Off to BRAZIL

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Sha's Entry

First Stop: Brazil

We began our journey one bright and sunny morning in May. Specifically, it was Monday, May 4th, 2015 and the Chicago weather was absolutely perfect: a solid 78 degrees. Reed Essex, Eleni Leventopoulos and I (Fransha Dace) had met up at at our designated spot inside of the O’hare International Airport: the Cinnabon kiosk. We all agreed to get there by 8:15 because our flight was scheduled to leave at 9 AM. Arriving on time, we all ate Cinnabons and talked. At 8:45 we made our way to the terminal and boarded our plane. The first stop on our Amazing Race journey was Brazil. The flight was on schedule so, after a one hour and nineteen minute layover in Panama City, Panama, we landed at the Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro at exactly 12:43 AM.

It took us about 30 minutes to to collect our baggage. At about 1:13 AM I suggested that we take a walk around the city to observe Brazil’s nightlife. Reed reminded us of Brazil’s 80%!u(MISSING)nsolved crime rate, so we agreed to take a cab. Eleni went to the front desk and ordered us a taxi, or táxi, as the Brazilians say. It arrived within minutes. Our driver’s name was Teodoro and, because his wife was from Detroit, spoke perfect English. He told us that his name meant “gift from God”. Teodoro went on to tell us about how most Brazilians, like he and his family, were Roman Catholic, although only about 20% of them (Teodoro included) attended mass regularly.

The drive to the hotel was full of beautiful sights. We we drove over this rather short bridge that overlooked Guanabara Bay. The view was amazing- so full of trees and flowers. Although it was night time, everything looked so full of life. We also drove past the Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho. The ride to the hotel took 29 minutes and cost us $90.74 (including gratuity). As we exited Teodoro’s taxi, he exclaimed “Tchau novos amigos!”, or “Goodbye new friends!” “Tchau!” we retorted in Portuguese, Brazil’s official language. At 1:45 we checked into the Best Western of Augusto's Rio Copa Hotel. We were all pretty jetlagged and went straight to sleep.

We woke up at around 8:00, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. I ordered the the broa de fuba, which is Brazilian breakfast corn cake. It was sweet and fluffy. Eleni ordered the Rabanada- a Brazilian style french toast. It was lightly dusted with powdered sugar and heavenly in every sense of the word. Reed had the Brownie de Castanha-do-pará, which is basically a Brazilian brownie dessert. Reed explained to us that it is better to start the day with brownies because we would need all the energy we could get for our Amazing Race challenge. And right Reed was.

After breakfast, we caught another cab that took us to one of the most noteworthy sites in Brazilian history: Christ the Redeemer. It is a giant statue that stands at the peak of the Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. That’s just Christ the Redeemer’s relative location. Its absolute location is 22.9519° S, 43.2106° W. Because this site is one of the aspects that makes Brazil such a unique place, we decided that it would be here, that we were did our first Amazing Race challenge: learn Capoeira. Capoeira is a form of martial arts that Brazilians. It originated among Brazilian slaves and is still practiced today. This art form combines the discipline of martial arts with the creativity and rhythm of dance. Right below the breathtaking statue, we met up with Gabriel Santos, a master of Capoeira. He turns on some super upbeat and highly rhythmic music and to be the soundtrack to our fight. He instructs us on some of his moves starting with a cartwheel. Gabriel told us that Capoeira was all about being in sync with your partner. After Gabriel’s demonstration, Elini and I decided to challenge Reed to a Capoeira battle. Gabriel changed the song and the three of us cartwheeled to center of our circle. We moved to the rhythm of the music. Because of Reed’s insanely long legs, the kicks posed no challenge. Eleni and I ducked swiftly then struggled a bit but the music gives us just the competitive edge we need. At last, our kicks were no match for Reed and he was all tuckered out. We had won. Now it was time to head to Morocco.

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