Team USA: Athletes in Action – Tour to Brazil

Featured image by Bonnie Durrett

Prologue

“Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Here I am in Brazil! “Oh the places you’ll go”, they said. “I can hardly believe it!”, I say. “There is fun to be done!”, Coach Albright told me.

The day Jane Albright asked me to join Athletes in Action Team USA in the FISU PanAmerica Games I could never have imagined what was to come…

We had to report to the Athletes in Action headquarters in Xenia, Ohio on July 14 for training. We had just 5 days of practice to pull 10 girls from 9 different universities together as one, before boarding the plane on July 19th for our 10-hour flight to Brazil on July 20^th at 8am!

Those 5 days in Xenia were gold themselves. I have never seen a team gel so fast and easily. Philippians 2 came to life right before our eyes:

“Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had…” ~ Philippians 2:2-5

That verse truly defines this team. We all have one mind and one purpose to win the gold for the USA and bring glory to God along the journey! There is so much talent on this team and I am so honored to be a part of it! Not to mention all the different personalities which make for quite a fun environment that I love. We were able to use those first 5 days in America to create the bonds and friendships needed to go into battle on the hardwood in Brazil together. I am so excited to see how all our strengths come together and how we compete and can profess the name of Jesus Christ to all the different nations…

“Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ~ Philippians 2:6-11

Yes, there are points to be scored and there are games to be won and there is even a gold medal we’re chasing after, but I truly believe the magical things to do with that ball in Brazil have less to do with our basketball skills and more to do with the unity that Christ continues to bring between this team and all the people we encounter across the world!

Jesus wins! He does it with unconditional compassion and love. As long as we get that message of unifying love across to others by the end of this trip, we for sure will be the winning-est winners of all!

Intermission

“You cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can do.” ~ Mother Teresa

This “good” is often encompassed in very small opportunities for providing compassion, sprinkled throughout our days. As such, this blog would not be complete without including one of my favorite God moments of this whole trip. No, it was not in Brazil. In fact, it was on my way to Ohio for the training. But, I believe, this experience was not only an amazing start to an amazing trip, but also simply God’s way of boosting my faith and my confidence to share his unifying love!

On the flight to Ohio, I’m happily sitting in my window seat when I suddenly realize the woman next to me is crying.

“Oh, no,” I thought, “What am I supposed to do?! . . . Well, I can’t just sit here and pretend I don’t see her crying!”

So I asked her if she was okay and she said she would be fine. She went on to explain that she was on her way to visit her dad, who had been put on life support and the reality of the situation had just hit her…

“Dear God, help me… Please give me the right words,” I prayed.

And I truly believe He did. Eventually I discovered that this woman, by the name of Candi, was a believer along with her dad and I was able to pray for her right there on the plane – flying through the heavens!

The greatest part about this whole encounter was that we got to talk the rest of the flight about our lives and especially our journeys with Christ and just how awesome God is and how everything happens for a reason… We both agreed, God sat us by each other on purpose. This was no accident.

Indeed, it gets even better…

In preparation for the trip, Coach Jane had asked all the players to email her answers to a couple questions pertaining to basketball and ministry, including what our faith goals heading into Brazil were…

Here is part of my response copy and pasted from my email:

“As for growing in my faith I would . . . like to really grow in boldness when it comes to praying over people who may need prayer.”

He knows our desires; he knows our pain, and he most certainly hears our prayers! With the boldness he gives we can be his vessels of love.

Day 1 – The Apocalypse and Opening Ceremony

Two things stood out to me on this first day in Brazil; 1) Flying in to Sau Paulo, I lucked out on yet another window seat and the feeling I got looking over the city was just utter disbelief. It was unreal how much it went on and on and on with bundles of buildings after buildings after buildings. It really made me think of something you’d only see in a movie with an apocalypse-type event, or something where all the people of the world go into one place. It was seriously incredible and quite humbling too, to become aware of the existance of that many human beings on earth…

2) From my experience, it seemed that time-consciousness and systematic efficiency are not top priority in Brazil. We Americans just have different views on punctuality and an unwillingness to wait, and I got a taste of that difference from day 1. The opening ceremony was set for 7pm.  They had the athletes line up by country outside for the grand entrance, but we were waiting out there for at least an hour before getting introduced. We became antsy pretty quick, but it felt as if we had our own little opening ceremony out there with all the cheers and chants being belted out by each group. Really, it turned out being a lot of fun. My favorite part was when I had a moment of courage and asked one of my teammates, Megan, who had said she had also studied a little Spanish in the past, to go with me to talk to a group of girls from Costa Rica.

