Cardio Is Hard-io: Part 2

Not only did I decide it was a good idea to start killin' it at the box three days a week, I decided that I was going to start running on the reg. New year, new me-- or something like that, amiright?

It started out innocently enough. It was November and I was feeling pretty homesick. I wanted something that was from the States. I needed something that was from the States. It might have been a randomly placed Facebook ad, it might have been a spam email, I don't know how the thought of the Cleveland Turkey Trot crossed my mind, but the fact is that it did. 

I looked at the website, figuring that was as far as this thought was going to go. I mean, I live in Brazil. It's pretty difficult to do a 5K in Cleveland from 5,000+ miles away, right? Wrong. The Cleveland Turkey Trot was also being offered virtually which essentially means that you pay the money and run the distance wherever you are around the world. 

So I paid the money, completed the distance, got the medal and the shirt, and haven't stopped signing up for races since.

"Cleveland" Turkey Trot 2016

After the Turkey Trot, I quickly found myself running in the Circuito das Estações: Verão, which was my first live race besides the Color Run I ran in San Pedro Sula, Honduras a few years back. It wasn't as easy as I would have liked, but I also didn't die. Which might not be the best criteria when talking about how much you like a hobby, but haters gonna hate. I do it for the medals anyways.

Circuito das Estações: Verão 2016

And since it's approximately ten thousand degrees with about 3429% humidity all day, every day in Hell de Janeiro, I joined the gym down the street so that I can run on the treadmill instead of outside.

Since then, I've completed a handful of other races. Which are really nothing to brag about, but yeah, I'm going to do it anyways. Waking up early on a Sunday morning is already a feat in itself.

February: Circuito do Sol- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Circuito das Estações (Outono)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

March: Athenas 6K- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

April: Serie Delta (Etapa EUA)- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

 I had poured water on myself, I wasn't that sweaty, okay?

April: Color Run- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

April: WRun 4K, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In following the example of my one my friends, I thought it would be a good idea to do "12 Months of Races". AKA, complete a 5K or higher each month for the year of 2017. I've done live races for the months of February, March, and April, and a virtual New Years run for the month of January. I don't know if a virtual run counts, but it's my challenge, so yeah, it counts.

....It's crazy the things that you get yourself into because you are bored and need something to do.

Cardio Is Hard-io: Part 1

Guys, I did a thing.

As in, I signed up to join a CrossFit gym (or "box", as those in the CrossFit club call it) and have dragged myself there (almost) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the past five or six months. Before joining the box, I couldn't even tell you the last time I set foot in a gym. I don't know if I have ever lifted a weight.

Now I do it regularly. And despite the words that come out of my mouth (I complain, a lot) and the expressions on my face, I actually enjoy it. 

On more than one occasion, I've conquered the rope climb. Once or twice, I've even done it without standing on a box to start out. I've had less success conquering the handstands and accompanying handstand push ups. Gonna chalk that lack of success up to psyching myself out, bending my elbows, and then bashing my head into the ground. 

This weekend marks the end of the CrossFit Open 2017. Basically, anyone throughout the entire world who does CrossFit can sign up to complete in the open. It's a five week long event with the winners going on to Regionals and then the games. Each Thursday the workout is announced, both the modified and unmodified versions. Everyone completes the same workout, submits their scores, and then you can see how you compare to everyone else, worldwide.

I'm not doing it for the ranking. I know that I'm not elite, nor will I ever be elite. I'm not the best in our box, I'm not even the best in our class. But throughout the Open, we encouraged each other and we pushed ourselves. PRs were set and new skills were attained. 

17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 17.4, and 17.5

It was hard and it was awful and Dave Castro is the spawn of Satan. In my extensive experience with working out, I've never gotten nervous before a work out before. I was nervous before every single Open workout. But it was also awesome. It was awesome to see what I would do, it was awesome to cheer on my friends. 

It's also over. Which might be the best part.

All You Need Is A Dose of Vitamin Sea

There are some pretty bangin' beaches just a few hours east of Rio de Janeiro. Don't get me wrong, Copacabana and Ipanema are pretty great, but sometimes you just want to get away and see something new. Last semester we spent a weekend in Cabo Frio and none of us could stop talking about how lovely it was, but every person here in Rio told me that Arraial do Cabo is even more beautiful. So as soon as we realized that, with a carefully planned schedule, we could rent a car and drive to Arraial do Cabo for the weekend, we knew where we were headed. 

