October Thrills

In Hawaii, nothing changes from season to season as far as weather. Usually in the fall on the mainland, the leaves start to change colors. The air becomes a little more crisp and everyone starts preparing for sweater weather. In Hawaii, it's different. October is just as warm and sunny as the summer. I don't complain because I love the warm weather. I have loved teaching the preschoolers they are so cute and so funny. I love being Aunty Mallerie. This month I was able to have some thrilling experiences! 

The first was another trek up Stairway to Heaven! This time I went with some friends from BYU Hawaii. And Aysia decided to join us for the first time. We had the most magical full-circle rainbow and the top. On the drive home, we also got a spectacular sunset. Vitor brought his professional camera and got amazing shots of us hiking. 

I spent another evening this month with Sam and his roommates. One thing I will tell you about Sam's roommates is that they can eat. They aren't usually ever down for a beach day or hike but if you get food involved they are somehow ready to party. Sam decided to go to Buca Di Beppo because the portions are out of control and you need an army to finish anything they give you. Since covid is still going on our party of 10 couldn't sit at the same table. We also had to social distance. Five of us sat at one table and the other 5 were at another table with a table in between us. So dumb. We all squished in Sam's truck to get there so if one of us was sick with covid we already were exposed. Don't ask me who came up with rules but we think it's ridiculous sometimes. We had a photographer come and take our photo during dinner. Sam loved it so much that he bought it. I However just took a picture of the picture. 

Also, now that Remi is a bit older we have been taking him on hikes. Aysia got a cute cat backpack we take with us on adventures. Remi is a celebrity on the island. Everyone who passes him LOVES him. We took him to the Puka with the girls and other students who just moved to Laie. 

On Halloween morning we tried driving to the West side to see the Dolphins. Unfortunately, the ocean was so murky we didn't see any dolphins. We were on the twin's paddle boards paddling around and Ava got so seasick from just sitting on the board. I couldn't believe that. Poor gal. I could hear her dry heaving over the ocean. That evening was Halloween and Ava and I threw a Halloween party in the Blue House. We made meatballs and pumpkin bars. We also had a bowl of Doritos because Avan and I agree that Doritos hit differently on Halloween. It's like they taste like Halloween. We played so many fun games that night. Everyone came dressed up and ready to party. We played celebrities which was maddening and funny. Someone put in Mother Nature that stumped us forever. That is not a celebrity. We also danced to Thriller and tried to unwrap little Reeces with our hands in socks with spoons. It was hilarious. We were visited by the firemen who were at the station next door. He brought us a big bowl of candy. He could see us from outside the house. We were not sure if he wanted us to invite him in or not. We decided not to. Ava and I fell asleep that night in the living room. We brought out the mattress from the back room. Everything this month was thrilling! October thank you for the thrills! 

BRAZIL

 With COVID going on tons of countries have closed their borders not allowing anyone to enter their country. Sam and I were supposed to go to Australia this summer but sadly had to cancel because we weren't allowed in. We were on Google flights and saw that Brazil was open for tourist to help their economy. They got rid of the visa requirement to make it easier for people to come in. When Sam and I saw a deal on Google Flights we decided we needed to go. Ava and Jansen booked tickets as well! 

The flight to Brazil was no joke. We flew from HNL to San Diego to LAX to Sau Paulo. We had a full itinerary for Brazil we wanted to make the most of our 8 days there. Our first stop was Sau Paulo. We landed super jet-legged and hungry after over 24 hours of traveling. We didn't know what time it was or what was going on. We were scammed into jumping into the first taxi cab we saw. The gentleman was super excited to have Americans in his car he was talking nonstop. We told him we needed to get a SIM card for our phone because our American ones didn't work in Brazil. He told us he would take us to get one. Which he did not. Instead, he took us to a Market where we got lunch. We were thrilled about that because we were starving. We had yummy pastels. But what we didn't know was that he was going to make us pay for his lunch. After he dropped us off at the botanical garden made us give him 80 American dollars and drove off. We had no cell service or any idea where we were at. We were so tired we took a nap on a patch of grass in the garden. 

