Week 16: Manaus, Amazon Rainforest
Day 106: April 17th

We woke up to the sound of jungle birds singing and roosters crowing. After a nice breakfast we packed up our things. I went for a swim/bath in the river and we soon took our things and got back in our boat. The boat is essentially a large canoe, made by hand at the house I might add, with a small motor attached to a 4 foot pole and propeller. We took the boat through the Amazon River tributaries and small lakes until we found a quiet cove. We parked the boat and journeyed into the jungle. We wandered around the jungle a bit and Eduardo showed us cool things. We saw a walking tree that constantly grows new roots that protrude a couple feet from the ground. As the old roots for the tree moves in the direction of the growing new roots. In this way the tree can “walk” around the jungle. We found a babbasoo coconut tree and chopped open the coconuts to find firefly larva inside. These grubs are edible and contain so much protein you only need to eat four per day to survive. We all ate one and I found it disgusting but others didn’t mind the taste. We also found ants that when rubbed over the skin provide natural insect repellant. These ants bite however so I wouldn’t recommend this method. We found a tree around 6 feet wide that had fallen over and made camp next to it. We had no idea the intensity of the project we were beginning. We started by clearing out a 40 square foot area of all small trees and bushes with machetes. Some of the trees have a trunk lined with thorns so we had to use other branches as a broom as we had no gloves. We then proceeded to cut down two thick trees about 50 feet tall. We carried these back to the camp with a bit of difficulty as the jungle is quite thick and hard to maneuver in. Then we cut down six forked trees to use as supports. We used the large trees still in our campsite as supports and places the long beams against them. The forked trees were placed underneath and then we cut many vines out of trees to lash these three pieces together about 6 feet off the ground. Then we cut several more, I think around 16 in total, long trees to build the top of the frame in a more triangular shape. We made some mistakes and cut trees that weren’t quite the right size or shape and had to make adjustments on the fly. After four hours of work we were exhausted, blistered, bleeding, and starving. But the camp was not done yet so we continued until we put up a large tarp as a roof and hung our hammocks underneath. It was nearly dark by this time and we had run out of water. We took the boat to the nearest place to buy water, about 30 minutes away on the river. While on this trip we dropped some nets in the water. We grabbed some snacks and beer and a chicken before we took a quick swim next to the dock. Eduardo wouldn’t let us swim in the river at night because of the caimans and other threats. Finally we returned to our campsite after stopping on the way to collect our net and a few more fish. We started a fire in order to cook the fish, chicken, and some rice for dinner. I was so tired I laid down in my hammock and was instantly asleep. I woke up for dinner and as soon as we ate everyone was in their hammocks. 

Day 107: 

I woke up the next morning and had to go to the bathroom. I accidentally woke up Sarahi and noticed Eduardo was awake in his hammock as I grabbed some toilet paper and headed out of camp. After taking care of business I started walking back toward the camp but somehow missed it through the dense forest. I tried to retrace my steps but soon had the feeling I was completely lost. I heard some noise and assumed it was someone else taking care of business and walking back to camp. So I followed the noise but soon found a family of monkeys jumping noisily through the tree tops. At this point I realized I was really lost but I didn’t give up and headed toward the river. I found it eventually and expected it would help me have an idea of where to go. But after a few more minutes of wandering I decided I was hopelessly turned around. I was worried that everyone in camp was still sleeping but decided to yell helllooooo multiple times anyway. Eduardo replied with some strange animal call that I hoped was the camp and after a long game of Marco Polo in the forest I thankfully found the campsite again. We ate crackers and very grainy coffee for breakfast but we soon heard thunder. The rain approached quickly and we frantically cut down many palm branches to build a roof of sorts over our fire. We scrambled to find firewood as the rain began to pour. We relaxed in our waterproof shelter and collected rain water from the tarp to drink. Eventually the rain stopped and we walked to the river and hopped in our boat. We spent a little time putting up a net and then returned to the floating store to buy water and fishing hooks. We went for a swim and stopped to cut dry firewood from a half submerged tree. You know you’re in the rainforest when wood in the river is drier than in the forest. We returned to the net but only caught a few small fish so a few of us took the firewood back to camp while the others moved the net. We met at camp and ate some leftover rice for a late lunch. Eduardo made us fishing poles out of saplings while we chopped up many babbasoo coconuts and shaved off the edible section. Then we pounded the pieces into a fine powder to use as flour in a cake. It was almost dark when we returned to the water. We used leftover rancid chicken meat as bait and after dropping the baited hooks in the water the key is to splash in the water with the fishing pole. This simulates an animal thrashing around in the water and attracts the piranha. We all caught at least a small piranha except Hannah who caught a sardine. It was dark by now and the mosquitos came out in swarms. We went to check the net and found over 50 fish!! Unfortunately 40 of them were small piranha which we had to painfully take out the net the next day once they were dead. The other fish were mostly mapara, sort of like a catfish with no scales and great filets, but twice as delicious. We returned to camp and prepared the fish as well as some fresh rice. While the fish was cooking we built a table out of three triangle formation trees and split Palm branches. It looked nice and we were extra proud when we had a table full of fresh fish we had caught ourselves. It was without a doubt one of the best meals of my life. As soon as dinner was over everyone was instantly in bed. We heard a jaguar in the distance but soon I drowned it out with my snoring. 

Day 108: 

The next morning we ate a breakfast of crackers and coffee before packing up our camp. We packed everything back into the boat and headed back to the house from the first night. We met another backpacker from Australia and then took a jungle hike as a group. We walked to the spring where the house collects the water we had been drinking. Then we continued walking until we found a water vine. You can cut out a section and drink the water that drips out. It’s the best water I’ve ever tasted. We reached a pond where we found out we had to swim across. We were all wearing boots and dry clothes so we built a raft out of rotting wood and vines and put our belongings on top. Then we towed the raft while we swam across the pond. We returned to the house for a fantastic lunch and a swim in the lake in front of the house. Then we took the boat back to the road where we rode in a Volkswagen bus until we reached the main stretch of river. Here we took a boat back to Manaus and then a car back to the agency near our hostel. It was a fabulous time and we were sad to see it end. But we were so happy for a shower and clean dry clothes. After getting cleaned up we went out to dinner at a pizza buffet. It was delicious but I felt terrible for a couple days because it was such a shock to my system after eating mostly fish and rice for days. We went out to a bar afterwards but were all so tired we soon returned to the hostel and slept great. 

