Rio de Janeiro

Hey everybody,

The trip is ending fast so I thought I would write one last time before it was too late. I'm not sure but I don't think I have written since Egypt. Sorry about that, I guess I have been out here too long and things just aren't as special as they used to be. Right now we are in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where we have been for the last week. For some reason we gave ourselves 10 days here in Rio but there isn't enough to do here to fill the time. We have laid on the beach, gone ocean fishing (caught a ton of fish), went on a boat trip around some of the islands here in Rio, and walked through one of the ghettos out here but really the time here has gone slow and its been a little boring actually. We have been trying to climb some mountains and go hang gliding but the weather hasn't been cooperating with us at all. Tomorrow is our last day here in Rio and we are really hoping for some good weather. Before we got here we were in Italy for 6 days and it turned out to be a very good trip. Italy is a very interesting country with lots of cool things to see. We thought that we would be done with everything in a couple days but we actually ran out of time and wished that we could stay longer. We saw the Colosseum, the Vatican City, the statue of the David, the leaning tower of Pisa, and toured the underground tombs in Rome (the catacombs). We also saw numerous cathedrals and ancient buildings. Egypt turned out great also. We saw some amazing temples, tombs, and artifacts and did some sailing on the Nile and SCUBA diving in the Red Sea. The pictures are all amazing and every time that I look through them I just cant wait to get home and put together a slide show. Right now we are planning a trip to the Amazon where we will go on Wednesday. It looks like we will spend 6 days hiking through the jungle. I think it will be amazing. I cant believe that the trip is ending but I get bored with anything after about 3 months so I think the time is just right. It will be really nice to get home especially for Christmas. It will be nice to be normal again but this trip has definitely changed my life. Such a great experience that I cant forget. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you are enjoying the Holidays and enjoying the cold weather while I will be sweating in the Amazon. One week from Wednesday we start our journey home. Its funny how fast the time goes as things come to an end. The last few weeks have flown by. We will definitely try to go out with a bang in the Amazon and do every cool thing possible. Cant wait to show you all the pictures.

---Blair

a little whatup

Hey Anthony

How are you doing? You surviving? I´m sure you are just about going crazy right now with everything going on. Dude I can totally relate. Today was so stressful for me too! I had to wake up at like, 9:00, then I had to be up to breakfast by ten, and then it was all day rushing from my Moby Dick book, to the TV, to the rodizio grill, I had to swing by the beach for a leisurely walk, then run to the video store to rent a movie! All this before midnight! It is horrible!! So I completely understand what you are going through right now. We´ll make a deal though. If you make it through, I´ll do all I can to make it through alright as well. It will all be over soon though. We´ll make it through together ok? I´m going to explore the amazon for six days starting Wednesday, which will be tomorrow when you are reading this. Don´t bother writing me back cause so far as I know they don´t have broadband in the Amazon. The next time you will hear from me will probably be a phone call near christmas. I´ll be getting back the night of the 19th and boarding that dreadful plane that will drag me back into reality the next morning. I actually am quite looking forward to this hike through the forest. I´m done with Rio. It´s a city for partiers. As for real things to do it is rather slow. I´m not one to enjoy doing nothing so I´m completely ready to be productive again. We´ve really been just sitting around for the last nine days. Occasionally we get out but on too many occasions such as today, we go out to do something and it rains, so we have to cancel plans. Today we actually were in the car to go hang gliding when it started raining and the dude said we couldn´t do it today. So here´s hopin that tomorrow is a nice day, as it is our last. Have a blast and I´ll talk to you soon.

your buddy

Trent