It was great when we finally entered the gymnasium waving our little American flags and wearing our Team USA hats and t-shirts as they announced “The United States of America!” The actual ceremony itself was mostly spoken in Portuguese, so I can’t say much about it, besides the fact that the group of athletes from Brazil standing right next to us seemed a bit distracted too as they tried to communicate and ask to trade something for our hats right away. Trying to understand each other was quite the process of course!

Ask anyone of us what stood out most about that first night in Brazil and guarantee we will all say boarding the busses! It was a little after 9 when we got done with the ceremony and it was literally every man (or team) for themselves… All the teams were staying in the same hotel and all the games, aside from soccer, took place in the same sports facility. There was not a single bit of organization to boarding the busses that first night, and it stayed that way for the first few days. It’s kind of something you have to be there for to understand, but take my word for it, it was bizarre and like nothing I have ever experienced in America.

Confession: We may have failed a bit at representing Jesus during the chaos.

Day 2 – Samaritan’s Feet

We had a few days in Brazil before our first game and for the first day there, it had been arranged for us to go do a community outreach event with Samaritan’s Feet.

If you haven’t heard of Samaritan’s Feet I encourage you to read up about it, because it is an amazing program. I was lucky enough to be familiar with this program because I was coached by Jane Albright during most of my college career and every year I played under her, we had a game dedicated to Samaritan’s Feet where we would get donations to be able to send shoes off to people in need. Well, this time I got to be the one presenting these shoes all the way in Brazil! However, it’s not about simply giving away shoes to people in need. It’s about taking up the humility of Jesus Christ, and sharing his love with them by actually washing their feet, talking with them and getting to personally put the shoes on their feet.

I was able to wash the feet of 3 little kids, and getting to see their faces light up when I opened the box of shoes for them was absolutely priceless.

On top of Samaritan’s Feet, there was an athlete with Athletes in Action (men’s volleyball player by the name of Alex) who partnered with Vision Missions. This is a program that gathers donated glasses and sunglasses and takes them to places where people may not be as fortunate to have access to eye doctors, tests their eyes and gives them the proper prescription. Through this program, he brought the testing kit to Brazil and thousands of glasses to give away. So, not only did these kids, and even adults (Alex was telling me later), receive new shoes, but also glasses if needed, and sunglasses for those who otherwise would have walked off empty handed.

This was definitely one of my favorite days in Brazil, not only because of the washing of the feet and giving shoes away, but because of how many people I was able to intermingle with despite the language barrier.

I am forever in awe of languages and the translators and the unity we find despite our differences…. Jesus connected us in a beautiful way with many people through this program and I think that is why I loved this day so much.

Day 3 – A Taste of Brazil, The Cathedral and Cirque de Force

We had some free time in the morning of day three which we all decided we really wanted to spend experiencing the nearest Brazilian market and the cathedral.

It was SO much fun… I can say we got a real taste of Brazil today! The market vendors were all really nice and let us sample as much as we wanted, especially the lady I bought some chocolate covered Brazilian nuts from. However, I had really wanted to try a mango on our way out and the vendor who let me try the mango just kept bringing more and more interesting fruits for us to try without leaving us enough time to buy any from him. So, when we said “Obrigada” and turned to leave in a hurry, he gave us such a dirty look… I felt kind of bad, but oh well.

 

 

Anyway, some of the fruit I had never even seen in my life before and it was all SOOOO SOOOO good!!! So fresh and so sweet! My favorite had to be the kiwi, which I found out later was actually called a banana kiwi – I knew there was something different about that kiwi! But the coolest fruit I tried had to be dragon fruit, which, in America, you only really find dragon fruit flavored things that I originally thought was a made up flavor. Nope. Dragon fruit is real, and it is delicious!

The Cathedral was really remarkable. It’s architecture and stain-glassed windows were gorgeous and because it was a Sunday, it turned out pretty special getting to experience it with service taking place. They were speaking Portuguese, of course, so I have no idea what was being said, but there was a moment of singing by a choir and that was beautiful!

