Christmas in B-ville....

WARNING: lots of pictures to come.

So for Christmas this year we were lucky enough to go to Brazil, for Rhetts parents last Christmas in that crazy country!! We had a blast, Rhett has not seen his dad for about 18 months and so he was ecstatic to go. We were able to spend Rhett's entire break(almost 2 weeks) down there.

F.Y.I: For those that don't know Rhetts parents were called to be mission pres. in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, this was about two and a half years ago... so we are very excited they are almost done-- i cant believe it!!

Alright so to start out-- here are some random Brazilian pictures, Rhett though this Bamboo tree was so cool--- which i am not going to lie, he has good taste, it really was a cool "tree" and this photo does it no justice!! Here is one of the MANY interesting flowers down there, these flowers bloom and open right at the yellowish-green part, they kinda remind me of toucan sam??

Okay, well this country is very strange, and this picture is only the beginning, In Brazil at least in Belo, there are no garbage cans on the street, no dumpsters, no metal bins to put junk in as you wander the streets of the city. So people throw their trash everyWHERE!! Not just ice cream cups, or fast food bags, but huge black trash bags filled with items, from peoples homes, they simply find a pile someone else had started and add to it, or just start one of their own--- So EVERY morning you see these people in orange jump suits cleaning the streets with a broom made of palm tree frawns!! Yes, it is seriously CRAZY!! Now, you think, wouldn't it be cheaper for the city to just to buy a few trash cans and dumpsters and place them strategically throughout the downtown area?? NO, that is WAY to easy for Brazil!!(sarcasm, just in case you missed that)

Here is just a small glimpse of what the downtown looks like, we walked everywhere, because driving is seriously crazy and takes forever because of all the one way streets(example: the mission office is four blocks from the mission home, and you have to drive 12 blocks to get there, because of the roads, so it is FASTER to walk). Notice the sign on the street light, no left turn, no u turn, only straight.

One more crazy thing that happened while we were there, well, lots of things happened, but-- this one is pretty funny... While we were there we just happened to encounter a few problems in the mission home. Rhetts parents live in a very nice apartment/condo, but the craftsmanship and labor of a lot of Brazilian buildings is not the same as the states. So while we were there one of the showers blew up, (yes literally BLEW up, while Rhetts sister was in the shower, smoke and everything-- it was a huge ordeal). While we were getting boxes out of there storage room, that had just been sprayed for bugs, we encountered termites(Ewww, i might add). And on our last day, i was in the shower this time and heard a loud clunk. I thought rhett was just screwing around, but then i get out of shower and the sink had completely fallen through the granite counter top!! I should have taken a photo, it was completely detached from the counter and just resting there on a metal pipe that was under the sink!!

Anyway, we went and bought a shower head, which was a task of its own. And then a few hours later realized it was wrong and we had to return it. So we go inside the store, wait like five minutes for the worker to get off the phone-- then he sends us outside of the building, ALL the way to the back of the building(while it is pouring down rain). Yes, all the way to the back, almost to the equivalent here(the USA) of a loading docks location. We have to return it at this location, and they need ALL of your information. Your address, your name, your social security number, and it took another full five minutes for them to input it into the computer. Then they send us back to the front of the store so we can purchase the NEW shower head. Let me remind you we bought and returned this item on the same day. So the lovely man that has helped on both visits, had already grabbed the new and walks us up to the checkout. Where rhetts mom proceeds to pay and complete the transaction, when the lovely man says (in Portuguese) no you can have it for the same price. Which was only like a $10 difference.
So he takes Rhetts mom to another table and goes in the "office" a few times and then comes back with a full 8x10 printed paper of the new price(not exaggerating this took almost ten minutes). Then she has to go back to the checkout AGAIN to purchase the item for a THIRD time!!
Yes, nuts.. and you thought Wal-mart was bad!! They give you a sticker right when you walk in at least.

Okay here is a picture of us with some crazy looking chickens rhetts mom put in our stockings. They make a loud quacking noise and have candy eggs that come out their bums-- (i thought you would want to know that).



Here is us at church, this branch met in a house. The four extras in the picture are missionaries, just in case you were wondering.

Well, Brazil is hot and humid and it rains a lot, and their is not a lot of tourist-y things to do in this city. So we decided to home make gingerbread on Christmas eve. It took a few hours and three stores, to find all the ingredients but we did it!! That is rhetts brother in the pic. and their maid in the back-- she thought this was a crazy process(as you can tell by her face), and it was, it took almost ALL day.

Here is us decorating them.

And the finished project... in front of what Pat calls her Brazilian Christmas tree.

We also ate at this cool restaurant that was way back in the middle of a neighborhood(typical Brazil). I dont know how you would know it was their unless you were a local. It was all outside and the covering was made of hut type material. It was so cool!! It was raining too, so it literally was raining right next to our table. I had to stand in the rain to take the picture even.

The food is always displayed in the most coolest way, it almost like you pay for the display. And they were on these huge heavy medal skillets, kind of like dennys but bigger. Those long brown things are bananas-- not so yummy.

And not exaggerating this is how they cooked the food...

We went on a hike one day, and you can see all of Belo from the top...

Here is a weird anteater type animal we saw on the hike...

And another weird animal, these are called Capybara. They are a large rodent. They are the size of a large dog and they kind of resemble a large hog. They live by some of the lakes.. they are seriously disgusting- and some people eat them.

Oh cute, family pic by the Christmas tree!