Brasil, Eu Te Amo

I'm writing from Estes Park, Colorado because today I realized that I haven't blogged about my crazy life since last summer, really. That's so ironic to me, because this year has probably been one of the most interesting years I've ever had! The story in this blog begins the day after Christmas, when I boarded a plane from Evansville to Dallas Fort Worth to São Paulo, Brasil (it isn't spelled with a "z" in Portuguese). Speaking of Portuguese, that is not one of the languages I know very well, which put a completely different dynamic on my trip. I was blessed to be able visit Ana Scurato Testa and her family; Ana lived with us in Illinois during both of our senior years. 

After our sweet reunion, Ana and her family whisked me away to explore the city of São Paulo, the most populated city in South America. São Paulo is beautiful and urban with a lot of South American influences in the architecture and graffiti. I drank from a coconut while riding around on the double-decker bus, then we walked around a famous park in São Paulo while I was slowly getting more and more exhausted. We drove two hours back to Ana and her family's hometown, São João da Boa Vista. The next couple days, I got to see São João da Boa Vista, hang out with Ana's friends and family. One evening, we went to one of her friend's country homes and swam/ate some really good Brazilian food. I was able to drink some of my favorite Brazilian sodas Coca-cola and Guaraná. On December 28th or 29th, Ana's family, Ana's boyfriend's family, Ana's boyfriend's sister's friends, and I drove to São Paulo to a small airport and flew to RIO. 

I got to experience some amazing sights in Rio de Janeiro, from Pão de Açúcar to eating amazing açai on one of Rio's beautiful white sand beaches, to visiting Cristo Redentor on Corcovado. Ana and her family were so generous and welcoming toward me; that just heightened the entire adventure. My New Years was spent at a jockey club in Rio in view of Christ the Redeemer statue to my left, fireworks from three different beaches I could see in the distance (Copacabana, Leblon, and Barra), and counting down from 20 in Portuguese (I tried). 


The happiest moment of my trip was when Ana's parents and I were walking to Copacabana to buy souvenirs & Ana's mom has been wanting me to sing to her "Amazing Grace" so she was asking me so I decided to sing while we were walking and I don't know what the song means to her, but she started crying so naturally I started crying, because music knows no language, and it connects people down to their souls. that was the happiest moment of my trip so far. Peep my Brazilian scrapbook below. I'm sure that I'm missing out on telling some amazing stories, but that's all I got for now, six months after the fact. 

Para sempre,

Sadie