Brazil is the Place To Go

Brazil is an amazing place with tons of things to do. It has one of the seven wonders of the world, and is hosting the 2014 World Cup, along with the 2016 Summer Olympics. Brazil also has the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest. Most likely because of this, Brazil is also home to more than 4 million different species of plants and animals. Brazil is also big producer of coffee, exporting more than 3 billion pounds a year, which is about 30% of the global market. That means if your a fan of coffee, this is the place for you. If you are a fan of soccer, of futbol, then Brazil is still a good place for you to go. The Brazil national team has won the World Cup 5 times, and soccer is a very popular sport there. Basically, in Brazil, there is plenty to do, and with such a diverse culture, anyone can fit in. Go to Brazil in 2014 or 2016, and see some exhilarating sporting events, along with a diverse culture!

July 14, 2014 - Anima Mundi and Take Off

Today is our last day in Brazil. It has been an excellent trip, one we will never forget. Since we didn't want to waste our last day, we decided to attend Anima Mundi, which is an animation festival in Brazil. It shows all different kinds of films, from films made by children, to full fledged films that are for hire. The people who attend are all given ballots, and there is a competition for the general vote. As we walk around, we see lots of cool films, some extremely amateur, and some amazingly professional. One film we saw, which we are not allowed to discuss with people outside the festival, was complete with special effects and other amazing features. The movie sold for 13.3 million dollars, and will probably be released soon. Matt, John, Josh, and Will are all interested in the action packed thriller type stuff, but I also go and watch some claymation films, which are movie made picture by picture of slight movements of clay figures. We all got so immersed in this one movie, that we lost track of time. When we look at our watches we realize our flight is leaving in 2 hours. We rush back to our hotel, and get packed as quickly as we can. With an hour left until our flight takes off, we are just leaving the hotel. We got to the car rental place, and turn in our car. Then we have to take a taxi to the airport. When we reach the airport, we have less than 30 minutes until departure. We hear a call for our plane in the distance, but it is so faint we can't make out what they are saying. We rush through all the steps, and get quite a few angry stares along the way. We finally reach our gate, only to find that our flight had been delayed by an hour.

July 13, 2014 - World Cup Final

July 13, 2014
    Today we are going to the World Cup Final. We are all super excited. We decided to head over to the stadium early to see if there were any pregame parties. Apparently we weren't the only ones. When we got within a mile of the stadium, the streets were packed with people. We decided to park, and walk to a bar to wait for the game to start. While we were at the bar, multiple people got into fights over who would win the game, and plenty of other people were placing bets. About an hour before the game started we decided to head to the game. It took us forever to get into the stadium. They checked us and our bags, and our tickets. It was like trying to get into an airport. As we walk into the stadium, we see the huge arena. There are thousands of people here and there are almost no seats empty. We try to find our seats, but soon realize we are on the wrong side of the stadium. We rush to the other side, and when we get there and rush up to our row. As we sit down, the whistle blows to start the game.
    After the game, there are a lot drunks walking around the city. When we reach our car, it is surrounded by people when we start it up, people start pushing it back and forth. The car starts tipping back and forth. Soon they get bored and move on. It takes about an hour to get back to the hotel. We are all extremely tired, and go to sleep as soon as we get home.

July 12, 2014 - Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge

Today we are going to the Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, which is in Brazilia. The bridge spans Lake Paranoá and is 1,200 meters long. It has areas on both sides for pedestrians and cyclist, but also has 3 lanes for car to drive in both directions. It is named after Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, a former president of Brazil who decided to make Brasilia the capital of the country. The bridge is supported by massive 200-foot tall archways that go diagonally across the bridge. The bridge was designed by Alexandre Chan and Mario Vila Verde.
We start by going to were the bridge starts and parking the car. We have decided to walk along the bridge instead of simple drive across it. When we start walking, we are all excited. Once we get out onto the bulk of the bridge, we all look down. It is a huge drop. We decide not to do that again, and just try to forget about it. John, trying to act cool, decides to look over the edge again. Apparently that was to much for him, and he got a little light headed. We stop for about five minutes, and John drinks some water I had in my backpack. Then he says he feels fine, and we start walking the rest of the way across, while making sure that John stays away from the edge. We get halfway there, and decide we don't want to have to walk all the way across the bridge twice, there and back, so we turn around and walk back to our car.

