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It's not so easy to get to Brazil, so once you are down there, see all that you can see. After the official program ends, you can choose to stay an extra ten days before heading back home. This decision has to be made even before you leave, which is tough because you will have no idea what you want to do in Brazil before the time comes. Changing your returning flight later can be costly.

Planning ahead (sort of) I chose to take ten extra days. On little more than a whim, I got in on a plan with Jon, Tyler and John to broaden my horizons and see the rest of Brazil. What unfolded was an a ten day excursion so packed with stories and adventures, it's hard to believe we did it all in such a short amount of time.

Going through a package developed by the travel agency www.brol.com, we went first to Fernando de Noronha, then Rio de Janeiro, and finally Foz de Iguaçu, all of which I'll describe below. The entire package consisted of many plane rides, places to stay, and limited tours (some of which were a little lame). The Brazil air pass gave us all the plane rides (Fortaleza-Recife, Recife-Fernando de Noronha, Fernando de Noronha-Recife, Recife-Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo-Foz de Iguaçu, Foz de Iguaçu-Sao Paulo, and Sao Paulo-Fortaleza = 9 different airplanes) for a little over $400. You should look into the getting an air pass before you go, because it is the best way to get around Brazil. Again, you'll probably have no idea if you want one, and where to go, until much later.

Now, to chronologically sort out the craziness:

Fernando de Noronha

Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago off the coast of Brazil, and one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is very remote; it takes an hour plane ride straight east off the coast of Brazil to get there. The whole island is an ecological preserve as well. There are only 200 tourists (required to pay an ecological tax of US$14 a day) allowed on the island at one time, and 2,000 people total on the entire island. What this amounts to is the most tranquil, untouched paradise of greenery, beaches and clear blue water. The other half of the year, it is also home to some of the best surfing in the world, but when we were there, it was really quiet, and not much to do after the sun went down, except for one secret party of the locals which we discovered. The days were packed. We took a boat ride to see a school of hundreds of dolphins. We did "plane-sub", which is snorkeling where you are pulled holding on to a board behind a boat, being able to dip the board down and dive deep into the water, swerve effortlessly from side to side like you are flying, and stay underwater forever, because there is no strenuous swimming involved. We also climbed up the huge peak in the middle of the island, one of our crowning achievements, although everyone told us it was too dangerous, prohibido, and we had to cut through brush and climb rocks for hours to get there. In between all of these activities was the snorkeling, the amazing meals (think fresh-caught-all-you-can-eat fish), and the lounging on the completely secluded beaches (one so secluded, it required descending a ladder down a cliff to get to it). We saw every kind of brightly colored fish you could imagine, crabs, sting rays, manta rays, turtles, sharks and moray eels, as we snorkeled in the warm clear water for hours at a time.

If you enjoy beautiful wildlife, and natural paradises unspoiled by mankind, this is the place to be. Just remember, everything is a little more expensive here than in Fortaleza, and of course, bring money. There was one ATM machine on the island, which didn't really work at all. And all of us somehow foolishly had nothing but pocket change when we arrived. This made things interesting, working out how we were going to pay for everything. I even had to sacrifice my last meal so I could buy one souvenir. So bring cash money, and an adventurous spirit, and you will be pleased.

Que lindo, os golfinhos!!!	An amazing sunset picture taken by Tyler	A delicious all you could eat fish place for...$3 US. Our beverages were courtesy of Ron Montilla.
A nice bay where we spent 4 hours snorkeling, and chased a turtle for a while until John touched it, which made the turtle mad, so we didn't mess with it anymore.
The main feature of the island: the big peak you could see from anywhere, which we felt compelled to conquer	Another amazing snorkeling spot which was only reachable by traversing the cliff face by ladder.	The four of us near the top of the peak.
Panoramic of our view on the peak. We could see the entire island. We didn't go all the way to the top, because we didn't trust the rusty ladders, but we got plenty high enough.

