Last month itinerary: July 2nd-July 26th

Itinerary – July 2nd July 26th

Arrive July 2nd – Curitiba to Florianópolis – R$35 (Itapemirim)
Arrive July 5th – Florianópolis to Curitiba to São Paulo – ~R$65 (Itapemirim)
Arrive July 10th – São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro – R$60 (Itapemirim)
Arrive July 14th – Rio de Janeiro to Ouro Prêto – R$75 (Útil)
Arrive July 17th – Belo Horizonte to Manaus – R$655 (Gol)
Arrive July 19th - Manaus to Fortaleza – R$427 (Gol)
Arrive July 22nd – Fortaleza to Recife – R$139.50 (TAM)
Arrive July 26th – Recife to São Paulo – R$299.50 (TAM)
Arrive in São Paulo at 6:20AM July 26th, Depart for Miami at 10:15AM
Total cost of transportation: R$1755/~$815US

Places I’ve been (as of now):
Foz do Iguaçu, Morretes, Antonina, Ponta Grossa, São Paulo, Florianópolis, Ilha do Mel, Recife, Salvador, Porto de Galinhas, Foz de Iguazu (Argentina)
Places I’m going (that I haven't yet been to):
Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Prêto, Manaus, Fortaleza

Different states I’ve been to/will go to
Paraná, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Amazonas, Ceará, Pará, Alagoas, Distrito Federal

Explanation for all these places:
**Florianópolis is in the state of Santa Catarina. I know two girls there, both of whom studied at USC-Columbia, Ana Paula and Fernanda (pictures below). I'm going down there to visit them before I come back to the US and to hang out in the nice little city and on the beaches of Praia Joaquim. I'll be taking a 3-hour bus from Curitiba.
**São Paulo is in the state of... São Paulo. Caio lives and teaches there and I have gotten to know a few of his friends who live there as well. I'm going there for a while to hang out with him and his friends and hopefully take them all out for a nice dinner or something for being so awesome to me the whole time I've been in Brazil. I'll be taking an overnight "sleeper" bus from Florianópolis to São Paulo.
**Rio de Janeiro is in the state of... Rio de Janeiro. I'll be here for the last day of the World Cup when Brazil wins their 6th FIFA World Cup title. Should definitely be fun and I will definitely be getting tons of pictures from this place. I may or may not be with Mariangelica and her friend in Rio, I haven't heard back from her yet. Would definitely rather be there with someone rather than by myself. I'll be taking an overnight "sleeper" bus from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.
**Ouro Prêto is in the states of Minas Gerais (as in Belo Horizonte). It is supposed to be a very beautiful city with lots of wonderful architecture that "begs for black-and-white pictures" as Frommer's says. I will be visiting here and also Belo Horizonte to check out a "cidade no interior". I am going to meet up with Becca here on the 15th, her and her sister. We'll be traveling together from the 15th until the 22nd. Again, I'll be taking an overnight "sleeper" bus to Ouro Prêto.
**Manaus is in the state of Amazonas. This is where the "meeting of the rivers" occurs. I have wanted to visit the Amazon rainforest and the river itself since I was a little kid, and amazingly enough I will have the opportunity to live out one of those childhood dreams. I'll go caiman spotting, piranha fishing, hang out with some Caboclos and see what sort of "medicines" they have for sale at the local markets. I'll be here with Becca and her sister also. I'll be flying from Belo Horizonte into Manaus.
**Fortaleza is in the state of Ceará. Here there are gorgeous beaches, huge Sahara-like red sand dunes, and pink spinner dolphins out in the bay, so that should definitely be exciting. I'll be here with Becca and her sister as well, but this is their last stop in Brazil and I still have one more to go. They're flying back to the US on the 22nd, and on that day I will be flying into...
**Recife, which is in the state of Pernambuco. Visitors to my blog may remember I have been there before. Well, I liked it so much that I am going back, and I may even go back to Porto de Galinhas since it was such a cheap yet wonderful side-trip. I'll be here by myself, and since I was here alone before there should be no problem. My Portuguese by July 22nd will be significantly better than now, so it speaks for itself how much better it'll be than when I was there at the end of February. From Recife I will be flying into...
**São Paulo which is in... you already know. Like it says above, I'll be getting here early in the morning (so I swear I hope there are no delays) and from here flying into Miami International in Florida. It is going to suck major balls when I land in Miami and get harrassed and possibly assassinated by the Secret Service, but in all I will have had an insanely awesome experience, one that has been topped out with amazing friendships with both Americans and Brazilians, an incredibly educational experience in terms of language and culture, and a whole new outlook on life.
***Note***
Next year I intend to come back to Brazil for the months of May and June. I am going to be presenting at the same conference at which I presented last week, with a new (and definitely much more researched) topic. The only way this won't happen is if I have to take a class during June to ensure graduation on time. My DC internship also depends on this (whether or not I will do it, that is). I fully intend to make Brazil a yearly trip for the rest of my life. After finals in the Fall semester 2006 though, I may very well be in Italy for a month. Why? Italian, I can understand every word of it and learning how to speak it at the same time will be nice as well.
Okay that's all.