They say that Salvadors Carnaval is for the People and quite participatory and that Rios is more spectator and glamorous. I feel like a got the best of both worlds then. In Salvador I had a "friend" ( Andrea) that spoke no English and I  speak no Portuguese, found mutual ground for a week on equally poor Spanish...her being young and beautiful made the communication that much more pleasent...one of the best weeks of my trip. On Tuesday night before Carnaval all of the best Samba Schools practice playing and dancing though the streets of there old town. They wined through the architectural beauty of colonial portuguese buildings and coble stone Ruas. The rythems are are unique and addidictive. There would be anywhere between 15 to 60 people in each school marching and playing in unison while another 50 to 70 of us follow behind dancing and partaking in a few beverages ( by the way there are no open container laws in all of Brazil ). One school would cross paths w/ another school...they would duel a bit and then go on the different paths and we would switch and follow a different crowd. Great fun!!!

   For Carnaval I wanted to partake in the worlds biggest party....and party I did...so it was off to Rio. It is a beautifully laid out city which sits on the some of the most famous beaches in the world ( Copacabana and Ipanema..which is known for the classic hit "The Girl From Ipanema" ). Ipanema was my favorite w/ a clean and beautiful beach. Copa was interesting to say the least. I rented an apartment in Copa for two weeks during Carnival and it was situated a couple blocks inland. So my first beach day I walked the two blocks and set up my chair and powwy!! within a minute two of the most beautiful young ladies put a chair on either side of me...one help put lotion on my back....Im telling myself ..boy they love American Men. Soon vendors were coming by and the girls were ordering drinks randomly and looking for me to pay..drinks are cheap so at first it was no big deal..but after a while I was this all feels strange...well as I quickly found out, I was beaching out in front of Rios most notorious discoteques "Help" that harbors only professional ladies.....needless to say Ipanema turned out to be the beach for me ( its actually known for its beautiful people).

     In Rio I met a great gal that was studying to be a Tour Guide for Guided bus trips thoughout the city. Her class was having a mini test where they took two buses full of the students and they were given a specific part of town where they would go to the front of the bus and describe what the history and building were all about and their professor would grade them on it....well Joelma ( my friend ) invited me along and for 8 hours I got the royal tour of Rio for almost nothing. The presentations were all in Portuguese so Joelma would interpret them to me and when she spoke she had one of her friend do the same. Can you imagine how friendly two bus full of potential tour guides would be....great and informative day. My favorite place in Rio was Corcovado..the Christ Redeemer statue that looks down on Rio and gives you the greatest panoramic veiw of this sensational city. Another great experience was my visit to Maracana Stadium..the worlds largest soccor venue. It holds 200 thousand people. I saw two local Rio teams compete in a grudge match. Fluminese played Botafogo....Flu won 5 to nill and the hero of the game was a world cup star from years back....Romario who had a hatrick ( 3 Goals ). The most Amazing thing about Rios Carnival is there Sambodromo which is a 7 city block street w/ grandstands where all of Rios best Samba schools compete during Carnaval for the Title of best. Each school gets 90 minutes to make down the street and what a vision they are. The floats are the most beautiful Ive ever seen and the music is remarkable. Seven schools proform on Sunday night and another 7 on the following night and they choose a winner from the two nights. The Parade starts at 9:00pm on both nights and the schools finish around 8:00am the following morning...we were there till 5:00am before we decided to go home....dancing in our seats for 8 hours is fun but exhausting. The costumes and lack of costumes were fantastic..both creative and spectacular. Each school has roughly 4000 participants....truely sensational.

       After Rio I was waking up in Florianopolis ( Ilha de Santa Catarina)....a place I could truely live...It was the first ...First world place I experienced in Brazil...and the first place I saw a native blonde woman since I left the states. The further south you go the more European influance you get. The people here on the beach are the most attractive I ever seen in the world....everyone is in shape and stunning...it was a great place to recupe from carnaval for a week. It  also has the most lovely beaches and sweet resort towns Ive experienced yet.I stayed in Logoa do Conceicao which is quite quaint, with two exceptional beaches. Praia Mole is where to people watch and Praiia Joaquina hosts the Brazilian National surfing championships. The waves are great and was my most favorite and fun surfing location. I caught the best waves of my trip here. 

    After Florianopolis I crossed the country to visit one of the Natural wonders of the world....Foz do Iguaca. This has to be the most incredable Natural site Ive ever seen. The Rio Iguaca plunges 80 meters down over 275 different falls..there is a constant rainbow that hovers over the mist above the falls. You can visit it from both the Brazilian side and the Argintinian side..I only had time for the Brazilian....however I understand that the Argintinian side has move ellaberate walk ways for viewing, but the Brazial side has one platform right at the bottom that could never be beat for experiencing. Four of us went out there and were drenched in minutes..great fun....and truely  work that only God could create!!! From here Im off to Buenos Aires, Argintina for St. Pattys day..South American Style.