We stayed in an AirBnB located in Pontal do Atalaia. Sometimes choosing an AirBnB (or hotel or hostel) can be a little touch and go because you don't know where the "hip" part of town is and you don't know if public transportation is reliable. Honestly, staying in Pontal do Atalaia would have sucked a little bit if we hadn't had a rented car. It wasn't within walking distance to any restaurants or beaches and we waited a solid minutes for a taxi when we were going out to dinner oner night. Luckily, we had a car, so being in Pontal do Atalaia was no problem for us this time around, but I wouldn't choose it if I were to go by bus. 

We spent the our first day laying on the Prainhas do Pontal do Atalaia. The Cariocas were right-- Arraial do Cabo has some beautiful freakin' beaches. Our schedule consisted of swimming, sunning, and snacking. All. Day.

Prainha do Pontal do Atalaia

On our second day, we took a boat tour all around Arraial do Cabo. I really, really, really wanted to see the Gruta Azul, so I specifically looked for a tour that took us there. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the tours only took us past Gruta Azul and no one actually stopped there. Which I guess I could have figured out if I had actually looked through Google Images more carefully, but I hadn't. 

Our tour did take us to many other lovely places and we were even lucky enough to see some sea turtles. Yassss. We also did some beach gymnastics which earned us many stares, and laughs, from those on the beach-- as if that doesn't happen enough. 

After our tour was over, we had to race back to our car in order to make it back to Rio in time to return the car without incurring any late fees. We returned the car one minute early-- how is that for planning?

So, do the gringos agree with the cariocas? Is Arraial do Cabo actually more beautiful than Cabo Frio? I can't speak for all of Cabo Frio because I only saw one small part. But I can compare what I experienced. I would have to say yes, this gringa does agree. Arraial do Cabo gets my stamp of approval, hands down, and bragging rights that it is more beautiful than Cabo Frio.

Life Was Meant For Good Friends and Great Adventures

Despite my many nomadic adventures, I've made lifelong friends along the way. They're scattered all across the globe and, unfortunately, it's unlike that I'll ever be surrounded by all of my closest friends at a single time. But sometimes stars align and worlds collide and friends from one place that I call home are able to come visit me in another. Sarah and I met when we were both teaching in Honduras. We started out as two sobbing strangers who found themselves suddenly living together and left as two sobbing best friends who didn't know how they'd survive not living together. 

Sarah and Rachel, along with their friend, Jana, made the 10 hour trek to Rio de Janeiro last month and spent a couple of weeks soaking up all that the city has to offer. Mainly unlimited sunshine and caipirinhas.

Sarah, Rachel, and Jana were able to do a lot of things during the day while I was work, such as hiking up to the Christ Statue which is something I have never wished to do. As soon as school let out, the adventures commenced. 

In our adventures around Rio, we stumbled across this really great restaurant in Ipanema called Rayz. We all had some version of chicken, all of which were delicious, but the best part of the meal was definitely the caiprinha. It was raspberry and blackberry and strawberry with a little bit of vanilla and then a coconut popsicle to stir. Seriously-- drink of the gods.

In search of another adventure, we drove to Barra and frolicked around the Olympic Arena on our way to watch the Olympic test event of Trampoline Gymnastics. The women's team had already finished competing by the time we had arrived, so we were only able to see the men's teams, but it was still pretty awesome. The States and Canada were both there, so we were all able to cheer on our countries.

As a side note, I may have made eye contact with one of the US gymnasts while quietly chanting "USA! USA!" And then he smiled at me. And then in a matter of minutes I had planned our lives together which included me tweeting at him and saying "#RoadtoRio? More like #RoadtoRomance" or tagging him in a photo of the two of us (him on the trampoline and me in the stands) with the caption "This is where forever starts." Imagine my disappointment when I found out he has a girlfriend. I'd settle for tour guide though, so, Logan Dooley, if you need someone to show you around Rio in August, holla at ya girl.

We beached in one of the prettiest places in the world when we rented a car and drove to Arraial do Cabo. We hiked Pedra do Telégrafo and played daredevils for the afternoon. We traversed the palm tree lined walkways of Jardim Botanico and we spent an entire night playing every single category of Heads Up. And then, as all adventures usually do, they had to return back home while I stayed here.

