Day 1 (longest day ever): in total a group of 12 of us went to rio, but some of us had different flights. SO the first flight out (8 of us) all met at matt's 'penthouse" at 10pm on Tuesday night. We took a van to the airport at 12:30 am to make it on our 4am flight to rio! Such an early start to the day, but it was worth it so we had a full day in rio! After we landed we took a city bus to get to our hostel in Ipanema. the bus was freezing, and so was the plan ride! My first impressions of Rio were, wow they really like their air conditioning!!! After we got in to Ipanema and settled in to our Hostel, everyone was exhausted and decided to take naps... but mollie and i decided to do our napping on the beach. We literally passed out on the beach for a couple of hours, i don't think we even talked at all... we just immediately fell asleep. Which was a problem, because when we were asleep a huge wave came and wiped us out. We were probably at least a good 30 feet from the shore when the wave came up over us... everyone on the beach was surprised by the wave. we were soaked, and unfortunately we both had our cameras and they got destroyed :( and to top everything off, i was tanning in a strapless bikini and decided to unhook the back strap while i was lying down. Kinda a bad choice because when the wave woke me up i was all confused and jumped up forgetting about my top and ended up flashing some people. OH WELL. After the wave debacle we immediately decided to head back and try to clean up all of our sandy and wet clothes/towels.... this was by far the biggest downer of the trip, but the day got better! We hiked up pao de azucar at sunset and saw the most amazing views!! It made the day whole much better.
Day 2: Thursday. THis was a great day, filled with the tourist sightseeing that i have been looking forward to! One of the guys working at our hostel set us up with 3 taxi drivers to be our guides for the day and take us all over the city. We started with the Christo! Something that i have wanted to see for as long as i can remember! The Christo can be seen from all over the city, it is at the very top of Corcovado. We drove up through the jungle to get to the top of the mountain, and the views were amazing!!! Luckily there were not mainly clouds, so the pictures everyone took were amazing! Next we went the Catedral de Sao Sebastiao.... beautiful!!! from the outside its this cement weird triangle looking shaped building, but its gorgeous from the inside with tons of stained glass! Next we went to Lapa, were the famous steps are! its so cool, it was one of the neatest places in rio... the steps are constructed from different tiles from around the world that travelers made! they are from all over, i even saw one that had the oakland A's on it! This day was a great day!!!
Day 3: Friday. Majority of the girls + Bryant decided to spend the day at the Botanical Gardens... It was really pretty and it was nice just to walk through and be at peace. Basically the day turned into a giant photo shoot, there were so many pretty spots and with 6 girls we got a little carried away! That night we all headed to Lapa. Lapa at night is crazy, and amazing... its really hard to describe it. THe whole neighborhood area is one big party. There are tons of bars and clubs, but everyone dances and parties in the streets. Plus there are so many vendors in the street where the drinks are cheaper.
Day 4: Saturday. BEACH DAY ALL DAY!!! After we all woke up, mollie ashley and I mainly spent the whole day on the Ipanema beach while another group went on a fevela tour. It sounded cool, and everyone had a great time on the tour but i didn't really want to go into a favela. Safety wasn't the issue, i just didnt really want to see people living in poverty and invade their neighborhood... ive seen my fair share of poor neighborhoods, so i decided to enjoy the beach instead! Saturday night was kinda interesting.. but ended up being extremely fun. Our group of 12 ended up splitting off into 3 groups and me, Jessica and Wendy wound up making a ton of new friends. We ended up celebrating 2 Brazilians birthday, it was great! we sang Parabens, ate cake and the bar we were at was playing all 50's/60's american music and it was so much fun to dance to great music!!!
Day 5: Sunday. Mollie, Jessica and I headed into Ipanema for the market, called Hippie in Rio. There were TONS of stands, and i think we were all successful in buying souvenirs for ourselves and for family/friends. I bought this really pretty painting or a view of rio! Im excited to get it up on my wall back in Davis! After the market we explored Copacabana a little bit and then returned to the hostel. On sunday night the Black Eyed Peas were in Rio for a concert, a group of us really wanted to go check it out and see if we could get tickets. When we got to the venue, the tickets ended up being a lot more expensive than we though they were gong to be... so only a few ended up going. I did not. Instead i spent my money on a long awaited burrito. I was eying this place in town since day 1 i got to Rio, and it was such a great last meal in Rio! I have been missing mexican food so much, and i think everyone that went to the restaurant was extremely satisfied. It was super expensive, but definitely worth it. Our flight left this morning (Monday) at 7am... we landed in Salvador a little after 8am... and actually made it back to Victoria a little after 9am, just in time to make it to out 10am class. Extremely long day. After class i came home and immediately took a nap! and now i have a bunch of work to do!!!
My weekend was so fabulous, i am so extremely happy! I just wish i could keep traveling around Brazil and not have to be tied down in Salvador with school work!! Its not so much fun to actual study haha. But on thursday I leave for the Jungle! I cannot wait, i just have a bunch to de before i leave!!!
hugs from Brasil!!!!
