Amazônia!!!

I just spent the last amazing 9 days in the Amazon!!!! It was literally the best trip of my life!!! It started off I had to sleep over at a person from Rotary's house, and also my friends house (because my family left for vacation). When I got there they gave me rootbeer from Milwaukee!!! I had not heard the sentence "do you want a rootbeer" in 8 months!!! I was so happy! Then I ended up only getting 1 hour of sleep cause we watched movies all night! but that's ok I was too excited to sleep!! My flight was early in the morning. When I got there I met some people from my district, but apparently they had different flights. So, I flew to Brasilia and met up with like 20 exchange students! When we got to Manaus we all went to subway, then went to the hotel to take a nice shower! That night we just talked about the trip, and the rules and stuff. They next day we toured the city of Manaus there wasn't much to see but it was a very pretty city! We then drove to Presidente Figueiredo. That night we went night trekking in the rainforest. We had to use flashlights in order to see! It was so muddy and wet! water was up to my knees! because we went swimming in a waterfall. We also went into a cave, and saw a TON of bats!! The next day was the start of the boat trip. We stayed 7 days on a boat in the Amazon. There were 4 boats. 3 sleeping boats and 1 eating boat. We all got into our assigned boats, and started our journey. The first day was nice we just relaxed and got used to the boat. That night we slept in Hammocks which would be our bed for the next 7 days. It actually was fairly comfy you find some interesting ways to lay after a couple hours hahaha. The next day we visited an Indian tribe. It was sooo cool with the little indian kids, and their clothes. It was interesting to see how they lived.

It's hard to separate which days we did what. hahaha. A lot of the time we took these motorized canoes a lot to see the area. We also went to this spot where two rivers met and they were both different colors! One was blue, and the other brown! It was so neat! We also went searching for alligators! The first group found one so I got a picture of it! But, my group didn't so I didn't get to hold one. But, it was ok! Everyone in the boat was just tired, and hungry, and we just wanted to go home we didn't even care if we found out lol.

The next day we went to a Casa da Farinha. Where we learned how to make tapioca. Which is this Brazilian food, and I have no idea how to explain but it is good! We then saw an Açai tree. And all of the guys on the trip wanted to climb the tree to get the açai, only one person made it though. Then I bought a knife!!!!! An amazon hunting knife with a piranha on it!! and right before we were leaving they found an anaconda!!!! I held it too!!!! It felt so weird! It was all muscle, and slimy; also when I was holding it, it started moving and it felt sooooo strange! When we got back we went swimming in the Rio de Negro. They said they was a slight possibility of getting sick but no one cared hahaha. We also went tubing on the river!!

In the morning we went fishing for Piranhas. I didn't catch any but people in my boat caught a lot. The piranhas teeth are huge!! We caught a red belly piranha, which was apparently really dangerous so we had to be careful when taking pictures. That afternoon we went to another indian tribe, but this one was more modern. They were so nice an welcoming. They made us a sign, and showed us their school. We also had a soccer game against them; which we obviously lost, but it was still tons of fun!!! I ended up being the "soccer mom", because I was watching peoples stuff while they played, and I took pictures with this huge camera for my friend. It was hilarious my friends still make fun of me for it. That night we had a party at the village because it was 3 peoples birthdays during the trip. It was soooo much fun!!!!

The next morning we went swimming with pink dolphins!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing experience!!!! How often do you get to swim with dolphins, and pink ones at that!!!!! They were beautiful! Then they had these HUGE fish inside the water that they were keeping, and we got to fish for them. I did it with my friend cause we knew we wouldn't be strong enough to do it alone. And the fish was soooo strong, and big!!!! It was amazing. Then in the afternoon we went searching for sloths, and we found one with a baby!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH I was SOOOOOO excited. I was so excited I almost started crying!! I have wanted to see a sloth for such a long time!!!! I even got to hold it!!! Its nails are sooo huge! but they are such friendly creatures! The people got them by just climbing the tree and getting them. They put them in the water then the other guy got the sloths from the water because they can't swim. Then we held them! ooooo but while they were passing the baby sloth to the other boat, and kid almost dropped it in between the boats in the water. Benny, benny, benny everyone was kind of mad, but we got over it cause you can't stay mad a benny for long lol. awww but the poor thing started crying, so we put it make on its mother. The sloths faces are sooooo funny, they just have this I don't give a crap face on all the time. They are sooo slow too hahah. awwwww sloths <3 <3 I love them!!!

