Ubatuba and More

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In Sao Paulo now after a few days on the coast at a beach in the town of Ubatuba (doesn't the name along just make you want to go there?). We have a beautiful apartment surrounded by a very lush jungle like environment. The beaches here are so postcard white sand beautiful and the water feels incredible to swim in. Stacey and Angelo have been a lot of fun to be with and we have got to do and see a ton of things that I don't think would have been possible if we weren't with a Paulista (person from Sao Paulo). Next week I head off alone again to do some exploring in Brazil. Rose caught a flight today back to Buenos Aires for a couple days and will be back in the States mid week next week. Hope all is well with all of you. Thanks for all of your emails and sorry if I haven't been able to individually respond to all of them. My computer time is usually pretty limited and it is all I can do to get a quick blog up every so often.

Much love to you all.

Cassandra

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Photos

It was a tie
Went to this awesome bowling alley in Sao Paulo where Rose and Stacey battled for who got to bowl first. There were a ton of lanes, pool tables, air hockey, good food and after about 10pm they turned the lights out and it was sort of like black light bowling. Very exciting.

Outdoor Market
This market is the local weekend market where Angelo's family shops for the week. There were a ton of really beautiful fresh produce and meat. We ate these really yummy things that the Brazilians go crazy over called Pastels that were deep fried with cheese, vegetables or meat inside of them.

Rose and I and Angelo
We were all invited to a couple of bbq's last Sunday at some of Angelo's friends and families houses. We met so many lovely people who fed us until we couldn't possibly have another bite. Tons of really delicious meat and I had the best flan I have ever tried. Rose and I got the recipe, but it is in Portuguese so we are going to have to call on Angelo to help us figure some of it out. This picture is of Angelo's neighbor who he thinks of as a second grandmother.

Samba Show
We went to see a Samba rehearsal for Carnival. This picture is of one of the drum conductors. There was a full singing group, about 30 or more drummers with two different drumming conductors and beautiful dancers. The women dancing wore these tiny little skirts that cupcaked out when they twirled with just a sports bra looking top. They moved so quickly to the beat of the drums that I actually couldn't get a non blurry picture of them. I wish I was able to capture the sound that we heard that night to share with you all. It was a drum beat that vibrated through your bones exuding enough energy to light the world.

Vaca Preta
No joke. This is picture of a cow milking station at a gas station/convenient store. You walk up to the cow, ask the man milking it to get you a fresh glass of milk and then chose what flavor you would like added to your milk, like honey or chocolate.

Angelo making a kite
Kite flying is probably the most popular activity for children in Sao Paulo. There are kites at all hours decorating the sky. Kite flying is very competitive here and the skies are incredibly territorial. The neighborhood kids try to bring down kites from other neighborhoods by gluing smashed up light bulb glass to the strings to cut the strings of the other kites.

A guy selling something at the beach in Ubatuba
Lounging on the beach is brought to a whole new level when you don't even have to move for food or drinks. There are countless vendors selling everything from grilled shrimp and fresh coconut milk to cookies ice cream and beer.

Rose, Stacey and Angelo in the ocean
The water temperature here is absolutely perfect for swimming. In the shallow waters it is almost like bathtub temperature. Perfect for acrobatics!

Angelo's kite dominating the skies
As soon as he got his kite up, two other kites immediately came over to try to take his down. Being the wind master that he is, Angelo was able to stay flying high.

Bunny in the sand
Rose got artsy at the beach and sculpted this little rabbit that she was so proud of.

Andre, Stacey, Angelo, me and Rose
At the beach in Ubatuba

The Beach
Our apartment was about a mile into the jungly looking area that you see here. So beautiful but a ton of nasty bugs and mosquitos.