Vargem Grande

After 10 day of the constant rhythm of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival, which like NYC, is truly a city that never sleeps or stops partying!  Ben and I looked forward to escaping the city to Brazil’s tropical countryside, where we could experience the country’s more rural side and maybe get some sleep! 😉

We were to be received as houseguests by fellow couch surfer, Cecilia, at her home in Vergem Grande, which is a barrio of Rio. This would be our first couch surfing experience of our world adventures and we were very excited to be spending time with another English speaker, there are not many in Rio.

Our journey to Vergem Grande gave us our first glimpses into the kindness of the Brazilian people, without them we’d still be stuck in Rio.  First we were unsure of our first transfer and after an hour of not see our bus go by we grew suspicious that we had gotten off at the wrong stop but the school kids at our bus stop assured us that our bus would come… eventually.

School kids reassuring us that we had the right stop. PS Brazilian girls are just as obsessed with Justin Bieber as America girls are.

Once on the second bus we asked a young woman in broken Portuguese what stop was Rio Water Planet, she told us and got off at our stop, but once she saw we were walking in the wrong direction, which is very typical of us, her and her friend ran after us politely pointing out the correct path to take.

Once we got to the first road we needed we were stopped by a gentleman who said “I think you are missing!” and ran to his car to get his car’s GPS. He insisted in broken English that we use it. He also did an excellent job explaining to us what chicken wings were, charade-style, because he caught us eyeing a restaurant menu.  It was definitely entertaining.  By this time it was very late and dark, and again some patient locals had to ran after us to point out the correct gate where Cecilia lived because we were walking past it after we had asked them for help.

Cecilia's House

We finally arrived at our host’s house and we were greeted us with open arms. Poor Cecilia worried that we were either lost or died and promptly served us delicious pizza, which we inhaled.  We also meet her two very cute and playfully puppies. Nina, the female and the youngest, was mild tempered and content to follow the lead of Freddie, the male, the oldest and the troublemaker! Lol.  They were like Cecilia’s shadows, constantly at her feet, bringing her joy and headaches in the same way small children bring to their parents.

Meet Nina, She seems sweet but she’s a little trickster. =)

The next day Cecilia’s mother arrived.  Cecilia’s mother was very charming and spoke no English. As her mother prepared us a traditional Brazilian desert made of sugar cookies and condensed milk, which tasted a lot like very sweet custard, we played a language game. She would point to an ingredient and say it in Portuguese then I would say the ingredient’s name in English if I knew what it was of course. 😉

That night Ben and I had our very first bowl of acai, which is a fruit that comes from Brazil’s tropical rain forests. They smash up the fruit and freeze it.  You eat it like you would ice cream.  It was amazing! And we have been addicted to it ever since.

The next day Cecilia took Ben, Freddie, and me to Grumari Beach, which is about 15 minutes from Vargem Grande by car.  You can tell by the pictures that there was cloud coverage but that didn’t stop Ben and I’s pale skin from getting burnt to a crisp. 😉 Oh well, it was beautiful!

Cecilia and Freddie at the beach

I couldn't resist not putting another picture of Grumari Beach in this post. It's just to pretty of a place.

The last night Ben and I tried out our cocoons, which are like sleeping bags made out of sheets to keep the bugs from biting us.  It was very hot and the windows needed to stay open.  As you can see they are quite the fashion statement. =)

Ben modeling the cocoon... priceless. I have more pictures upon request, hehe.