It was a wild couple of weeks. But life was meant for good friends and great adventures. Those weeks had both. 

On a completely selfish level, seeing Rio de Janeiro through the eyes of someone who hasn't been gotten stuck in the mudane everydayness totally reminds me how freakin' lucky I am to live here. In the everyday of living in Rio de Janeiro, sometimes I forget that I live in Rio de Janeiro. I live in a place that some people only ever dream of visiting. I have a preference between Copacabana and Ipanema beach because I've actually been to both enough to have a preference. I turn up my nose at coconut water from a bottle because I know that it tastes so much better out of the coconut. I've been up to the Christ Statue more in the past four years than most people in their entire lives. But in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, sometimes I forgot how awesome it is to live in such an incredible place. Seeing Rio through the eyes of people who have never been here before, who have never seen a sunset at Arpoador or drank mate on the beach, really makes me realize what an incredible opportunity I have here.

Pedra do Telégrafo? More like Pedra do I'll Never Let Go

Every once in awhile there are pictures that circulate around the internet of a guy hanging his girlfriend off the edge of a cliff or someone hanging precariously off a rock at the edge of the ocean. And everyone freaks out and says that they don't trust anyone that much, blah, blah, blah. 

Imagine my delight when I found out that that this daredevil's paradise is located in right here in Rio de Janeiro, only an hour or so from my house. 

Daredevils.

And so we went. My hot pink tennis shoes came out to play, we explained to the receptionists at our awesome AirBnB that we needed a car and they all laughed at our enthusiasm, we got lost on the way to Barra de Guaritiba, and, finally, we hiked up Pedra do Telégrafo. 

I was mentally prepared for the hike this time, unlike when we hiked Morro Dois Irmãos, so the hike didn't seem too bad. Rachel and I also adopted Kimmy Schmidt's theory that you can do anything for ten seconds.

 

When we'd been counting ten seconds for what seemed like at least half an hour, Rachel and I started asking people how much longer until we reached the top. Twenty minutes? Okay, no problem. Let's think of what we can do in less than twenty minutes. Watch an episode of Friends. Shower. First recess in Honduras. Perfect. Let's think of all of the things that have lasted longer than twenty minutes that we've survived. And next thing we knew-- we had made it to the top.

We wanted to celebrate our arrival, but frankly, it was too darn hot and we were covered in sweat and dust. Not only that, but we quickly found out that we had to wait in line for about two and a half hours just to take an infamous Pedra do Telégrafo photo. It was hot. We were sweaty. We were in direct sunlight during the hottest part of the day. We were hungry which quickly turned into hangry. But we had driven out to Recreio, rented an AirBnB for the night, woke up early to beat the heat (HA!), and climbed this mountain specifically for these photos, so we were going to stay, gosh darn it. And we did, of course. 

Thank goodness we did because the pictures turned out awesome. Everything I could have dreamed of.

Though I think that Snapchat is really missing out on a good geotag/ filter thing by not having one that says "I waited in line for two hours and all I got was this lousy picture." Because really, at that moment, that's how I felt.

You Can Take The Girls Out Of Ohio...

... but you can't take the Ohio out of the girls.

Let's talk about how much I love Ohio. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a solid 10. I'm not necessarily going to recommend making a stop there on a journey across the Midwest, but my little heart does start to pitter-patter when my own semi-annual trip to Ohio is on the horizon.

I love Ohio and my hometown, and Cleveland Indians baseball games, and Mentor Headlands,  and Taco Bell. But what I really love about Ohio is all of the people who have adventured through life there with me. 

Melissa and I lived through the awkward high school years together, which included but wasn't limited to, marching band and our spring break trip to Disney as well as theater and winters spent sledding. I have never claimed to have been cool in high school. Since becoming friends, Melissa and I have lived through TEN YEARS of awkwardness together. TEN. YEARS.  It was horrifying to tell this to my students and have them say "Oh my gosh, I wasn't even alive when you guys met!" 

And I was sharing this little tidbit of information with my students BECAUSE MELISSA CAME TO VISIT ME FOR A WEEK!

After a year and a half of life in Rio, I finally had my first visitor. Well, the first visitor who flew to Brazil with the specific intention of visiting me. (Shout out, Grams and Taylor.)

Always representing our home state. 

We packed a lot into a week. Not only did she get to experience Rio de Janeiro, but we also traveled to the state of Bahia in the Northeast of Brazil to play tourists in the little town of Salvador. 