This was also the place where I saw the most homeless people all trip… they just sit or lay down on the steps of the cathedral. It’s pretty sad and certainly gave me a helpless feeling. The poverty here is much worse than anything I’ve seen in the United States.

Later that evening we went to Show Reverie – Cirque La Force. Although I’ve never been to the one in Las Vegas called Cirque du Soleil, I’d imagine it to be similar. But, wow. Wow. Wow. I was seriously just blown away… I cannot even put into words how incredible a show that was. There were things I have never seen before! Actually, things I had never even imagined were possible before! I loved it! I absolutely loved it!

Day 4 – Acai and Cafe for the Soul

Everyone on the team had hopes of going to the mall at some point during this trip, so after practice on day 4 we all grouped up and Ubered there. Karen and Chanelle were in my group and Chanelle requested that we find an acai bowl. We ended up finding an acai vendor and that turned into quite the memory…

We stood there completely making fools of ourselves as we tried disifering the menu in front of the sweet lady who was selling the acai cups. But it was so much fun, and she was just laughing at us, and we were just laughing at ourselves. But in the end we were able to order what we wanted successfully. I ordered acai with granola, banana, morangos (strawberries), amendoims (peanuts), and leite condensado (condensed milk) It was super delicious! I know you can get acai bowls in America, but our fruit is nowhere near Brazilian fruit, as we had experienced at the market the day before, and this memory has worth of it’s own. Plus, Karen had never tried acai before and that just wouldn’t do.

It may sound silly, but this was actually one of my favorite moments on this trip. I smile now just thinking about how long it took for us to order three acai cups.

Side note: Ice cream cones are to America as acai cones are to Brazil. Seriously, what an awesome idea! Acai in a cone… no wonder other countries are so much healthier than the U.S.!

One of my favorite things that we did on this trip was Cafe for the Soul. We had chapel for ourselves every morning, but Cafe for the Soul was different. This was where the Athletes in Action Team USA invited the other athletes to join us for guided discussions that allowed everyone to get to know each other and the different countries we come from – translation was necessary, of course. At the end of each discussion one of our athletes would share something in their life that related to the topic of discussion and tie it all together with how their faith in Jesus played a part in their experience. We started this outreach on the evening of day 4 after dinner and I particularly loved every night we had it – just getting to talk to the athletes from all the other countries and of course share my faith with them was so much fun.

Day 5 – Team USA vs. Mexico

Practice was always fun leading up to the games in Brazil, but we were definitely ready for game day to arrive! I woke up very excited and grateful to be representing Team USA. Mexico was pretty good and it was a very aggressive game. They came out defensively playing with more energy and physicality than we were, but by the end of the first half we understood the challenge that was at hand and started to play high intensity defense ourselves which carried us through the entire second half stretching out the lead. It was exactly as I predicted… Especially once our defense got going, we really did play great team basketball. Offensively we were very unselfish and moved the ball so well – it was beautiful and already such a fun team to play on.

We won, and after the game we asked to talk to the team and they were very open to it. Bonnie led the way by encouraging them, sharing her faith in Jesus with them and then praying for them while we were all circled up and mixed amongst each other.

This was the first game, thus the first time I experienced this… who would have thought that after playing a team they’d be open to hearing what we have to say? But they were, and it was such a unifying and beautiful experience. People are amazing. Basketball is so secondary, but such an awesome tool to reach people.

Day 6 – Team USA vs. Uruguay 

On the bus ride over to game two, I made a friend from Argentina who spoke English very well. We talked a lot about our countries and our beliefs and it turned out being one of my favorite conversations of the entire trip.

As a team, we clicked on all cylinders and beat Uruguay by a lot. But when it came down to it, sharing Jesus with them after the game was the real highlight… first of all, they were such sweet girls. I met Josefina and Lucia specifically. After we prayed with them, Lucia asked if I would be willing to trade jerseys with her at the end of the tournament and I couldn’t because the jersey wasn’t mine to keep, but I happened to have one of my practice jerseys from Nevada in my bag at that time, so I gave that to her. She also gave me one of her old jerseys that she wore in a game to win the bronze medal this past June in some high up tournament (not Pan Am, she explained, but something similar), so I loved that it held that significance to her. It was very sweet. I invited Lucia and Josefina to the Café of the Soul that night and both of them came along with two other of the girls from their team, so that was awesome!