Rio de Janeiro

After spending days in one of the least densely populated places in the world, we quickly found ourselves in one of the most densely populated places. Rio is called one of the most beautiful cities in the world, on account of its sparkling beach front, the high rises lining those, and the mountains backing it all up. This is the city where samba originated, Carnival became world renowned, the Christ Redeemer statue overlooks all, and the famous beaches of Copacobana and Ipanema reside. We found so much to do, the days flew by too fast. First, we checked out Pao de Acucar, or Sugar Loaf, the famous point in the middle of the city, reachable by gondola. That night, we checked out a club called Help on Copacabana beach, where our hotel also rested. The next morning, after not much sleep, we hanglided off a mountain, over the city and water, and landed on the beach. That night, we saw a soccer game in the biggest stadium in the world (Pelé's home stadium) to watch one of the Rio teams play Fortaleza. More partying after that, and the next morning, a tour of one of the famous favelas, or slums, of Rio. This was with a personal guide who knew the people in the favelas; there is no other way to safely get through them. Then we saw the Cristo Redentor up close near sunset. Afterwards, another night of partying, a morning spent at the Ipanema beach, and we were through. I don't think I slept much at all the whole time I was there. We were all pretty exhausted after this leg of our journey, but pleased with how much we got out of it.

Some advice:

Buying drinks at a grocery store is cheap
If you are friendly with taxi drivers, tour guides, etc., they will show you cooler stuff.
Request a room in your hotel that faces the beach, not one that faces the wall of another building behind yours
If you go hangliding, make sure you go with experts. It's a pretty dangerous sport. We paid $75 bucks each, but who else can say they have hanglided over Rio?
If you stay up late enough, you can get complementary breakfast at the hotel before going to bed
Listen to Lonely Planet when they say don't bring anything with you to the beach. People get robbed all the time. In fact, as my eyes were closed laying on a towel on the beach, someone stole Tyler's camera and wallet right beside me. The local Rio-ans (cariocas) around weren't at all surprised when we told them. Tyler took it surprisingly well, considering he lost a camera, two rolls of used film, 100 bucks, and had to cancel his credit card.

A view of Copacabana from Sugar Loaf	The four of us with Sugar Loaf in the background	After eating at the Churrascoria Palace, we are all very impressed with our pronounced stomachs. This picture cracks me up for some reason.
John meeting new people in Help!	Us with our hangliding instructor	Cristo Redentor, visible all over Rio
A tribute to Pelé o Rei	Fortaleza vs. Flamengo in Maracana	Picture of the city from the feet of the Cristo Redentor
The favela Rocina, where we took a tour	kids in the favelas really like digital cameras	waiting in line to get into one of the several classy clubs we found in Rio

Foz de Iguaçu

Next, we were off to the Foz de Iguaçu, some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Lonely Planet claims they are wider than Niagara and taller than Victoria, so a must see if you are on a trip around Brazil. If you have ever seen the movie The Mission, starring Robert De Niro, these waterfalls were where it was filmed. The falls are actually on the river that divides Argentina and Brazil, so I got to spend some time in Argentina too. You can definitely see as much as you want to see of the waterfalls in a day if you plan it right. What is recommended is to check out the Brazilian side in the morning, and the Argentinean side in the afternoon, to avoid the sun in your eyes and camera lens all day. Somehow, we got mixed up and went to the Argentinean side in the morning, but, it worked out perfectly. First of all, the sun was not really an issue at all. More importantly, we had the whole run of the place to ourselves all morning, because everyone else was on the other side. When we lingered too long, and the tourists came over, all wearing the same t-shirt with name tags, and elbowing for room to get a picture of a such and such rainbow, it was time for us to go. Plus, after a whole morning and early afternoon looking at waterfalls, we were satisfied. There are many offers throughout the nearby town for trips to the waterfalls, boat rides, packages with the hotels with guides, etc., but the cheapest, simplest and most worthwhile option is just asking a cab driver to take you. You have to go through customs at the border, but that is a breeze.

This was the last beautiful place we visited after seeing many beautiful places. It was hard to take a picture that didn't look fantastic.

Me and "the Devil's Throat" waterfall	water falling	whole lot of water and mist
I am going to sell this one to a poster store	Us and a tiny waterfall	still more

After seeing the falls, and waking up at 5am the next morning to go back to Fortaleza, I had just one more day in Brazil. Jon and Tyler had extended their trip even longer, to see the Amazon, and to return a week later back to Fortaleza for Fortal, an enormous mini-Carnival party that Fortaleza has the last week of July. If I had more time and money, I would have liked to see the Amazon, and spend some time in Bahia, the home of bossa nova and capoeira.

Returning to Fortaleza for that last day, I realized how much I really got used to the town, and how much I liked it. I would have been perfectly happy whiling away my ten extra days in Fortaleza, because there is plenty to do, people I knew, and a nice family there to take care of me. Exhausted but happy, I left for the US the next morning, and have been wishing I was back ever since.