July 11, 2014 - Oswald Cruz Foundation

Today we are taking a tour of the Oswald Cruz Foundation. When it was first started its goal was to develop a cure of vaccine for the bubonic plague. Later it starting delving into researching other experimental vaccines and testing them. In 2007 it announced that they might have made a gel that would reduce the spread of HIV. The center now has a large role in keeping the citizens of the country healthy. That includes emergency care, health-related research, training health workers, and a general hospital.
After driving over to the center, we all get out and walk up to the front. It is unlike anything else we have seen so far. You can see that the building is not new, and has been used, but yet it still looks amazing and magnificent. So after standing outside for a minute we all walk inside and join our tour group. While we are following our tour group, I decide to slow down and look into one of the rooms.Then John, Will, Matt, and Josh, seeing me behind, decide to wait for me. By the time I get back up to them, our tour group is gone, and they have no idea where they went. We manage to find some people, but they all spoke portugese, and apparently they were telling us to leave, because the next thing we knew we were outside trying to figure out what to do next.

July 10, 2014 - Praca dos Tres Poderes

Today we are going to visit the Praca dos Tres Poderes. This is a place were the three branches of government can meet and discuss things. When the name is translated it means Three Powers Plaza. The flag there is the biggest flag in the world that is flown on a normal basis. It weighs about 1300 pounds and has been flown since Brazilia was made the capital in 1960, not counting the monthly replacements.
When we arrive there, we pull up and got out. The first place we went was the visitor center. Here they had some displays talking about the basic history of the plaza and told you some things to check out. After going to the visitor center we go outside and walk around. The first thing we go and see are the big statues. These are called "The Warriors" and were made by Bruno Giorgi. From there we walk over to the museum. This contains a detailed history of how the city became the capital, and when it was constructed. We get bored of this fairly quickly, and decide to leave and just walk around the city. While we are walking around the city, we see a fight break out, and Matt almost gets punched in the face. Afterwards we decide to quickly get home, trying to avoid another problem.

July 9, 2014 - Cathedral of Brasilia

Today we are going to the Cathedral of Brasilia. The cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral that was completed on May 31, 1970. The building is supported be 16 concrete columns, and each one weight 90 tons. In between the concrete pillars are stained fiberglass segments in shades of blue, green, brown, and white. The cathedral see little use for actually Christian services, and is mainly just a tourist attraction. It is a huge Cathedral, but it looks more futuristic than anything. When we got there, there were already tons of people. It was basically just one ginormous building. It was surprising that it does actually serve as a church, but mainly for tourist and the people that work there. We were all quite fascinated by it, and how futuristic it seems. Then John had the idea of climbing up the fiberglass windows. Luckily, we all managed to talk him out of it. The thing we didn't manage to talk him out of was climbing up the statues outside the Cathedral. Will soon joined him, but they only managed to get on top of the ankles, because the legs we too smooth. Then we walked around the outside, admiring how big it was. When we got inside, it was mainly just a big space with pews and an altar. There were a few things there to store chairs, and other equipment that probably rarely gets used. Then we decided to go back to our hotel. When we got back, we walked down the street and went to a local restaurant for dinner. When we got back, Will and Josh decided to play some FIFA, while the rest of us just played games on our phones.

July 8, 2014 - Commuting to Brazilia

Today we are traveling to Brazilia. We leave at around 7 A.M. It is a long dive, and i decided to sleep for a few hours. It is about 14 hour drive, so we will have plenty of time to sleep, or play games. We brought Josh's PS3 along and a TV, so we play FIFA 2013 a lot of the time. We also watch the movie Ted. We got hungry about 1 P.M., and decide to stop for lunch. We stop at a McDonalds, and go through the drive through. Will gets 2 large shakes and 2 Big Macs. Then about an hour later, while we are playing FIFA, Will says he doesn't feel so good. Then he pulls off the highway and throws up on the side of the road. After about 10 minutes of waiting for Will to start feeling better, he decides to start driving again. We were supposed to arrive at about 10 P.M., but instead we arrive closer to 11 P.M., due to stopping for lunch and Will getting sick. When we arrive we check into our hotel and all go to bed as soon as we get our stuff out of the car.

July 7, 2014 - Copacabana Beach

Today in Rio we decide to just relax. We go down to the Copacabana Beach, which actually has quite a history. This beach has hosted 11 of the 15 FIFA beach soccer world cups. It has also hosted many concerts. One concert was on New Years Eve in 1994 with Rod Stewart. This concert attracted more than 4 million people, which made it the biggest concert crowd ever. Another concert was in 2006, when the Rolling Stones preformed and attracted 1.5 million people. The first thing we do is go out on the beach an play soccer. After playing a few matches, we decide to switch over to playing Ultimate Frisbee. When we are finished, we decide to head back into town and just walk around. We go into a few shops, just to see what there is, but mainly we just walk around. We stop and get some acaraje for lunch, at what is similar to a hot-dog stand in America. The acaraje is made of peeled  black-eyed peas, which are then fried in palm oil. It is then split in half and stuffed with a paste, most often consisting of palm oil, shrimp, and ground cashews. We got it split in half, and it was served on paper plates. Josh wasn't really a fan of it, and decided to get a hamburger at McDonalds when we found one. Then we proceed to walk around, and see some preparations for the coming Olympics in 2016, which Brazil is also hosting.