Day 7 – RIO

We had a day off after the two game days in Sau Paulo and a very generous donor made it possible for us to spend the day in Rio de Janeiro!

It was a very early morning to start a very fun day. We drank some Brazilian coffee before we boarded the plane, but I was still able to take a little power nap while up in the sky.

One thing I noticed about the Brazilian airports is that the security is much more lax than the U.S. For example, everyone was able to keep their shoes on, and a few of us forgot to empty our water bottles which didn’t affect a thing, aside from when Falyn was told she simply had to drink her water after passing through – that’s right, no Hydroflasks being thrown away and no going all the way back to the end of the security line to try and save it.

The other thing that was a little different for me was boarding a shuttle from the airport gate that drove us around the runway in order to get to our plane.

 

When we were settled on this early morning flight, I also found it interesting that the flight attendants served us little ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I thoroughly enjoyed it because Brazilian bread is the best.

The itinerary for the day included visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue and going to the Copacabana Beach.

We had to wait in line to board the tram to Christ the Redeemer. The ride up took a while because the statue is all the way up on the peak of one of the mountains, which towers over the whole city. It was certainly worth the wait though, and the view just kept getting better and better.

When we got to the base of the statue I was speechless! It’s hard to believe that I was even there. I love that we got to go see such a prominent monument. The fun part to me was trying to avoid photo bombing someone’s picture while not stepping on all the bodies lying on the ground with cameras seeking just the right angle for the perfect photo (or trying not to get stepped on myself!). But in all seriousness, it really is worth seeing if you ever get the chance!

While we waited for the tram to take us back down, there was a man selling his own canvas paintings and I was just so in awe of them…. They captured the vibrant colors and culture of Brazil so perfectly and I couldn’t help but try my hand at bartering for the first time! I ended up buying the two that caught my eye the most, but wished I could have bought them all!

From there we went to the Copacabana Beach where I waded the enticing ocean waves and got to wonder inside THE Copacabana Palace Hotel. (If you haven’t heard the Barry Manilow song, I bid you listen to it now… it’s a classic and this is the hotel he speaks of!) It was so beautiful and extravagant! The first thing I noticed when we walked in was how good it smelt in the lobby. It was like lemon citrus or something. But we went straight for the pool outside and I noticed the bar and wondered if that was the bar “Tony tended”!

The other awesome and famous part about this beach is the promenade – a 3 mile pavement landscape in the design of black and white waves. After visiting this famous sidewalk I understood why that pattern could be seen every where I turned in Brazil!

On the way back to the airport we stopped to get a photo of the Sugar Loaf Mountain and then we were off.

So at this point my phone was on 1% as we were boarding the plane and I sat down discovering I got a window seat, which I was so grateful to God for, because I knew I was on the right side to get a good view of the city when we took off, but I just prayed that God would keep my phone from dying so I could get at least a few shots of the view I was about to see…. The problem was that my body was also at 1% and I started falling asleep before we even took off. I heard the engine when we started pulling away, but I remember barely being conscious of it and thinking I could keep my eyes closed for just a little longer…. Well, I fell into such a deep sleep that I started dreaming:

In my dream, the team and I were sitting on a bus and my teammate, Shay, was across from me and exclaimed “Look!” as she pointed at the window behind me and that’s when I jolted out of the dream and looked out the window right away so surprised at how high off the ground we were already. I snatched my phone up and snapped a few photos right before it died! But wow! The view of the city at night with all the lights was just unreal and gorgeous and although I didn’t get a good photo of Christ the Redeemer up close from the plane, if you look closely you can see the little lit up dot on the hill in the photo. I’m just so grateful the Lord woke me up in time to see what I saw. It was gorgeous and a perfect way to end a perfect day!

Day 8 – Team USA vs. Chile

The game stayed very close throughout the first half. When the ball got to the paint from our guards driving, or on post entries, Chile played aggressive help defense (mostly in their 2-3 zone) and the ball always drew a crowd. We stuck to good team basketball, and kicked it out for some good open looks from 3 for our great shooters, but our shots weren’t falling for most of the first half (the only stretch when our shooters were cold all tournament) and we struggled a little bit offensively. Our defense kept us slightly in the lead and in the second half our shots started falling once again, stretching the lead out for the win.

