Brazil

We went to Brazil a few months ago, and we had such a wonderful time. I'm not going to give a bunch of detail because that's what my journal is for, but here are a few of the photos we snapped in Brazil.

We went on this amazing hike to Lagoinha de Leste. This was the start of the hike. We hiked over the mountain which took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The hike was through water and I used the vines in the trees for support. It was so fun! We drank a LOT of water on this hike. We were grateful it was a cloudy day so we weren't as hot.

This is later on. It was fun walking through little streams and climbing up rocks.

Another photo of the hike to Lagoinha do Leste.

This is the beach Lagoinha do Leste. We were so ready for some swimming after that long hike!

This is at the Hotel Daifa. The city center of Florianopolis is behind us.

It took a lot of tracking down, and a lot of driving, but we were able to find Iané. She was a woman who Ryan baptized, and now her mother and sister and one son have been baptized. It was so fun for me to meet her, especially since we're naming our daughter's middle name after her (not an announcement...not pregnant). She was awesome.

We ate lunch at a little place called Mandala at Pântano do Sul. We ordered one shrimp plate for all 4 of us. We had several platters brought out, but this was the most memorable. We weren't really expecting shrimp with all the legs and those big black eyes.

This is guarana zero. They have this at Rodizio's here in SLC. It's delicious.

We flew over to Iguacu Falls which is on the western border of Brazil and Argentina. We spent a day in Argentina enjoying these magnificent waterfalls. It was gorgeous. We took the option of doing the boat tour under the falls. We were absolutely SOAKED, but it was a blast.

It is so green there. We saw monkeys in the trees, and the butterflies were EVERYWHERE. I felt like I was in a butterfly garden. They were landing on people and just fluttering all over. They had big spiders here, but their webs were so cool. When the sun hit them, they were gold. It was so beautiful to see these golden webs. I wish the camera would have picked that up.

There wasn't as much shopping as I expected, but this place was so fun because they had handmade goods.

There were groups of men playing dominos all over. It was so funny! There were NO women at these tables. Men of all ages would gather around to watch.

Joinville was a fun little town. It has German roots, so we had to go to a German bakery.

We ordered some delicious foods. It was soooo good!!

We found one of Ryan's old mission apartments. The landlady, Dona Loni, still lived next door. She remembered Ryan, and even went inside to get her pictures. Sure enough, she still had a photo of Ryan! She was so cute, and I couldn't believe how shiny and clean her driveway was. That orange tile is her driveway. It's just beautiful.

We ate at a few Rodizios. They were so yummy. This one served pizza along with meat.

Ryan and I had such an awesome time. We were so glad my parents could join us on this fun vacation. We can't wait to go back!!