Saturday, September 22, 2007

Brazil


Wow! I just recently got back from Brazil where I backpacked with my two kids aged 19 and 22. Even though Rio de Janeiro is a dangerous city, the experience was magnificient.

One of my best memories is going up Sugar Loaf Mountain, where you take an aerial tram up to two sequential mountains and look down on Rio. We were told to go around 4:30 so that we could experience it in both the daylight and at night. I have to say it was an awesome experience! I felt like God had lifted us up in his hands up onto a cloud where we looked down on Rio nestled between the mountains.

After a week in Rio, we flew up to Salvador, where there is a great African influence. The kids and I watched a Capoeira which is an ancient martial arts brought in from the Congo with the slaves and each of us was picked to practice with one of the participants. We went to watch a Condomble which is a ritual of the African Religion where some of the participants go into a trance and are possessed by one of the Gods.

The beaches were awesome. I got my hair braided, bought lots of little trinkets and all three of us returned home with a sunburn. What a great vacation!