From the wetlands of Brazil to its Big Smoke, Rosanna and I traveled from Bonito to Sao Paulo.  Only a 19 hour bus ride so it was not too bad.  Now most travelers in South America avoid Sao Paulo, and for pretty good reasons.  There are no beaches, it is not such a beautiful region (no mountains or rivers), and there are a lot, a lot of people and traffic.  Since we had contacts that we could stay with we felt like it was definitely worth a visit. 



A good friend's brother Mike Quezada lives in Sao Paulo with his wife Celia and their new son Luis Miguel. Their son was incredibly cute, and hardly ever cried or even got upset about anything.  Should be a pretty laid back individual when he grows up. 

It was really nice to be able to put our feet up and spend time with a familiar face.  The whole family was awesome to us, so hospitable. It was great to have the opportunity to relax in one of the busiest places in South America. 

Did not get up to much during the weekend.  Saw a samba rehearsal that was pretty much as authentic as we could get.  Since we will not be around for Carnaval it was cool to see what it will all sound and sort of look like (without the crazy costumes).  Tried to watch Hockey Night in Canada live through Dustin's Skype account, didnt quite work out, but it was worth a shot.  Went out one night and found some sushi, which we were excited about.  Different food becomes exciting when you are continually faced with the same sort of options.  We have such good variety in Vancouver...



After a lazy weekend we took a bus to Recreio for a couple beach days before the Rio city tour. 

Receio is a small hippie surf town an hour and a bit outside Rio De Janeiro. We had a really good first impression of the area as some very friendly locals helped us find our hostel after we got dropped off by a city bus.  The beaches were amazing and surrounded by tropical islands and a nature reserve. We camped out for a few days at the hostel, which was a few minutes from the beach and took a surfing lesson. I was easily convinced to take one since I was guided through the whole process which made it that much easier and fun. We both managed to get up a few times and got such a great workout doing it! We were a bit sad to leave such a laid back, surfers paradise, but the city of Rio awaited....