Salvador to Iracambi, Minas Gerais, BRAZIL 2/28/07 -- 2/29/07

It was a last minute decision to travel to Mishka and made a lot of sense at the time. Thirty hours into our trip across Brazil by bus and we were hurting, hungry, and tired...yet our spirits prevailed and the idea of Mishka´s smile kept pushing me forward.

These are some of the highlights that I could not leave out of the wonderful time we had at Iracambi. The morning hike to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise was ``magnifique``
and left a lot of scratches on our gringo legs....

Our ´´new´´Pumas

Then after the sunrise, we hiked some more through the jungle until we hit a clearing. Talia and I decided to greet the mountains properly...so we went...
GET READY....
GET SET...
GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Here´s a little video of the top view... credit goes to Lucy for the beautiful melody and the rest for the great back-up singing.

Hmmm . . . everything just looks so much better when kissed by the sun.

Goodbye Iracambi...Hello Whatever's Next

Once again, hello our faithful readers! Where do I start? My love and I are reunited and I am so happy. I must tell you the story. My mom loves stories. On one of my last days in Iracambi, I was chatting with my honey on Google Chat. (For those who are less familiar with the internet, chatting is typing with someone on the computer in real time, more convenient than e-mail.) And so we made a date for the same evening to talk again on the computer, me still being in Iracambi and Sasha in Salvador about 900 miles north. Very normal, but that day, the internet was down in Centro, the place in Iracambi where I live. And so that morning when I was chatting with Sasha, I was about 2 miles away in Casa do Barro, where the director of the program lives. Naturally, I was going to have to come back there for our evening date at 6pm.
Communication is very intermittent in the jungle so by the time I came back to Centro, our internet was up. And I was relieved because that would save me a 4 mile round-trip walk. But interestingly enough at 5:50pm our internet went down positively. So I started running back up to Casa do Barro. Praying that my love was patient and still online. I knew that I would be late and if you know me by now, you know that I am a Nazi with being on time. And being without someone you love also puts a strain on your mind and heart. Really... at least for me. I ran up and down hills, crossed the river, jumped into mud with my sneakers and I finally got there. Pulled my dirty sneakers off...i was late. I walked in and said, "Hello?". You have to at least say that when you walk into someones house. The house was dark, and then from behind an old piano, a sweet voice said, "Hello". I looked at the beautiful silhouette. It was her, my baby. My love, who has travelled so far to see me. To surprise me. This woman must love me so much.Didn't have the pic from that exact moment, but just take off the wetness and add a gaping mouth to my face if you could imagine. So we were together. Sasha and Talia both traveled for over 30 hours by bus to come and surprise me. That evening and the following day, I showed them Iracambi and the wonderful people there. We hiked the dawn trail and caught the beautiful sunrise. I was pretty happy in that pic. Hiked for most of the morning, then I made pancakes for my girls: Then, after packing up my clothes and saying our goodbyes, we left my way of the waterfall. You can't just leave without jumping into the amazing spring water. Besides, as good Russian Jews, we can't pass up 100% clean waters without jumping in. You know how our Russian mothers swear by the medicinal benefits of rubbing magnetic balls on your temples or putting some horrible smelling cream on your chest and lets not forget the mustard patches that they glue to your back and it feels like they are burning a hole through your spine. So keeping that in mind we jumped in (I know I may be exaggerating a little bit, but that is also the Russian way!):

We finally said goodbye to Iracambi. A place that I would most certainly recommend to anyone either wanting to get their feet wet in Brazil, do some good for the environment, etc. It is filled with awesome people, beautiful views, hiking, waterfalls, and not to mention spiders (big ones) and mosquitoes. Awesome experience.

Here are some memorable pics of Iracambi:

Picking off spiders off my possessions before I go to sleep...
Chasing Lucy with creepy crawlers once in a while... Winning and losing arm-wrestling matches for beers at the local bar (above- me right before a loss)... Finding beauty everywhere. It is so abundant here!

Before we left to continue on our travels, I of course had to see Pedro and finally introduce him to the gang. We went Pedro's favorite sandwich spot: I of course easily defeated my opponents in our sandwich eating competition, but we all thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches. They are heavenly... yes, they are!With our bellies full, we said goodbye...hopefully to see each other again. I genuinely hope that I could be as good of a host to him as he was to me. Wait a minute! Is that Sofka on the roof?For you Julie :)

Carnaval 2007!!!! Salvador da Bahia 2/15/07 -- 2/22/07

Carnaval in Salvador, Bahia is famous for being a large street party attracting millions of people to drink, dance, and celebrate happiness. Spanning a distance of 7 km over 6 days, carnaval is a festival leading up to Lent yet seems to continue for weeks on end. As compared to the flashy costumes and stadium venue of Rio, carnaval in Bahia is best describe by the quote from Carlinhos Brown, a Bahian superstar, who says, "We play, not for money, but to celebrate happiness. Our carnival is a street carnival. It is for everyone, not just for those with money."
So we put on our best makeup....

...which kept getting more creative as the days went on (even Mishka got into his groove thang)Flexed out lean-mean-fighting machinges muscles. . .
and hit the streets HARD!
During carnaval, each day starts in the afternoon, at the beach,with drums in the background, a skol in your hand, and some locals clapping out a wicked beat....ahhhhhhhh! And each day ends with some cracked out smiles, peeled makeup, exhausted bodies . . . and finally rest, it doesn´t matter how. . . as long as the eyes are closed!If anyone has ever read the ``Dangers and Annoyances`` section of the Lonely Planet, or if you have any kind of common sense at all, you don´t:
1. wear skirts
2. wear anything that can be pulled off
3. wear jewelry that costs more than 2 dollars
4. give too much attention any one man for over 2 minutes seconds. Remember, first it´s a dance, then they want a kiss, then it´s a staucker situation on the loose.
5. carry any money in your pockets. The whole night you will be sticking your hand in your pockets and pulling arms out.
6. carry a camera of course, which is why there is a lack of pictures of the actual carnaval!!! Lots of props to Ivie, Anna, and Erika for supplying the little bit that I have....

Here are some highlights:

Props go out to the man himself...the amazing Greyson Products!!!! Amazin´Greyson!!


This is B´Ni, the coolest man on this planet!! A lover of life, and man of the people!


Also, my baby vistited me during carnaval which made me a very happy woman:) Thank you darling for being an amazing man and marvelous boyfriend!
After the commotion of Carnaval, Talia and I decided to visit Praia de Forte. It was a bit touristy but the beach did have a reserve for turtles...which we had more pictures, but this is all we could muster. Huge turtles, little baby turtles, fish, sharks, and a beautiful beach to boot. And as a wonderful side note...I was sitting on the beach enjoying the nice breeze when two guys on horseback offered to give me a free ride down to some natural lagoons a few miles down the beach. There I was, a true damsel, bouncing up and down the beach on a glorious white mare...ahh, life is good to me!!!