Weekend in Paraty

So, first off on Tuesday after school I went hang-gliding with a group of friends. AMAZING! I was pretty scared at the beginning but it all happened so fast and then when I was in the air it was totally relaxing! After, we went to the Cristo Redentor statue, on the summit of Corcovado. The statue and view from the top are quite impressive!
My weekend all began with a four-hour bus ride after school on Friday. I arrived in Paraty, a colonial/beach town around 8:30 pm. When I got off the bus Nolaska (a random tour guideish guy) asked if I had a place to stay... I talked to him for about 20 minutes while I waited for my three other teaching friends to arrive. We ended up staying at the pousada he recommended. He also was going to take us and some other foreigners on a “pub tour” that night. We met two guys from Ireland, two from Brazil, and three Americans. As a group we went to the main plaza of the town. Here everyone was outside eating, drinking, and listening to music. We decided to try out a fruit bar vendor. He whipped up various concoctions and gave us samples of the local cachaca. My favorite drink of the trip ended up being a pineapple, banana, strawberry, and vodka blend. At about 1:30 am we decided to head to a bar with dancing. We danced the night away to American/European music and also some Brazilian. A cute local guy tried to get me to samba—but I think I failed miserably!! However, he did give me the thumbs up ☺ On our walk back to the posada we came across another little plaza. At 4am this small town sure was hopping! There was a small vendor that friend hamburgers, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and bread for a mere $2.50… and boy did it hit the spot! I also ran into the cute local, who told me we were speaking the language of love since we could not speak one another’s language… haha... I must have impressed him with those dance moves! The next day we woke up around 9 and had breakfast. We met up with the guys from the previous night and went to the pier. Here we rented a big lovely boat for six hours. The boys called it the “booze cruise” boat. We went to various beaches/islands where we snorkeled, drank, jumped off the boat, had chicken fights, laughed, limboed, danced, and a whole lot more! Around 6 we headed back to the pousada, took nap, ate dinner, and hit up the fruit bar! The next morning we woke up ate, packed, did a historical tour and I caught the 11:00 bus to Rio. My friends went their own way 2 hours later. I would have stayed longer but- I actually have work to finish up before I teach- shocking huh!! It was a nice ending to my weekend because I had terrific coastal views instead of complete darkness like I did on the way there. Well this is my last week in 8th grade… I am doing pretty much all the teaching this week so I have my fingers crossed that it goes well. I guess that means I should get to the work and not my blog, huh. Darn…