Day 109:

We were happy for a day to recuperate but liked eachother so much that the whole group changed their plans and stayed together for a couple more days. We took our dirty laundry and walked awhile across the city with Eduardo to his aunts house who agreed to wash our laundry cheaply. Then we stopped by a museum nearby. The group split up at this point and Sarahi and I relaxed at the hostel. We had a late lunch and set up a tour for the next day. That night we went with Eduardo William and Hannah to a beautiful beach on the banks of the rio negro. We swam for a little while and walked around the well developed beach area. We rode the bus back and soon went to bed. 
Day 110:

The next day we had breakfast at our hostel and then headed back to the tour agency. We were taken by two cars to the outskirts of the city to the house of the shaman. He was an older guy who did not speak English and was a little strange but nice. We had booked the tour to try ayahuasca, a Peruvian Indian medicine and ritual. The medicine is made from cooking together a vine and the leaves from another plant. The resulting tea looks like coffee but tastes much worse. The tea is believed to cleanse the drinker and provide clarity or revelations. It is also common to have visions and hallucinations. We spent the day relaxing, napping, and preparing for the tea drinking experience. Around six at night we drank the tea while sitting on a back porch covered by a tin roof. It began to rain and continued all night. After drinking the tea Sarahi was the first to throw up. This is a common part of the experience and is part of the cleansing process. I threw up as well but then laid down and had a good time. My mind was very active and I had some visions when my eyes were closed. I thought about a lot of things from my past and had some very random thoughts. Sarahi did not have much of a positive experience and felt sick most of the time. Iris was also sick much of the time. The rest of us enjoyed it although everyone threw up. Eduardo drank three cups and William had two. No one had life changing revelations but we did feel “cleansed the next day”. We all fell asleep by midnight on hammocks or mats laid on the floor. 

All in all it was one of the best weeks of the whole year. We really enjoyed our friends and had a great time in the jungle. 

Week 15: Amazon River, Manaus
Day 99: April 10th, 2016

I woke up feeling ok and without a fever. We asked the owner to stay another night and decided to go to alter do chão, a beach area in the middle of the Amazon! We took a bus about 45 minutes from the city (after waiting an hour for the bus) and arrived in a beautiful area dubbed the “Caribbean of the Amazon”. There were beautiful sandy beaches and plenty of restaurants serving drinks and fresh fish. We took a boat about 100 yards across to a thin sandy peninsula bordering a lake. There were no mosquitos and we swam in the water assuming there were no piranha. It was really beautiful and nice. After a few more hours of relaxation we headed to the bus stop. We found a very long line but managed to be the last people to squeeze into a very crowded bus. We had to stand most of the way back but were happy to return to our nice apartment rather than waiting an hour for the next bus. It was dark by the time we reached our apartment. We had planned to make some soup but when we went to the store we couldn’t find everything we needed and were tired. We ended up having ramen noodles with eggs inside which was still delicious!
Day 100:

Although we enjoyed Santarem and our apartment we decided to take a boat to Manaus. After another lunch of ramen, the apartment owner helped us and around 2 pm we went to buy tickets to Manaus. He then dropped us off with our things at the museum while we waited for our boat. We walked around the museum twice to kill time and then went to a grocery store. We took a taxi to the boat and luckily found a very helpful taxi driver. We could not find the boat to Manaus that day because it apparently didn’t exist. We had been sold fake tickets but luckily there were a few very kind people who helped us find another boat for the next day without having to spend more. We headed back to the apartment in hopes that it was available and it was. We told the story to the owner and checked back in. I took a long nap and woke up with a fever again. Sarahi took great care of me and we eventually walked to the pharmacy, grocery store, and pizza place. We returned to our apartment with our purchases and watched iron man 2 while eating pizza. I was soon fast asleep again. 
*Day 101:

Our boat left around 11 so we ended up leaving the apartment earlier to set up our hammocks and prepare for our long journey. Luke saw a family with blonde hair and blue eyes and guessed that they weren’t from Brazil. I was a little iffy but it turns out he was right! They were a family of 11 Americans traveling to a few places in South America before settling down in Brasilia to work at the embassy. We spent the next 2 days hanging out with some of the 9 kids.

*Day 102:

It was nice to be on a boat again since Luke was still trying to recover and we spent the day reading books, coloring, talking, listening to podcasts, playing cards, and catching bugs. The scenery was still beautiful to us and we saw a few different sides of the Amazon like a few cliffs, farms, and tiny communities of houses on stilts. We ended up going to bed early and slept pretty well because there were no bugs and it was actually kind of chilly so we got to use our sleeping bags to sleep warmly.
*Day 103:

Since this boat wasn’t shipping much cargo the trip went quickly and we arrived around 6 in the morning. We saw the sunrise, packed up, said goodbye to the family, and went on our way to the hostel. We couldn’t check in until 12 but we got to drop our bags off and they let us have breakfast there. After some food in our bellies, we visited a beautiful and well kept park until the museum of the Black River Palace was opened. We spent some time talking and looking at all the plants and the art and the descriptions of the Amazonian state before we wandered a little more around the city. We got some delicious fruit juice and watched the news before heading back towards the hostel. We visited the Teatro de Amazonas which is the oldest opera house in Brazil. The super nice and helpful guy at the desk apparently liked us and gave us discounted student tour tickets (R$10 each) and we waited until 11 for the English tour. The opera house was so beautiful!! I was obviously day dreaming and was imagining myself singing Phantom of the Opera on that beautiful stage. We got to see a rehearsal of a symphony and an opera singer for a few minutes which made me miss my high school band. We got to hear the history of the building which was very colorful and saw many closed parts of it. After that, we were told that we should try an Amazonian dish named Tacaca which is made from a plant that numbs your mouth. We tried it in a nearby restaurant and decided it was a good flavor, but not really for us. After all that, we headed back to the hostel. Pretty much right after we settled in, we met two guys named David from Australia and Willam from Holland. After a little introductory chat, Luke and I headed out to go grocery shopping since I was itching to get back into a kitchen. Weirdly, Brazilians don’t eat tortillas so I couldn’t make chicken enchiladas like I wanted to but ended up getting other groceries instead. When we returned, we hung out on the terrace, drank a few beers, and met a few other people at the hostel. That night after an adequate stuffed chicken and rice meal, we ended up going to a local bar, Caldeira, and hung out until bedtime. We slept in an air conditioned room with 10 beds.

