelled in English.

Last weekend, my friend Meghan (an exchanger from Canada) had a party at her place in Londrina, so I spent Friday night there and when Maria do Carmo (my host mother) came to pick us up, Meghan came back to Arapongas and I gave her the grand tour and she spent the night here.

The upcoming forecast:

This weekend, I might go to a Sertenjo concert (like Brazilian country, but I can put up with this) and my Brazilian soccer team is playing on Sunday afternoon, so I will go over to a friend´s house to watch that (Corintians!).

Also, thanks to my host mother´s fantastic planning and my real parent´s permission, on October 9^th, I´ll be going to the city of Curitiba for 5 days. Curitiba has about 2 million inhabitants and is the state´s capital so I am excited to see it. We have planned a day train trip to take us through the valley and it looks so classy it´s incredible. It´s like Titanic: Brazilian Train Edition:

I hope this latest post was somewhat worth your time. But TCHAU!