July 6, 2014 - Christ the Reedemer

Today we are going to go see Christ the Reedemer. Christ the Redeemer is a statue in Rio de Janeiro that was cconstructed in the early 1930's. It is considered on of the seven wonders of the world, standing at 40 meters tall and weighing 635 tonnes. The statue represents Jesus of Nazarath with welcoming arms, a sign of peace. We all wake up and get dressed. All of a sudden it started pouring down rain. We all started running to the car to avoid getting wet, and Will got into the driver seat and started the car up. Then everybody else gets in the car.  While we are driving to the Christ the Reedemer, the car runs out of gas and everyone except Will, who is steering, has to get out and push the car 1 mile to the closest gas station. We fill up on gas and continue driving. We finally get up there so we get out in the pouring rain and walk right up to it.  We take some pictures of us with it.  When we were walking back to our car, we see it sliding down the hill, because it is so muddy.  We all start sprinting after it and Matt trips and falls in the mud. Will manages to catch up to the car, get in it, and start it up just before it reaches the edge of a cliff.  Then we have to drive back and help Matt get out of the mud.  All of us are now soaking wet and muddy so we decide to go back to the hotel and get showers to get cleaned up.  Once we are done with that we head out to go get some delecious dinner.

July 5, 2014 - The Eagle Has Landed

A picture of Sugar Loaf Mountain and Guanabara Bay

     Okay we are in Rio de Janeiro. Today we are arriving, and after checking in to our hotel, we plan on going to Sugar Loaf Mountain. Sugar Loaf Mountain is located in Rio de Janeiro, overlooking the harbor. It is 1,299 feet tall and is named after the resemblance to refined loaf sugar. When we got off the plane, everyone was a lot more relaxed, except Josh, because he didn't get any sleep. Then we got our rental car and drove to our 2-star hotel. When we walked into our room, we weren't to surprised with what we saw. The outside of the hotel wasn't very nice, and the inside reflected that. There was only one bedroom and a shower, but we needed to save some money to get our World Cup tickets. So then we decided to head out to Sugar Loaf Mountain. We drove to the base of the mountain, then took the gondola up the rest of the way. When we got to the top, we looked out and could see an amazing view. The mountain looks over the harbor, and you could see all the boat slowly coming in to take port. After seeing that, we decided to head home, and get some rest for tomorrow.

  

July 4, 2014 - Preflight Checks

    This is what happened on the first day of our journey. Me, John, Josh, Matt, and Will are all going to Brazil to see the World Cup. We were about to get on the plane at RDU which would take us to Washington D.C. John was quite nervous, but Josh seemed excited. Then we boarded the plane, which went fairly smoothly. When we are on the plane, Will freaks out, and some flight attendants have to hold him down. I decided to listen to music,  and so did John, but Josh decided to play a game on his phone.
    After about 30 minutes, we reach Washington. We have about  an hour layover, and lunch will not be provided on the plane, so we decide to get lunch there. I get a sub from Subway, Josh gets a sandwich from some random place, Will gets a burger from Wendy's, and John gets a meatball sub. Then we go to our gate. After waiting about 30 minutes, we board the plane. The takeoff is good, but after about 30 minutes, Josh says his stomach hurts. About five minutes later, he gets up and walks to the bathroom. When he comes back, he says he threw up.

Planning

Travel (Flights, Long Drives, etc.)-
Flights round trip were $1287 using TAM airlines

• Arrival- We flew from RDU to Washington, D.C., then to Rio.
• Rio to Brasilia- used our rental car, and it was a 13 hour drive.
• Brasilia to Rio- used our rental car, and it was a 13 hour drive.
• Departure- We flew from Rio to Maimi, the to RDU

Car was from Thrifty and cost a total of $462

• Chevrolet Celta

Hotel Accommodations-

• Rio- Hostel Villa Santana for a total of 624.22
• Brasilia- Bitter Inn for a total of $798.72

Dates-
July 4, 2014- July 14, 2014

Expected Weather-
Around 70º Fahrenheit with little rain. 

Budget-
$2500- $3500