One of the first questions people ask about my volunteer experience is, "Was it scary?" My first instinct is to say n…

My mom and I were on separate flights back to the US, so she boarded a flight to Dallas while I waited for my flight to Miami. The CCS house manage…

When I got to Miami, it was around 6am. I always seem to be more culture-shocked upon returning to the US than I am when I leave it. After going th…

My dreaded last day in Brazil had finally come. I was very sad to leave such a fantastic and beautiful country. As we were eating breakfast, a saro…

Here are some suggestions on things to do in Rio based on some of the things I've done and what I've heard from other people: 1) Pao de Acucar Ri…

We decided to take it easy on our second day. Someone had told us about the H. Stern jewelry company workshop tours so we decided to give it a try.…

This market is more commonly known as the Hippie Fair. It takes place on Sundays from 8am to 2pm in a big square in Ipanema. I believe the name "Hipp…

When we woke up, the first thing we did was open the curtains to enjoy our view of Copacabana in the daylight. For our first day in the Rio, we wer…

I had to wake up fairly early on Saturday morning to get my second anti-rabies vaccination. The clinic was only open from 7am to 11am. After being …

After saying good by to Frutos de Maes, I didn't have too much time to be sad. My mom would be arriving in Salvador shortly and I had last minute t…

Jardim das Delicias or "Garden of Delights" is a relaxing restaurant in Pelourinho, Salvador's busy historic center. To get to the restaurant, you wa…

On Thursday night, most people went out, but I stayed in with Romy and a few others. It was nice to have a quiet house. The few of us in the house …

It seems that everyone knows someone who has a terrible story of how they were robbed in South America. Right before I left, everyone wanted to share…

It was my last Tuesday night in Pelourinho (Bencao) and I wanted it to be a fun one. We'd had a few weeks of weird Tuesday nights- a guy had …

I knew my last week would be tough. I had seen people leave after spending several weeks volunteering and for many, it was pretty emotional. I want…

On Sunday, Bunny, Julie and I were up early and decided to go up to Praia do Flamengo for the day. It's a nice beach north of t…

In addition to the typical Brazilian fare, Bahia has it's own unique cuisine that is very much influenced by its location and West African history. B…

If for some reason you're looking for Japanese food and an upscale experience Salvador, Sato is the place to go. It's located in the Porto da Barra n…

Living in a house with people of all ages from different parts of the globe is a cultural experience in itself. While I was at CCS Brazil, there were…

It was a long weekend so a couple of my roomates and I decided to take a day trip to Praia do Forte. It's a fishing village…

There was another one of the numerous Brazilian holidays this week so we only had class Monday through Wednesday. Tuesday was Halloween and I wasn'…

This is the ice cream shop we visited on our city tour, I just figured out the name of it! It is a little out of the way of the main areas tourists v…

The Mercado Modelo is located in Cidade Baixa near the financial area of Salvador. It's basically a tourist market where you can get a ton of cool ar…

 After several days of rain, the sun finally returned and there was another soccer game on Saturday. I wanted to go again and experience a gam…

Visiting a Candomble ceremony is a great way to get to the heart of the Afro-Brazilian culture. The ceremonies take place at Candomble houses called …

The heavy rain from the weekend continued through most of the week putting a damper on our typical activities that revolved around the outdoors. It…

After the first two weekends of exploring other parts of Bahia, it was time to spend weekend in Salvador. On Friday night we met up in the Barra ne…

If you go to Salvador, Bale Folclorico da Bahia is a must. It is an excellent introduction to the culture, dance, and music of Bahia. The dance compa…

World Bar is located in Barra in a cluster of bars and clubs. The way locals say it, it sounds like "whirl-gee bar"... this confused me so much at fi…

In the afternoons and evenings we had free time and we found plenty of activities to fill it up. I would spend some time preparing for the next day…

In Salvador you won't find huge modern museums like the ones you'll find in major US and European cities. There are several smaller museums with some…

After the second week, a bunch of volunteers left, mainly those who could only get a limited time away from work. Another group of about seven people…

After our intense hike the day before, we awoke to sore, stiff muscles. We were thankful that we signed up for a van tour instead o…

We made the trip to Lencois and Chapada Diamantina for the nature, beauty and hiking. We weren't expecting to be blown away by exceptional cuisine, m…

We woke up bright and early on Friday morning to meet up with our guide Marcello who would take us on our trek to the Sossego Waterfall. We stopped…

Bahia is known for its miles of fantastic coastline, but about 250 miles inland, Chapada Diamantina (Diamond Plateau) offers beautiful scenery and am…

During the second week of volunteering, we had our weekly meeting and the program director Grace encouraged us to travel because we had a long week…

The second week of school was a short week and jam-packed. There were two holidays that week, a Catholic holiday and Children's Day so we o…

When we returned from Morro on Sunday afternoon, the people who had stayed in Salvador told us about an Olodum concert that evening. Olodum is an int…

The second day in Morro, we settled into the island vibe and learned it was much better to go barefoot when the only way to get around was by walki…

Morro de Sao Paulo is a town on the beautiful island of Tinhare which is about 300 km south of Salvador. Everyone calls it "Morro" and it's pronounce…

The Amendoeira Praia Hotel in Morro de Sao Paulo is great for the price. It's located on Morro de Sao Paulo's quiet third beach, but it's right aroun…

For our first weekend in Brazil, some of my roomates and other volunteers decided to take a trip to Morro de Sao Paulo, a town on the island of Ti…

Pelourinho is often referred to as "touristy" in guidebooks and articles on Salvador. It is touristy, but it has a lot of things that make it worth v…

From the first day we arrived in Salvador, the volunteers who had been there for awhile had been talking about Tuesday night …

After orientation on Monday, we had our first day at our volunteer placements on Tuesday. I was going to be worki…

NON-ALCOHOLIC Guarana: This soda looks like ginger ale and comes in green cans and bottles so I assumed that's what is was until I tried it one d…

On our first full day, my roommates Romy and Michelle (this always made me laugh because of the movie) and I decided to walk to Porto da Barra, a b…

Somehow I made my way through all of the correct customs lines and collected my suitcase. It was a bit harder to figure out where to check …

It takes quite sometime to get to Brazil from San Francisco and it's hard to get anywhere in the country without flying through Sao Paulo. I …

Before I even set foot in Bahia, I knew I would love it. I had done quite a bit of research on the area and was intrigued by how much the Afr…