Ilha Grande

After a few days in Rio, we caught a boat to Ilha Grande ("Big Island") to spend a little over a day.  I was really bummed at first that the weather was so bad; it rained the whole time we were there after literally 3 solid weeks of full sunshine!  I actually quite enjoyed it, though.  Because of the inclement weather, the island was lacking a lot of its usual crowd, and the gray skies and heavy clouds made everything feel so much more...mysterious and exotic!  It really was an awesome adventure!

arriving at the island

the sand was soo cool!

I really love this picture :)

candid shot of Desiree being cool

 We got there around 1pm and after dropping everything off at our hostel, we decided to hike across the island to the beach on the other side.  By the time we got there we were worried about it getting late/raining so we only had a little time at the beach itself, but it was a really fun hike!

"Hey look, I'm in the jungle!" :D

I never get tired of watching these ants carry stuff

incredible views

Desiree's favorite pose

 The next day we decided to hike to a waterfall.  We opted out of the beach tour because it was going to be cost money (and also because the weather wasn't really ideal for a beach tour), and the other trails weren't options because the rain made them too slippery/dangerous.  The waterfall hike was really nice though (and it's always nice to have a cool destination!).

super cool aqueduct

again, awesome trail scenery

We made it! :)

photo proof

less awkward selfie, but you can't see the waterfall... :P

we found this random puppy on our way down that reminded me so much of Oscar!

How would you like to live here??

I love these houses.  Fun colors, beautiful island, 10 steps from the beach.
Perfection, yes?

The way this dog was sitting and watching us cracked me up.

Such a fun little village on this island!

Isn't it such beautiful jungle???  I love this picture, too :)

Rio de Janeiro

I love Rio.  It's one of my favorite places to visit.  It's beautiful and warm and there's so much to see and do!  A lot of what I did this time was repeats of previous trips (all the big tourist stuff) but we also got to do some new things, and I had a lot of fun with them!  

We stayed in a cute hostel in Botafogo (one of the neighborhoods) and there was a group of international students/volunteers there at the same time as us, so we enjoyed a lot of neat conversations with people from all over Europe and Africa.  (We especially enjoyed chatting with the French girls that were sharing our room.)  It was amazing!

Again, this is going to be a less descriptive post, but at least you get to see pictures :)

favela on a hill

the view of Sugarloaf from the Christ statue

I love this city

Oh look!  Proof I was actually there :)

(This one really is just proof I was there... it was pretty crowded
and that was the most space we could get for a picture haha)

Desiree and Melia weren't too interested in churches or museums, but I dragged them to a few (partly because I wanted to go, and partly because I thought they should see more of Brazil than just beaches :)  We went to a really cool monastery  that was a little hard to find, but I thought it was beautiful!  

São Bento Monastery

The inside was unbelievable

An unexpected/unintentional find just a block or two from our hostel!
I loved that there were so many neat things like this we just kept...accidentally finding  :)

monkeys!

cool cable cars you ride up in

with our resident tour guide, my friend Marcony

just...being us :)

I think these lizards are so awesome! that one was like 18" long!

Melia fed some of these monkeys and I think it was the highlight of the whole trip for her :P

stopping to watch an artist painting at Copocabana

I wanted to buy this one but someone else already had :(
I loved his work, and he's completely self-taught!

Ipanema

Random surfer but I like this picture :D

*sigh*

We live in such a beautiful world. :)