Rio!

Listen to the song “Take You to Rio” by J-Biebs (Justin Bieber). I bet some of my friends’ playcounts were upwards of 50 in the two short days we had on the ship from Montevideo.

Rio was incredible. It’s sheer beauty is just overwhelming. There’s something just so awesome about a city complete with mountains, beaches, rainforests, and lagoons. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Our first day was another nice, relaxing one. Ipanema beach was our first stop. It’s right next to Copacabana, yet another tune that was constantly stuck in my head. I could have done without all of the bare bottoms, but nothing could ruin the beautiful weather and beautiful views. The water was FREEZING like some of the coldest I’ve ever felt. But it was so hot that you just had to deal.

 We drank from coconuts, purchased new bathing suit tops, and grabbed some lunch all right there on the beach. I could have stayed there forever. We all got a bit too crispy and then headed to a nearby market.

The day was our sight-seeing day. We had made friends with a cab driver the day before and got him to drive seven of us around all day for a great price. First thing, we headed to Corcovado (also known as Christ Redeemer) in the Tijuca National Rainforest right in the city. Along the way, we stopped a few times for some great views/photo opportunities of the city. Although their favelas (slums) have a bad reputation and are considered extremely unsafe, they’re still beautiful.

Corcovado was so cool! The view from up there is insane, and the HUGE Jesus statue is just awesome. You can see every inch of Rio. There’s a saying in Brazil that God is Brazilian seeing as they’ve been so blessed in terms of natural resources, precious stones, few conflicts, and zero natural disasters. I see their point.

We spent a few more hours in Tijuca just driving/walking around. We saw some waterfalls and had lunch in a real-life rainforest café ;) I forgot how much I like rice and beans. 

That afternoon we then went to Sugarloaf mountain. It would have been cool to hike the first half of it (the second it just a BIG rock), but the cable car proved to be much more time-efficient.  Our driver went up with us, and it was his first time ever! It was a cool thing to be a part of.

The first car takes you up to the top of the smaller mountain where there’s restaurants and shops and a helicopter-landing pad. Then you take the second car up to the very top of the second mountain. You’re literally in the clouds. It was pretty windy that day, but the views from both mountains were awesome. You could see Corcovado in the distance. We walked around for awhile and then headed back down.

That evening we went to a REAL Brazilian steak house. Here I am again eating more red meat. I’m almost learning to like it ;) There were buffet-style side dishes and sushi, but then the meat was carried around on spears by the servers. They’d place the spear on your plate and then slice your piece off with an uncomfortably large knife. IT WAS SO GOOD. We had filet mignon, pork, ribs, lamb, and an array of other things. The following photo captures how we all felt afterward quite perfectly:

I spent my last day in Rio on a field lab for my business communication course. I actually didn’t mind all that much since it rained pretty heavily all day. We took a tour of the H. Stern assembly line (the world’s second largest jewelry manufacturer) and then listened to a presentation by one of their vice presidents. It was interesting, just had more of an international marketing focus.

Due to the weather, we had to trade our walking tour in for a bus tour AKA a nap. I tried my best to pay attention, but sometimes my eyelids just have minds of their own. Last thing was a brief stop at Rio’s Office of Tourism. We listened to a presentation by the Director of Public Communication who revealed to us the layout for the next summer Olympics. That was extremely cool. If and when I return to this beautiful city, there will be very little that I recognize.

Although I could have used many more days in Rio, I’m extremely excited for our next Brazilian port, Manaus.  I have a great trip planned with great friends and plenty of bug spray. Can’t wait to battle the bugs of the Amazon! Wish me luck :)