Foz do Iguacu

After 5 days in Rio, we boarded a flight to Foz do Iguacu. Flying within Brazil is so nice, it actually made me happy to be in an airport; a forgien feeling for airports in the states. We sat in traffic for 2 hours on our way to the airport which ment we made it to the airport at 4:20 for a 5pm flight. We thought forsure that we were going to miss the flight. However, that was not the case. We made it through check-in and security in 20 minutes and were shocked to see that we had time to grab a bite to eat before boarding. Once we were on the flight we were given a "hot snack," this was an hour and a half flight and they were feeding us!

Once we arrived in the city, we took the bus to our hostel. This gave us quite a laugh. The busses in Brazil have a cashier on board then when you pay your fare you walk through a turnstyle. Well, none of us fit through the turnstyle with our backpacks on so we had to do get creative and start throwing our packs to eachother, get through the turnstyle then collect all our stuff and find a seat. This was a moment that made me think that I packed too much!

We are staying at Hostel Bambu which is a blast. They are tons of fun people here and a wonderful and helpful staff. The first day we were here we took the bus to the National Park on the Brazilian side of the falls (these falls are apart of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguy) . Words cannot explain how breathtakingly beautiful they are. To get to the falls you take a double decker bus about 5 miles into the park, from there you walk down a trail to the water. At every twist and turn on the trail reveiled an glimpse of the falls. I litterally took hundreds of pictures, but dont think that any of them will do any justice of what they look like in real life.

All throughout the park you have the chance to get up close and personal with different types of wildlife. My favorite was the butterflies. They were everywhere and so pretty. My least favorite were the Cotis, a cousin of the raccoon. We brought a lunch to the park and I was carrying the leftovers in my backpack. On the bus they told us that they carry rabbies, needless to say I tried to keep as far away from them as I could. Jody however was not so lucky. She was carrying a plastic shopping bag with our bottled water, I think the Cotis know that plastic bag means food because they chased her down the trail.

The falls were beautiful on the Brazilian side, but the Argenitna side is so much more fun! The next day we went to the Argentina side of the falls. Argentina has more of the waterfalls on its land, which ment we had the chance to get up close and personal with the waterfalls. Once we entered the national park we took a jeep tour through the forest then hiked down to the river and boarded a power boat. We took a boat tour into the falls. It was an exerating experience, which made me realize how small we are in the midst of all mother nature. After a fun boat ride into thousands of pounds of water we hiked back up to the top of the falls and was able to walk along the top of the waterfalls to El Garganta del Diablo and look down over the falls to the bottom. It was truely an amazing experience that words cannot do justice too.

Rio de Janeiro

I made it. After flying all night, I was able to make my way out of customs and on to a bus that took me a block from my hostel. I received many funny looks from all the locals on the bus as I boarded with my huge backpack.

I made it to Ipamena which is an area of Rio. Have you heard the song A Girl Goes Walking in Ipamena? This would be the inspiration for that, and I can see why. The beach here is amazingly beautiful. My hostel is only a block back from the beach, which is a necessity considering how hot it has been here. Since I have been here it has been no cooler than 35C each day. A friend saw a newspaper that said Sunday was 46C!!! I am not to good with my conversions from Celcius to Fairenheit but I do know that when I was going through customs at the airport they had a huge sign warning people about H1N1. The sign said that if you have a fever of over 36 you should go to the hospital. Just to put the heat in perspective.

There is no way to escape the heat though. Even on the shaded streets it is so hot and humid that we are dying and we are constantly reminded of how hot it is because they have digital thermomiters on almost every street corner. The beach is the only escape, and everyone heads to the beach. I have never seen so many umbrellas and people on one little strip of sand.

Besides spending some quality time at the beach, I have also done the typical tourist things. One day we went to Pao de Acucar to watch the sunset. It is a huge rock that sticks out on the coast. You have to take two different cable cars to the get to the top but once you are up there it is a breath taking view of the city. It is amazing how large this city is, but I dont feel like I am among millions of other people. It was a clear night and we were able to watch a beautiful sunset over the city.

The next day we went to Corcovado aka the huge Christ that overlooks the city. We made the mistake of going in the middle of the day, which ment once we got to the top the only shade we could find was beneth the arms of Christ. We were up there just long enough to take picutres and look out on the city before we headed back down to seek some shade and a cold drink. It is just amazing though how they built this huge statue at the top of this mountian. I was dying just walking myself up the stairs in the heat(we found the esclator after we hiked the stairs), I could not imagine working on the Christ and having to carry building supplies up during the heat of the day.

