We boarded the plane the day after Christmas in Newark, New Jersey and the weather was extremely cold and gray. We disembarked from the plane 10 hours later and were almost blinded by the heat and beauty of Sao Paulo. All in all, we waited in line for two hours in customs and immigration.

Claudio and Renato, our drivers, met us at the food court and bought us Coke and pao de queijo, which is cheese inside a bread ball. For two long hours, my brothers Shane, Hugh, and I sat in the car and observed the totally different surroundings in Brazil compared to Tarrytown. The houses looked shabby, made of things you would find in a junkyard. There were palm trees along the highway and it was 95 degrees out.

We arrived at our friends’ orange farm. After we unpacked, we devoured a delectable appetizer of assorted meats. We were surprised to find out that that was only an appetizer, as the portion was so huge and lunch was still to come. After lunch, we played in the pool with our friends’ dogs, Otis and Ruby. They always barked and nipped at us when we jumped into the pool. When we emerged from the water, we would splash water in the dogs’ faces and they would try to eat it.

The following day, we left at 6 am to travel to Gipoia, an island close to Rio de Janeiro, and this tedious drive lasted 7 hours. That day most of our hosts’ relatives gathered there and we all made new friends. We stayed at an old farmhouse from the 1700’s where they used to grow coffee and had kept slaves. There were three buildings – the main house where we ate and some people slept and two small guest houses. Many people worked at the island and they catered to our every need, which was great.

The most fantastic thing we did was celebrate New Year’s Eve. For dinner we ate a suckling pig with juicy fruits such as golden pineapples (abacaxi in Portuguese), passion fruit, grapes, pears, and other fruits encircling it. After this delectable meal, we went outside and danced since there was a DJ and a guitar player. At 12 o’clock we strolled down to the beach and jumped seven waves for good luck and to praise the sea goddess. We wore all white to start off the New Year with peace. When we returned from the beach, we lit off fireworks, which looked vibrant from up close. We danced until long after midnight and fell asleep exhausted.

We also had a blast riding the banana boat, which is an inflated tube that we sat on while we were towed behind a motor boat. As we sped up to approximately 20 miles per hour, the waves would rise and the banana boat would be tossed up in the water with us on top of it. Most of the time we were able to withstand these bounces, which only happened when the banana boat soared three feet or more off the water.

I enjoyed an abundance of food that I’ve never tasted before on this trip. I really savored the passion fruit, which has yellow skin, an orange colored liquid inside and black seeds that you’re not supposed to chew. Passion fruit is supposed to relax you and if you eat too much you fall asleep. I also drank Swiss lemonade, which is a delicious lime drink. In addition, I consumed much rice, beans and meat. The only food that I really disliked was the roast pig, because it was fatty and tasted like undercooked chicken.  

 It was fascinating that the people we hung out with could speak both Portuguese and English. This motivated me to learn Portuguese, which is a beautiful language. It’s similar to Spanish and many Portuguese-speaking people understand you if you speak Spanish. When we left Brazil, I was the one in my family who learned the most Portuguese.

On my trip in Brazil I had many phenomenal experiences and I have stated some of them in this essay. I hope to share these incredible highlights of my trip with all who read my story.