Copacabana, Hippie Markets, Orientation and Futebol

Copacabana! A group of us made our way out to Copacabana on Saturday to soak up some sun. No one brings a towel to the beach in Rio. Instead, you bring a sarong and use it as a towel, scarf, blanket or even dress. They sell them at the beach, with all different colors and designs. It was sunny and warm on Saturday. Mike and I went on a long walk along the shore. The Atlantic Ocean is quite cold over here, but that certainly does not stop the surfers. There are a lot of them and they are so fun to watch. The waves are large and the current is incredibly strong. Just from walking on the shore, you can feel the ocean trying to pull you in. Brazil beaches are just as they say they are... filled with little to no clothing, lots of volleyball and soccer, and few other sports I have not seen before. There is a lot of love in Brazil. Everyone is so friendly and will want to get to know you, regardless of the language barrier. It is a warm feeling of friendship, that makes you want to smile, a lot! Below are some pictures from Copacabana.

After the beach, we stopped by a restaurant in Santa Teresa for a Brazilian meal. Mike ordered the traditional Brazilian meal, served only on weekends. It is called, Feijoada.  Mike said that it was pretty good! He even ate the pig ears. I went for a shrimp risotto and it was delicious.

Graffiti in Santa Teresa

Sunday, we headed out to Ipanema for the Hippie Market. You could literally spend three days there! There is SO much to look at. So much jewelry, bags, unique Brazil items. And, even after all of that, there is a huge art display in the middle. We ran into some other volunteers at the market and they told us to meet them at the beach for sunset. After a bit more purussing, we made our way over to the beach for the sunset. As we walked up, the other volunteers were yelling, Mike and Ashley! It felt so good to have all these friends, in this foreign country, in so little time. You could tell some had just gotten out of the water and some had ice cold beers. We all watched the sunset together with some reggae playing in the background. It seemed so surreal. The colors, the beauty, the wonderful people, the waves crashing in... wow. But, I did not bring my camera to sunset, so you'll just have to take my word for it. 

Monday was more orientation and a trip out to the futebol field. Since today was more orientation, we do not attend our volunteer project until tomorrow.  With some extra free time, Mike was itching to play some futebol so, we headed over to the Santa Teresa court. It is about a 10 minute walk up the hill from our place. It is not what you would expect, it is actually a cement block, with two goals that do not have nets. Next to the futebol court is a park. We walked through Santa Teresa and found the court and began to play. 

Mike at the Futebol Court

A short while after, children of all ages started showing up. Then, a coach or what seemed to be the head of some sort of practice or after-school activity going on. The man asked us if we wanted to play too. We said, yes! The children were so excited to have Mike on their team. The boys kept pointing at him, to tell him he was on their team. We introduced ourselves and asked their names. We played a full on game with them. Each time there was a goal, the boys yelled GOOOOAAAAL followed by some sort of celebration. Even when Mike Nolan scored, they yelled GOOOOAAAL and Mike ran around the court pretending he was an airplane in celebration. The boys all laughed. There was a little boy, the youngest of them all, named Monticello. Monticello could not score the entire game, no matter how hard he tried. After the coach blew the whistle and called the game, we continued to play with them. This is when Monticello scored a goal! In excitement, he ran up to Mike and hugged him! It was the coolest thing ever. And, in that moment we were seeing the reason why we were here and we loved it. As the sun began to set, each child left saying Tchau! And high-fiving us good-bye.