I MADE IT!!!!

THIS IS ME!!!!! I'm actually in Brazil and THAT is my dad greeting me after my overnight flight (that I was NOT able to sleep on.....much to the guy-next-to-me's shagrin)

Come to find out you actually need a PASSPORT and a VISA to go to Brazil. Brooks had one and my passport hadn't arrived and neither of us had visas. We found this out a week before. It was a LONG week of phone calls/tears but miracle after miracle happened, thanks to the prayers and fasts of our families and close friends.

I was pooped when I arrived and crashed many times that day, however the NEXT day (Monday) I was ready to go. And good thing too, because we were OFF to Ilha Grande (a large island off of Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro)!!!!! It was SUPPOSED to be a 6 hour-ish trip, but we had a few.....eh-hem.....mishaps that made it longer. Oh well. Like you would expect anything else with me, right?

Here we are at one of my many rest stops......I just LOVE the phone booths in Brazil.

At that rest stop we asked if we were still going in the right direction, or if we should go another way. He said this way we were going was SHORTER in distance for sure, but it's tricky when it rains. Huh, that was a weird comment, but as long as it was shorter. Plus we were driving through the most INCREDIBLE country side and small towns.

For example: the city of Cunha

Then we get up to the top of the mountain before we would descend all the way to the shore and the "highway" stopped and turned into dirt. We backed up and asked a bus driver at the top of the hill if we were still going the right way. He said yes. Dad asked how much farther to Parati (a town we needed to drive through) and he said 24 km. (I HATE converting everything!!!) Then dad asked if that whole way was "sem cemento" (without cement) and the guy just smiled a smug smile and said yes. MAYBE that's what they were talking about that it's better when it's not raining.........

So we proceeded...... the road doesn't look TOO bad, right?
WRONG!!!!! We soon embarked on a hour+ drive down the mountain, off-roading style for 7 miles. We're not talking dirt roads.....we're talking ditches, boulders, mud and winding back and forth to find the flatest route......all while being surrounded by plush rain-forest greenery. It was INSANE.
FINALLY we saw a car zoom past us and we decided that we're just going to follow it (even though he was going WAY to fast for my liking). I took a video of it to give you an idea.


As we passed some other cars (WHAT ARE THEY DOING ON THAT ROAD?!?!?) they kept laughing at us and saying "good luck" and also "Go with God" in Portuguese. Comforting, huh?

We MADE it to the bottom though and was later stopped w/ construction. Of course. Brooks got out (he has NO fear of not knowing portuguese) and asked how long and they said 7 minutes. Fine. Dad went to go make sure we were still on the right path.

We finally made it to the bay to catch our 1.5 hour ferry over to the island........of course after we passed smells of fish/feces/sewage to get to the cheapest boat. You know, smells that pregnant girls should NOT have to smell!!!! ;)
Here was our cute little village, Abraao. Look at that sweet church in the middle! It's all cobble stone roads (some dirt) and NO cars are allowed on the island. It felt so far removed from busy life and it was perfect.
Our cute little rooms...

First order of business? Get my pregnant belly some FOOD!!!!! And might I say, the ONLY thing that keeps me healthy all day long has been mamao (papaya) and beans and rice. They're like miracle workers, so I keep ordering the same thing.

Some views from around the town.....

(Yes, that IS infact a big branch going right through the middle of my face!!!! But it still was a cute shopping strip)

And here's for you boys.....as promised, the picture of the crab we found that night. Pretty huge huh! I kept thinking I wish my boys were around to catch the lizards and chase crabs because Brooks and Dad just couldn't get a handle on those lizards like my Camden could.