January 24, 2023

MyTrip to Brazil

Day 1
7:00-7:45 am- Get ready and eat breakfast
8:00-9:00 am- Start driving to the airport
9:30-10 am- find parking and check in
10:30-10:45- eat lunch
10:45-12:35 chill
12:35-12:45 board
12:45-depart to Brazil
11:10 pm- Arrive at brazil
11:20-11:35 pm- Get a rental car
11:45-1:00 am- Drive to hotel Rio Lancaster
1:06 am- Arrive at hotel
1:20am- go to bed in hotel

I planned to wake up early this morning because I was going on vacation! I was going to get up around 7 to get dressed and get myself ready for the day. Then I will arrive at the airport at 9:10 am. I will chill before my flight and just lay down on the airport bench. After that I am going to board. After the food, the plan is to board the plane. Then just like that I was going to be in Brazil. Then after the flight there is supposed to be a rental car picking me up. After 15 minutes, the rental car is going to pick me up and start heading to the hotel. I was going to go birding the next afternoon. After I would checked, I will fall asleep

Day 2
8:00-8:45 am- Get ready and eat breakfast
9:00-9:30 am- Start driving to Itatiaia National park
9:30-9:45 am- arrive at the National park and make sure I have everything
10:45-12:50 pm- bird watch and photography birds
1-1:45 pm lunch
2:00-3:00 pm- do some more bird watching and take pictures
3:30-4:00 pm- head back to Hotel Rio Lancaster
4:00-5:00 pm- nap
5:00-7:00 pm- meet up with some friends and have dinner
8 pm- arrive back at Hotel
8:30-9:30 pm-get ready for bed
9:30-10:30 pm- got to bed

I plan to wake up the next morning. The plan is to go birding. I would see Toucans and Sore Birds. I planned to hop in my car and head over to the birding. I was going to arrive at the Itatiaia National park and take pictures and look at amazing birds. I am going to get hungry. I am going to head to lunch for about 40 minutes then go birding again for 1 hour. After that I am going to go back to my hotel after a fun birding experience. I had planned to meet up with some friends for dinner.

Day 3
9:00-10:00 am- sleep in a little bit and get ready for the day
10:00-10:45 am- Eat breakfast
11:00-11:10 am- get ready for the drive and make sure I have my camera and waters
11:20 am start driving 3 hours to Christ the Redeemer
Arrive at the famous statue
2:30-3:30pm- Tour of the statue and history
4:40- 5:30 pm- Take pictures and meet up with friends
6:00-7:00 pm- Drive to La Madre restaurante
7:00-9:00 pm- Have dinner with friends
9:15-11:20 pm- Drive to hotel
11:30 arrive at hotel
11:45 go to bed

Today the plan is to sleep in a little bit and then eventually get dressed and ready. Then I am going to arrive at breakfast in my hotel and eat for a little bit. I am going to arrive at Christ the Redeemer, a statue in brazil. I am going to meet up with a Tour guide and then he will tell me facts about the statue. I was going to take some pictures after the tour and head over to a restaurant with my buddies. The restaurant was called La Madre, and is very good. After the restaurant I will start the long drive back to the hotel.

Day 4
8:00-9:00 am- Get ready for the day and get changed
9:00- 9:45 am- Eat breakfast
9:50-9:55- Make sure I have my camera and water bottles
10:00-12:00 pm- Start driving to Amazon Theatre in the heart of the Amazon rainforest
Arrive at the Theatre- and meet up with tour guide
1–3:30 pm- Tour with guide
4:00-5:00 pm- Take pictures and take selfies
5:30–6:30 pm- Meet up with friends at the Theatre
7:00-8:00 pm- Drive to Fogo de Chão restaurante
8:10 pm arrive
8:15-10:00 pm- Have dinner with friends
10:10-10:30 pm- Go to a pastry with friends
10:40-11:40 pm- Drive to hotel
11:50 Arrive at hotel
12:20 Go to bed

The plan is to wake up at 9:00 am and get changed and ready for the day. I am going to eat breakfast and make sure I have my supplies like my camera, some energy bars, and water bottles, to take with me. The plan is to get in my car and start my drive to the Amazon Theatre in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. I am going to meet up with my tour guide and learn some interesting facts. The plan is to take some pictures and meet up with some friends at the Theatre. Then we are going to dinner at a famous restaurant called Fogo de Chão. Then we are going to go to a pastry shop. There is a famous Brazilian dessert called Brigadeiro. It is a little chocolate ball covered with chocolate sprinkles. Then after a long day I was going to go back to my hotel.

