What a weekend......

Saturday began with a trip to my host family`s farm just outside of Nova Friburgo! It had a beautiful old house nestled amongst the trees with cows, ducks, turkeys, banana plantation, a swimming pool, a tree house (which Katie and I climbed up to)and a lake you can fish in! It was lovely to relax in the tranquility of the countryside!

Then it was time to head back to Nova Friburgo for our first BBQ Brasilian Style - it was amazing! The thing that was very interesting was that the BBQ was actually inside - and looked a little like a pizza oven! But it did a very good job!The food was delicious - loads of meat and salad (and a few beers!!)!

After eating to our hearts content we headed to the Country Club for a swim and sauna to relax. This was followed by a concert in the Town Square put on for us - it was the orchestra and a Beatles Tribute Band who entertained us with a medley of Beatles tunes which we all sang and danced along to! It will be awhile before I forget David`s dancing to Twist and Shout!

But the day was still not over -we still had the Rock Concert to go - so we headed off to see Jota Quest perform! It was brilliant and we danced the night away - although we didn`t understand the lyrics!

Sunday morning was a bit of a shock to the system - we had to be up and out of the house by 6.45am to meet the local walking group for a walk in the hills (16km). We headed up into the mountains and began our trek to a tree which is 1000 years old! It was all going well until I found myself stuck in a huge mud puddle and unable to get out - my shoe came off as it was stuck and I was stood like a flamingo in the middle of this deep mud! Katie and I tried to work out how I was going to get out of this mess....when thankfully two of the walkers came along to help....they also didn`t know how to get us out....but then by chance two dirt bike riders came along, rode into the mud and rescued myself and my shoe! There was mud everywhere!!!! hehehehe!

Finally we got to our destination after 3.5 hours of walking and saw the tree! It was huge! It was a lovely walk full of adventure and laughter although quite tiring and after looking at the tree we all headed home to an afternoon/evening of rest!
But what a weekend - it was fantastic!