*Day 104:

The next morning, a few of us had breakfast together and started talking about the idea of going on a tour. One of our new friends, Hannah, had already done some research and was looking for a group of people to lower the cost. After a little discussion, a girl came up to ask if we had gone on a tour and Willam invited her to join the table’s discussion; her name was Iris. We figured out we all roughly wanted the same thing and decided to research together. We decided to meet up at 11 to go to an agency, Amazon Backpackers. Turns out, it sounded exactly like what we all wanted to do which was a non-touristy Amazon jungle experience. The agency offered us a 4 day, 3 night jungle experience where we would stay one night with a local family and the other 2 nights in the jungle with food, transportation, and a guide included. The area was only used by this specific agency so it wasn’t overrun by loads of people. The price we ended up paying was R$720 per person after a discussion and group consensus after lunch. There were 5 of us for this trip including myself, Luke, Hannah from England, Iris from France, and Willam from Holland. That night, I ended up making stuffed peppers and rice (which turned out bomb if I may say so myself). We wanted to go see a show at the opera house and since we scheduled our tour for the next morning, our only chance was that night. I told everyone that we were going to see a show and that I saw a band and an opera singer rehearsing for what I thought was that night’s show. Thanks to Willam, we all got student tickets for R$30 and went inside. Boy was I wrong! It turns out the show was this older man, Zezinho Correa, singing old songs from the “King”, Roberto Carlos. At first, we all looked at each other and started laughing in disbelief, but after a while, the crowd started singing with him and we all actually started appreciating the music. It was super romantic and a great show! The group made it even better since we could all look at each other in disbelief of this singer who was apparently a well loved artist in the region. After the show, we all went back to the hostel and hung out before getting ready for the Amazon adventure of a lifetime. 

*Day 105:

We all got up and had breakfast together then went to the agency. Our first stop was the Meeting of the Waters. It was even better than I thought it would be! Our guide, Eduardo, explained why the waters are separated. Turns out the Rio Negro has a higher acidity, is warmer, and it flows faster than the Solimoes. The contrast of the colors was striking. He made us put our hands in the water as we passed it and you could really tell the temperature change as well! After a few more hours of traveling, we get to our host home and have this amazing lunch and swam in the river. There was already another group with two French brothers, a girl from Sweden, and a girl from Germany there so we ended up hanging out with them until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We left then to go fishing for our dinner. After finding a good fishing spot, Eduardo taught us how to lay out the net to catch fish. One thing I absolutely loved about our group is that there were no lazy people. We all put in effort and really wanted to delve into the experience together. After setting up the net, we spent some time swimming in the river (sounds crazy right?) and we all watched a gorgeous sunset together. It was an unforgettable experience. Later, we checked the nets and ended up catching about 6 or 7 fish and a few piranhas. After taking the fish, Eduardo took us on a night tour of the river. We saw how to look for sleeping fish to spear, how to search for caimans with a headlamp, and how to catch them. He actually ended up getting into the water, caught a small caiman, and explained a few details of it. For example, they don’t have a tongue and their sides are the only parts used for leather. Also, if you catch their eyes glowing at night, you can tell what size a caiman is by the color of the reflection. Orange is a smaller one, red is a huge one. He put a string around the mouth and let us all hold it and take a picture and then he put it to sleep! He told us that he only catches smaller ones and showed us a scar around his wrist from a bigger caiman that bit him. We ended up visiting a small convenient store on the river and ate snacks before heading back to the house. It was a beautiful, starry boat ride back. Luckily dinner was already made because we were starving so we saved the fish for lunch the next day. After another delicious dinner, we all hung out and went to bed in some hammocks on the first floor of a house with no walls, just a roof. 

 

Week 14: Belem, Amazon River, Santarem
Day 92: 

We woke up on the bus and still had several hours journey ahead of us. We stopped for breakfast and continued for a few more hours. We stopped again for lunch and we bought a couple of pastries. They were so dry it was like eating a mouthful of saltines and we laughed a lot. Sarahi accidentally threw all our change in the trash. We boarded the bus again and within a few hours arrived in Belem. We had no plans so we asked the taxi driver to take us to a restaurant with wifi. He said they were all closed because it was Sunday. So we had him recommend a hotel. He took us to one just across the street and we actually liked it a lot. We were starving and ordered some Chinese food. I guess we were exhausted and went to sleep after that before it was dark. 

Day 93: 
We woke up feeling refreshed and had a nice breakfast. We took a taxi across town to the river. The nature park was closed so we went to the port instead. There are some restaurants and shops in a pretty area along the river. We walked further to buy our boat tickets but we didn’t have enough cash. So we returned to the prior area for an atm. We drank some beer and then continued to the south and saw the market, a lot of boats, and an old fort. The museum and fort were closed so we returned all the way back to pay for our tickets. The sun was setting so we hurriedly returned back to the port area for the sunset. Then we walked all the way back the way we came until we found the awesome burger place Sarahi had been craving. We had great burgers and drinks and liked our waitress who spoke English. Then we were exhausted and returned to our hotel. We hung out a little longer and then went to bed. 

   
    
  
    
    
      
Day 94: 

We slept in later than intended and after breakfast we packed our bags. I needed a couple things before the boat trip and wandered around the city looking at all the shops with all kinds of fruits and veggies and seafood. Around noon we checked out and took a taxi to the boat. It was docked in a random place on the river but there were already many people on board. We found a good spot and put up our hammocks where we could see the river and the riverbank. Then we piled our bags together and left the boat hoping they would be safe. We walked about a mile past many poor houses on stilts. Eventually we reached the park/ nature reserve we were looking for and it was open. We walked around for awhile taking pictures of birds and butterflies. We went to the top of the tower observatory before it started pouring rain. Once it slowed down we left and looked for food. We had to walk awhile before we found something for lunch. Then we took a taxi back to the dock and got in our boat again. Luckily, our bags and hammocks were still there. We relaxed for a few hours until the boat finally left the dock and headed into the Amazon. It was dark and after sandwiches we headed to bed. It started raining heavily during the night but overall we slept well and enjoyed the boat rocking our hammocks as we slept. 

   
    
    
   
Day 95: 

We woke up on the boat well after sunrise. It started to heat up quickly so we got out of bed and ate some fruit and cereal for breakfast. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. We talked to a few Brazilians on the boat but mostly enjoyed the chance to read and relax. I read Huck Finn which I felt was fitting while floating down the river. We ate grilled cheese sandwiches and ramen noodles for lunch and for dinner we ate in the boat restaurant where we had chicken, pasta, rice and beans. There is no menu and the food was left over from lunch but it was good and very cheap. Once it was dark we didn’t stay awake for too much longer. 

