Ohhhhh Brazil! 2008

December  2008
 Brazil was calling our name and everything seemed to fall into place. Steve was not working, Ariel would be home from college for winter break (so she could watch the kids), we have a few hotel points to assist with lodging, we have some airline credits to assist with the expensive, last minute flights, Steve speaks Portuguese (having served a mission in San Paolo, and Brazil was on the on our list of places to go, but not take the kids… So, lets go!

We planned the trip in less than a month, so we had to pay an extra high premium to get our visa’s approved in time for the trip, but, all seemed to work out and on December 15, 2008 we departed from Denver to Rio De Janeiro with a “little “stop in DC.

Our plane leaving Denver ended up being delayed by about 90 minutes which was just enough time for us to miss our connection in DC by about 15 minutes…urrrggg… We arrived in DC at 10:30 PM and our next opportunity to get to Rio would be 10:30 PM the next night. So we decided to make the best of it even though we had no luggage! No clothes, makeup, hairbrushes, etc. No problem? It was late so we got a hotel near the airport and on Tuesday we did some additional site seeing that we weren’t able to do during our May 08 trip to DC. We visited the Native American and American History Smithsonian Museums, walked around the mall, visited the capitol, union station, saw a movie, ate dinner, and then back to the airport to catch our flight.

We arrived in Brazil at our Hotel, the JW Marriott on Copacabana beach.
We avoided the temptation to sleep getting busy and walking the beach, around the city and eating.


We loved the fresh juice concoctions purchased at the padaria’s . The Padaria’s are found everywhere (they are like little store front, open-air eateries). Steve loved the food served at these Padaria’s to include pastry items, sandwiches, etc. and would always like to stop in for a little “snack”.
"Sand Art" along the beach. If you want to take a photo of your expected to pay! I quickly took a picture and walked fast. I didn't have any $$$, but wanted a photo.
Steve and I were a little tired as we sat down to our first meal in Brazil at a highly recommended restaurant. Bring on the Rice and Beans.

Thursday was our first full day in Rio so we wanted to make it a full day of activities. We began the morning with a tour we arranged of the Favela’s. The Favela’s were very fascinating to me so here are a few facts: A favela is a Portuguese word for a shantytown. They can have electricity, but in most cases it is illegally tapped from the public grid. Favelas are constructed from a variety of materials, ranging from bricks to garbage. The favelas built close together and on top of each other and very cramped. Most are plagued by sewage, crime and hygiene problems. One of every four cariocas (Locals) lives in a favela. Favelas are not recognized as a legal entity – the city does not collect taxes, any public services, etc. Drug lords run favelas. Favelas began when soldiers returned from war with nowhere to live so they settle on unreclaimed public land on hills in Rio de Janeiro because the government failed to provide any housing for them. There are about 750 favelas. I could go on and on with what we learned about…But I’ll stop here.

We went to the largest Favela – Rocinha (in the photo) and a smaller one Vila Canoas. A shop owner sells her goods inside the Favela.

We visited a school in Vila Canoas and this is one of the soccer balls I found...yes, the kids play soccer with this ball (this made me sad).

Brave Steve purchasing a "snack" from a Padaria located inside the Favela. It looked as clean as it could get, but, due to my "finicky" food issues...I passed!

Here is another view of a Favela...what a fascinating way to spend the morning.

Steve and I visited Corcovado - The statue of Christ The Redeemer. The Statue is located at the top of Corcovado Hill (it is Brazil’s most known image throughout the world). The Statue of Christ stands 100 feet high and is covered in a mosaic of soapstone. The views of Rio below were breath taking – we could see all the contrasts of the city: mountains and sea, forests and beaches. It’s hard to see just how BIG the statue is from the photo’s, but it was BIG!


We took a jeep tour through the Tijuca Rain Forest. The national park is located right in the middle of the city. It was rainy and very foggy, so we weren’t able to see ALL the rain forest had to offer and we didn’t venture out on any hikes, but it was still great to see this beautiful tranquil place just minutes from the hustle of Rio.

We stopped at a "look out" next to the Westin "5 star" hotel in Rio near Ipanema Beach. Someone recommended we stay there because of the nice "private" beach (we didn't - we stayed at the JW Marriott on Cococabana Beach because we had some Marriott Points to use:-). Notice the large Favela in the background of the Nice Hotel?

Steve on the famous wavy black and white mosaics sidewalk that lines Cococabana Beach. We walked along this 3 + mile stretch of beach many times. Lots of great people watching along this beach! We spent lots of time basking in the HOT brazilian sun at the Cococabana Beach right accross the street from our hotel. Without Sunscreen you won't last long in that sunshine.

Vendors scour the beach constantly selling food of all kinds, nuts, ice cream, shirts, jewelry, swim suits, etc. all day long. Our favorite guy was the "watamelicia" (watermellon) selling guy. He would yell at the top of his lungs "watamelicia" as he walked along the beach selling his large slices of watermellon for about 1.50. Steve thought it was a nice treat!

One night we ventured out to downtown Rio to watch the "carnival samba school" at the Sambodrome. Fascinating! We were ushered right up to the front of the stands through security gates and everything (I think security thought we were someone important). Steve struck up a conversation with some locals - come to find out one was in charge of a competing carnival team - he was here spying. A little about Carnival: It's a parade/dance competition, there are 12 Samba teams that compete in the Carnival Festival Competition. Each team has about 5000 people. They practice all the time, all year long until Carnival - they live for this. The teams are made up of "neighborhoods". AND wow, they have a good time. It was a great time watching them dance and sing.

Sugarloaf Mountain is a granite quartz peak that rises straight from the water 1299 ft high. The city seems to be surrounded by these types of rocks that just jut out of the water (this one is the biggest). We watched this mountain all week hoping for a nice clear day to venture that way. The peak seems to attract clouds that like to just hand around the top of the mountain. On Saturday we decided it was our day to venture to Sugarloaf. We took a taxi to the base and purchased our tickets. Have I mentioned how valuable it was to have Steve able to communicate in Portuguese? It would have been very difficult and less interesting to communicate with the non-English speaking taxi drivers, waiters, etc.
You can climb up this rock (I’m not sure how, but some people do) or take A glass-paneled cable car that hold about 75 people and makes a stop on the way up to switch to a different car – we took the cable cars.


Me relaxing and enjoying the view from the "half-way" stop on the way back down to sea level.

Steve and I enjoying a day on the beach under our umbrella! The sun was incredibly HOT so we enjoyed our books AND people watching from the security of our umbrella. The people watching was superb! Lots of interesting people and lots of interesting swimsuits in Brazil. The men wear these tight "boy-short" type swimwear (a modest version of the speedo?). The women wear swim suits that look to be approximately 6 sizes too small. There are NO one piece swim suits that I saw the whole time we were there - dress code must say only Bikini's... the tops bearly cover what should be covered and the bottoms, well, they look painful. The bottoms aren't a really what I would consider a thong, but more of a small triangle - the smaller the better?
We enjoyed the beach vendors (or should I say we tolerated the beach vendors) constantly anticipating our needs and bringing /selling us ice cream treats, roasted nuts, drinks, watermelon, jewerly, bags, swimwear, etc. Sometimes we felt pampered, but most of the time a little more annoyed, but, it all added to the experience.
We loved our time in Brazil, but, of course we were anxious to get back home to the kids to give them all HUGS and SQUEEZES!