Rio de Janeiro

View from Cristo Redentor

5 am is early for any arrival, including to Rio de Janeiro. Before the city even woke up, we were there, talking to taxi drivers, planning on places to see and things to do with such little time. All we could think about so early in the morning on this beautiful sabbath day was to see Cristo Redentor. The second we peeked our heads out of the bus station, we could see its white figure looking over all of Rio. Finally, something so well known but seen only in pictures and movies was real and in front of our very faces! Easily, one of the best moments of the trip.

We took the first train and the sun was still coming up

It took a taxi ride and a trolley to reach the top of one of the citys central mountains where a resurrected Christ (that's how we saw it at least) reigns over all the eye can see. There is a plaque by the statue that gives details of its owners and different restorations it has gone through over the years. The most interesting of all is the vision behind the idea. Originally Christ was going to hold a cross in His right hand and the world in His left, then realism replaced symbolism. Now, His figure spreads His arms wide to represent the cross, while the city of Rio de Janeiro represents the world. It was a brilliant revelation. The grey marble base was also home to a chapel or cathedral were worship was taking place. 

The stadium was massive, this doesnt give it justice.

From the top of the mountain, we saw a stadium in the distance... SOCCER... we also put two and two together and realized that there was way more English tourists then the usual amount. Turns out, there was a friendly going on, Brazil vs. England, with the best players present, all getting ready for Mundial (World Cup) in Brasil this 2014. We decided any amount of money was worth it to get into the game, but apparently it wasn't because we couldn't find a single one for sale. The place was packed. We tried to buy tickets from a street vendor but it was a little too obvious when we compared a real ticket with stickers and anti-counterfeit logos and the tickets this guy was selling. Horrible black and white copies. I personally felt embarrassed for the attempt, he couldn't even commit to a color copy? People started warning us that there really weren't any tickets left and to be careful with the guys we were talking to. Sad and disappointed, we drowned our sorrows in a Churrasqueria where we watched the game with the locals.

In between our all-you-can eat delicious meat dinner and the failed attempt to attend the soccer game, we checked out the famous, Copacabana beach. Its basically a long stretch of hotels and stores with the most people I have ever seen in the water. It might be an obvious comment, but the water keeps getting warmer the father we get up on the coast. There was a lot of small tent business' renting bikes, umbrellas, chairs, and even those stand up surf board things. 

We wanted to go check out a few other places and beaches but the clouds started heading our way. It was actually good timing because the game was about to start and we had starved ourselves all day so we would be as hungry as possible for the Churrasqueria. The game was a good one, 2-2 was the final score, but the goals were Sportscenter Top 10 worthy for sure. After the game and the food, Dustin had to go get his things and head for his plane home. It was a sad moment for all of us.

Although we have done so much together, it feels weird losing a whole fourth of our crew! He will certainly be missed as we have 3 more cities to visit and to explore before our journey comes to a close. If there is anything I have learned so far, it's that there is always un mundo más allá... We hope to catch some good weather and some history as we get to Porto Seguro where Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese. 

 We´ll leave you with the view of Copacabana (and way too many speedos) until our next post. We have recieved word that Dustin is home safe and working hard on his medical school application. We wish him luck on his new adventure. Thanks to everyone for the amazing support we have had with this blog. Derek is working on the translation for a newspaper article that was written about us in Sorocaba! Stay tuned!

Sorocaba with Eugenio and friends

People travel for a myriad of reason. Many seek to see what is in the world, its highs and lows, its wonders and splendors and everything in between. For me, far more impressive than the things we have seen have been the people we have met and the stories we have uncovered.

In front a historic train near the city center of Sorocaba

Leaving Florianópolis I, along with the other three vagabonds in our group, found ourselves surprisingly sad, as if we were leaving behing lifelong friends. We pushed onto Sorocaba, a large suburb resting just outside the urban sprawl of Sao Paulo and were warmly received by Eugenio Rocha and his family. Our paths cross today because more than 25 years he and my father were friends while serving a religious mission together in northern Brazil.

Getting to know Eugenio, Fernanda, his wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Julia and Giovana, was an absolute pleasure. Despite humble means, we were treated like kings for two straight days. They fed us more than we could eat in a week, we drank Guaraná by the liter and were shown all the best spots in town.

Friday night the partying continued with music, dancing and even more food at a local Festa Junhina (literally translated, "June Party") to kick of the first day of June. The sounds of samba reverberated off the walls late into the night, far later than our green gringo legs could handle. We tried our hand at dancing but our obvious failures only reinforced any stereotypes about the grace of the anglo-saxon race on the dance-floor.

Dancing like white boys.