          
Day 96:

When we woke up the boat was pulling into the port of a small city. We ate some fruit and dry cereal for breakfast and relaxed. The boat did not leave port for six hours because many pipes were being unloaded from the front of the boat into trucks. We went on shore for a little while and walked around the city. We bought a couple of things and then headed back to the boat. Eventually the boat continued down the river and we ate lunch in the boat restaurant. We spent the rest of the day watching the bank slip by while reading and watching movies. After a nice sunset and dinner we went to bed in our hammocks again. 

   
    
   
Day 97:  

We woke up and were finally close to Santarem, our destination. We arrived by noon and walked around the city in the heat without backpacks looking for a hotel or place to eat. It was so hot we decided on a taxi and the driver was very helpful. He took us to a hotel that seemed good so we hung out for a bit before walking to a nearby Brazilian steakhouse for lunch. I started feeling quite sick so we returned to the hotel and relaxed. Luckily Sarahi brought a thermometer. I laughed at her when she brought it at first but we’ve used it many times. I had a high fever so we relaxed around the room and I slept on and off. We ate ramen noodles for dinner and watched part of a movie before sleeping. 

  
Day 98: 

I still felt quite sick the next day but we didn’t like the air conditioning in our room because it was too cold, couldn’t be fixed, and the wifi was slow. So we moved to a new place which was an apartment. The owner was a guy our age and very nice. He took us to the bank and grocery store in his car and told us a lot about the city. The air conditioning in our apartment didn’t work so he moved us to another unit in the same building. The apartment had four rooms and a bathroom as big as a hotel room. We loved it and tried to enjoy it despite my fever. I slept quite a bit and we enjoyed the fast wifi watching Netflix and researching a few things. We made a great pizza for dinner and then relaxed until bed. 

It was a great week and we enjoyed taking the slow way down the Amazon with a nice stop in the middle. The Amazon River is so huge it’s impossible to describe. We took sections of the river that were 100 yards wide and don’t even show up on a map because they’re so small compared to the main sections. At times its difficult to see the river bank on one side and it feels more like a lake than a river. We didn’t see much wildlife besides some dolphins, birds, cows, and many bugs. One of the coolest things was seeing children as young as three driving boats and canoes in front of their houses. It was a fun week in what felt like a completely different world. 

Week 11: Maragogi, Recife, Olinda

Day 71: Domingo (Sunday March 13th)

We woke up to take pictures of the sunrise and then went back to sleep. After breakfast we headed to the beach. We swam for a bit and found countless sand dollars stacked on top of each other in the ocean floor. After a relaxing beach morning we returned to the same cheap restaurant from the prior day. Then we showered and hung around the hostel. We did some laundry and watched one of the oceans 11 movies with some other hostel guests. We took a walk on the beach and had some great pictures of the sunset. We went back to the hostel and hung around with everyone in front of the tv drinking beer and eating snacks. Eventually Sarahi and I went out for burgers before heading to bed, once again without roommates. 

   
   

Day 72: Segunda-feira (Monday)

We had some great breakfast table conversations in a blend of English, Spanish, and Portuguese. We planned to catch a ride with Mateus and another hostel guest but ended up waiting a couple extra hours. It was raining most of the morning so we mostly relaxed around the hostel. We piled into the backseat of a rental car and took a truly beautiful ride to Recife. After a struggle to find our next hostel we were eventually dropped off at the front door. It was a great experience though we were a little sad saying goodbye to Mateus. We had heard Recife is a very dangerous city, especially at night. But we were hungry so we headed out to find dinner. We ended up stopping at an Italian restaurant inside a Brazilian Walmart called “Bom Preco”. We bought a few things and then walked the few blocks home. Our hostel room had six beds which were mostly full all three nights. Everyone had different sleep schedules and it made for a rough night sleep. But we enjoyed our time at the hostel a lot. We watched a couple of English movies before heading to bed. 

     
 
Day 73: Terça-feira (Tuesday)

We woke up to a lot of rain. We wanted to go to the beach but tried to wait out the rain. We ate breakfast, read, and enjoyed the fast internet. We walked amidst sky scrapers a few blocks to the ocean and walked on boa viagem (good voyage) beach. This beach is not protected by coral reefs so there’s a risk of shark attack. It’s the longest urban beach in Brazil, I think about 7 miles. There were maybe 20 different soccer, tennis, and basketball fields along the beach where we stayed. It’s a pretty nice city but it wasn’t our favorite. I told Sarahi a few times that it felt like Beijing because of the size and density among other things. We walked to McDonald’s for a late lunch and stopped by the grocery store on the way back. We picked up pizza and green beans, along with a couple of new fruits. One was acerola, which grows and looks like a crab apple but tastes more like a lemon. It has more vitamin c in one small bite than a whole orange but it’s a bit hard to eat. We also tried a fruit called pinha here and sugar apple in America. It’s really amazing, like a soft apple with seeds but segmented. It’s flavor is a cross between pineapple, banana, and mango but it almost tastes like custard it’s so sweet. We spent the evening relaxing and watching some tv. We met some travelers from Australia and Denmark and Mexico. We cooked our dinner and went to bed later in the night. 

   
   

Day 75: Quarta-feira (Wednesday)

After breakfast and despite the rainy weather we took a bus to downtown Recife. There are three rivers that cross through Recife and the city is built on several islands. One of these islands has a lot of old buildings and churches. While on our bus the someone stepped into the street and was run over. We had to get off the bus but were pretty close and walked down a commercial street. We spent some time on the old section island looking at old churches and walking around the street vendors of various things. I stepped in a two foot deep hole in the street but luckily only skinned my shin. We had a nice lunch and walked to another island. We walked around some new and some old buildings. We took a bus back to our hostel and then went to the beach. We stayed for sunset and took some great pictures. We had an oven pizza again for dinner and relaxed with hostel guests until bed. 

   
  Edit    
 

Day 76: Cinco-feira (Thursday)

It was finally time to move to Olinda! We decided to take a bus and after some directions at the hostel we finally made it there for about $0.75 each. Olinda has a way of making it feel like you’re in a very small town, but it is deceptively bigger than you would think! That first day, we started wandering and then a guide started talking to us. We ended up eating at a wonderful restaurant at the top of the hill and were entertained by cats. We visited even older churches and walked the entirety of the historic section. Although we weren’t prepared for the cost (only $25 total = R$100) it was worth the few hours of history and city lessons. Our minds were filled with all of the information we had learned about the city and we decided to head back to our pousada and hung out. Several hours later we decided to head to dinner, but the door was locked!! We ended up having to eat cereal and snacks for our dinner.

