Life of Laraia: Adventures in Brazil

This past summer we went to Brazil to visit Pedro's family. It was a blast! I love his family so much and miss them all! I can't wait to go again and see them. While in Brazil we visited several places:

Pouso Alegre: This is where most of Pedro's family lives.


From left to right: Cousin Bia, Ana, me, Aunt Marcia, Aunt Ana, Mom. These are Marcos' sisters and niece.

Most of the towns have a cathedral in the town center.

This one was just beautiful! Pedro's Uncle Paulo's
Grandfather helped design this cathedral.

This is Grandma Dirce, Tereza's mother. I love this woman!
She would get mad if I didn't get second helpings at lunch.

She is a marvelous cook and I gained a few pounds!

Her house is amazing. It is big and has an awesome

marble staircase!

Aunt Ana brought us to this kind of a country club place. It had palm

trees, a little lake with peddle boats, gazebos, playgrounds, soccer fields

(of course!), tennis and basketball courts. It was amazing!

A bridge at the club

Beautiful lilies on the side of the lake.

Pedro's cousin Nel. He is the sweetest guy ever!

Drinking coconut water. Right after we had juice made from

pressed sugar cane. It was delicious but very very sweet!

I could only drink a few sips.

Wild parrots at Grandma Dirce's house

The tree that Pedro told me was planted in his honor at

Grandma Dirce's house.

This is Marcos' mom, Grandma Lourdes, and her sister.

Grandma Lourdes was in a folk dance story party thing.

Isn't she adorable?!


This is Mylla, The youngest cousin on the Laraia side. She has down syndrome, is sharp as a pin, and cute as a button. I love this little girl!

Santa Rita: This place was like 20 minutes away from Pouso Alegre. Marcos' brother Mauro lives here.

This is a little play ground outside of a Tucanos like restaurant.
It was delicious like all food in Brazil!

The Laraia side of the family at Mauro's house.

Once Pedro told the family I could sing, they would not

leave me alone about it! They love the Beetles down there, but

unfortunately I did not know those songs well enough to sing along.

So We sang Bridge over Troubled Water. It was super fun!

Sunset from the mountain I jumped off of to paraglide with Mauro.
He is a paragliding instructor. I was the first of Pedro's immediate

family to go with him!

Getting the chute ready!

I am READY!

It is hard to take off of a bumpy slope!


That's right! I conquered the sky!

Pocos De Caldas: This is a kind of tourist town about an hour and a half from Pouso Alegre. We had a great time here!

Beautiful fountain in a huge park. There was a little carnival near by.

During a night time stroll.

A fountain with natural spring water. Pedro loves this fountain!
He remembers coming here during his childhood and drinking

the delicious water.

This is in the entry hall at a natural bath house. It was a huge building!

The midget door we found.

I think this was used to steam your face, but I don't remember.

Oh Pedro!

Bia in a steel basin tub.


The creepy room in the basement! We went here at night time and this room freaked me out!

This was a natural spring in the middle of a park.

It smelled like sulfur so I told Pedro not to drink it,

but he did anyway and he said it was nasty!

ha ha should have listened.

Pretty bridge and trees

We were walking by a bunch of shops and of course this

caught my eye. I busted up laughing! Pedro's aunt

and cousin probably thought I was crazy.

On the way up to the mini Christ statue on the hill.

I say mini because the big one is on a mountain in Rio.

Looking out at Pocos De Caldas

The little tram that we rode in to the bottom.

Cousins! Bia, me, Pedro, Tulio, Mylla, Nel

Soooo excited!

This is where we waited in line.

BIA!

She was a little freaked out!

This is part of the little carnival by the park. There were
always tramps, even in the town squares. Very popular!

Rio De Janeiro: Pedro's uncle Alfredo lives here. I love Rio! It is amazing and so beautiful. There are a lot of new modern buildings in the city, but there are also old, European style buildings intermingled. We stayed by Copacabana beach which was beautiful! The only downer was the 9 hour bus ride there and 9 hours back.

This is the Pao de Acucar or Sugar loaf in English.

We rode in that tram up to the top and looked out

over Rio. It was breath taking.

I just really liked the old cathedral across the bay.

These are what the trams used to look like. So glad they updated them!

Gorgeous Rio.

We really like the mountain that looks like a bowl.

View from our hotel.

This is a beautiful theater. One day I am going to go see a show there!

Rio at night. Pedro's uncle took us to some really cool

places that tourists don't know about.

Awww... presh!

Copacabana

The bowl mountain.

I like the side walks!

There were awesome sand sculptures everywhere!

The famous Copacabana Palace.

The big Christ statue. We didn't get to go up to it because

we didn't have time. Maybe next time though.

The updated tram! Yay!

There were buildings everywhere! They would sneak

up the mountains and in every place they would fit.

on top of the sugar loaf.

This is an airport. Scary much? The day after we left a plane was

taking of and ran out of runway... imagine that. Needless to say,

they had an ocean to crash in to.

Just beautiful. I am so lucky to have seen this sight.

Well hello there handsome!

A war memorial

This is the school where Pedro's grandpa, Tereza's dad, studied medicine.

Sao Paulo: This is where the airport is. We only stayed here one night right before we left with Tereza's sister Fulvia and her family. Sao Paulo is huge! It really is just skyscrapers everywhere you look!