and this little piggy went to rio

i'm home! after over 28 total hours of travel time (there and back), it was a nice feeling to be over with being on planes, waiting on planes, being on buses, waiting for buses, etc! i wish i could have stayed for longer than a week (although the last day i was there i got a bad cold which made the idea of leaving a little easier) because there is so much to see that it was overwhelming just to decide what we even had time to see when i was there.

at the samba club, casa rosa, sunday night
(me, our american friend carl, nicole, our brazilian friend daniel, blair and kathy)

in front of the Cristo Redentor

i feel like i ate SO much while was there, which is funny because the food was so different than i had anticipated. the meats and fruits are phenomenal but everything else is very bland compared to latin american food. however, they have these things called salgados (which literally translates to snacks) that are usually like meats or cheeses inside pastries (sort of similar to empanadas) that were so good!! they were usually 1,50 or 2,00R (so about 75 cents to $1) and they sold them at every little diner and kiosk so we ate those for lunch every day. not a lot of flavor punch but how can you deny melted ham and cheese in a flaky pastry for so cheap?!

one last thing, the guy that played mr. belding on saved by the bell was on my flight from atlanta to charlottesville! very random!