   
  

   
    

  
  
Day 77: Sexta-feira (Friday) 

Sarahi was feeling sick most of the day. Luke hung around the room for awhile and we both went out for a walk in the middle of the day. Sarahi still wasn’t feeling well so I walked around the city for a couple hours and ate a $1 hot dog. We met up later and ate some soup and juice, watched the sunset. We then went to an observatory and looked at the moon and Jupiter through a telescope. Then we returned to the room and I watched some march madness on my phone. We went our later for some Mexican food! It was great and the first Mexican food we’ve had this year. We went to bed a little later. 

   
   
 
  

  
Day 78: Domingo (Saturday)

This was Sarahi’s birthday so I’ll let her write this:  

This was a pretty darn good day! After a great breakfast we wandered around the city and geeked out at a few different museums and churches (like the puppet museum shown below). After a very filling lunch, we spent the heat of the afternoon at the hotel and watched some Harry Potter (obviously another awesome geeky moment). Then, we watched the gorgeous sunset from the top of a building and tried a traditional Brazilian snack at the top of the historic center. After heading back to the pousada to freshen up, we went and had a spectacular dinner on a private patio with a view.  I had Gorgonzola covered steak and Luke had seafood pasta paired with a delicious red wine! Then we took another beautiful way back to the pousada and hit the hay after a great day!

   
  

   
    
 

Week 10: Alagoinhas, Aracaju, Maceio, Margogi 
Day 64: (March 6th, 2016) 

That morning we had no idea what we were doing. We all had breakfast together then were told that we were speaking at a church! It obviously took us by surprise but we were ready for it! I have never hugged, shook hands with, and prayed with so many people in my life. They created a line to meet all the Americans and receive prayer. It was a humbling experience to think that these people believe in our prayer. After that, we went to lunch at the hotel and then we prepared for that night. Turns out we were going to be split into two groups and all of us had to speak! The church Luke and I went to was amazing. They were a small church but had great singers and a lot of enthusiasm. There was one particular woman that shocked us a little but we found out after church that she was exactly like she worshipped – full of energy and completely open. It was awesome. Then we took even more pictures with everyone (we totally felt famous that week).That night, we had to say goodbye to some of our friends and then we went to bed.*

Day 65: 

This was the last morning that we would spend together so we ate breakfast, then went back up to our rooms to plan our week. Luke and I had a miscommunication which had me waiting in my room for him for two hours – which obviously didn’t make me super happy. After a great lunch, we spent more time apart. We had a hard time figuring out what we were going to do about the buses because it showed that there were no seats available. We took a chance and went to the bus station anyway to see if they had tickets anyway. We lucked out and ended up catching an earlier bus to Aracuja than we planned (if we couldn’t get that bus, we would have needed to either stay one more night or go back to Salvador and take an even longer bus to Maceio). After getting to this city, we went walking around to find some food. We found this acai restaurant that had some pretty good burgers and even some barbecue sauce! After that very filling meal, we went back to the hotel and crashed.*

 *written by Sarahi

Day 66:

After a solid hotel breakfast we walked around the beach for a little while. We walked back along the road and saw some cool statues and parks. We stopped at an aquarium type place for about an hour. We got to see some awesome turtles, sharks, fish, sea snakes, and more. We returned to our hotel and quickly showered and packed. We took a taxi to the bus station and barely made it in time to catch our bus onward. It was a beautiful 6 hour ride to maceio, a large coastal city with reef protected beaches. It was dark by the time our taxi dropped us off at our lodging for the night. It was simply an older couple who rented out a couple of spare bedrooms. We wandered around the road next to the beach and eventually settled on a restaurant. We ate some nice fish with shrimp sauce for only $10 for two people. We were exhausted by the time we returned to our room. 

   
    
 Day 67:

We woke up fairly early and stopped by the grocery store. We bought some milk and cereal and continued to the beach. Shockingly we were the only people eating cereal for breakfast on the beach that morning. We swam and relaxed for awhile and then Sarahi asked me to teach her accounting. I started explaining the basic principles of debits and credits and how every entry needed to balance to zero. Sarahi soon became frustrated and accused me/accounting of “making up numbers” in order to balance an entry. But I was determined to teach her and after another hour or two of sand drawn journal entries, balance sheets, and income statements, she admitted the numbers were not made up. It was now one o’clock and despite our newfound skills in teaching/understanding accounting, we were severely sunburned. We returned to our room and slathered on after sun lotion. We ate lunch and then returned to our slightly cool, but thankfully sunless, room and took a nap. We tried to go see the sunset but waited too long and had to turn around halfway. Once it was dark we took a taxi to the mall hoping to catch an action movie in English. The movie was cancelled and our next best option was Kung fu panda three in Portuguese. It was pretty good and we understand more now than we did earlier in the trip. We ate McDonald’s for dinner and returned to our room. We watched a little Netflix and went to sleep. 

   
 Day 68:

The next day our skin felt even worse. The woman of the house made us a great breakfast. We stayed out of the sun in the morning and checked out of our place at noon. We followed the map from booking.com and thought we only needed to walk a few blocks south for our new hotel. After wandering around for quite some time we flagged down a friendly taxi driver. He called the property and it turns out it was only one block north of our previous accommodations. This property had a pool in the middle and looked like an old motel in the States. We really liked it and used the kitchen that night to make a pizza and some green beans for dinner. We watched some Netflix and enjoyed the pool area before bed. 

  
Day 69:

After breakfast we packed our bags and left them at the front desk. We walked across town in the heat of the day to see the museums. Unfortunately most of them were closed and we were not impressed with the cultural scene of the town. We did succeed in checking out the museum of image and sound and taking a nice walk along the coast. We returned for a great lunch at our favorite restaurant that was cheap and delicious. Then we took a taxi to the bus station and boarded a bus headed for Recife. After a few hours the bus stopped on the side of the road and we hopped out in a small town called Maragogi. We walked through town and eventually found our hostel. It was my first time in a hostel but Sarahi is a big fan. The difference between a hostel and hotel is that hostels have shared rooms and bathrooms and are much cheaper. Our room had 2 bunk beds and we snagged the top bunks. One of our roommates was an English speaking guy from southern Brazil, and the other was a trilingual Argentinian. Sarahi and I headed out for burgers at a cheap restaurant on the coast. Our pousada was adjacent to the beach and from the front door to the ocean was only 100 feet or so. It only cost $8 per person per night and breakfast was included. Our room had no air conditioning and it was a rough night sleep but it was worth it. 

