Cachoeirinha!

(Pronounced cashoo-wear-een-ya)

My cousin Francesca, a former exchange student to both France and Brazil, gave me some very valuable advice before I left. She told me that if I ever have to choose between school work and having a once in a lifetime experience, school should never win. This advice is what prompted me to opt out of an afternoon gym class (that no one goes to anyway, don’t worry Dad!) and go with my host brother, Lauro, to a cachoeirinha (little waterfall) outside of Mineiros. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, I grabbed Lauro’s old mountain bike with a broken pedal and Lauro grabbed his little trick bike (the kind where you almost kick yourself in the face when you ride because the seat is so low and far back) and we walked them out to the edge of Mineiros where the asphalt turns to red, powdery dirt and all that’s in sight are hills, fields, and farms. Where the dirt road starts, the shade ends, and so does humanity. You can see for miles and miles!

Lauro and I started biking in our shorts and white t-shirts and immediately regretted not bringing sun screen. We rode for about 15 minutes father and farther away from Mineiros towards the meat farm outside of town that marks the turn toward the little waterfall. There were absolutely no clouds and very little wind, so the dust our bikes kicked up as we sped down the hills on our inappropriate bikes stuck to the sweat on our faces and turned our entire bodies orange brown.

We finally got to the meat farm and turned down and even smaller “road” that was actually just worn tire tracks that went down hill the whole way. Halfway down the road, Lauro realized that something wasn’t right, because in the year and a half he hadn’t gone to the waterfall, someone had built a farm on top of the path we needed to take. We decided that after biking all that way, there was no way in hell we were going home yet. So we tossed our bikes over the fence to the farm, made our way around a soybean field (where we got weird looks from all the farm hands, I guess farms aren't the highest tourist destination), and down into this little ravine in the center of the farm where the river to the waterfall was. We ditched our bikes at the top next to a field of (legit) red hot chili peppers and had to climb down using tree roots and vines. I felt like Tarzan, it was awesome. Once we got to the little river, it was like being in the center of the rain forest. There were all these wild birds and giant trees with twisted roots covered in vines growing out of the river and BUGS EVERYWHERE. So I broke out my 98.15% DEET bug spray and we hiked and waded our way through the river.

We never did find the waterfall, because the stupid soy bean field took us so far away from where we needed to go, but we did find a place where the river got deep enough for us to jump in (pictured), so we washed off as much dirt and bug-spray as we could before making our way back. We climbed back out of the ravine, got just as filthy as before we went swimming, got covered in burs and bugs, and got smacked in the face by some vines. Once we finally made it back to our bikes, we rode back to the fence. Lauro jumped over first, then I handed him the bikes before jumping over myself. It turns out in retrospect, that we probably chose a bad spot to cross the fence because one of the bikes landed on a fire ant nest. So when I jumped over the fence I proceeded to promptly be bitten on my foot. Well, I completely flipped and started screaming like a four year-old girl and until my host brother realized what was going on and killed the stupid thing. Thank god. It was the most painful experience!

Once we got back to the main dirt road it was about 6:15 and the sun started going down. It was absolutely GORGEOUS. Since there are absolutely no buildings outside of town, you could see the entire sunset. And that’s when toucans started flying overhead. Yeah, I love Brazil too.

It took us about another hour to get home, and we got stared at by all the everyone that we passed. This honestly didn’t surprise me at all considering we both had scrapes all over our bodies, red dust everywhere, and we wearing soaking wet and completely filthy clothes. My shirt was so coated in dirt that you could see a line where it was tucked into my shorts. By the time I got home, I had probably 15 more bug bites, the biggest bruise I’ve ever gotten in every color imaginable on my thigh, and so much dirt in my hair I looked like a red head.

You might be reading this thinking that it was the adventure from hell, but I can honestly say it was one of the best days I’ve spent here so far. I literally hiked though a mango orchard and a tropical river and now I have an epic story to tell when people ask me about what happened to my legs! It was completely unforgettable and absolutely hilarious. I have never had a better time not going to gym. Jullian and Emma; if you guys are reading this, we're packing a picnic and going out to the farm when (not if!) you come to visit. It's amazing.