Metro, Pedra Bonita, and Tijuca

We spent all day Wednesday exploring the Centro neighborhood aka downtown Rio. We started off at Cafe Colombo, a very popular cafe that has been around since the 1800s. The decor was beautiful and the coffees were delicious!

 Then we walked around to a couple art museums, churches, and saw some construction being done in preparation for the Olympics.

On Thursday morning, we went on a hike to Pedra Bonita. We took the train to the closest stop then took about a 20 minutes taxi ride from there. It was an interesting trip--the taxi driver had to stop and ask someone for directions, and his car couldn't make it up the hill to the hike so we had to walk up--but we made it! It was described online as an "easy hike" but we did not agree with that. It was only 30 minutes but the steep incline and 95 degree weather made it pretty tough! But it was all worth it once we got to the top! (We took much better pictures but they are all on Berto's camera.)

On Friday, we went to the beach. I unfortunately don't have any photos since I didn't bring my camera since the beaches here are infamous for theft. We only took as much cash as we would need for the day, and I'm glad that's all we took! There were two girls laying next to us that got there purse stolen while they were laying with it sunbathing--and none of us saw how it happened! The beach was nice, but it is definitely not a relaxing beach experience. In addition to worrying about someone stealing your stuff, there is someone walking by trying to sell you something every 30 seconds. If nothing else, it was good for people watching!

Yesterday we went on a tour of the Tijuca Forest, a national park within the city. We saw a waterfall and went on a short hike. We didn't knowingly sign up for the other part of the tour, which was a walk around a favela. It was interesting to learn the history, but it felt pretty strange to be on a "tour" through it.

Today we went shopping at a "hippie market" they have every Sunday. Then we relaxed at our hotel pool for the afternoon and went to a delicious pizza place for dinner. Here is the view from our hotel pool:

Our Rio trip is quickly coming to an end! We fly home tomorrow night, arriving in Chicago early Tuesday morning.

Parque Lage, Sugarloaf Mountain and Buzios!

Morning of day 6 in Rio and we have been keeping pretty busy! On Sunday we went to the botanical gardens and walked around for about a hour. We even saw some little monkeys in the trees!

Then we walked over to Parque Lage which was really beautiful. It used to be someone's mansion but is now a public park, cafe and art school.

For dinner, we took a taxi down to Impanema, a beach neighborhood, and found a tapas place that was pretty good. Then we walked around and found a street market and went to a cafe for dessert and coffee. One thing that I've really been enjoying is how good desserts are here! Mom, yesterday I had a peanut butter flavored popsicle that had peanut butter in the middle!

Monday we took the tram up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. The views were incredible. We had a snack at the cafe at the top and sat up there for awhile.

We came back to our hotel and had dinner at a yummy Italian place nearby. One thing we are still getting used to is the style of service at restaurants--it's either very formal with waiters in bow ties who spoon the food on to your plate or very casual where it's hard to get anyone's attention. We've also learned that you have to flag them down to get your check. This has made for some long dinners!

On the way home from dinner, it was pouring rain. There seems to be a big thunderstorm every night around 7. But the drainage system is not the best so the streets get flooded very quickly, and it causes the sewer water to come up into the street with it. We had quite the adventure walking the two blocks back to our hotel. We saw other people that came prepared with plastic bags over their feet, so Berto jumped and ran through the streets to get me some bags to wear. What a guy!

 Yesterday we took a day trip to Buzios, a town about 3 hours from Rio. We went out on a boat that made a few stops where we could jump off the boat and swim. It was really fun and we were wishing we could stay there for a few days!

Today we plan to explore downtown Rio!

First 2 days in Rio!

We arrived in Rio Thursday night after a long night and day of traveling. We were pretty jet lagged by the time we arrived so just walked around our hotel nieghborhood to find some dinner. We ended up at a place that had about 100 items on the menu, all in Portuguese. We chose some things at random and they actually ended up being very good choices!


On Friday we walked to escadaria selaron, a bunch of flights of stairs decorated in mosaics by an artist. There are tiles from many parts of the world--I even found one of Oregon!

Then we took the train to Copacabana and Impanema beaches and walked for a couple hours along the water. It was very pretty. Think we will go back for a beach day sometime this week. Think Berto will have to get a speedo and I will have to get a thong bikini to fit in. :)

Today we took the train up the mountain to Christ the Redeemer statue. It had amazing views but was very crowded so we didn't stay up there too long. Tomorrow we are going to explore a "bohemian and artsy" neighborhood nearby and possibly hang out at the pool at our hotel, which has a beautiful view as well.

Berto's spanish is helpful, but the language has been more of a barrier for both of us than we expected. I have not seen any mosquitos! But still putting a bunch of bug spray on. And it is HOT and humid. I think this might be the hottest place I have ever been!