Once we regained our strength we started wandering the streets asking everyone we passed where we could get wifi. Nobody understood anything we were saying. We asked one kid where McDonnalds was because McDonnalds always has free wifi. He looked at us and said "McDonnnalds?" in his cute accent. He had no idea what we were talking about. We probably walked for 3 hours before coming to a grocery store. Once there we found a nice man named Sam who helped us get a SIM card. I guess for Brazil you need to have an ID number to register a SIM card. We would have never survived without Sam helping us. He registered a new card for us with his number. We went to an old gross hostel that night and passed out. We did however pass the temple while wondering around! 

The next morning we flew to Rio! Rio was gold in my eyes. The city is surrounded by hills and right in the center of the city is Christ the Redeemer. We got started right away hitting all the spots we wanted to see. We went to Sugar Loaf Mountain to get a view of the city. The clouds cleared up and we were able to see Jesus! He brought tears to my eyes. Jesus is such a site to see in this wild city. 

Rio was everything and more I could have ever imagined. We had some of the best Acai ever! I think it's the only thing Ava and I ate. We spent a day by the ocean. Although the water was freezing cold. We didn't get it. While were laying on the sand a lady was dancing around us shaking her hips and body while singing "acai, acaci, get your acai," and she literally would not leave. She was driving us crazy. 

We also took the funicular up to see Christ the Reedember. Christ was so beautiful we could have stayed up there all day looking at him. We had the best view of the city as well from above. 

We saw a big mural of Trump by the famous Rio Stairs. We also watched the sunset from a lookout point over the city. We also saw the amazing sunrise of the city the next morning. Sam was feeling the jet lag hard. Anytime we had the chance to sit he was sleeping.  

Our next stop was Iguazu Falls! This place borders Argentina and Uraguay. The falls are some of the most magnificent falls I have ever seen. We stayed at the Belmont Hotel. On our way, we stopped on the side of the road to see tons of butterflies! 

The Belmont Hotel is a 5-star hotel that sits right by the falls. We had private access to the waterfall before it opened and after it closed. I think we were the only ones who were staying there because of COVID. We had a buffet complimentary breakfast that had the most amazing fruit and food. We were eating like kings and queens. I had no idea how much this place cost because Sam said he was going to cover it. I can imagine it wasn't cheap. We snuck down some stairs one afternoon to jump into the falls on the Argentina side. It was seriously so hot that afternoon that the freshwater felt good. All of us were dripping with sweat. 

We then flew to Manaus the next day to see the Amazon Rain Forest and swim with pink dolphins. Ava and I were super mad at Sam that morning because as we were getting on the airplane he was trying to find us a place to stay and tour the Amazon. We were upset because we spent a lot of money to come to Manuus for a day and because he procrastinated we weren't going to see anything. Thankfully something opened up and we hoped on a tour right then. 

We had a tour guide who was telling us way too many facts while we were on the river. We were sitting at a table in the shade waiting for our turn to swim with the dolphins but we were too tired to listen we passed out while he was talking. Sam was trying to be kind and stay awake. We didn't fully wake up till we were in the Amazon with the Dolphins. The dolphins were going crazy. We were told not to make a sound but they were swimming in between our legs and jumping out of the water around us we couldn't help but squeal. It was hilarious. The guide kept saying shhh shhhh. No way could we be quiet though. The pink dolphins were a hit! 

The afternoon part of the tour was spent with some indigenous people. We ate bugs, got our faces painted, and danced with them. They were basically walking around naked and it was the craziest thing ever. Ava was laughing so hard as they were spinning her around. We ended the night watching the Sunset from our hotel infinity pool that overlooked the river. So stunning. 

We ended with a quick pit stop in Brasilia. We wanted to explore the city a little bit and see a really cool waterfall. We had an 8-hour layover. So we called an Uber to take us to the waterfall. We climbed in and drove by roads that were on fire because of how hot it was outside. We could see the steam coming off of the roads. We suffered in this tiny car for over 2 hours to be turned away at the waterfall due to it being closed. What a waste of money. 

After finally landing in Sao Paulo to catch our flight back to the USA we realized we were at the wrong airport in Sao Paulo. We quickly caught a taxi to the next one. When we got to the right airport we saw the same taxi guy who ripped us off the first day. This time he wasn't so smiley. 

Brazil I will love you till the day I die. You are my heart! We caught a total of 14 airplanes during our itinerary. It was a wild adventure I will never forget you Brazil you gave us the best food, activities, and company. Obrigado Brazil!