The next day we went to the beach!!! It was sooo much fun! we played beach volleyball, which was north america against Europe, and it was just soooo funny!! Everyone throwing smack at each other. One European was like you are going to loss you columbian people! hahaha it was a fun time, but I got a little sunburnt. We didn't do much the rest of the day. We did make bracelets out of açai, which was a lot of fun!!!

The next day we went hiking in the forest with this jungle guy. Like literally he wasn't wearing shoes, and we had dry skin on his hand, and we just cut it off with his knife!! But the hiking was cool, but it sucked we were getting eating by bugs. We kept eating plants in the forest too. OOO we also saw the tree where gum comes from!! I tried it too. It was pretty good I thought. We then climbed a tree, it wasn't too high up but it was still fun! Afterwards we went to the house of the guy that showed us around in the forest. He made this jam from a fruit called cupuaçu. It was sooo good! I bought one to bring home to my family. That night was the night where we got to sleep in the forest. It was a ton of fun!!! We made a fire, and slept in our hammocks. I had a ton of fun! But, this was also our last night in the Amazon!

The next day in the morning we planted a tree, and headed back to Manaus. It was such a sad day!! I had made the best friends in these nine days! 2 from Denmark, one from new mexico, one from Mexico, and the other from Japan. I have not laughed this hard in these 9 days in my entire laugh!! I think I got a 6 pack after this trip! We were all so close and had an amazing time together! I don't even laugh this much with my friends back home! It is sad to think that this will probably be the last time we will even be in the same room together ever! Sure maybe we will see each other again, but not everyone together. :( My friend Tessa, Sara, Suemy, and I wanted to meet in Cancun sometime. We don't know when but sometime for spring break we will all go there since Suemy lives near Cancun. We all had little nicknames for each other too. I was confused, Tessa was elf, Sara was compulsive lair, and Suemy was hyperventalator. I will miss everybody soooo much!!! I cried as soon as a got home and realized that I won't be able to see them again for a couple years!!! My flight home I had four of my friends with my and we sat together on the plane. We laughed soooo hard, I thought they were going to kick us off, because it was night and people wanted to sleep and stuff, but we didn't care it was the last time we would be together we had to make the best of it. It was the best flight I had ever had!!! It was Suemy, Mikkel, Hide, and me. I will never forget that flight :(

By the way incase you were wondering the food on the boat was amazing!!! It was sooooo good!!! We ate a lot of fish, and pineapple in the Amazon is amazing!!!! It is soooo sweet!!!!

Well, that was my Amazon trip. A lot of these events didn't happen on the same day. Everything is mixed up in my head since we didn't look at what time it was for 9 days, and we had no wifi for nine days!! <3 I miss the Amazon trip soooo much!!!! It was one of the greatest things I had even done, and I will never forget it! I was sooo lucky I was able to experience it with amazing people too!!! Well back to reality I guess, it will be hard but life goes on. Also, only 2 more months in Brazil......... It has gone by sooo fast, and these last months will go by even faster. I will be home before you know it! Bitter sweet feeling...........

Well love you guys!!! Hope you liked my extremely long blog!!! :)


Hus
Kniv
Hej
(Danish)!!! :)




























































 

Easter

You will never believe what happened today. I was with Interact, and we went to a daycare to give chocolate to the kids. Well, someone asked me a question. I thought they said do you want to see the bunny, but apparently they said do you want to be the bunny. So yes, I ended up dressing up as the Easter Bunny and giving chocolate to the little kids. But, it was cute I had fun lol. Every time I walked into a room the kids would scream, and cry saying go away hahahha. I felt so bad. But, there was some kids that were so excited to see me!!!! They would just smile and laugh, and give me hugs. It was adorable <3, I had a fun time doing it hahaha.

