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Day 2 in Brazil from Buzios, by Amy VanderWel
July 20, 2007

This was our first full day at our house in Buzios. We got up and had a homemade breakfast prepared by the little old lady who takes care of the house. We had our first taste of fresh Brazilian fruits, some melts with ham and cheese, and an american staple, cereal.

After breakfast we all got our swimming suits on and went out to our private backyard beach. We had our first glimpses of the old men in their speedos and women in their tiny bikinis. Apparently the swim suit you wear isn't determined by your figure in Brazil.

There were vendors that sold many of the girls beautiful swimsuit cover-ups and bikinis. Dave W also treated us to fresh coconut water right out of the coconut itself. After laying out in the sun for a while we all went on a banana-boat ride in the ocean. The water was a little bit chilly at first but after the boat driver flipped us for the 3rd time you got pretty used to it. When we got back to the beach Tara and Rachel got henna tattoos. The wind began to pick up so we headed into our open air house where we laid out by our swimming pool.

Our tour guide, Gelson (or just "G"), grilled up some chicken, fish, steak and garlic bread for lunch on our outdoor bbq by the pool. After we all filled up with food we all headed to our rooms to get showered and ready to go into town.

All of the cars in Brazil are very small. The man who owned the house took us in shifts to town on the bumpy cobblestone streets. Driving in Brazil is a lot like being at a fair, you try to move quickly without hitting any one and hope for the best.

We spent an hour or so at the small mall and open flea art market before we headed back to our house, once again in shifts. We stayed up for a while playing games and that's when I started to feel a little sick. I didn't feel to well that entire night, throwing up every hour. Luckily Jer, Hannah and April stayed by my side until early the next morning when I got to take a trip to the hospital.

I was a little nervous thinking I was going to be receiving care from doctors in another country, but Chris (G's wife) assured me that I would be treated well. They put me on an IV in a room with four beds. Two of the other beds were occupied both with pregnant women, and one of them looking at least 55 years old. Thank goodness Chris came with us to the hospital because no one else there spoke English. We were at the hospital until about noon when we headed back to the house. All of my bags had been already packed and everyone was loading the bus for our 2 hour drive to the airport for our flight to meet our families in Belo Horizonte.

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