Day 70:

At breakfast our Brazilian roommate invited us to take a trip out to the natural pool. The pool is formed by coral reefs at low tide and we had been planning to go. We went to get on the boat with our roommate and another Brazilian from the hostel named Mateus, who spoke a bit less English but loved to learn it. The water was beautifully colored, warm and clear. We stopped in two spots and spent awhile swimming in the natural pool in the second spot. Finally, it was worth lugging around the snorkels and goggles in my backpack over the last couple months. We saw a lot of small beautiful fish, sea anemones, a conch, and a sea snake. We took some pictures on the ride back and had fun. The four of us went out to lunch and paid $3.50 each for a huge plate of steak or chicken, rice, beans, spaghetti, french fries, and salad. We returned to our hostel, our roommate left, Sarahi took a nap, and I talked with Matheus. The three of us went for a walk on the beach and then headed to the grocery store. We bought pasta, sauce, sausage, peppers and onions. We were caught in a rainstorm on the way back but eventually returned. We watched batman with some other guests and Sarahi made some great spaghetti for the three of us. Our Argentinian roommate left that night so we had the room to ourselves. We were soon fast asleep. 

      

   

 

Week 9: Salvador and Alagoinhas, Brazil

Day 57: (February 28th, 2016) 

We decided to take a day and relax, pray, and prepare for the crusade we were about to take part in. We relaxed after breakfast and eventually went for a decent lunch of steak accompanied by, as always, rice and beans. We spent the afternoon preparing for the week and later went to take pictures of the sunset. We arrived just in time to catch the final moments of the sunset. We spent some time talking on the phone to our parents. We headed to dinner but the restaurant was closed. We went to visit our friend the bartender. It was his birthday in a couple days so we stopped to tell him hi and sorry we couldn’t be there. Then we went to a by the kilo restaurant and had some good food. We were exhausted and went to bed. 

   
   
Day 58:

We woke up early for breakfast, packed our bags, and checked out of our hotel. We took a taxi to the bus station and then boarded a bus for Alagoinhas. We arrived around lunch and took a taxi to the hotel where we would meet Rubens Cunha. He is a Brazilian evangelist who lived in Tulsa for awhile and went to my church. When I was 18 my youth group took a missions trip to Brazil and worked with him. While I was there I saw incredible healings and miracles and saw many people delivered from demonic possession. I have always wanted to go back and the timing worked out well. It’s also the reason we went to Morro de São Paulo and spent some extra time in Salvador, which were both great. We weren’t sure if he had made reservations or not so after waiting a few hours and watching Netflix we stowed our bags at the hotel and walked around the city. We were looking for a skirt for Sarahi to wear to church events but could not find the right thing. We ate some burgers and returned to the hotel. Due to a miscommunication we were unable to meet up with Rubens who had to preach at a service. We finally met up with him around 10 pm and he was very apologetic for making us wait on the hotel couch all day. Looking back we should have just gotten our rooms and waited but it wasn’t too bad. It was great to talk for a little bit and we soon had our two rooms and went to bed. We got two rooms to be respectful to Rubens and the mission trip, but I won’t lie, it was amazing to have a whole queen size bed and room for each of us. 
Day 59: 

After breakfast we went on a shopping mission again to find skirts for Sarahi. After walking all over town we found two long skirts that were pretty cheap. We bought some snacks and went back to the hotel. I went to the pool for a little while and we met the rest of the team at lunch time. The team was Paul Tims, a wealthy business owner in his late 50’s who funded the crusade; Dave, another wealthy business owner around the same age and also from Tulsa; his very quiet 21 year old son Seth; and his middle aged employee Harold. We were joined by several of Rubens employees/volunteers, two of which could speak English well. We had an open schedule for the afternoon and at night went to a service for the crusade volunteers. Alagoinhas has around 180,000 people and about a thousand of them volunteered for the crusade. Most of these volunteers were church members so I never expected what happened that night. I also didn’t warn Sarahi who was a bit unhappy about it later. The message was about deliverance and many people were delivered from demonic possession. We were standing at the front of the room and praying for people as they began to have convulsions, drop to the ground, shake and cry. It might sound crazy and it definitely freaked out Sarahi, who comes from a baptist church. The only reason it didn’t bother me is that I’ve seen it before. It was a powerful night and we were thankful that God delivered people from oppression and demonic possession. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner afterwards before returning to the hotel for bed. 
Day 60:

We had breakfast as a group and then got on the bus and went to a few schools. It was an experience seeing these kids and sharing stories with them about life and Christianity. We were told that most schools have a few students drop out every year because of drugs. After that, we ate lunch at the hotel and got to know the team before that night. This night was a little easier for Sarahi since the sermon was about the Holy Spirit and salvation. There were a lot of people who wanted to rededicate themselves and who also became Christians that night. It was a powerful night of worship. We enjoyed the Portuguese worship songs a lot. After that, we had some amazing lasagna at the Italian restaurant from the night before and went to bed exhausted.
Day 61:

We did pretty much the same thing as the day before but a few of us got the courage to speak to the children that morning. We had a new team member join us and he ended up rooming with Luke the rest of the trip. His story of salvation was amazing and he really had a good influence on the kids. After that we had lunch at the hotel and prepared for that night. It was amazing to see the organization and the coordination of volunteers that night. They had systems for writing down the names of those who were going to give their lives to God, those who needed and received healing, and those who were possessed who needed to be carried to the tents. Sarahi was extremely impressed with the smooth event planning for the weekend. After that, we went to the Italian restaurant and then went to bed. 
Day 62:

After waking up and eating another amazing breakfast at the hotel, we changed our schedule and went to the slums of the city. There, we handed out food and prayed with the families there. It was humbling to see the families and the houses they lived in. Most of their prayer requests were for jobs. After a hot morning, we went back to our rooms to freshen up and then played a tournament of foosball – Luke and I lost epically which set off a discussion about our differences in competitiveness. After that, we went back and prepared for the night. We did have a lot of down time, but it was nice to read, write, exercise, and relax. That night was the crusade. I was shocked by the attendance and moved by the hunger there. It went pretty flawlessly. People were saved, healed, and freed that night. We worshipped and prayed together and Luke and I were ambushed by kids for a long while asking us if we had to fly there, if Americans all had red faces, and if we were married. We had a blast and were exhausted by the end of it. We were ordering chicken Parmesan at the restaurant that night, but never got it so we just ended up eating what was around us. Again, we went to bed completely exhausted. 