Day 5

8:00-9:00 am- Get ready and start the day
9:00-9:45 am- Eat breakfast
9:50-9:55 am- Get all my supplies together like my camera and water bottles
10:00-12:00 pm- start driving to Iguazu Falls
12:00-2:00 pm -Arrive there and take pictures and walk around
2:00-3:30 pm- Start driving to the airport to go back home
4:20-5:00pm- Go their security and get settled
5:30 pm Get on flight
Depart at 5:45 pm
7:00 am- arrive at home

I am going to wake up at 8, for breakfast today and get all my belongings because I am leaving today. After breakfast I am going to get to my car, and make sure I have all the supplies. Then I am going to set off to Iguazu Falls. This was going to be the last stop until the airport. I plan on arriving and taking pictures and learning some facts about the falls. As the journey would come to an end, I would go back into my car, and head to the airport. Then I would go through security and sit down and wait for my flight. An announcement would come on and I would get on the flight and go home.
Summary

This trip would be a lot of fun, and I enjoyed learning about new places and new things. As all good things come to an end I would like to take this trip in real life. It was cool to research these places, and I felt like I was actually there. Who knows, maybe find my way back to the huge Iguazu Falls, or watching and photographing new birds, or maybe even eating at La Madres restaurante with my buddies.

Posted on January 24, 2023 08:01 PM by adounoulis adounoulis | 0 comments | Leave a comment

October 26, 2022

Toads

While I was coming back home, from dinner one night I spotted something rustling in the bushes. I brushed it off due to the fact that I was exhausted and just wanted to jump into my nice, cool bed. But curiosity took the better of me as I halted to a stop. As I stopped walking, the bushes shook, and a mellow sound radiated from it. The sound echoed through the night as if it expanded into the air. I began to approach the sound, while also keeping my distance. Making sure I was not walking up on something that could hurt me. As I got closer and closer the noise ceased and I felt a sense of fear spike over me. I bent down to see what I had just encountered. There it was, a big Toad basking in the moonlight. I breathed a sigh of relief as it was not a snake or something potentially dangerous. As I admired the Toad for a couple more seconds seeing its rough skin, and dark eyes, my exhaustion found its way back to me, and I decided to head back and say bye to my new friend. As I trodded back to my room, a new feeling came over me and the feeling of tiredness flew out the window.
As I entered the room I cracked open my laptop. I began researching and found out a lot of new things about the common Toad. I found that the Toad gets confused with the common frog and they have a lot in common but a lot of differences. I found that the toad has dry, rough skin. They eat crickets, worms, insects and spiders. They live in marshes and ponds. Mainly places with some grass and a lot of water. Their legs are very small and thick, made for jumping. Their main predators are snakes, birds, and hawks. As I got tired from scrolling through pages of information about Toads, and my body pleaded with me for some sleep, I decided to call it a night and jumped in my bed. I laid down, my head resting on the pillow, as my eyes drifted off. I began to think about my new little friend, and a weary smile came across my face. As memories of happiness and curiosity, found its way into my dreams.

References
Amazing Facts about Frogs. (n.d.). OneKindPlanet. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://onekindplanet.org/animal/frog/
Klappenbach, L. (2019, February 22). Top 10 Facts About Frogs. ThoughtCo. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://www.thoughtco.com/top-facts-about-frogs-130091
Tukua, D. (n.d.). 15 Fascinating Facts About Frogs You Probably Didn't Know. Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://www.farmersalmanac.com/frog-facts

Posted on October 26, 2022 09:08 PM by adounoulis adounoulis | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Nature Walk

Last week, in Biology class we walked outside and took pictures of nature for iNaturalist. We stepped outside into the hot Arizona heat, as the sun beat down on our faces. As we walked out onto the hard pavement our eyes were greeted with a bright glow of the sun. As we squinted our eyes and face to adjust to the hot Arizona climate, we encountered wildlife. We heard little crackles in the bushes as little lizards paced back and forth in and out of the bushes. We proceeded to walk and found little branches that broke off trees. I picked one up and felt the hard bark, and thick branch. I ran my fingers up the branch as some of the leaves fell off onto the dry dirt. As I dropped the branch my friends and I counted to walk. We found our way to the other side of the school and smelled gasoline as a quick car rolled bye. Its tires scratched across the pavement as the smell of gasoline and burning rubber filled my nose. I almost tasted it as the smell crept through my nose and into my mouth, giving the smell a flavor. We walked into the grass fields and the sun’s heat was making me sweat. We walked until we found a box with a big desert toad in there. We also found tiny eggs that were adjacent to it. The frog was big and dark-ish green as the eggs were more of a pale white. There were three eggs, the size of a fingernail. As the toad was probably the size of my foot. We closed the box which had these animals inside, to ensure they were safe from the summer heat. As our teacher called us to come inside, we said goodbye to our wildlife friends, and scurried back to campus. As everyone gathered at the front of the school ready to go inside. We encountered the same toad hopping right next to us. Like it was waving goodbye as well. We all smiled and walked inside as that concluded our adventure.

Posted on October 26, 2022 09:03 PM by adounoulis adounoulis | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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