Free day

The day before I left (April 6th), my parents had free as well, so we packed the day w/ all things....well, "Me"......or things that I wanted to do.

First stop? Embu. A local town that will pull out all these stands and is lined w/ shops selling fun souvenirs, etc. And since I was under STRICT instructions to bring the kids back something, I had to find something good.

As we pulled up to the square, I said to Mom and Dad that there USED to be a churro stand over in the corner that filled their churros w/ doce de leite (they were my favorite). My mom reminded me that was 15 years ago.

Get this....IT WAS STILL THERE!!!! hahaha. Got my churro.

Here's an idea of some shops off the main square. It is so charming.

Then we went to our old home/apartment. We lived on the 4th floor and all the homes there are the entire floor. It felt SO fun coming back home. This is where I waited for my bus in the mornings.

And the SAME guard (Antonio) STILL WORKED THERE!!!!!!

We went over to my old school that I went to from 7th-9th grade. Total flood of memories.

It's an all open school (except classrooms) so you can see the lockers, etc. are all outside. I loved it! the picture above is my old freshman hall!!!!

We got to go to the Sao Paulo Temple while we were there.

THEN, the MAIN EVENT!!!!! My CLOSEST friends EVER from Brazil organized a big ol' get-together for me. I had an absolute blast and felt so at ease like it hadn't even been 15 years at all. (even though Brooks doesn't speak portuguese, once again, he was still talking the whole time).

Thank GOODNESS it was the last night of my visit, so I had a whole week to brush up on my portuguese........conversations straight the whole time.

The host, Talita even sent me home w/ my Caquis. They look like tomatoes but are the BEST fruit and sooooo sweet and tasty.

They made a little movie clip/slideshow thing w/ old pictures of me (I can't believe people actually wanted to be seen with me in how I looked in some of those. hahaha) and then they surprised me with a HUGE cake.

It was a brigadeiro cake moistened w/ passion fruit juice. Yep, it was amazing. AND my friends Marina/Joyce gave me a huge bag stuffed w/ Brazilian treats to bring home to the kids. They are loving them!

Best way EVER to spend my last night in Brazil. I love them all so much.