Brazil Gappers head to Rio!

Arial view of Rio!

COUNTRY: Brazil
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Wildlife and Youth Work
WRITTEN BY: Sim Bahia

Hello all!

Firstly I would like to apologise for any bad grammar and unreadable sentences I may write in this update. As I write this, the 8 of us all together once again sit in Che Lagarto Hostel....in Rio de Janiero! Although extremely excited to be here, we have been sitting here-some trying to catch a nap on the hostel lobby couch-since 8am (about 4 hours now), and plan to sit here for at least another two as check in is at 2pm :/ Sadly we were greeted with pouring rain too.. But with that aside for now I will provide a quick update on what we have all been doing!

Last week Nick, Maddie.B, Bella and I visitied Foz do Iguacu (Iguazu Falls) and Paraguay. On the Saturday we were lucky enough to have clear skies to visit the amazing falls! We were taken on a safari through the national park and then a boat ride...to right under the waterfall, besides getting drenched the falls and the national park were so so breathtaking, absolutely beautiful. The falls themselves stretch to the Argentinean side (We were unable to go to Arg as I'm under 18...) but we could still see that side from the Brazilian side tour.

On Sunday we were unfortunately visited by the rain we have seen constantly in the past few days. Nevertheless we went to Paraguay and spent a day shopping in what we were told to expect, a huge duty free city full of shopping centres and market stalls. Watches, clothes, perfumes and every type of electrical appliance was sold...how real they were is another story...For us nothing much was bought except for a 'real legit' Rolex watch (we kept being told even though it may have been only $10 Aus) and another vintage Casio...soooo classy.

As we returned to the Animal sanctuary, after a 9 hour bus ride back to Curitiba, we spent our last days working and saying goodbyes to the animals that we had become so attached to (particularly Baby Jaguars, Monkeys, Ant eaters and Parrots). Once again as we packed on the Wednesday with only hours to leave the realization that another month had finished was totally unbelievable. I can safely say we will definitely miss all the staff we were lucky enough to work with and we say thanks to the wonderful founders Chris and Luciano!

From that, it brings us to Wednesday night were we finally met up with Josie, Maddie.t, Marie and Jordie after a whole month. With an early 4am get up for the 6am flight we are all exhausted but are keen to see as much of this spectacular city as we can! We have a tour booked for Saturday (fingers crossed for good weather) to see the main sites of Rio.

Once again we say goodbye, boa tarde and catch ya later!

xx Sim and The Brasil Group!