We have found one way to cool off... the national drink of brazil, Caipirinhas. It an amazing cocktail of crushed limes and sugar with cachaca (a rum made from sugar cane). It is quite delicious and refreshing after a long day in the heat.

Tonight we are meeting a guy who works at the front desk of our hostel and he is going to give us a lesson in the Brazilian dance Capoeira. I will let you know how that goes :)

The countdown is over

The day has come! I have a backpack that is about as big as I am packed to the brim and just about every medicine under the sun prescribed to me for the just in case moments. While packing I had Erik and Dad giving me tips and pointers, so let's just say that I will be prepared for just about situation that I encounter. (I have a couple packs of floss in the chance that I need to make a clothesline to line dry my clothes.)

This picture was taken as I was showing off my backpack on Christmas day. Since then, being the wonderful over packer that I am, I have had 2 weeks to add some more items to the already stuffed pack. So imagine another foot of vital, essential items that I just can't live without stacked on top of my head.

If there was ever a time for a real life Mary Poppins bag, I would like to order one.

I am packed for the beach, the rain, millions of mosquitoes, and the beginning of winter in the Andes. Although the pack might be a little larger than I anticipated, I am excited for the journey that I am embarking on and will keep everyone updated as often as possible.

Technology is suppose to make life easier...isn't it??

As luck has it, I sent out my blog website to everyone then the Blogger gods determine my blog is a spam blog. I think that I have remedied the problem that flagged it as a spam blog and hope that I will not be shut down again. I am sorry for the inconvenience of the people that were trying to find my blog and it was not searchable. Hopefully from now on technology will help me and not be a troublemaker! Let's keep our fingers crossed, just in case :)

Cross Cultural Solutions

The largest part of my trip will be spent living and volunteering in Ayacucho, Peru. In the three months that I will be there, I will be an international volunteer. I will not know my exact "job" until a couple of weeks before I start, due to the fact that the programs that CCS works with have evolving needs and levels of support based on the time of the year. Some of the options that I will have are:

- Caring for infants & children

- Teaching English

- Teaching Children

- Caring for the Elderly

- Caring for people with special needs

- Working towards woman's empowerment

My program director told me I will have a high possibility of working in a setting with children or in a classroom due to my educational background, however I hope that I get to volunteer in a few different locations to see a broad view of what life is like in the mountains of Peru.

Cross Cultural Solutions is a Non- Profit International Volunteer Program, to remain a non-profit I will be paying for my expenses, so that I am not putting a financial strain on the local community. I will be paying a program fee that includes the cost of my room and board, food, transportation, cleaning staff, and 24 hour security. If you would like to help me with my program fee, please follow the link below to my sponsor page on the Cross Cultural Solutions website.

https://my.crossculturalsolutions.org/sponsor/sponsorsearchpage.aspx

Wheres in the world is Alexandria?

To help keep myself organized I created an online calendar. I thought I would post it here if you would like to know what stops I will be making in South America. If you have been to any of the places that I will be visiting, please pass on any advice or must sees.

Click on the arrows (the ones between the 'Today" button and where it says the current month) to see other months.

A year of being a nomad

I have not really been in one place long enough to call a place home. I have stuff packed into my room at my parents, I have taken over a garage with more things from college and living on my own. I have left all of that in Washington and have been on a bit of a continental US trip since I graduated in June. In the last 6 months I have lived in 3 different cities and two different time zones. I took a nannying job until January that required me to move to Philadelphia, PA and Miami, FL.

Living this nomadic lifestyle is going to continue for the next 5 months as well. (5 months is the minimum, we will see where life takes me next...) I am leaving on a red eye flight for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 8th. I will meet up with my best friend, Jody, and one of her friends, Allegra, to travel around Brazil for a month. I will then go with Jody to Chile where we will meet up with our other best friend, Christina and say bye to Jody. From there Christina and I might visit Argentina, details are still being worked out. When Christina leaves I will head to Peru. On March 7th I will fly into the small mountain town of Ayacucho. I will be living and working as a volunteer there for 3 months.

If that doesn't sound crazy enough, just wait until you hear some of the details of the trip. To peak your curiosity of what is to come lets just say a section of the trip entails 3 very American girls enrolling in survival camp in the Amazon Rainforest. I am thinking that if you think Man vs. Wild is entertaining we might be able to give him a good run for his money :)

Let the adventure begin!