We made three wishes and tied our bracelets onto the fence at the Igreja do Senhor do Bonfim. We ate the best ice cream in all of Salvador at Sorveteria da Ribeira and it was pretty great. We swam at sunset at the Farol da Barra and danced to Olodum on the painted streets of Pelourinho. We almost sweat to death in a town that doesn't have enough air conditioning for being so darn hot. And then at the end of a nice three day weekend, we flew back to Rio where the adventure continued. 

Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

Upon arriving in Rio, we spent Easter morning hanging out with JC at Corcovado. We brunched with the gringo fam. We sipped coconut water on the beaches of Ipanema. We watched the sunset from the top of the Sugarloaf and then wandered the streets of Copacabana in search of good eats and fancy souvenirs. We played Heads Up until way too late and ate authentic American made tacos. We wrangled 38 rambunctious 4th graders on our field trip to the science museum. We stayed up late reminiscing about the old glory days at Chardon High.

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

And then after 7 days of Brazilian adventures, we had to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye is always difficult and its something that I have a lot of practice in. I would love to be able to look forward to the future and know that one day I won't have to say goodbyes anymore. Unfortunately, I know that isn't the case because I've chosen to build friendships all over the world and I'll always be missing someone.

And saying goodbye to someone who knew you before the you that you are now always seems to be more difficult. They may not be living the same current experiences as you are now, but they know what you went through to become the person you are now. And it's hard to say goodbye to someone who knows you that well.

For seven short days, I felt like a cooler version of the awkward girl who joined high school marching band because all of her friends were. The tough goodbyes are always worth the feeling of being with people who know you, always worth that moment when you can hug someone from home.

Ms. Melissa, you are always welcome in Rio de Janeiro. Please come back.

Meals at the Metro: The Boua- Kitchen Bar

Restaurant #1: The Boua- Kitchen Bar

Sometimes a person just needs some hearty American food. Like a burger and some beers on tap. (Which sounds like the makings of a country song.) The Boua- Kitchen Bar certainly satisfied every need that I had for some authentic American eats. 

Food photos from me, restaurant photo from Destemperados

Ambience and Environment- 5
The metro station is only a 15-20 minute walk from our house, but it can seem like so much longer when it's hot out. Kenny and I decided to bypass the outdoor seating in favor of the frigid air conditioning temperatures. According to their website, the restaurant is styled after a New York pub and I would say that it definitely fits the bill. It's super industrial with exposed brick and metal pipes and their sound system was blasting all sorts of Top 50 hits.

Service- 3
The service was just average. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. It just was. In the restaurant's defense, I did have my back to the rest of the restaurant/ waiters and apparently the waiter and Kenny were communicating via eye contact the entire time which is why the waiter didn't come over to check on us.

Menu- 5
Oh, there was all sorts of goodness on the menu at The Boua- Kitchen Bar. Kelly got salmon with vegetables and said she would go back for the vegetables alone. Kenny got some delicious looking bruschetta. And I, of course, got chicken with chimichurri sauce made with malt beer, creamy rice, and french fries. The menu also included many different beverages, both alcohol and non-alcoholic, as well as a variety of beers on tap. The Boua- Kitchen Bar had a pretty extensive menu and a different twist on a lot of the classics.

Wait Time- 3
We waited an average amount of time for our food. Not to the point that we were looking at our watches in anticipation for our food, but it definitely wasn't fast food.

Food Quality- 5
Is it bad if my favorite part of the meal was the drink? Because I ordered the house ice tea with strawberry and cranberry and it was awesome. I would go back just for the ice tea. The portion sizes were more than enough to fill me up and still have some leftovers. Kenny and Kelly both loved their food, so it was thumbs up all around.

Overall Score- 21/25
I've already been thinking about when we can go back to The Boua-- Kitchen Bar, so it's definitely made a lasting impression. While it might not be authentic Brazilian cuisine, it's definitely worth checking out for anyone who is spending any amount of time in Rio.

Meals at the Metro: Venda Mineira

There's a road near the Botafogo Metro that is lined with restaurants. Fourteen of them to be exact. In an effort to get to know my own city, I've challenged myself to try all of them at some point throughout the year. 

Kelly is joining me on this quest and last night, while trying out our first restaurant, we came up with a grading scale of sorts. Because we're obviously the newest food critics here in Rio.

