A weekend away - Curitiba

Last weekend I took the first of what will hopefully be many small weekend getaways. Christian flew in from the US to visit Pia (a mutual friend) and Pia took us both down to the south for the weekend. We visited his uncle's small farm, met his older brother and sister, met his mom and dad, rode horses, took a delightful train ride, ate more food than I care to admit, spent hours in a car listening to America's top 40, discovered a delicious snack I will call Peanut Butter Tater Tots, and managed to not freeze to death over night. We did plenty of laughing and there were plenty of awkward silences when Christian shared some of his Portuguese knowledge. He only knows the bad words (which I avoided learning on purpose) so it made for some wonderful jokes that I totally didn't understand but the rest of the group always were in stitches laughing or being delightfully awkward.

Here are some pictures to help capture the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to make it back to visit again for more horseback riding, lake swimming, and if I'm really lucky... RIVER TUBING straight into the ocean!!! I have yet to swim in an ocean south of the equator - I think that must be fixed this year!!

I was really excited about getting to ride horses. I love horses.

Pia and Christian plus our wonderful hosts! How lucky they are to live on such a beautiful little farm!

Christian kept asking "which way to Montana" and shouting 'Howdy!' to all the Brazilian ladies. It was hysterical.

Back from our ride!

I went to horsewoman camp growing up - TWICE. Can't you tell. I look so natural on a horse.

Bruno, Christian, and I after we were done with the horses. FUN!

I'm not sure why Christian is wearing a chef's hat. I'm not sure why Christian does a lot of things though, so this isn't that unusual really.

Botanical Gardens in Curitiba

So we wanted to get one of those really fun shots with everyone jumping into the air, but we failed and got this instead. Ado has some wicked vertical though.

Brothers! Pia and Ado. Ado is an amazing musician from what I understand. Pia is good at being bad...

Pia and I leaning out the train window. The dogs may have it right, this is a pretty nice way to travel! Windows down, faces out, smiling...

Sometimes there are no words to share how you feel - there are only expressions

Anyone who is anyone wears North Face

We made it! Beautiful ride!

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