Floripa: Brazil Continued.

This was our view at Sueli's the next morning. 

And this.

And this. HA! We got to Floripa super late, and visited with Sueli and her family, who found all the food they could give us and fed us til we were full. Then upon discovering we didn't have a bed for the night, they moved the little girls into their living room, and Jordan and I shared the small full-sized bed in the pinkpinkpink room. All the adults had to work, and the kids had school. So Jordan and I stayed around and found a hotel for the rest of the week and watched soccer. And napped.
The kids got home from school around noon, and all these girls were fixing themselves lunch while they ogled about Americans and a girl who only speaks English.

They then proceeded to bring us all the family pets, and all of their favorite things. Their house was a series of apartments across a small alley, with windows across from each other. Sueli lived in the front, with her Mom upstairs, and a daughter or cousin lives across the way, with Sueli's youngest daughter over a brick wall next door.

This is Kimmely. She loooooved me. We were good buds.  She made me into a Barbie on her app, and gave me a cereal box hackie sack with Toucan Sam and Spain.

Someone's puppy came from somewhere.. I think upstairs..? This dog was the cuutest. But her tongue was a little out of control. I got to enjoy some snuggles, though. And wished even more that Mooch was a lap dog...

This little cutie is Moroni. (Moronee, with their accent). He and his sister and parents are living with Sueli for awhile while their house is remodeled. And he is the best little kid. He was always happy and willing to fix us food, give up his seat, get us something we might need. These kids were so so sweet.
We stayed at the house until our hotel checkin time. It was a 45 minute drive to get onto the island, and then to the tip of it where our hotel was right on the beach.

We were tired, and in the tiniest elevator, but after we dropped our stuff in our room and went to explore, we were barefoot on the beach!

It was like 65 degrees and perfect. We explored the grounds and the hotel, and challenged each other to a game of everything in the rec room. Jordan always won...

We played every single game available in our hotel's game room, and Jordan spanked me EVERY time. I hate losing. So I've learned to just be on his team..!

We spent some time at the beach, and had it ALL to ourselves. Except for the sparse number of people walking up and down it in flannel shirts, pants, and parkas..!

Wintertime? Psh.

We went to two crossfits there: Lot Crossfit and Crossfit Floripa. Both coaches spoke English and were kind enough to repeat themselves in English after giving instructions to the class. Which were unnecessary, but an appreciated gesture.

Working out in such high humidity was BRUTAL. So much sweat. I can't imagine how summer feels. The folks at Lot were so kind and welcoming. We visited, bought some shirts, and said see ya later. Jordan wanted protein, so we stopped by the grocery store that we frequented daily to see what we could find

Also I was craving something chocolate and delicious. This was our compromise. It really wasn't too bad! Let me tell you the other best thing about Brazil:

CAKE FOR BREAKFAST.
Every morning this is about how our meals looked at the hotel, looking out over the beach.

The 3 day-later remains of our sand castle- it held up pretty well!

I was in love with the views everywhere. I couldn't stop snapping pictures..! Thank goodness for digital photography, eh? (also note the emptiness of the beach)

We lunched at our favorite restaurant daily - full buffet meal for the equivalent of $5. Seriously, SO good. I got the beef brisket daily, and gorged on the noodles and "salad" (leaves with a vinegar type dressing)

Everyone was always so surprised and impressed by Jordan's Portuguese. They'd ask where he learned it and he would tell them here. Lots of quick bonding with strangers.

OK. This is the entrance to Crossfit Floripa. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? hahahaha It totally looked like we were headed to a kids play place. Super cute. Super unexpected.

The torrential downpour made it so we didn't notice the excessive sweat on our way out. We bought a shirt and a hoodie here. Cuz, souvenirs. 

We had plenty of adventure, but our mornings usually looked like this. Go down, eat breakfast, hang out, go lunch, then drive to the mainland (Floripa is an island, like Long Island, NY) and visit Sueli to watch the games and do laundry, or go to the market and make tiny lizard friends and buy souvenirs for family and friends.

So grateful for facetime and internet..!! I missed these little faces so so much.

We often dined with families, and Sandro, bishop of the ward when Jordan was here, and who reminded me of my uncle..! lived above his print shop business with this incredible view. They made us an American meal and put out their red white and blue to help us not feel homesick. WHAT. Talk about sweetest.
Then we stayed to watch the game and yell at the TV.

We went to church with Sueli and her family, and have the most delicious lunch afterwards. It's so fun to see how we all do the same things in different cultures. Everyone loves to get together as a family, to eat talk and visit. Family is so important and so wonderful.

This was a mix between mousse and jello. So so good..!

Juliana's husband cooked for us a couple of times, and Moroni's mom when she wasn't at work. They were so sweet to always have someone around for us. Their generosity and hospitality amaze me. Also: allllll the fooood! so so good.

We made sure to go to the beach at the north of the island on one of our last days and climbed all over on the rocks watching the waves crash, and just trying to capture the beauty to remember it.

We ate at a cafe and strolled through the shop next door, still keeping our eyes out for souvenirs (sooo much useless crap for sale ha!) and a hammock to take home.

all the dogs...  my heart..!

Saying goodbye was hard, but the travel home was harder... We stopped by Suelis to take pictures and give everyone hugs. Suelie requested that we sing a hymn and we all maybe cried a little bit and said "see you soon"

Tiago (chee-ah-go) joined us as well, because he wanted to see us for a bit, and so came along to Sueli's and also to the Beck's, where we had a giant and delicious (late) meal, with an amazing dessert, and then spoke for hours late into the night, in Portuguese, and English. Because the couple on the right of us were headed to Kansas to go to school in a couple of months and needed to practice, and also because everyone wanted to help me feel more comfortable, which was so so sweet.

Then we headed to the airport and found ways to spent our last change, caught the last bits of the game, and spent the next 24 hours traveling.

Needless to say, we were thrilled to be back to Salt Lake, and excited to be done with airports and cars for awhile. It's safe to say we both left part of our hearts in that country and with those people. God is good.