Girl Scout Cookies

I gave some girl scout cookies to my friends at school today. Needless to say I don't have anymore left hahaha. They loved them, but honestly I can't blame them they are the best cookies in the world!!!

Foz do Iguaçu

So I went to an amazing place called Foz do Iguaçu! It is a huge waterfall in Brazil. First off I took a plane with other exchange students, and we had to walk onto the plane!!! It was my first time doing that so that was exciting!! But, I had to wake up at 4 in the morning. I meet up with one of my American friends at the airport too which was nice!! The first day we didn't do much it was just meeting tons of people. The second day we first went to a bird place with all of these really pretty birds. You could also go in an area and the birds would fly free. My friend had an idea to take a self with a toucan; so I thought it was really cool idea. But when I tried to do it the bird started like making this really weird sound and almost bit me so I ran away. It was quite impressive I was kneeling down, and I got up and ran backwards all within 2 seconds without falling. My friends made fun of me for this the rest of the day hahaha. Next we went to the falls. They were just beautiful. They were sooo big it makes Niagara seem like a joke. After taking a ton of pictures we sat down to eat, and there were these raccoon looking things all over the place. They were adorable, but while we were eating one jumped up on our table and starting eating out food. We ran away grabbing as much as we could; while all these tourists were laughing and taking pictures. The most annoying part was the tourists then gave the raccoons some of their fries, like we just got attacked by one your the reason they do this hahaha. Well with our food gone we decided to buy an ice cream since it was so hot outside. After we eat you had the option to pay for an extra thing at the foz. Half the people stayed half the people went. I stayed. We took a boat to the falls, and I got soaked!! It was soooo awesome!!! I was in the front too, and they took us literally underneath the waterfall. Like I saw the rock for a second or two. So awesome, it was so much better than Niagara falls.

The next day we went to a place called Itaipu. It is a huggggeeeee dam between Paraguay and Brazil. It was amazing. It generates clean energy for almost all of Paraguay, and a little bit of Brazil.  It was really amazing I liked it. Next, we went to Paraguay. O dear Paraguay is an interesting place. Was not a fan honestly hahaha. Everyone said that everything was so cheap, but I honestly did think so. I bought some things though. I bought a t-shirt for $20 dollars, some earings, and the world cup shirt for my brother because it was like $20 cheaper so I figured might as well buy it here. But, Paraguay was very dirty, and kind of sketchy. One guy was selling a taser on the street. Like a real taser it worked too he turned it on. He didn't shock anyone but still I just wanted to get the heck out of there. Later that night for dinner we went to this really cool dinner show. It was a show about Latin America; I liked it a lot. It was so funny when Mexico came up because there were like 15 Mexicans on the trip, and they all freaked out. It was hilarious.

The next day we went to Argentina. A lot of people weren't able to go because they didn't have the right documents. Out of 6 Americans only 2 went. Me, and a girl from Washington. I had to ride in this van because there wasn't enough room on the bus, and there were too few of people for another bus. In the van was me and 8 other people. Since there was less of us we got to the place faster then the bus, and we waiting for them for like 30-45 mins. It was fine though we ate some food, and I got Argentina currency, which is pesos. We went to the other side of the falls, and it was sooo much prettier then the Brazilian side!!! It was amazing! There was no way I could capture the beauty from my camera. Also, while in Argentina we saw monkeys. Like not in a zoo like wild monkeys!!!! It was amazing they were so cute!!! For lunch my friends and I went to a churrasco because everyone says Argentina has the best BBQ. It was good, but I am sure it could have been better since we were just in a park restaurant. We then went to a place where all of the countries met together. Like the countries don't touch each other because there is water separating each county, but it was still really cool! They have these post saying which country it is. We then went to a market and I bought these really good sweets from Argentina. It has a middle filled with chocolate,or doce de leite, or oreo, there are a ton of other flavors too. I first ate one with doce de leite, and I loved it so much!! I then bought an oreo one, mousse one, and a white chocolate one. I can't wait to eat them!!! Lastly, we went to this place called duty free. It is this really cool mall. You have to go through this security thing in the beginning, and you have to put your bag in this bag, and then they lock your bag. It prevents shop lifting, but things were cheap in this mall. I bought a pair of Victoria Secrets yoga pants for only $27!!!! I also bought really good perfume for $25, and peanut butter!!! We were so excited to find peanut butter. The other American ran out of the store and was like "Kayla there's peanut butter!!!", and I was like "where!?!?!", and she said "over there!", so I ran to find the peanut butter so I could eat it!!! hehehe. Then we did this really cool thing during dinner at the hotel. It was someones birthday on Friday (it was Thursday and our last day there) so, the Belo Brasil people bought a cake, and we all sang to her. People sang in other languages too! But, when the American sang everyone else knew it too :(. Only thing that sucks about being an english speaker is everyone also knows what you are saying. My friend and I found a solution to this problem. We just have to speak in pig latin. We literally did this sometimes just to be funny, but it was hilarious!!!