  
Day 63: 

That morning after breakfast, we went to a preacher’s prayer meeting where we found out that one of our members could sing very well! After a great worship, we spoke about the needs of the community and how important it is to follow up on those kids at the school and those people who were saved on the first day of the crusade. It was encouraging to see that the crusade wasn’t just an in-and-out mission, but it was focused on true results within the churches and the community. That afternoon, we chilled at the hotel and then prepared for the last night of the crusade. The crowd was probably double the size, which meant we had about 14,000 people all there to worship and learn about God. The crowd was powerful that night. There were even more healings, salvations, and demonic expulsions that night. We connected with the kids more and more and learned a whole lot of Portuguese. The night went really well and after that, we had dinner at the same restaurant. Then, we went to bed.

   
   

Week 8: Morro de São Paulo & Salvador
Day 50: February 21st 

Had a nice breakfast at our new place then I did some laundry while Sarahi went to the coffee shop to do a little work. After a walk on the beach I met her back in our room for a lunch of sandwiches. We went back to the coffee shop for the fast wifi and then walked to the west side of the island for the sunset. We headed back and took a nap before going to dinner at a nice Italian place. We spoke with the owner for a long time in English and got some good advice on where to travel. 

   
   
  

  

Day 51: 

After breakfast we went to the beach. I swam a bit will Sarahi read a book. We spent the afternoon relaxing by the beach and then had sandwiches for lunch. We returned to the west side of the island for the sunset and pictures. We found another path back that went through the native section of town. We had some awesome seafood pasta for dinner. I’ve never had octopus before but it was pretty good! 

   
 

Day 52: 

After breakfast we tried some snorkeling on a secluded beach. It was low tide so we didn’t see too much and tried not scrape ourselves on the coral. Then we returned to our hotel to check out. We started walking in the heat of the day with our backpacks. We stopped halfway for lunch and had some incredible shrimp moqueca (imagine tomatoes, coconut milk, and shrimp soup crossed with fajitas). Then we continued walking for another mile or two down the beach. We were the only people backpacking down the beach and got some weird looks. We found a nice spot with a big tree and dropped out stuff underneath. We set up a hammock and relaxed for awhile. We hid our bags and walked back for dinner as the sun set. We had pasta, Sarahi’s with cheese and mine with lobster which was quite disappointing. We returned to our campsite to find the ocean was at low tide and had retreated 200 yards out to sea. We were disappointed but glad that it hadn’t gone the other direction and flooded our campsite. We set up our hammocks, hid our bags under some palm branches, and fell asleep to the sound of distant waves. 

   
   
   
    
 

Day 53: 

We woke up to an ocean that had returned within twenty feet of our campsite before beginning its retreat. It wasn’t the best nights sleep of our life but it was a great experience. I went for an early swim and watched a cloudy sunrise. Soon it started raining and we scrambled to secure our rain tarps above our hammocks. The rain stopped after 30 minutes and the tide continued retreating. We ate a mango and granola for breakfast, did some yoga, and studied Portuguese. Eventually we packed our bags and headed off in search of food and lodging. We returned down the beach just as the clouds broke and the sun reached its hottest. We have a bad habit of making this mistake… We ran into a guy who tried to sell us on a room the night before. After some negotiation and searching we found a great room for under $40 with a/c breakfast and a balcony with ocean view. We were so happy to shower off the complete coating of sand on our bodies. We headed to lunch and had some delicious chicken Parmesan that was more expensive than I expected but oh well.  We took a nap and then walked around the beaches a bit. We were feeling a bit exhausted and only ate crepes  and a bowl of fruit for dinner. We were soon asleep and thankful for a bed with air conditioning and no sand. 

Day 54:

I woke up early and took some awesome pictures of the sunrise. We had a nice breakfast after walking on the beach for a while. We took another walk on the beach and then packed our bags and checked out of our room. We took the long hike back to the docks and attempted to buy tickets back to Salvador. We could not buy them without cash but the arm had been empty since the day we arrived. We were worried we would be stuck on the island forever. After arguing with some police who were gaurding a brokers arm we decided to have lunch. Luckily the arm had cash and was functioning by the time we returned and we were able to take the boat back that afternoon after all. It was choppy and we were happy to be back on land. We walked to our hotel which we really loved. We had a nice dinner and relaxed the rest of the night. 

   
   
  
Day 55: 

After a great breakfast we relaxed in our room for a bit and then headed to find some museums. Our hotel is in the heart of Pelourinho which is the historic center of Salvador. The architecture is incredible and there are many beautiful churches. The streets are made of stone and are closely lined by centuries old buildings. There are countless museums within a square mile or so from our hotel. We when to six museums before lunch. They included a museum about a famous author from Brazil, one full of old pictures of Brazil, one about all the governors of the state of Bahia and some history, one full of various art displays, and our favorite was the museum of misericordia. The museum is located inside the oldest hospital in Brazil, and maybe the Western Hemisphere. It was funded by rich Catholics and was free to all. It served many impoverished women and children. The chapel inside was incredible and there was a multicolor marble staircase inside. There are only three multicolor marble displays like this in the world, including the Taj Mahal. It was really cool and had a great view of the bay of Salvador. I was cranky and tired of museums and hungry by lunch. We returned to a burger place and had massive burgers topped with sausage. We had a food coma and relaxed for the afternoon. Our hotel room had a second door leading to a large balcony area with a great view of the bay. We hung out here and watched some Netflix because our hotel had fast internet. We were very happy. We took a nap at some point and woke up at 1 in the morning. It was too late to eat dinner so we went back to bed and woke up starving the next morning. 
Day 56: 

The next day we had breakfast and then went shopping on a street near Pelourinho. There are countless shops selling mostly clothing and we needed to buy a couple things for Sarahi’s wardrobe. After a painful couple of ours of shopping we successfully bought a romper and several shirts for Sarahi as well as a couple pairs of sunglasses for $5 each. Mine are “genuine” ray bans and Sarahi’s are Gucci. I bought a jiu jitsu tank top to make me look tough but passed up the naike, beebok, and buma brand shorts. We bought pasta and spaghetti sauce and cilantro and returned to our hotel to cook lunch in their kitchen. After lunch we went our separate ways for a few hours. Sarahi went to a museum about tiles and I got my haircut by an elderly Brazilian man. He used a straight razor to shave my neck and clean up my beard, while a groups of Brazilian drummers marched by playing on the street next to me. It was a great haircut and shave for only $6. We met back up at the hotel and watched some Netflix. After a long nap we walked across the street for a $6 pizza and liter of soda. Then we headed to bed. 

