We flew from BH to Sao Paulo to visit Molly's brazilian exchange cousin Gabi. She lived with Molly's aunt uncle and cousins in Whitehall, WI for a year during high school. Now she is graduated from school in fashion and starting a clothing/accessory company. It was so cool to see her work and that of her family, entrepreneurs all. They live in a "smaller" city (500,000 people) outside Sao Paulo, Mogi das Cruzes. We had a great time with the family, group breakfa...

What a treat it is to be with friends!! We have been thoroughly pampered ever since our arrival in Belo Horizante. Naila picked us up at the airport and we got to relax and catch up on the bus ride into the city. We went to Pedro's house to sleep. A very nice house, comfortable bed, a full size towel for each of us, homemade bread... How much better can it get for two lonely travelers :) Next morning we got a taxi to the bus station to meet Thiago. We went to I...

Our first introduction to Brazilian people beyond our tour guides was quite wonderful. We arrived in Campo Grande, a large city on the edge of the Pantanal, late at night. It had been a hot and cramped 6 hour van to get there. We were tired and hungry and a bit overwhelmed by the large city and the Portuguese language. We had only a credit card to pay for dinner, after one place that only took cash we walked on and someone who had overheard approached us offering...

Early morning arrival by train, 3 hour wait in line to pass Bolivian immigration office, short walk across the border, brief stop in the Brazilian immigration office = viola! Welcome to Brazil! We spent 3 days on a tour in the Pantanal. The Pantanal is a wetland/swamp the size of France. It is home to an amazing array of wildlife. There are indigenous tribes that still live deep in the wetlands. There are also cattle farms, called fazendas. They clear land and h...

The last few days in Bolivia were spent mostly on buses and a train. We spent one day in Santa Cruz. It is a large city with relatively little tourism, but unlike most of the country it isn't in the mountains and is close to Brazil and Argentina contributing to its status as Bolivias economic capital. We saw almost no other extranjeros during hours of exploring the city. From Santa Cruz we took the overnight train to the Brazilian border. Sooo much better than ri...