We're going to grade each restaurant in five categories-- ambience and environment, service, menu, wait time, and food quality. And when we've finished all fourteen restaurants, we'll probably have our own Food Network show and, more importantly, we'll actually be able to make some suggestions when someone says "Where do you want to eat tonight?" besides Bibi Sucos.

Restaurant #1: Venda Mineira

Venda Mineira specializes in food from Minas Gerias, which is another state of Brazil. I've eaten at a couple of different restaurants that serve food from Minas Gerais, and in my opinion, the food is always very hearty and warm. It's stews and meats and food that I want to eat when its cold outside. 

Linguiça Acebolada com Cachaça-- Sausage and Onions with Cachaça

Ambience and Environment- 3
Like most of the restaurants near the Metro, Venda Mineira had some seating inside and some seating outside. Kelly and I sat outside and it rained pretty hard while we were there. Luckily there's a fairly large overhang, so we didn't get wet at all. Point for Venda Mineira. The restaurant didn't inspire me to take photos of all the cool decor, but I also didn't feel like I was in danger of catching any weird diseases from just sitting at the table. Which, I suppose, is a win.

Service- 3
Our service is rarely stellar in Brazil (that isn't to say that it's always bad, it's just rarely AWESOME) and I think its because a lot of waiters get nervous when they see that we don't speak Portuguese. I really just want to give them all a pat on the back when we walk in and tell them that it's going to be more painful for us than it will be for them.

Our waiter at Venda Mineira was really friendly and apologetic when he had to come to our table twice to say that they didn't actually have what we had ordered and a third time to say that they didn't actually cook what I had ordered. As we were paying, he complimented our Portuguese which definitely won him some brownie points.

Menu- 3
I'm a fairly picky eater, though I'm trying to be adventurous, and I had a bit of a difficult time choosing what I wanted to order. They didn't have a ton of choices and out of those choices, they weren't even serving a lot of those foods. I settled on shish-kabobs, and then feijão rico (like a bean stew), and then finally sausage.

Wait Time- 2
We timed it. We waited for 50 minutes before receiving our food. FIFTY MINUTES for some sausage, pastel, and french fries. We spent 10 of those 50 minutes looking at the menu and then proceeded to spend 40 minutes waiting. Un-happy campers.

Food Quality- 3
Despite the long wait, the food was actually delicious. It was so. much. sausage. I also got a little loaf of French bread with the meal and eating some sausage and onions with bread was a good choice.

Overall Score- 14/25
If I'm looking for a hefty helping of linguiça acebolada, then this is definitely the place where I will go. Other than that, I could kind of take it or leave it.

The Time When Anderson Varejão And I Had More In Common Than I Thought

It's no secret that I love Cleveland. I love Ohio. I love where I grew up. Would I recommend it to someone going to the States for the first time? Unlikely. But I love it. It's the city and state that raised me. 

And I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Give it a little Google search and you'll find lots of articles about things that only Clevelanders will understand, or things that Clevelanders love to hate about Cleveland, or why Clevelanders love Cleveland so darn much. 

Do you know who else loves Cleveland? (Former) Cleveland Cavalier Anderson Varejão.

That's right. 5'6" me teacher and 6'11" basketball player him have more in common than I originally thought. Not only do we both have a strange affinity for Cleveland, but we both love to hold to Brazilian flag above our heads, we both attended the NBA Global Games in 2015 (one of us as a player and one of us as a spectator), both of us have lived in countries that have required us to speak English/ Spanish/ Portuguese. 

I may never walk down the street and have random people screaming my name and running up to me (though that is what happens when I see my students in the grocery store), and our salaries may never be comparable, but Varejão and I love the same cities. And as he says in his good-bye letter to Cleveland fans, "Home is where the heart is, and my heart will always be in Cleveland." Lar é onde o coração está. E meu coração sempre estará em Cleveland. 

In a similar way to how Brazil holds a special place in my heart, Cleveland has also become a part of me.  

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

And may all your Christmases be white.

Honestly. Winter may be better when it is spent on white sand beaches as opposed to drifting through white snow banks.

The end of the semester is tough. Teachers are tired, students are tired. I'm ready to go home to see my family and friends. Luckily, living in Rio means that there are many gorgeous beaches within driving distance.