  

Week 7: Chapada Diamantina & Morro De São Paulo
Day 43: February 14, 2016

After having so much fun the first day, we decided to go look for all the trails again today in order to find one of the caves. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the caves but we did end up meeting a man that lived up the river a ways. We spent a good long time listening to him talk about the most random things! It made us wonder what it would be like living in a tent in the wilderness. He even had a mirror set up and you could tell he took time to comb his super long hair! After that we went wandering even more and found some really neat places like a smaller place that felt like a cave and some amazing underground river fed natural pools. It was amazing to see how deep they were and Luke ended up swimming there for a while! The scenes were amazing that day. That night we ate at the awesome and cheap sandwich stop. While walking there we heard what we thought were fireworks. Turns out someone was shot and killed less than 50 yards from us. Magnus and Sofia, who we didn’t know yet, were sitting on a bench even closer and were oblivious until we told them days later. I guess the guy shot was a drug trafficker who was killed by a rival. It was very surprising to walk past a pool of blood and crying women in such an idyllic and peaceful town. 

   
    
   
Day 44: 

After getting constantly asked if we needed a guide, we finally gave into a day trek since we couldn’t do our 3 day hike until the next day. It was worth every penny! For R$350.00 we went to see a few waterfalls near Duck restaurant and then saw the Devil’s Pit or Poço do Diablo in Portuguese, which was this amazing waterfall with a zip line and extremely cold water which we swam in. After that, we went to Pai Inácio and hiked to the very top of the mountain! The view was breathtaking and we had loads of fun taking pictures and feeling like we were I top of the world. After our very delicious traditional lunch (which was included), we visited the complete opposite feeling in Smoke Cave or Gruta da Fumaça. This cave was very warm and it had everything you could want in a cave: bats, stalactites, stalagmites, complete darkness, hidden paths, and more! We’ve never seen so many still growing stalactites and stalagmites. When we got back we still had time to celebrate Valentine’s Day and splurged on a perfectly cooked and delicious filet and potatoes for $10.00 each. That night we were completely exhausted and went to bed early to prepare for the big hike.

   
    
    
    
    
 Day 45:

We had been debating if we were prepared for this trek for a few days and after a few mix ups and miscommunications we finally ended up deciding to do it and suck it up. We’re so glad we did. We embarked on the 3 day, 62 km (38.5 mile) trek of pati valley. We were joined by two young Danish travelers named Magnus and Sofia. They later told us when the first saw us they sad, “oh great we’re stuck with a couple of backpacking freaks” because of our boots and backpacking packs. We were quite proud haha. Our guide, sparrow, spoke English well and had more energy than anyone I’ve met before. He is training for an iron man competition and wants to own a restaurant one day. So yes his cooking was good but he was hard to keep up with. We drove about two hours and then began hiking up a very steep mountain. We were worried. Really worried. Luckily it flattened out and soon we stopped for lunch by a river. We had a great salad made of maybe 15 different fruits and vegetables along with bread and snacks. It was great. We walked to an amazing vista before descending into the valley on another very steep path. We continued to the river and swam in a freezing waterfall and pool. We reached camp before sunset and were happy to find we had a rustic room in a primitive house. The houses used to be coffee plantations but have been converted to lodging lately. The handpicked coffee from the fields next door is amazing and the breakfast and dinner was quite good. The best part was the isolation between the mountains and the amazing stars. The gardens and fruit trees and cold nights were great too. We fell asleep with an open window listening to frogs and looking at stars. 

Day 46: 

We had a relaxed breakfast and morning before emptying our packs of the nonessentials and embarking on another hike. We headed across the river and steeply up a mountain. We came to a cave halfway up the mountain and walked through the the other side. We hiked further upward and had some incredible views of the valley. We bonded some more with our friends and guide before heading even higher. The view from this spot revealed two waterfalls in the river and the entire valley stretching below. In my opinion it’s more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. We ate lunch of salad again and stayed for a couple hours enjoying the view. We hiked back and swam in the freezing river a bit. Then we returned to camp where we were treated to a fire juggling show from our guide and played cards with our guides and our friend. Sparrow loved playing and always said “Go fishing” excitedly! We were exhausted and asleep early. 

Day 47:

When we woke up Sarahi was having stomach pain (we drank river water so it’s a miracle I felt fine). We took our time and our guide gave Sarahi and Indian medicine potion made of special ground seeds or something. It seemed to work pretty well! We hiked back up some very steep trails and essentially retraced our path back. We stopped for another great salad (this one with 3 kinds of basil which was the closest we came to having lettuce). We swam in the river and watched a hilarious group of Chinese tourists take thousands of pictures of themselves, the river, and us. I felt like a wild animal being photographed for national geographic or something. A guy from holland stopped near us and was quite infatuated with Sarahi. We continued back and we happy to be in civilization but sad the trek was over. We went to our favorite sandwich shop again with our friends. Then we got a room for a night in their hotel so we could easily hang out with them for another day. We were all asleep within 30 minutes after long, maybe not warm but at least not frigid, showers. 

   
   
Day 48:

We woke up early and packed our bags and had a nice breakfast with our friends. We stowed our bags at the front desk and bought bus tickets for the whole group that night. Then we went to the store and picked up booze and sandwich stuff for the four of us. We hiked back up to the natural pools and relaxed with our friends. After a return trip for more booze we went to the small cave like area we had found and escaped the hot sun. We talked and laughed and ate and drank with our friends here. One of my favorite memories. It quickly became dark and we stumbled home. Everyone else had flip flops but my boots came in handy for me. We had more sandwiches and then retrieved our bags, changed our clothes, and returned to the bus stop. We saw sparrow and said goodbye. After a long wait we took the midnight bus back to Salvador.
Day 49: 

We arrived sleepily in Salvador at around 7 am. We sadly said goodbye to our friends and took a taxi to the marina. Here we took a boat for 2 or 3 hours to the beautiful island of Morro de São Paulo. We were cranky and tired by the time we found a pousada. Then we wandered for awhile looking for lunch. Eventually we found a cheap place with good fish. Then we returned to freshen up and nap. That afternoon we walked the beaches a bit and bought groceries for the next day. We went to a restaurant called los pollos hermanos. The name is from breaking bad and the restaurant is used to launder money in the show. Well this restaurant served only rotisserie chicken, fried chicken, and fries. When we went they were out of fried chicken and fries. The rotisserie was good but it makes me think the restaurant may sell more drugs than food. Anyway after some chicken/sandwiches from our mini fridge we were exhausted.