Traveling (with hippies?)

So well now two weekends ago (I know I am bad about putting these up on time) my Portuguese professor, Marilete (the one who does speak English) invited us to her house in Imbatuba for the weekend. By us I mean Karly and I who have become very good friends and Imbatuba is another beach town an hour south of Florianopolis. So we rode home with Marilete for the weekend. It turned out to be the weekend of the shrimp festival, so there were concerts going on every night. We went the first night and just walked around; they had all these hippies selling jewelry who just traveled all around Brazil. I loved them and all the jewelry of course. We went to the beach Saturday and then back to the festival that night for the concert (which started at 12:30). But not before going to the gym. Marilete’s sister works at a gym right down the road from where she lives, so we went for this dance class where this guy, whose hips move faster than any other person I have ever met, led like an aerobics dance class, it was super fun, and exhausting. (I also did the boom boom class which is a story all in itself).

So the concert, coming in we had to give our tickets, and Karly who is actually a year younger than me went in then I was right after her, same guy, and got carded! Like I didn’t look 18 and Karly did! Of course I couldn’t understand him so it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what he was asking for and then when I gave him my ID he couldn’t read it. It was all pretty hilarious. The concert was fun, and all in Portuguese but Karly and I danced and had fun. The best part however was in-between bands they played some music, it was all American, but the first song on, I am not even kidding was none other than “pretty fly for a white guy”! I almost died, Karly and I were singing at the top of our lungs it was pure awesomeness! Sunday we went sandboarding with a guy Marilete knows that is a few years older than us named Rodrigo. It is basically like snowboarding but way better because it isn’t cold, but also worse because every hill you go down you also have to walk up, which is far from easy. That night we all went to dinner together, (Marilete, her daughter, Lua, her husband, Ricardo... i think...and Rodrigo) It was very fun and then we went back to the concert which is where I met Jefferson.

So if you recall, all the hippie people selling jewelry, well me and Karly wanted to buy anklets together, the first place we walked up to the boy got up and came over, and the night turned to very interesting. He didn’t speak any English, so Karly who knows some English would translate what she understood to me. Well we bought anklets talked to Jefferson, I bought a necklace, we talked to Jefferson, our communication was confused and the next thing I know Karly and I are walking with Jefferson back to Marilete’s. We eat some brigadeus, which we had made that day (and are the greatest things ever), and then walked to the beach. Jefferson was so interesting to talk to, he had been traveling all over South America for the past three years, lived out of his backpack and when asked where he was from he simply said the world. I just wanted to go off and sell what I made for money or trade for food, he said I should and I just laughed and said my parents would hunt me down, not that he understood. It sounded down right amazing. It was great meeting him and just imaging traveling the continent. He also talked a lot about the Amazon, and it made me just want to go even more.

Imbatuba was an amazing weekend, I loved how nice and open Marilete was to let us stay at her house. I loved the city, it was just all Brazilians, no tourists, not resorts, just Brazil with its dirt roads that open to a beautiful beach, and its shacks that house the friendliest people, and its raw sense of life and enjoying it through music, dancing, and late night beach walks. In the photos: Karly and I climbing the rocks at the beach, 2. Karly and I making brigadeiros, 3. eyeing the brigadeiros (we ate a lot before they were even made), 4. my future... ha ha, 5. Marilete and her awesome fam, 6. yea sandboarding, 7. Giant hill we went down, yea i had to climb it like three times, because i wanted to do it again!