Day 6: August 16, 2014

Today was an action-packed day; the day we go white water rafting and go to the hot springs.  After feeling pretty under weather thus far into the trip, the hot springs was exactly what I needed.  Checking out the hotel early in the morning, we packed onto the bus and ventured out to the countryside where we would be white water rafting.  At first I was slightly intimidated, having never been rafting before, but it quickly proved to be very fun and one of the best parts of the trip.  In my raft, I had Elijah, Fowzia, Summer, Joe and Aryel.  The other groups may not be willing to admit it, but we were definitely the best of the three groups, moving the fastest and working together the best.  The river water was very cold, but very clean.  It was great seeing Professor Abad rafting with us as well.

The greatest group of rafters to ever grace a Brazilian river.

Pitt does white water rafting

Seconds before we all jumped off a giant rock into the river

All the above photos are courtesy of Dr. Abad.

After rafting all of us felt terribly cold and could not wait to get to the hot springs.  After a short drive to the hot springs resort, we all quickly took showers and ate dinner together in the main dining area.  Like the many meals we’ve had in Brazil up to this point, it was a buffet style meal.  We spent the rest of the day going in and out of the various spa areas and hot spring pools of the resort.  During this time, our guide Ihor, taught Elijah, Joe, Nick and myself how to play dominos, a popular game among older Brazilian men apparently.  All in all our time at the resort was fantastic and unbelievable.