I've been too lazy to post anything about hang gliding or my last couple of days in Brazil, but I was able to see my family today that I haven't seen in 10 years. That is something worth posting about.


I was so happy to get to see them and they were so happy to see me it was like we hadn't been separated for so long. Despite both the length time since I last saw them and the Portuguese/English language barrier, I loved being with them. To be able to sit with them and try to blunder through a conversation has been the happiest experience of my entire trip.


Luisinho, my godson Ericris, and my Grandpa were especially great to see. Luisinho and Grandpa have the biggest hearts of almost anyone I know and Ericris holds a special place in my heart because he is my godson. I wish that I could see him more and be available to support him.


In all, this was a great way to cap off an amazing trip to Brazil. I might end up posting the pictures of my hang gliding adventure later on.

It's been a couple of lazy days. I windsurfed yesterday and today but unfortunately don't have any pictures of myself doing it, even though I may be on a sports channel here doing it. Cabelo was being interviewed by a sports news crew and Thomas and myself were in the background windsurfing while he was getting interviewed and they also took some shots of us.


Meeting Thomas was a cool experience because he's been working with the band O Rappa here for almost 11 years and O Rappa is a pretty huge band in Brazil. He gave me a ride back to Barra Leme and I got to listen to them in the car, pretty sweet sounding. I'm going to try to pick up one of their CDs before I leave. His parents are both from Britain but he grew up in Brazil so he speaks fluent Portuguese and English with a British accent.
Anyway, I hang glide tomorrow afternoon which I am definitely going to get pictures of in case it's the last thing I ever do.

I just got home a little bit ago from one of the most insane sporting experiences of my life. A football game at Maracanã. It was a great game to attend because Flamengo and Vasco were playing each other and those two teams have a huge rivalry. Anyone in Rio will typically either cheer for Flamengo, Vasco, Fluminense, or Botafogo. By cheer I mean live, eat, and breath that team.

It took us around 40 minutes of bus-hopping and subway riding to get to Maracanã but the travel time was worth it. All of the people at the game are fanatical and there are constantly huge group cheers and flags waving, not to mention the fireworks and flares illegally brought into the game. A small police force waits outside the gates to make sure that there isn't any trouble between fans of the two teams. Greenstreet hooligans in real life.

Cau was excited to convert me into a Flamengo fan and after tonight I can say that I definitely am. Flamengo ended up winning 3-1 and they are currently in first place in the league. As an added bonus Ja Rule was in the stands as well.


The game tonight may be the most insane sporting event I will ever attend in my entire life. Here is my doing my best impression of "I'm an idiot foreigner lets see how much I can stick out" for a picture.

I think tomorrow is going to be a sit around and do nothing day after the intensity of this weekend. Maybe windsurfing if the weather cooperates.

This weekend was awesome. Went to Buzios which is about a 2 and a half hour car ride from Rio. We got a late start leaving on Friday so we hit traffic in the Rio to Niteroi drive and driving to Buzios took 5 hours.


Friday evening Cau and I went to a bar called Zapata which was kind of a hole in the wall but definitely fun. Buzios is definitely a tourist destination because I was able to talk a lot of english with people in the bar. I had an extremely humorous telephone conversation that night as well.

Saturday I slept in really late and then went to the downtown area to shop for some souvenirs. I was a little bummed that we didn't make it to the windsurfing competition but it would have been a 2 hour round trip to watch maybe an hour's worth of competition.


Saturday night the housekeepers made a really great dinner of fish and some other things that I'm not to sure of. I thought it better not to ask and just go ahead and eat it. I also included a picture of Benjamin, who is the new son of Diana who was at the house this weekend as well. He's a cute kid.


Saturday night Cau and I went to a nightclub called Privilege. It was fun but expensive and it was pretty much all foreigners. Met a couple of Germans, French, Canadians, and Americans. Nightclubs are expensive in Brazil. Privilege was the cheaper of the two and it cost 60 reais to get into which is roughly 40 bucks. The other club we might have gone to was 150 reais. Rip-off.


This morning we got up early enough to go to Geribá beach which is the most famous beach in Buzios. It was extremely beautiful but I wanted to enjoy it and go into the ocean so I left my camera at home.
After a good lunch we packed up and drove back to Rio. Nothing of note on the drive back except Fernando drives like a mad-man. Averaged around 160 km/hour which is almost 100 mph. As soon as we got back I started another adventure which I'll write about next.

Interesting day. I didn't get to windsurf today because there was little to no wind. But oh well. Instead I went with Cau to his University, PUC (an acronym, the full name escapes me). Took a bus there and back, which is always a fun experience just because of the people I see on the bus. Also the bus went on a highway that passed Rocinha so I got to see that from a distance.

The university itself is interesting. It is nothing like Miami, thats for sure. It is mostly on maybe 2 acres of land and a bunch of vertical buildings. The library is a lot smaller then at Miami and I feel like there is no student culture almost since people live at home, go to school, then come back home afterwards. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm glad that I go to school in the U.S. though, thats for sure. Also, I was dumb and forgot to bring my camera to take pictures.

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to get some windsurf time in the morning if the wind allows it then I'll be leaving for Buzio in the afternoon for 3 days which should be a blast.

Yesterday was an incredibly busy and satisfying day. Some hiking followed by some windsurfing and then finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy.



I woke up at 6:30 to get ready to climb Pedra da Gávea and then Joana picked me up at 7:30 along with Camila and Julia. (and her mom, whose name escapes me) At the base of the road we met up with João and Andrea and walked to Floresta Da Tijuca.


The trek up Pedra da Gávea takes around 2 hours of solid hiking up some pretty challenging terrain. If you look at the sign picture you can see that the trip to the top is nearly 2000 m and the change in altitude is 844 m. I wouldn't call the area sorrounding the trail "jungle" but it was definitely nature. We had to climb a rock face that I am pretty sure you normally need climbing equipment to do safely, but oh well, we all made it alright.



The view from the top of Pedra da Gávea is amazing. We were able to see most of Rio and even Cristo Redentor in the distance. It was odd and a little saddening to see Rocinha (The largest favela in the entire country of Brazil). I say odd because this large shanty town is nestled up right against a golf course reserved for the wealthy of Brazil. It's also neat to see hanggliders launching off of Pedra Bonita and then glide down to the beach.



On the way back down we stopped at a waterfall and stripped down to our bathing suits to cool off under the water. Also, to reaffirm the idea that the surrounding area was positively nature, we saw a little monkey.


As soon as I got back from the hike (around 3:30, so the entire trip lasted around 7 hours), I went with Cabelo to learn some windsurfing. He said I am picking it up quickly and I was sailing and tacking into the wind by the time it was getting dark. Rad.

Contrasting yesterday, today was very laid back. Took a walk on the beach and then went with Cau to Thiago's house for a barbecue this evening with some friends. Good times all around. I'm going windsurfing again tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have picture from that to show tomorrow.

I have been too busy enjoying Brazil to post in a couple of days. Two nights ago was a very relaxing day consisting of some beach time and then at night watching Joana play beach soccer. I think girls soccer (sports in general as well) might be more developed in the USA but I can't say for sure as I've only had a few encounters with girls' sports here.


Afterward I went with Joana and a few of her friends to a bakery (I guess that would be the best name for it) in Barra da Tijuca where we sat around outside drinking a couple of beers and socializing. Bernardo and Magao showed up later in the night. Magao is going to New York in August and he is going to try to visit Miami for a day. For reference, Magao is the one who always has his eyes shut in any picture.