Brazil

Sun, Sun, and more Sun. This meant hot weather. At first is was overwhelming with the humidity, we certainly understood why the people of Rio walk around in their swimsuits. Our hotel was just across the street from the famous Copacabana Beach. This is a big, long beach, 8 Km. Street is a word I question, because in order to cross the street, we had to dodge 3 lanes of traffic--cars and buses come barrelling around a corner, and then two lanes of a bike path. We ceretainly took risks just to get to the beach. Rio itself is a big city, which means lots of people, buildings and pollution. Graffiti is the most common thing we saw in all parts of the city. The beach was not wonderful, our pool at the hotel is where we did most of our "lounging" along with the pigeons. We went to Sugarloaf Mountain, where we saw just how big the city was and then up to the Christ The Redeemer Statue. This statue--now on the "New 7 Wonders of the World" is ceretainly impressive, but I still like the Christus at Temple Square. We ate lots of interesting and good things. Brian had Octupus one night and banana pizza. Our favorite, of course, was the Steak. We didn't get enough. One night we even at a the Girl from Impenma Bar & Restaurant. You know the song don't you?
The highlight of our trip was to Iguazu Falls. We flew about 300 miles over to the Argentine border, where we stayed at a lovely old hotel. It was inside the national park, and from our hotel we could see the falls. This was the most beautiful place we have ever seen. Most of the falls are on the Argentina Side, but the view from Brazil is best. On Tuesday, we went to Argentina, where we went to the falls. We walked, and walked, and then caught a train, got off and walked, and walked again. This took us to the Devil's Throat of the falls. We were so hot by the time we got there that the water from the falls felt really good. We then we to lunch--Empanada's Oh YUM! After lunch another long walk this time with lots and lots of stairs. Once down the few hundred stairs, we were at the bottom of the river and the base of many falls. We were already wet--soaked with sweat, but soon we were drenched with water from the falls. We got in a boat and took us to the bottom of a couple of different falls a few times each. We got an extraordinary amount, because our guide was having a birthday. Then down the rapids of the river and time to get out the walk back up the mountain. More stairs. But, oh was it worth it. The next day, Brian took a helicopter ride over the falls and I went to the Bird Park to see the flamingos. No surprise there.
For the last two trips I have taken a Book of Mormon in Spanish or Portuguese and prayed that I might know who would need this. In Costa Rica, I chickened out and took the easy way out and then needed it and didn't have it. So, in Brazil I was going to listen to the spirit. By the end of our trip, I was quite disappointed that I hadn't had the prompting. But I waited in faith, but we were soon boarding our plane for home. I thought that it wasn't going to happen. On the plane from Rio to Atlanta, I sat next to a lady and as soon as I sat down I knew this was the one. However, she spoke English--problem I had a Portuguese Book of Mormon. I came to find out much about this lady, her mother just died (age 101), and had lived in Brazil for 40 years. Needless to say, she spoke and read Portuguese. I love following the Spirit.
We are grateful that Maverik sends us to these places, we love being able to go and to know that everything is going well at home.