Tired from food and fun we were ready to call it an early night when Fernanda motioned for us to follow. Completely unaware of what would happen next we soon found ourselves behind the scenes of the festival's main stage. Our looks of confusion must have been hysterical for anyone watching as we were led like sheep in front of thousands of screaming fans.

Explaining our trip to a crazy Brazilian crowd.

Apparently, she had mentioned a little bit about our journey and someone important took a liking to the idea. We quickly realized they wanted us to talk about our blog and documentary to the whole crowd! By this time we were quaking in our boots (well, at least Derek since he was the only one expected to speak). We were able to stammer out a few muttered words before yelling out and enthusiastic "Brasil!", which was met with an uproar from the crowd. Our fifteen minutes of fame lasted a little bit longer when a group of teenage girls asked us to pose for a photo. This must be how Justin Bieber feels.

On stage singing a song we didn't know.

The following day the Rochas took us on brief tour of the city. On one stop we passed the office of a local newspaper which got our wheels spinning once again. Still feeling invincible from the night before we calmly strolled into their main office, told a journalist about our endeavors and were given an interview on the spot. She spent an hour with us asking us about what we had seen, what we had learned and how our perspective had changed as a result of the people we have met. Hopefully the story will be printed in the next few days.

Speaking with Andrea, a reporter at Cruzeiro do Sul

We left Sorocaba Saturday night feeling like rockstars thanks to the generosity of Eugenio and his family. There have been very few occasions where I have felt an outpouring of pure love like we did over those two days. Getting to know Eugenio gave me a glimpse in the power of hope. In one of our discussion he revealed a little about his youth,  one that was marked by drug abuse and misfortune. His desire to change compelled him to quit "cold turkey" which left him in bed for nearly two years. After going to hell and back he dedicated himself to painting in order save enough money for a two year LDS mission of service and sacrifice where he touched hundreds of lives. Eugenio's example stands as a brilliant ray of hope in a world suffocated by moral decadence and egoism. I am grateful for the way that he and his family touched my own life.


 More adventures to come soon, including our one day in the city of Carnaval.

-Porter

Eugenio grooving to some Samba.

Getting ready to stuff our faces. Again.

Outside the local newspaper, Cruzeiro Do Sul

The Rochas got us all gifts to remember their homeland. 

Viva Brasil!!!

Enjoying a refreshing coconut for breakfast on the street.

A Brazilian ways to have fun in Florianópolis

We finally made it from the Pacific all the way to the Atlantic Ocean--trekking across an entire continent! When we arrived we bought some "vergamota" (oranges) from this van (photo to the right) and took a stroll down the beach. We were thrilled to shed our hiking boots and feel the sand beneath our feet and the salt water breeze on our face. What a welcome change of pace from hectic bus terminals and rugged expeditions to barefoot beach time and laying out in the sun!  

I'm not putting down my fruit for anything.

Luckily for us, Derek has some amazing friends here, the Moraes family and friends, who have laid out the red carpet for us: taking us to all the best views and beaches, guiding us through the city, and introducing us to some of the nicest, wildest people we've ever met. In addition, they've offered us their home as a place to stay, done our laundry, and cooked us some delicious meals. We are extremely grateful for them; they've made our stay in Florianópolis exceed all expectations. We've seen and experienced some amazing things in our travels, but these past couple days have definitely been the most fun. 

Us on our final day with the Moraes family

Our main man, Thiago, showing us around the city our first night

Our first night in Floripa (Florianópolis) we met Thiago, a friend of the Moraes family who also speaks English. In Justin's struggle to pronounce Thiago's name correctly, he accidentally called him "Chango," which in Spanish means "monkey," and the nickname stuck. 

These "dream" croissants were smothered in fruits and chocolate.

Sugarcane juice. Not only is it delicious, it's also probably really good for you and very healthy.

 The next morning we walked around the city center for a bit with our friends Thaís and Guilherme Moraes. Our constant failures in Portuguese pronunciation drove us to give Guilherme a nickname as well--"Billy Demais," (literally translated = too much Billy). We met up with some more friends and relatives and drove to some large sand dunes to do some summa-time shredding with a sand board. I say "sand board" as if it were a special piece of equipment, but I'm sure a piece of drift wood would have worked just as well. With all of us being used to boarding on "the best snow on Earth," as they say in Utah, the sand was a little difficult to get used to. However, we all had a blast doing our best to adjust to the challenge. We even found a jump someone had made from piled up bags of sand. We decided to go for it, and Justin and Derek both took some hard falls, making several attempts each before finally landing a jump. We were all picking sand out of our ears for the next several days, and to this day we can occasionally still feel sand in our eyes. Not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but worth it. Maybe.

