Kayaking and RYLA

Hey everybody! Been a little while since I last wrote, and I have been having some fun experiences!

This weekend was a very busy weekend, it started off with RYLA early on Saturday morning. While RYLA here was quite a different experience I was really happy to be back and involved with such a great program. At RYLA I had the opportunity to meet some of Paraiba American football team, which was pretty cool. So, RYLA started at 8am on Saturday morning. All of us exchange students were there, but we weren't exactly participating. I helped run it more than anything due to my past experience with RYLA. The morning was almost entirely guest speakers and presentations, while the afternoon had a few activities before going home. So here it was around 40 people, and just one day. All in all it was great to see RYLA in a different part of the world.

Before I talk about Sunday I have to give a bit of background information. I go to the gym every single day except Sunday when it is closed, so naturally in that time I have made a few friends. One of my best friends is one of the personal trainers, Junior. So on Friday when I came in he actually invited me to go with him and some of his friends on Sunday to kayak out on the ocean. Naturally, I said yes. So on Sunday morning I woke up slightly earlier than what is generally accepted as humane, walked to the gym and got a ride with Junior to our place of departure. We were to kayak ~2km to a sand bar/island that is actually quite famous called Areia Vermelha (I'll put a photo or two). When we got to the beach I was greeted by a few other people around 30 who were setting up the kayaks. I started helping, and immediately felt welcome in the group. More people trickled in, and the kayaks were moved to the beach. All in all there were 15 of us. After taking some pictures and doing last minute things we were all ready to go. I have gone kayaking and canoeing many times, but ocean kayaking was something new. Fighting against waves and currents for 2km was incredible exercise, but I honestly had a blast the whole time. I didn't feel at all tired (yet). When we got out to the island 8 boats each carrying around 50 people had already arrived, plus a few other kayakers, private boats, and jet skis. Umbrellas were set up on part of the island and vendors wandered around selling refreshments. If you have googled Areia Vermelha you by now know this place is GORGEOUS. So we went exploring for a bit, taking pictures, jumping in turquoise blue pools, and enjoying the crystal clear water. We spent roughly two hours on the sand bar, during that time I also got to try paddle boarding. Long story short its hard and I was bad at it. We hung out in the warm waters, explored bits of coral reef/sandbar that would appear, and just talked. In the end we had to leave at around 11:15 because the entire island was underwater once again. The journey back was easier, but definitely quite the workout. Once backI said goodbye and thank you to everyone, and headed home, and passed out. While kayaking I didn't feel too tired, but oh boy was it a workout. I just saw Junior in the gym today and he said he slept all afternoon yesterday. I did eventually get up around 5 to watch a movie with a friend before watching yesterdays awesome moon! All in all it was one of the coolest things I have done in Brazil and in my life, so a big thank you again to all of my new friends. It was absolutely a blast, and I was blown away the whole time at the beauty of this place.

Other miscellaneous things I have been up to, run run run run and baking!!! I made a peanut butter-nutella cheesecake, and it was amazing. It was like a giant Reese's but with Nutella and in cheesecake form. Also I learned that you can bake Quest cookie dough bars to make protien cookies!!!!

Anyways, check out the photos!