RIO!!!

What to say about Rio...well there are beaches, good food, a giant freakin' Jesus statue, and much more.  When we got in on Friday we checked in top the hostel and the hostwel manager basically told us he isn't going to waste our time right now giving a tour of the hostel and that we should just change and hit the beaches of Ipanema.  Which we did with no argueing.  We were shocked by how clean the beaches were for being an urban beach, they were absolutley spotless unlike the beaches of NJ or Tel Aviv which are spotted with beer bottles, cigs, and who knows what else.  Friday night we headed down to a neighborhood called Lapa, which is basically party central on the weekends.  The neighborhood can be a bit "seedy" normally however on Friday nights it turns into basically the biggest block party around.  I can only imagine how it would look in another week during Carnaval.  There were clubs, street vendors with food and alcohol, guys walking around serving tequilla, and just a mix of samba and club music ringing out everywhere.  Instead of paying the outrages prices to get in to some of the clubs we just walked around and enjoyed the people watching and the great atmosphere of the block party (and maybe had a few drinks or two). 

Really cool sand carving on the boardwalk in Copacabana

A view of the largest slum in Rio and Brazil (don't worry just driving by, we didn't take the hostel up on there $R 60 offered tour of the slums).

Saturday was spent with an elderly Jewish couple from Rio, whose child a long time ago was an exchange student in the US with one of Emily's cousins.  Even though we were a little worried about it being a weird day it ended up being great.  They showed us all around Rio, many places we had no plans on checking out, told us the history of Rio, Jews in Rio, and Brazil, and entertained us to a pretty nice Brazilian style lunch (I enjoyed a Saturday specialty of Brazil which is Beef Jerky and Black beans, served with many of other things including a delicious banana).  After we spent most of the day with them they recommended we head towards the cable cars going up Sugar Loaf which gives an amazing view over the entire city.  We viewed the city just before dusk and sat on top overlooking the entire city and the ocean all the way through sunset until they told us the last cable car down the mountain was leaving now.

At night overlooking Rio from SugarLoaf

 

The view at dusk from Sugar Loaf overlooking Copacabana

 

Overlook with sunlight from Sugar Loaf (Christ the Redeemer in the backfround) and the 2nd cable car we took to get up to the top

On Sunday we decided to go see the "Big Man (aka JC)," Christ the Redeemer.  Even though the view was higher, I don't think it was any better to see over Rio.  Plus the place was just crowded and not as charming as Sugar Loaf.  We basically spent all of 10 minutes up on the top took a few 'funny 'photos (which will be uploaded eventually) and headed back down even though we waited for like 2.5 hours for a tram to the top of the mountain.  Even though I have now knocked off 3 out of the 7 New Wonders of the World, it was pretty anti-climatic, and when I get to Machu Pichu to knock off number 4 I hope to regain my faith (no punn intended) in the list.  In the early evening we also walked around downtown Rio and found out some interesting facts about the city including that Brazil was the only seatof an European monarch (when the Portugese Court moved to Brazil during Napoleon's campaign against Lisbon).  We also saw Rio's ultra-modern designed Cathedral  which was very very different then any Cathedral I have ever seen. In the evening we decided to walk down the famous boardwalk in Copacabana.  In reality I did not see it much different then where we were staying in Ipanema except the hotels aimed at tourists seemed nicer.  However, none the less we enjoyed our stroll down the boardwalk there and also enjoyed a pleasent seafood dinner on the beach.

we apologize now if these photos offend any of our Christian friends

JC put those arms down you are losing friends

I'm just really confused about the big deal of this place and how it became one of the 7 New Wonders of the World

Inside look of Rio's Ultra-Modern styled Cathedral

On Monday we headed out to begin four straight days of sitting on the beach in Ilha Grande and Paraty (which is actually pronounced Parachie not Party).