On this particular weekend, we boarded the bus for Cabo Frio and were met with some of the whitest sand beaches and blue water I have ever seen in my whole life. We stayed at Hotel Mandai which I highly recommend. We paid basically pennies for a resort on the beach. And they were super accomodating. I mean, I suppose that customer service is kind of the name of the game when you're a hotel, but they were really awesome.

We didn't get out and explore the city, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to leave the beach. We spent the days ordering beach food and swimming in crystal clear water as well as climbing the dunes and building sand castles. It all seemed a little bit sweeter knowing that we were just ten short days from the artic temperatures waiting for us in the States.

Harry, I've Reached The Top!

Honestly, if you don't get the reference, are we really even friends? (It's from the greatest movie ever created, Home Alone 2, for any of you who had deprived childhoods.)

Each big city has their famous icon. NYC has the Empire State building, San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge, Paris has the Eiffel Tour, Rome has the Coliseum. And then there's Rio. Rio has so many famous icons. The most popular, of course, is the Christ Statue, but then there's the Sugarloaf and Copacabana. There's also Dois Irmãos which, I'll admit, wouldn't have recognized before moving. (I may or may not have identified it as the Sugarloaf when I was here during student teaching.)

Dois Irmãos is between the beaches of Leblon and São Conrado and frequently stars in many/ all of my sunset pictures. I had to conquer it. In the end, I think it conquered me. 

We'd been saying that we were going to hike each weekend for about six weekends and just never did. Since the student teachers are quickly nearing the end of their time here in Rio, we've really been packing the weekends full. 

We made the mistake of starting our hike around 10:30-11am on a 90° day during almost summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I also totally psyched myself out because I didn't want to lag behind or hold up the group or die or anything else highly embarrassing. So I took a moto-taxi ride through Vidigal up to the beginning of the actual trail. And it was awesome; I so missed riding on the back of a motorcycle. 

That's not to say that I didn't complain A LOT the last 30 minutes of actual trail hiking because that totally happened. But the views were beautiful. Rocked my typical Caitlin pose, as per usual. And yes, definitely exclaimed "Harry, I've reached the top". 

While hiking back down the mountain, we found a family of little monkeys and then I held one. Clearly, I cannot control my facial expressions. 

Dois Irmãos-- you were lovely, but I can't say that we'll ever meet again.

Be Joyful. Pray Always. Give Thanks.

Thanksgiving was, is, and forever will be my favorite holiday. Christmas is my favorite holiday season, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It started selfishly-- you eat, you nap, you don't have to spend your money one presents. It's every college kid's dream. But over the years, I've actually come to love Thanksgiving for the act of giving thanks. You know, the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

Thanskgiving in Honduras 2012. Thanksgiving in Rio 2014.

As with most people, my family and friends top my list for what I am most thankful for. Sadly, it's been four years since I have celebrated Thanksgiving sitting around a table with blood relatives. It's hard, there's no need to sugarcoat it. Each year, Thanksgiving is one of my guaranteed homesick days. It's hard knowing that my brother is flying in and my cousins are driving home and everyone will all be spending time together while I'm thousands of miles away (and usually teaching, nonetheless). 

And yes, I've been so blessed in both Honduras and in Brazil. In each country, my friends and I created our own traditions and eaten delicious meals with the hodge-podge family that we have become. We've played American football with our students. I introduced my students to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We've hosted dinner and made everyone go around and say what they are thankful for. But we also all know that, despite how much fun we are having together, we still miss our friends and family back home. 

Closely following my family and friends on the list of things I'm thankful for is technology. I'm so connected to the people who are important to me and, honestly, I don't think I could live abroad if it wasn't for that. Throughout the course of the day I was able to Skype many of the people who are so special to me. The people who watched me grow through high school and move to college and then make the difficult decisions to move abroad, but who love and support me every single step of the way. 

So to you guys, I'm thankful for all of you. For your love. For your laughter. For your support, even from another country. For your understanding when I text you at 4am because there's a three hour time difference. For being the people who I miss every single day. 

And to these goons. What a perfect day to Skype the 45 babies who filled my life with more joy and laughter and tears and stress than I ever knew what to do with.

Getting Boozy in Búzios

Another three day weekend means another South American adventure. Such is life when you live in Rio de Janeiro.

This time we headed slightly north to Búzios-- another beautiful beach town. I'd never been before, but the beach just calls to me, so off we went!

