Ivete

On our first day in Fortaleza Mads saw a billboard for an Ivete Sangalo concert for the coming Saturday. Mads was super excited because she loves Ivete. She had gone to one of her concerts three years ago in Rio and had an amazing time. Ivete is one of the most popular musicians of Brazilian Axé (music from the state of Bahia). We were able to get tickets for R$50 (~USD$27). We were given these shirts called "abadás" which we were required to wear in order to enter the event. Celina (our "Fortaleza mother") took us to her seamstress who turned the ugly over-sized tanks into cute little tops.


The concert was suc h a fun experience!! Ratherthan performing on a stage, Ivete played on top of a trio elétrico - a semi-truck equipped with a high power sound system and the musicians on top of it, playing for the crowd below. The truck started outside the concert grounds and made its way into the center of a huge outdoor plaza. As it drove, the crowd followed behind/beside screaming, dancing and signing. Once in the center, everyone crowded around the truck signing and jumping around the entire time while Ivete put on one of the most high-energy shows I've ever seen. We didn't bring a camera as we didn't want it to get stolen, but I have included some pictures I found online from some of her other shows so you can get an idea.

It was such a great night until Mads tripped and fell onto the ground. It was so crowded I needed to have some random guys help me pick her up. Mads attempted to play it off as if she wasn't too hurt and tried to continue enjoying the show. However after a few minutes she could not pretend any longer that it did not hurt and we had to leave. We decided as the show was pretty much over anyways as Ivete had already been playing for over two hours. Outside the venue several taxi men waited. I tried to get a few to carry Mads to the car, but no one would. I am not sure if it was because they were too lazy/weak or because they couldn't understand what I was saying. My guess is it was probably a little of both, but more of the former than the latter.

The next morning we woke up to find Mads ankle completely swollen and black and blue. Sure enough she'd sprained it pretty badly. Celina and her husband Rodrigo took charge to make sure Mads was well taken care of. They wrapped her foot in an ACE bandage and made her walk around in a boot with crutches all day. Anytime she tried to walk without either of the two they would start yelling at her. They even made her sleep in the boot!

It is all pretty funny but also sad. It's kind of put a damper on the end of our Fortaleza trip. Mads was unable to enjoy the fun surf at the beach and had to sit sedentary with her leg elevated during the entire Brazil v. Ivory Coast game. Regardless, we were able to enjoy the day as best we could and the win was definitely a silver lining to her day. GO BRASIL!!!!!

Hopefully her foot will heal quickly as we're about to go on two trips to Jericoacoara- a beautiful beach town about 4 hours outside Fortaleza and Fernando de Noronha- these beautiful islands off the coast. It will definitely suck of she can't play with me.

Soooo 03 and 15..... not the same thing

We originally thought our flight out of São Luís to Fortaleza left at 3:40pm. Luckily Manuella mentioned that she thought it was in the morning as when she looked at our itinerary it did not say 15:40. Convinced there was NO WAY our flight would leave at 3:40am we signed online to check the time. Sure enough it read 03:40....SHIT! After the game we went back to our hotel to take a quick power nap from about 7pm to 1am. When we got to the airport we were surprised to discover that it was packed. I guess early moring flights are common here.

After arriving in Fortaleza Mads and I had to spend three hours attempting to sleep in the airport (see prior post). This is because Mads' friend Rafaela's mom was picking us up from the airport and we felt bad having her come at 5am so we lied and said the flight got in at 9am.

This leads to the funny story on how we came to stay with Rafa's parents, Celina & Rodrigo (told by Mads):Ok so the plan was that I was to call Rafaela's mom, Selena after the game to figure out with her the airport pickup. Rafa had told me that she would call her mom first to let her know who I was etc. Since Vandria and I started pre-partying at 10 am for the big game Brazil v. North Korea you can imagine I was in great form to make a phone call after the victory. When we finally got back to the hotel I called Selena and to my surprise she had no idea who I was. Talk about an awkward phone call hahaha basically I was informing her that I would be staying at her house with a friend for an undetermined amount of time. Selena being the cutie pie that she is insisted she pick us up at the airport and no way we could take a cab....talk about faith! Later on I received a message from Rafa apologizing that she hadn't called her mom earlier as she got carried away with the excitement of the game. However she explained who I was and that it's all good. Long story short her family is amazing and offered for us to stay the whole three months of our trip hahahhaha love it.

Parque Lençóis Maranhenses

The name of this national park refers to its immense expanses of sand dunes, which look like lençóis (bed sheets). During this time of year rain filters through the sand to form crystal-clear pools and lakes. A 4x4 Toyota truck took us through thick foliage and rivers to the base of the dunes. Mads kept saying the drive felt like a ride at Disneyland, which led us to sing the Indiana Jones theme song every time the ride got rough .