Righteooooous

The next morning, the Moraes family took us to a beautiful beach called the Praia da Guarda do Embaú, where they led us along a rocky trail to reach a smaller, more secluded section of the beach, called simply "Prainha" ("little beach"). We had the whole beach to ourselves. The sand was super fine, the views were gorgeous, and our pasty white skin got to soak in some much needed sun. Billy Demais brought along a surf board, and we all tried to catch some waves. Since none of us is particularly talented at surfing, the short surf board proved to be extremely difficult to balance. However, we still had tons of fun swimming in the ocean and laying out in the sun for hours before our hunger finally constrained us to return to the Moraes' home for some dinner.

After the rocky hike along a grassy hillside we arrived at Prainha, completely empty

All ours, baby

This beach rocks.

This beach rocks too. I'm running out of puns. 

This was the cabin at the ranch

Our last day in Floripa happened to be some sort of a holiday, and the Moraes family brought us to a big churrasco (barbecue) at a ranch out in the forest. We asked several people what it was that we were celebrating and nobody really knew--something about Corpus Cristi--but as we've noticed, Brazilians will find any excuse to party. We met up with a giant group of Brazilians our age that are all part of the same institute class (which is like a religious class for youth, for those that don't know). With the exception of our lack of Portuguese fluency (minus Derek), we fit right in, making tons of friends while playing volleyball, futebol (soccer) and pool/billiards, eating loads and loads of meat, drinking an unhealthy amount of Guaraná, and listening to American top 40 songs blasting from a loudspeaker. Everybody seemed to enjoy teaching us new words and letting us practice our pronunciation, and we ended up hanging out well into the night before finally heading home. 

Porter and Justin discussing strategy for the next game of pool

The whole group

The next morning we said goodbye to the Moraes family and took a cheap flight to São Paolo, where we then took a bus to Sorocaba to meet up with a good friend of Porter's dad. There are parties going all the time here in Sorocaba, too. We are exhausted but refuse to turn down an invitation to party. We are very quickly realizing that it is impossible to out-party a Brazilian. Até mais, caras.

The Falls of Iguaçu

Leaving Bolivia, we took a night bus from Sucre to Santa Cruz, then a night train to the border, a day bus to Campo Grande and finally another night bus to Foz de Iguaçu. Night traveling, no showers and bus bathrooms is a rough way of living for three days. We made friends of course along the way, the second we got on the train three girls from Holland greeted us as though they were long lost friends.

Our Holland bus friends

Derek sweet talking the army

The border was a little interesting, it didn't open on time and we sat in a line for quite some time early in the morning. Derek became a chatter box the second we set foot in Brasil, I don't think they even checked our visas, they were loving the red head. Only 20 minutes into our bus trip after getting into Brazil, army troops pulled the bus over to check bags and personel. The girls we were with tried to bring coca leaves with them... needless to say, they didn't get very far with them.


I dont need to say much more about the buses, only that we are absolutely sick of them. In those few days we've read more books than we have in the last year (not counting textbooks). As we arrived to Foz, we couldn't take a taxi because they went from about three dollars to get anywhere in Bolivia to about 25 dollars to get anywhere in the city... So we basically hopped on a bus and took off looking for any sign than said Hostel. We found one with a pool! It was the first time we had to share a room with somebody, but he was nice enough, a little hairy but no complaints, he probably had his own judgements about us.

Sunday Funday

The next day was Sunday, we went to church early and enjoyed all the Portuguese. The irmão put me and Dustin on the spot and asked for our comments about the sacrament. Dustin has had some background with Portuguese and held his own. I got through my comments, but not without looking at Derek and mouthing some words before I said them. The spirit was felt, he talked to us after and said that the Sisters found him and his wife a year ago and they had recently gone to the temple. Needless to say, the church is true all over the the world.

The falls was the next stop, Sunday was our only chance to go so dont judge us. We got on a bus and met some English girls on our way. Basically, its super easy to meet girls that speak english because all we have to say is, "Hey you speak english, so do I!" Works everytime...

Here we are... at the falls!

Anyways, the falls are amazing... I love to see waterfalls, big or small, wide or just a little stream tumbling down the side of a mountain. The difference here is, every type, size and length of waterfall is combined into one beautifully spectacular vision the very second you get off a bus and walk to see it.

Panorama of the Falls

As you walk up to the first viewpoint, you feel how wide it is. Then the second viewpoint, you can see how tall and how many levels there are. And then, as you get to the small bridge that takes you right to the belly, you feel how majestic and powerful the falls are. Rainbows form all around you and all you can see is water surrounding everywhere the eye can see. It was the most epic display of nature I have ever seen in my life.

