Rio de Janeiro: A Cidade Maravilhosa

Ipanema. My favorite neighborhood in Rio.




Taking a break from the beach to have a bowl of açaí.


Santa Teresa. The neighborhood still has the traditional early 1900s Rio look and still has a trolley that passes through main street






The city center is very crazy and crowded. Not for the faint of heart.

Except Ye Become As Little Children

People sometimes ask me why I love Brazil so much. Today while pondering the exact reason, I had an epiphany--I feel no prejudice there. Like a child that has not had the time or experience to develop any sort of preconception, that's how I feel in Brazil. It's a fresh perspective and I enjoy every new opportunity and every new friend. Perhaps that is one reason why Christ admonished us to be as little children.

God Be With You til We Reunite Again

Hi Family,
I spent this week at work wishing I could have been able to stay in Idaho and enjoy more company, but I am glad for the quick 2 days I was able to spend with ya'll. It would be great if we could make this an annual event as Samantha suggested on her blog. California is sweet, Brazil is even better, but I would trade all that for more hot tub pow-wows in a second. Love you all and hope we can get together again soon.

The Bridge to Nowhere

5 miles up a trail into the Angeles National Forest is a bridge that leads to nothing. Apparently plans were made many years ago with the intent to build a road up the canyon but nothing ever materialized. What do you do with a bridge to nowhere? ... bungee jump of course!!!



I learned from my jump that I instinctively face the prospect of death in silence, no screaming whatsoever...

Adventure

I am currently reading Into the Wild. For those of you not familiar with the story, see this link. Let me be clear, I don't intend to embark on a reckless journey which puts my life in peril; such an excursion would be selfish. But there is definitely a part of me that yearns for adventure in its rawest form. What is it with males in their early 20s? Lately, drawing upon my roots, I have acquired a renewed interest in the desert. I love the following quote from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist:

"But the desert is so huge, and the horizon so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent."

This was the exact feeling I had recently as I looked out over the inspiring contrast of sand and shadows at dusk, near a quiet rest stop somewhere around the Arizona/California border.

I think a camping trip to the little Sahara will do just fine.