This game was quite the learning lesson for me. I remember doing a check on myself before the game started and noticing that I didn’t really feel like myself. That’s hard to explain what that feels like, but I just tried to ignore the thought and get through it. But when I got two offensive fouls called on me I just got so frustrated and extremely mad on the inside. It’s also hard to explain, but this frustration is not always visible on the outside; it’s like I can literally feel it in my chest… and who am I mad at? I don’t know exactly, because it’s not even like I was mad at the refs, I was just mad.

So when I got subbed out I told Karen, Bonnie and Katy, who were sitting at the end of the bench, how I was feeling and Karen asks me, “Well what are you gonna do to get yourself out of it right away?” I almost just shook my head and said I don’t know and left it at that, but I thought about it for a second and said the first thing that came to my mind,

“Gratefulness… I just have to be grateful”

Everything got a lot better after that; my thoughts, my attitude, even the way I was playing, and I started to play with some joy again.

The thing that got me however, was when we circled up with Chile after the game. One of their players was interpreting for them and she couldn’t even finish because she starts crying. Eventually she says, “I’m sorry guys…” And we all responded, “No, no, don’t be sorry…” And she says, “No please I have to say something… My dad passed away 2 months ago…” Then she went on to say how she loves basketball so much, but it is hard for her to be away from her family during this time. She loves the support she’s received from her teammates and she believes that they need her here. She continued explaining that she knows that her faith in God is important and he is helping her to be strong, so it just meant a lot that we would talk to them about faith.

Everyone was just so touched and in disbelief and I was tearing up, but when we started praying I really started crying, because God just convicted my heart through her testimony so much.  I have so much to be grateful for, yet I was getting angry, and for what? Nothing that really matters. And here this girl had every reason not to be there; not to be playing basketball right now; not to be happy or filled with joy or strength to persevere through hard times – to be angry even. . . yet she still showed so much strength and so much joy for her teammates… it truly was unbelievable and so inspiring. And to think we could go from battling it out on the court to crying and giving each other hugs after the game… I loved experiencing the unity that God created in that moment.

Day 9 – Team USA vs. Brazil and the Golden Arches

When we arrived at the gym we had a surprise awaiting us… Chile was on the court warming up, but they weren’t supposed to play until after us. So, we asked them what was going on and they said they were playing Mexico at 1. Well, no one had told us… turns out the head guy of our group wasn’t even told. The other thing was that Mexico wasn’t told either and it’s not like they could just hop in a car and get there… bussing to the gym took 1 to 3 hours depending on traffic. That also meant that we didn’t need to be at the gym for at least

another 3 hours. Like I said, the traffic was horrible, so there was no way we were going back to the hotel for lunch and we had to find somewhere nearby to get food. Well, that nearby place ended up being McDonald’s… that turned out being the lunch of champions! Really though no one had a problem with eating American food. McDonald’s in Brazil is a bit different from the United States. What I loved is that they had a choice of your regular American fries and what they called papitas

fritas (real potato wedges). I definitely went for the papitas fritas. Something else I had never seen in a McDonald’s before was an area for washing your hands in the open as well as a completely separate section and register for ice cream and McFlurry’s – also ice cream and McFlurry’s that I’ve never heard of before that were seemingly better than the options we have in the U.S.

We arrived back at the gym and even though there was rumor that they were making Mexico forfeit, there they were, playing Chile. Everything was back on track. Shortly after, we faced Brazil in the championship game with the fans filling the bleachers and energizing the atmosphere. It was a fairly even game except for a couple of great spurts where we put up a lot of points really quick and ended up winning the gold! I will never forget the moment after the game when we had just finished talking with Brazil…

A group of people decided to do a full on samba – drums and all – for the guys game after us while they were warming up, which made it practically impossible for us to hear each other. So we cut the talk a little short and decided to do a break rather than pray. We wondered out loud what we should say and one of the Brazilian girls said, “Jesus Cristo!” and we all happily agreed, letting her lead us:

“1, 2, 3… Jesus Cristo!” we all exclaimed, in one unified voice.

That was such a precious moment. And even better than any gold medal this world can give.

Day 10 – Tchau!

