WOW, WHAT A TRIP!!!!!!!! By Jeremy Shinn, 1998~1999 Outbound to Brasil I can't believe that is already over, it just went by so fast. I had so much fun. It is so hard to describe. I took a month long trip visiting some of the coolest places I have ever been too, with some of the coolest people from all over the world that I have ever met. We learned so much about this wonderful country and I can't wait to pass as much of it as I can on to everyone that I know. By the end of the trip I had taken somewhere around 230 pictures. And you can be sure that every one of them is incredible. The trip started off in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. A big city, nothing to special about it except that it is the home of the tour company. Actually though, the state of Minas Gerais is a big reason why the Brazilian economy is falling so quickly all of a sudden. But that's a whole 'nother story. The next city we went to was Ouro Preto, in the same state. This city is filled with tons of Brazilian history. We visited some of the richest oldest churches in Brazil there, and went to interesting museums. It was a small city built in the hills. After that we went to the country's capital, Brasilia. It is a city that is still growing since the capital was only moved there about 30 years ago. Everything there is very spread out and our hotel had a great veiw of everything. There we visited the national congress and senate, and went to some more really interesting churches and cathedrals. The whole city was quite interesting because it has the most modern arcitecture of Brasil. The next city on the tour was Lençois, in Bahia. It was a very small city and while we were there we visited waterfalls, and rivers that run all through that area. One of the days we took about a two hour bus ride out of the city to a place called Chapada da Diamantina. It was really incredible. The whole area was mountainous with huge rock cliffs all over. We even climbed to the top of one of the highest ones to get a great veiw. After that we went to this huge cave that was completely pitch black inside and took us about an hour to walk through with flash lights. There were all kinds of incredible rock formations and even crystals growing in some parts. The colors in some places were incredible. After all that we headed for the next city on the tour, Maceió, the capital of Alagoas. I think that this was one of the coolest places that we went to with the exception of Rio. There we stayed a little way outside of the city in a smaller town. It was so nice because the beaches that we went to weren't totally filled, and they didn't have huge cities and apartment buildings right across the street from the beach. The first day we took a boat out to this huge beach. It was this huge sandy point covered with palm trees. We spent the day swimming and hanging out. It was so nice to see and swim in the ocean again after such a long time. The second day we went to the beach which was a 2 minute walk from the small motel that we stayed at. This one was just incredible too. There was a section where people were hanging out and then another section that was almost deserted that seemed like it just went on forever. It was one of the nicest beaches. After Maceió we went to Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará, and also the furthest north that we went on the trip. When we were there we met up with the exchange students that went on the Northeast trip that started on the 4th of January. We all went to a huge night club together and had the greatest time. Everywhere you looked there was an exchange student, actually about 175 of them. We only got to spend a day with them though because they were off in the direction that we had come. In Fortaleza we went to some nice beaches that were really populated and we went and saw the city. I think the highlight of this part of the trip was definitely the sand dunes that we went to. We went to this huge pennisula that was just cover in huge sand mountains. The sights were spectacular. We all took sand buggy rides all over, and let me tell you, Brazilian Drivers are CRAZY! We had so much fun. We even stopped and got a chance to go Sand Boarding down these huge slopes. After that, the next day we headed on to Recife, the capital of Pernambuco. The first day there we went to an art museum and took a tour of a nearby city. The next day we spent the day at this beach about an hour away called, Porto de Galinhas. (Port of Chickens) It's called that because they used to smuggle chickens into the country there. Don't ask me. It was a great beach with great reefs and places to hang out on the rocks right off shore. All of them in swimming distance. That was about it for this city though. I guess by this time in the trip, I had already been spoiled by everything that we had already done. The next city on the trip was one that all of you have probably heard of, Salvador, the capital of Bahia. The first day here we visited some more churches. One of them is the richest church in Brasil and the inside of it is filled with sculptures of gold, and wood. When the people in Brazil talk about this city though, all they talk about is Parties, Dancing, Carnaval, and shows. I'd have to say that that is the same impression that I got. While we were there we went to a show of "Olodum", a popular group for this part of the country, and when we were there we met one of the most popular Samba singers in Brazil. (Samba is a type of Dance music here) He was just there watching the show with everyone else. The show was great and it definitely gave us a good taste of what Salvador is like. After Salvador we headed on to Porto Seguro, still in the state of Bahia. This is the place where people first came ashore in Brasil. We visited the place where the first church in Brasil was built (although it is no longer there) and we also visited the second church, which still stands. The beach that we went to here was really nice too. It reminded me of Daytona beach during Spring Break. There were all kinds of stages set up with all kinds of things going on. It was a crazy place. After that it was on to the final, and in my opinion, best city of the trip, RIO DE JANEIRO!!!!!!!! WOW WHAT A PLACE!!!!! I think that I could have spent another month just in that city and been loaded with things to do. The city is built all along the sides of mountains and in the valleys, and the ocean around the city has tons of mountain tops sticking up out of the water making islands everywhere. The reason that it is called Rio De Janeiro (river of January) is because of the huge bay that connects with the ocean there. Back when it was first settled, they though that the bay was actually the end of a river flowing into the sea, I guess the name just stuck. In the days we were there we did as much as we could. We went to a place called Corcovado, which is the top of this hug mountain in the middle of the city that has a statue of Jesus Christ that is constantly there to watch over the city. It had the most incredible view of the city. We also went to a place called Baia dos Reis ( Bay of the Kings) and spent the day traveling around on a boat and swimming at different beaches on the many islands of the area. It was incredible. The last day in Rio we went out in the city again. This time we visited Maracanã, which is suppose to be the biggest stadium in the world, it holds 200,000 people, and we went to the Pão de Açucar. (Sugar Loaf) It's this huge rounded rock mountain that sticks up on the shore of Rio. It is something like 450 meters high sticking almost straight up out of the ocean. It also had a great veiw of the city. We also visited the most popular street in Brasil, The center of Carnaval in Rio. There were already crews out there setting up for the festivities. To bad we couldn't stay for just 2 more weeks for Carnaval. After that we went back and hung out at the hotel, since it was the last night with the friends that we had made over the past month. We never actually went to Ipanema beach, although it was about a fifteen minute walk from the hotel, we didn't really have time. The hotel was however right on Copacabana Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the world. It was a great beach but the closest I came to swimming there was going and dipping my feet in when we got back to the hotel one evening. It's still nice to say that I've been there. Rio is definitely a city that I want to go back to some time. The only problem with Rio is the Crime. It is a very dangerous city. It has the biggest slums in South America and has one of the worst crime problems. It is still an incredible place. I recommend that everyone take a vacation there some time or another, just be careful. Well, I guess that's it about the trip. I got to visit some of the greatest places in Brasil and learn a lot about the country. Everyone says that the Northeast part is full of poverty and that is definitely aparent as well. It is a sadder part off the whole story that such a beautiful place has such difficult problems. Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed hearing about my trip, that is, if you had the time to even read down this far. It was really the trip of a lifetime and I have never experienced anything so wonderful in my life. It is something I will never forget. I can't wait to come home and show everyone my pictures and tell you even more about it. I hope that I didn't bore you too much with my stories. I guess that's it for now. I hope everything is going good for everyone else. I'll talk to you later. ---Jeremy |
