Missing Out

I was hoping to make this trip to Brazil a combination of sorts… part work, and part vacation. 10 days in the same country is a luxury we almost never have and I was delighted it was occurring in a place I’d never been to before but truly wanted to visit. Our time away from the track was going to be filled with all sorts of wonderful adventures and I was sure to share them all with you. It all started off well, but as you can probably guess from my silence on the blog the last couple of days, I have not been up to much. I worked so hard at not getting sick down here. No ice in my drinks, hold the lettuce and tomato on my sandwich, brush my teeth with bottled water…all the things people warned me about have kept my stomach in check and me off the toilet. But because my immune system is about as strong as a wet paper towel, I didn’t get off so easy. I decided to pick up a severe cold instead. My last few days have been spent stuck in bed with tissue stuck up my nose and random types of medications I could snag from people around me, not to mention the stuff I bought from the pharmacy, which God only knows was for. Once again, my charades skills may not have paid off.

The city we are in now, Belem, is right next to the equator and has Amazon jungles to explore. I was really looking forward to the tour of the rainforest everybody kept talking about but I never got to see it. Instead, I saw old episodes of 90210 playing on the only English speaking television station, with the tissue stuck up my nose to give me a break from the constant blowing. Because I know you don’t want to see pictures of that, I snagged some pictures from my roommate to share with you instead.

The rainforest...


Monkey playing peek-a-boo


Jamie being a brave soul


close-up


70 year old man that shimmies up trees



It all looks interesting and adventurous, right? To be honest with you though, now that I’ve seen pictures I’m ok with not really being there myself. Sure, I’d love to go one day if given the chance again, but me and the outdoors aren’t really best friends anyway. It was hot…they had to walk a lot…there was crazy looking bugs everywhere…there was dirt…not exactly my cup of tea. Or maybe I’m just saying that to make myself feel better. Either way, I am happy that I still got to enjoy a bit of Rio. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but our hotel was right across the street from the beach. Come to think of it…the beach is also something else I like in theory. I don’t like getting in the ocean, I hate the sun beating right down on me, and I’m not a big fan of sand. I spend my time at the beach like this…




Typical Bri.