The next, and last day my flight was at 6:50, so we left the hotel at 5 in the morning. The good thing was a lot of my friends were on the same flight so I could see them longer. But when we landing, and got our bags we sadly had to say goodbye. It was sooo sad. At the time I didn't cry, but as I was walking to my taxi I started to cry. I will miss my friends so much! The thing that makes it so sad is you have became really close to these people in just a couple days, and now I most likely will never see them again. This is the hardest thing about being an exchange student. Saying goodbye to people really sucks :( :( :(. But, I make sure to keep in touch with them!

Well I am sorry this was so long, but here was my amazing adventure in Foz do Iguaçu. Até mais!!!!!














 

Carnaval!!!

Yes finally Carnaval has finally arrived!! I have been waiting for this moment since I found out I was going to Brazil. And it was just as amazing if not more than what I expected!!! First off, my family was able to get us VIP seating!!! So, I was on the ground level; so I was extremely close to the parade. If I reached my arm out I could have touched them lol. Also, on top of that we were right in front of the bateria which is the band. So there was also music and it was just amazing! It was a lot different from what I though. My host family told me we would probably only stay for 3 or 4 samba schools. So, I thought wow only this we will only be there for like an hour, but ok at least I get to go. But, no I was soooo wrong!!! Each samba school is an hour long! O but it is just a beautiful thing Carnaval! Everyone is sooo excited. At my school we had like a "dress up day" where the theme was carnaval, and people had like funky sunglasses, and shiny hats, even musical instruments. Also, my friend brought paint so we painted our arms and faces. It was sooo much fun I had a blast at school hahaha. O and best part is noooo school for 3 days!!! :P yayyyy I really love Carnaval <3

Calor!!!

O so I found out something interesting today. Yeah this year in São Paulo is the hottest year since the 1940's!!!!!! No wonder I am dying; this isn't normal!!!!!! Literally it has been 90 degrees all this week, and will be 90 degrees again next week, and who knows how long this streak will go on for!!! O and on top of that I am going to Rio de Janeiro, where it is even hotter!!! It is going to be like 100 degrees there!!! Aiiiiiiii!!!!!! But, I guess I would take this instead of -50 degrees in Wisconsin!!!!!.....but then again you at least get off of school for it I don't. Aaaaaa no I prefer this weather :) Doesn't mean I don't feel like I am burning on the sun!!!!! I take cold showers guys COLD!!! Also, I take showers just to cool off a little. Well let's see if I can get any sleep tonight Tchau!! XOXOX

Casa Nova

Hello! So, a lot has happened in the last couple days. First off I switched host families! I really like it here!! It is close to school again, so I am able to walk to school! O speaking of school I started it again! I missed all my friends; even though waking up at 6 in the morning sucks, in the end it is worth it! O and speaking of friends today after school we went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I actually really liked it; it was a pretty good movie. But, get this guess how many people went......... 14!!!!!! My god it was insane, but soooo much fun!! In Brazil it is more common to do things with a huge group of people instead of just a couple. We couldn't even all fit in one row there are only 11 seats! It was fun though! But, I am very tired from walking around. It's not easy going to movies here hahaha. You have to take the subway, after you figure out how to get to the subway, then walk to the mall, and let's just say I am very tired; so I am going to bed nighty night!!!!