All good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t mean the impact does…

On this last day in Brazil we had a bit of free time in the morning and then the whole Athletes in Action Team USA group got together for some closing remarks; one of those being guidance on how to answer the question, “How was your trip?” Obviously there’s not enough time to share every little thing we experienced and if you’re reading this, and made it all the way to the bottom, I applaud you! Thanks for taking the time to read my full answer! Before we left, my team got together and shared our takeaway and biggest highlight from the trip. This is what I would say to anyone who asks how my trip was in person:

My takeaway was gratitude and to always remember how fortunate I truly am.

My highlight was just discovering how unifying the so called language barrier really is by being blessed to see the impact on the teams after the games when we spoke with them and having all the conversations I had, like with the the Costa Rican team while waiting for the opening ceremonies, with kids at the Samaritan’s Feet outreach, and with my Argentinian friend on the bus… I just truly felt like I was in my element – loving on people and sharing Jesus with them.

I couldn’t have imagined the journey God had in store and I am so thankful for all the people I met along the way and especially for those that made it all possible.

Obrigada and tchau for now!

 

 

Epilogue

Fun Facts…

• Toilet Paper
  • In Brazil you are not allowed to put toilet paper in the toilet, which I can tell you from experience isn’t something one gets used to very easily.
• Money Exchange
  • In order to exchange money in another country you must have your passport with you. There is also a charge any time you do exchange money and the amount just depends on where you do it.
• Water
  • We were told not to drink water from just anywhere in Brazil. We used store bought water bottles mainly, but there were purified drinking fountains available in some places to cater to our dainty American immune systems
• Pick Pocketing
  • There is lots of pick pocketing in Brazil, thus it is recommended that you carry your back pack in front of you and never bring your phone out but for a quick picture, and whilst taking pictures have someone watching your back.
• Pins
  • For the FISU American Games we were all given pins to exchange with people from other countries. These pins decorated the lanyard of our credentials.

For all you foodies out there…

There were plenty of different food selections at the cafe in our hotel. It may have been Americanized, but we definitely got a little taste of Brazil. Here is a list of a few of the interesting things that stood out to me…

• Juice
  • orange juice, pinnapple juice, cashew juice – yes, you read that correctly – and grape juice – which I, personally could not get enough of, and was so glad to find out that they served it breakfast, lunch, and dinner! It was seriously the sweetest grape juice I have ever tasted!
• Fresh fruit
  • also served at every meal. Everyone thought the pinnapple looked a little different – almost white – but it was the best tasting pinnapple I’ve ever had!
• Coffee
  • Brazil almost turned me into a coffee adict – their coffee is so good and I learned that a key to this deliciousness is the hot milk they add in it. Yum! If you order a large coffee from a vendor you may be very dissappointed by its size (it’s served almost in a shot glass), but don’t be; their coffee is much stronger than your average cup of joe here in the U.S.
• Bread
  • Brazilians love their bread… and I did too! There was bread on top of bread on top of bread; just baskets and baskets filled for breakfast. They made it really difficult to avoid!
• Pancake toppings
  • The pancakes they served at breakfast were tiny tiny pancakes and very good, but the best part about the pancakes was the syrup and toppings that came along with them; every sauce imaginable including Nutella, raspberry jam, plum jam, condensed milk, and condensed milk with coconut flakes.
• Condensed Milk
  • This deserves its own bullet point because it was so much a part of the Brazilian diet! And I loved it – probably a bit too much… I managed to stay away from the dessert the first few nights, but then I tried the “coconut pie” – which was nothing like a pie to me; it was more like a cake – and it was smothered in condensed milk. It was so good and I couldn’t resist; I had it just about every day from there out!
• Brazilian Pop
  • Guarana is to Brazil, as coke is to the United States. I’m not a fan of soda, but I had to at least try it. To me, it just tasted like a flat sparkling apple cider champagne. But it’s all the rage in Brazil. After a little research I found out it’s also quite a bit healthier than our soda here in the U.S.
• Brigadeiros
  • The famous Brazilian chocolate bonbons are a traditional treat that reminded me of truffles, just a little sweeter and more rich – A must try for all chocolate lovers!
• Beans and Rice
  • You can’t talk about Brazilian food without mentioning beans and rice. They served it for lunch and dinner EVERY day. But I don’t think anyone complained about that!