We saw boats that would take people right up against the falls and we figured, since this is the only time we'll be here, we should probably fork over the cash and do it. Unfortunately, our college budget was telling us to take the cheapest tour, which turned out to be rafting adventure starting at the falls and then floating down the river in the opposite direction.

Still very fun and it was a beautiful trip, but we wanted to go towards the falls and get closer. Well, as my dad said to me once at a Phantom of the Opera play. "Kids, were sitting in the back because I'm sure you'll see this play plenty of times in your life, and I'd hate to give you the best seats the first time you go..." Wise words that I took to heart, the other guys in our group, however, just couldn't seem to grasp it.

Our two English friends sitting in the front

We finished our tour, got some horribly overpriced McDonalds and took off for Florianopolis. We're actually here already and after some research into flight and things, we're going to spend a whole 5 days here... don't be jealous... or stop following our adventures, we just needed a little beach time ;)

We'll update the blog halfway through our stay, but until next time... remember... HÁ UM MUNDO ALÉM (we're learning Portuguese quick!!)
                                                                                                           - Justin

Seeya again soon

The Devil's Mine

Up to this point the tone of our blog has been pretty reflective of our individual personalities, jovial and light-hearted. I believe that above all, the reason that we decided to go on this journey was to savor the last few drops of a waning youth before the realities of career and family makes our lives serious. We left home looking for adventure, new experiences and more than a few laughs. Without a doubt the experience to this point has delivered.

Getting geared up.

However, today I find myself more pensive, and even humbled, by the experiences of the past few days. At least for me, this youthful expedition of exploration and discovery has had a few unintended side effects. 

We arrived in Bolivia a few days ago, a country that consistently sits among the poorest in the whole world. It often smells of sewage and trash is so scattered about the surrounding landscape one would think that it was their primary cash crop. Politically, it would be flattering to call it 'unstable' since they have changed their government over 200 times in their 180 year history. Looking out the window of our bus as we crossed the border, observing towns and hills rush by I realized the crushing degree of poverty than many people live in. Perhaps 'survive' would be a better description. Surprisingly though, it's humble charm has been captivating. 

One of two guys we met who started working in the mines at 13.

We left Uyuni, a remarkably depressed place, for Potosí, another stop on our way to Brazil. We discovered that the city rested at the foot of a series of mines dating back to the colonial period, and to our amazement, we could spend a day exploring them. Built in the 17th century, the mines are incredibly archaic and (sorry mom) extremely dangerous. Most miners don't last more than ten years because of brutish working conditions. There is no 'company' that runs the place, just individual miners who work on their own, cooperating with other miners to increase profits. As a result there is virtually no safety regulation protecting the workers. On more than one occasion they have received the nickname of 'The Devil's' Mine.' (A 2005 documentary was made about them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil's_Miner)

Entrance to the mine. Four times a year the portal is drenched in lama's blood. For real.

After meeting our guide we suited up and descended into the mines to experience a day in the life of Bolivian miner. As we descended, we squeezed through a maze of hellish, claustrophobia-inducing tunnels, ever spiraling downward as if built by the devil himself. At our lowest point, some three hundred feet below the surface of the earth, we met a few miners hard at work. As I alluded to earlier, I was supremely humbled when we were introduced to Carlos, a miner the same age as me, who had been slaving in those abysmal caverns since the tender age of 13. 

Justin dives headfirst into a cavern.

Exploring those caves was one of the most extreme things I have ever done but I was happy to leave. When we reached surface and were met by the relieving hope of the afternoon sun all I could think about were Carlos and Hernan and the like, who wouldn't be coming up for another 5 hours. For us it was an afternoon of fun, but for them it is their lives.

I was struck with gratitude for all that I have. I am grateful that in my early years my biggest problem was making the basketball team, rather than being in such a dire straights that my survival as a young boy was contingent upon risking my life in a silver mine.  I am grateful that I can go to school and get and education. I am supremely grateful that, by pure chance, I was born into a family and a country where opportunities are limitless.

Dustin and Justin pause to breath. Since the mine is built into a volcano temperatures are high and oxygen is scarce.

When all is said and done, We know we will come home with a new perspective of the world.

Most of the holes are so small you have to crawl on hands and knees to get through.

After.

Silver is one of the primary minerals produced by the mine.

Justin chewing some coca leaves. All the natives chew them to curb hunger, fight the altitude and for a quick energy boost.

We met a miner name Hernan who let us try our hand at mining. We failed miserably. 

The group with Hernan.