Once we arrived to the dunes we were taken aback by their beauty. We kind of felt like we were in the Sex and the City 2 movie, when they visit Abu Dahbi, minus the fabulous clothing and camels of course. Mads and I had so much fun running around taking pictures and playing on the dunes and in the water. We desperately attempted to take photos of us jumping off the sand dunes - which was quite a difficult feat. After what seemed like 100 shots (probably closer to 20) we were quasi successful. It is really difficult to capture a person mid-air! I don't get how some people do it so well (Anna this comment is mainly for you). Being the kid at hearth that I am, I thoight it would be a really fun idea to roll down the dune into the water below. Fun idea in theory... in reality I got a lot of sand in my eyes and mouth and the friction of the sand stopped my rolling far before I reached the water. It's ok thought because Mads got some great pictures of me looking like a beached whale (haha).

On the second day we took a boat tour along the tall-mangrove lined Preguiças river between Barreirnhas, Caburé and Atins. At our last stop we ate a ridiculosusly expensive lunch and then took an hour nap in the hammocks along the beach. We returned to São Luís on the night bus in order to be back for the game the folllowing morning (see prior post). Though we only spend two days in Lençóis it was well worth the trek out there!

**Note: this post was penned in the Fortaleza airport at 6am while Mads is sleeping on the floor. See next post to understand why.

Brasil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some key highlights from today's win:

1) Starting the day drinking carpirnhas at 10:30am

2) The amazing Brazil gear we got from the local bar

3) Two words: Alcohol to-go

4) Three words: two to one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feliz aniversario Madá

Saturday June 12 was Madeline's birthday. It also happened to be Dia dos Namorados (Valentine's Day) in Brazil. We left the hotel at 1pm not knowing that we would stay out for the next 12 + hours. The day started at a feijoada- traditional brazilian cuisine with live samba (see video). A few hours and caipirinhas later we wandered into a bar to watch the USA v England match.

After the tie (which was more like a win for the US as it was a lucky goal)
we decided to keep the party going. We met up with 15 of Manuella's single friends and completely took over one of their favorite restaurants. All around us couples were trying to have romantic dinners while we sang, laughed and drank. The running joke was that the manager offered to pay our entire tab if we would leave. The beer did not stop flowing, every time our glasses were near empty they would magically be refilled. I never heard anyone ordering more yet there were no complaints. The more we drank the funnier the jokes got and the louder we became not your typical V-day. I can't remember the last time I laughed so har
d, ironic being that I do not speak the common language at the table.

Just when we thought the night was ending after a 6 hour dinner, Manuella decided to stop by another party to say hello to some other friends. 20 minutes later Mads and I were off to a reggae show with our new found friend Manuella' s neighbor, Ulysses. São Luis is well known as the Jamaica of Brazil. Since Mads loves reggae and she is the birthday girl, we were not going to let the looming 6 am wake up call stand in our way. It was a surprisingly great show, we danced non-stop to the band Raiz Tribal at a cool beachside venue.

All in all it was very long and randomly amazing day. Mads says it was one of her best birthday celebrations, and we both agree it was a phenom Valentine's Day!

Não Falo Português

''A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.'' – Lao Tzu

Madeline and my 11 week journey started in San Diego on Wednesday, June 9th. My backpack, which I remember being MUCH bigger than it actually is, was half the size of Madeline's, yet the combined weight of all my belongings closly matched hers (Mads backpack - 38lbs + handbag - 7lbs = 45lbs / my ''mini backpack'' (as Mads has deemed it) - 26lbs + carryon backpack - 15lbs = 41lbs).
The flight to Brazil was quite hellish. Rather than bore all you with the details I will give the top three reasons: 1) there was a group of about 40 Southern Christian missionaries that thought it acceptable to yell accross the aisles/rows at one another during the entire flight; 2) they did not give us pillows.... Really what inteternational flight does not give pillows!?! 3) the lady in front of us would turn around and complain any time we accidently touched her seat. It got to be quite comical how lightly we could tap it and she would still turn and yell at us. After sleeping a combines total of about 3 hrs in the 15hr trip we landed in Fortaleza, Brazil. Unfortunately that was not our last stop, we still had a 4hr wait until our flight to our final destination, São Luís. We were so exhausted, I honestly did not know how we were going to make it. Then, as if it was a mirage in the desert, I laid my eyes on the most magical sight..... La-Z-Boy recliners!!! We took the most amazing naps and woke just as we were about to board.


The first few days of our trip were spent visiting Madeline's friend Manuella in São Luís. a small beach town in Northeast Brazil. It was an interesting introduction to the country as it is not typically what you invision when you think of ''typical Brazil'', but it has been great having a local take us around to the best beaches, restaurants, nightclubs, etc... At the beach one day I actually ate crab! I know you're shocked. Madeline claims she is going to break me of my non-seafood diet if it kills her. If she lives and is successful you can all thank her later.


