that time we went to brazil

We went to Brazil a couple weeks ago for Robbie's spring break (spring braaaaaaake y'all) and it was awesome! So awesome that this is how Rhoda felt about it:

Just kidding. Actually, Rhoda was so awesome during this trip, and she deserved all the animal crackers that I had to bribe her with to not fuss in endless cabs and planes. Fortunately for us, Brazil is only one time zone ahead of Philly, so there wasn't too much we had to adjust to in terms of naps and everyday schedules. Unfortunately, the flights to Brazil are 10-hour red eyes, so I was all worked up about that leading up to the trip (in addition to getting worked up about our flight maaaaybe getting canceled because of the random epic snowstorm the day we left). It really wasn't that bad though—barring the 40 minute meltdown that Rhoda had on the outgoing flight. It was definitely harder on Robbie and me because Rhoda just conked out once the cabin lights dimmed and slept till morning, while Robbie and I slept as soundly as one does on a plane without the assistance of a sleeping pill. But whatever, first world problems.

Robbie was originally planning on doing some travel with classmates during spring break, and I made him feel guilty that he hasn't done any fun travel with his family in the past two years. In fact, I haven't been on an international trip since we went to Istanbul in 2012, so I was kind of dying to go somewhere fun. I was thinking maybe we could go somewhere warm, like Florida, and then Robbie said "why not Brazil?" I could actually think of 100 reasons why not but I'm a good sport and then we found ourselves booking tickets. And then we connected with our college friends Nate and Jess who happened to be figuring out their spring break plans too, and we found ourselves planning our first international friends + family vacation together. Which ended up being So Awesome! Nate and Jess used to live in Singapore and they're up for pretty much any travel adventure, which makes for great travel companions. They also have a 3.5 year old daughter and a daughter Rhoda's age, which ended up being so great for so many reasons—Rhoda still gets a little anxious around other kids, but Sage (3.5 year old) is a great playmate and Nora (Rhoda's age) got Rhoda accustomed to being around a kid her age all the time. It was just really, really great. Nate and Robbie served their missions together and Jess and I didn't meet till right before we all left Provo, but we did take a Pilates class together and have stayed in touch through blogs and Instagram so it's really like we've been living in the same place all these years.

So anyway. We flew to São Paulo and stayed there one night with some other friends from BYU days. A good little diversion as we got to nap after the overnight flights, but we didn't really get to see the city. We've heard it's a great place to live, but hard to visit as a tourist since the traffic is bad and the sights are far apart. So after São Paulo we hopped a plane to Iguaçu Falls:

Just terrible, right? For those of you who love Jeremy Irons and "Gabriel's Oboe" you may recognize the falls from the classic film The Mission. Unfortunately they're most prominently featured in the scene where a Jesuit priest is tied to a cross and sent over the falls by the indigenous people.

The morning after we arrived, we followed the crowds of tourists to see where the paths around the hotel led. We were ill-prepared for the jungly heat but thanks to cloud cover for much of our walk, it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

So wet! And sweaty!

It's awful. I know.

The group!

Jess and me in the Devil's Throat—where 50% of the falls flow into a very narrow (and loud) (and wet) section, and apparently also the name of a talk by James E. Faust, which I just found out when I googled "Devil's Throat." You can also see Argentina from the walkway that extends into the Devil's Throat!

I think Argentina is hiding behind the mist somewhere

Rhoda was such a good sport for our hike down to the falls. She mostly wanted to get out of the Ergo and pet the coati or try and stick her head through the railings (NOT STRESSFUL AT ALL).

Ah, there's Argentina! I knew it was in here somewhere.

Robbie took this picture from a helicopter. That's our hotel at the bottom left, and the Devil's Throat is the part with all the mist rising above it.

At the recommendation of our friends the Eyres, who visited the falls a couple of years ago, we stayed at the Hotel das Cataratas, which is inside the national park where the falls are located. Totally worth the splurge! It was super relaxing and just so, so nice. It's not like we really had a choice as the other hotels are very far away from the park, and most of them are actually hostels and not hotels. So, we went for the nice hotel. We took advantage of all of the amenities, including a massage at the spa and babysitting from the nicest Brazilian babysitter I've ever met (the only Brazilian babysitter I've ever met, but I really wanted to take her home with me). We also lived at the pool for most of our stay and ordered endless virgin mojitos.

Rhoda also got her own amenities, including a tiny bathrobe, tiny Havaianas, and a tiny stuffed coati wearing a bathrobe. Maybe more for my enjoyment than for hers.

We tried to get as much wear out of the bathrobe as possible, really

"Garçon! More mojitos please!"

Rhoda would NOT let Robbie take her swimming in the pool (a duty reserved only for me, I guess) but she did take advantage of post-swim cuddles with dad. Also, I love post-swim naps. Who knew Rhoda could sleep for almost 4 hours straight in the afternoon?

Giant pool lizard

Classic Nora/Rhoda situation. Nora always posing for the camera, and Rhoda trying to get away as quickly as possible.

Parting shot of the falls on the day we left—crystal clear! (The sky, not the river.)

Iguaçu was definitely a highlight of our trip. My only regret is that it wasn't the last stop on our trip, because it was just so relaxing. Way to go, Mother Nature!