August 20th
Today we got an early start to head to the beach and later to the mall. Even though it was early, eating breakfast at 7:00 a.m., everyone seemed excited.

We loaded the bus and began our three hour ride to the beach. The ride was a little quiet seeing as most everyone fell asleep. We passed through Sao Paulo, but we hit the city at the wrong time and ended up sitting in rush hour traffic.

The ride improved when we reached the top of a beautiful mountain. Cameras began to snap throughout the bus and we all got some gorgeous sites of the Brazilian countryside.

Soon we arrived at the beach. The waves were almost as exceptional as the surfers! We quickly unloaded, laid out our towels, took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful day. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. Ashley probably thought the water was too cold though, because it was below 150 degrees!

We also enjoyed the beach vendors and most of us purchased bracelets. Melissa McLellan was the exception of course, she purchased bracelets and three pairs of earrings. But she certainly got a great deal bargaining with the vendor. While the girls all shopped, the boys played beach soccer with some locals.

Later the team created a game of soccer tennis with the sand volleyball court. Although we can't understand the language, I am sure that the locals were saying how impressed they were with our soccer talent!

Around 3:00 p.m., we loaded the bus and finally headed to the mall, little did we know it wasn't going to be that easy. About 30 minutes in to the three hour trip, the bus stopped on the side of the road. Our guide got out while we sat on the bus. We continued to wait patiently and no one even complained. After about an hour, we learned that our bus had broken down and we were getting a new bus. We finally settled into our new bus and headed back to the hotel.