Transportation can sometimes be a struggle in this country. Partly because we're all so used to having our own cars to take us where we want to go while we're in the States, and partly because we don't speak Portuguese thus making public transportation a real treat. As far as we could tell, there wasn't any sort of Easy Transfer-esque service to Búzios, so we used the 1001 bus company. We left from Rodoviaria in downtown-ish Rio on Saturday morning and arrived at the Búzios bus station a few hours later. Despite not being Easy Transfer, it was quite easy.

Praia João Fernandes-- our home beach

Búzios is a beautiful city. Beautiful. It's not as small as Ilha Grande, especially because cars are permitted, but it definitely doesn't have the hustle and bustle of Rio. We had beach views basically everywhere we went and I loved it. We also really lucked out with the weather and had three gorgeous days even though we were forecasted to have three yucky, rainy days. Thank you Google Weather app for consistently being wrong. 

When we arrived on Saturday we headed straight to the beach. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. A nice little perk of life in Búzios is that the vendors on the beach will let you use their chairs for free, you just have to buy drinks from them. Since our theme of the weekend was "Getting Boozy in Búzios", this was a pretty sweet deal. I had more lime caipirinhas this weekend than I have had in my entire existence in Rio. Really. 

Caipirinha Count for the weekend? 6ish.

Unfortunately, in our haste to soak up some rays, we didn't make it into downtown until later Saturday evening. This meant that most of the tour companies were closed and we had a pretty tough time finding a tour for the following day. We did stumble across one open agency and their tour didn't look bad, so we booked with them. 

We boarded the boat the following day, all ready for some more maritime adventures. We were promised 12 beaches and 3 islands. Which is kind of misleading because then they tell you that you're only stopping at three of the places and just passing the others. We started off on our three hour tour and, unfortunately, almost had as much luck as Gilligan and friends. Stop number one went off without a hitch. Stop number 2 was great until we realized that we'd been bobbing around for quite some time. In our really great Portuguese, we found out that the boat had broken down. Cora, Erin, and I didn't really mind because if we hadn't been laying on the boat getting tan, we would have been laying on the beach getting tan. We also weren't barfing our brains out like many of our traveling companions. Once the boat finally started working, the captain just took us all back to shore and that was the end of our tour. Whomp, whomp. Moral of that story? Book tours early in the day THEN lay in the sun. And always take motion sickness medicine when you're going to be on a boat.

#shamelessselfies #gringadiaries

Group photos are never our strong point. 

We thought Monday was going to be too overcast for a good beach day, so we turned it into a shopping day. Again, Google Weather was wrong and we all fried, so thanks for that. I was able to throw away my money on things that I had to have. And did spot this big guy, so all was not lost.

Fin. Noggin. Duuuude.

We came, we saw, we got boozy in Búzios. 

I Just Wanna Free Fall For Awhile

Is it free falling if you're attached to a parachute?

Jewel: You're sure you're up for this?
Blu: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, well it's not like we're just hurling ourselves off a mountain or something. Right?
Rafael: Actually, that was pretty much my entire plan.

Thursday was Teacher's Day here in Brazil which has the potential to be my favorite holiday ever. To celebrate, we decided to jump off the side of a mountain. No big deal. There may have even been a couple conversations that went much like the one above, from the movie Rio.

Earlier this year, Maggie and I went hang gliding with Just Fly Rio which is a company that I highly recommend. Since I had already done hang gliding (and paid a pretty penny for it), I didn't want to go hang gliding again, but FOMO kept me from wanting to stay home while everyone else went. Thus paragliding.

Just Fly Rio only offers hang gliding, so after a little bit of research, I decided to paraglide with Rio Tandem. Another company that I highly recommend. Seriously, its good to do your research before jumping off a cliff. Regardless of whether or not you're attached to a parachute.

It was awesome. A phrase you can hear me say countless time if you were to watch the video. Rio Tandem was an awesome company to fly with-- my guide was awesome and chatted with me in three different languages throughout the course of our flight (after asking if it was okay, of course), and I walked away with a video and hundreds of GoPro videos of out entire flight. Moral of that story? If you're into paragliding in Rio, there's really no other choice than Rio Tandem.

Were I to hang glide or paraglide again (which I totally would), I would like to do it somewhere new as I have now jumped off of Pedra Bonita twice. Not a bad thing, but I'd like to see some new views. #firstworldproblems

Perks of being a teacher in Rio de Janiero.