The hardest thing about being in such a small town is very few people speak English even most of Manuella's friends spoke only Portuguese so I had to rely on Madeline/Manuella and the few key phrases I learned to get around. After a few days I find that I am able to understand a decent amount thanks to Spanish but I am still far from speaking. This is what I can say from memory thus far (day 5):
obrigada- thank you
não falo portugu ês- I don't speak Portuguese
com licença- excuse me
beijo- kiss
duas cervejas/chopp- 2 beers/draft beer
cadê o banheiro- where is the bathroom
estou com fome/ sede- I am hungry /thirsty
sim- yes / não- no
tchau (pronounced ciao) - goodbye
oi (pronounced oy) - hello
bom dia- good morning

Funemployment

My last day at work was March 12th. I’m not going to lie being unemployed (by choice) is amazing. I had planned to start this blog back in March so I could write about all the mini adventures I was having, but the time flew by and here I am about to depart on my big trip and no blog. So here is a recap of what I did during my “funemployment”

March 19th – 28th: Visit to the “Fatherland” (Honduras)
My father passed away when I was two years old. My mom was always very good at keeping in touch with his family in Honduras. She would always call and send updates, photos, etc… When my mom passed away my two aunts did a great job at making sure our communication was not lost. They would often call to check-in and give me updates. They would always ask when I was going to visit (the last time we’d visited I was 5). This question was hard to answer as I had very little vacation time. Once I quit my job I knew the first thing I wanted to do was visit. I headed down for 10 days with my best friend Jessie. Basically the trip was spent doing two things: meeting family/friends and eating. My family is HUGE: 5 aunts/uncles and about 15+ cousins/second cousins, etc… Everyone was so so excited to have us in their homes. Which led to the eating. I have never eaten so much food in my life, but it was all so delicious that it was too hard to refuse! It was really an incredible experience. I am so happy that I got to connect with that side of my family and I look forward to visiting more in the future…. I definitely will not wait 21 years next time!

April 2nd – 6th: Hallie and my romantic road-trip
I had never driven down the CA coast line so for Hallie’s spring break we decided to have a roommate vacation. We had a lovely weekend visiting friends in San Francisco and then departed down the coast. We spent the first night in an adorable bed and breakfast in Carmel, drove down the coast stopping at Big Sur and Hearts Castle then into Solvang for some wine tasting.

April 16th – 18th: Coachella
Despite the fact that I came home completely exhausted this was such AH-MAZING weekend!! Recap – Friday: La Roux, Echo and the Bunnymen, LCD Sound System, Vampire Weekend and Jay Z (with Beyonce!!!). Saturday: Stated the day @WB Records Hospitality Suite, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Gossip, XX, Coheed and Cambria, Hot Chip, MGMT, Muse, Devo and 944/AX after party. Sunday: Florence and the Machine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miike Snow, Spoon, Phoenix, Little Boots and Thom Yorke.

April 21st – 26th: Hawaii
What better excuse for a Hawaiian vacation than the Kokua Festival put on by Jack Johnson? The girls I went with had all lived together in Hawaii a few years back so the trip was packed full visiting their favorite beaches, food spots, bars, etc…

May 5th – 10th: Visiting the fam in AZ
I had a really great time visiting my cousins and their kids. It was a perfect week to go because I was able to celebrate my cousin Janine’s husband Mike’s birthday, and Mother’s Day. The kids are all getting so old: AB is about to turn 4, Scotty and Mady 3 and Logan 1. It’s so fun to play with them now because they all have so much personality.

May 11th – June 8th: Packing up and saying my good-byes
After spending two months traveling, I made myself devote the last month to organizing my life for my move. Packing all of my belongings was no easy feat, but eventually I put 38 boxes and 20 pieces of furniture into storage. Even though I was in LA/SD, my last month was still busy with good-bye dinner and drinks. It is really crazy how three months few by!

My “10-Year Plan”

A few years ago I created a 10-year life plan. It was very basic: spend a few years in LA, live abroad in a Spanish speaking country for 2 years then return home to start a career and family. Living abroad was the key to this plan. I told everyone I knew/met about my plan because the more people who knew the more I would be held accountable. I didn’t want to be the girl who was all talk.

2008/2009 seemed to pass in a blink of an eye… all of a sudden it was January 2010 and I’d made no progress in my plan. I was comfortable in my life. I have great friends, go to fun events and enjoyed what I did at work. But I knew that if I didn’t follow through with my plan to move abroad I would always regret it. Life would only get more comfortable and as time passes it would only be harder to cut the strings. I decided now is the time to do it, so I quit my job – which was one of the most terrifying and exhilarating moments of my life – packed up all my belongings, and booked a ticket.

I wanted to move to a Spanish speaking country because while I am able to speak decent conversational Spanish, I want to be completely fluent. I decided on Buenos Aires, Argentina simply because my mom’s best friend Judy went there and told me I would love it. As of right now, I have no plans on where I will live or what I will do for a job. Getting down there is the first step... the rest will fall into place.