Museum

So, after walking the deserted streets (see the post before this one), we finally made it to the museum! It was so nice to sit, grab some water, and lounge in a few air-conditioned rooms.

This is the girls along our walk toward the museum. We're almost there girls!!!









Having a LITTLE fun at the museum :)






















After some museum fun, we decided that we would be better off using cabs to get back to our condo vs walking all that way again. SO...that is exactly what we did and we made it back to our place to rest our feet for another fun day tomorrow!

Rio and Copacabana Beach

On our second day there, we decided to hit Copacabana Beach. Because it was a Sat and a holiday down there, it was absolutely packed! It was literally shoulder-to-shoulder people and one of those days where you wanted to keep your belongings close by. Unfortunately, all it took was probably 5 seconds for me to look away and our camera was stolen right off the shoulder bar of Sean's chair (with him sitting there).














After getting a little fried at the beach, we decided to walk down Copacabana and take the metro to Impanema. Here we are taking a little ice cream break on a city street










That night, we went out to eat at a Chuhascaria. This is Connie and I, along with Sean and I just outside our condo building.











The next day was Sunday, so we took cabs to an LDS church in town. After church, we changed our clothes and took the metro into downtown. Unfortunately, it was like a ghost town in some places due to the holiday and it being a Sunday. It was a little eerie at times because there were streets that were absolutely deserted! We eventually found a McDonalds for lunch ( you can always count on Mickey D's to be open) and walked to a museum a few miles away. Here is a picture of us at church, and a few pictures of various parts of the city along our walk











Along our walk to the museum. Notice there is really NO ONE around













A deserted street that is usually slammed with people:










A park along our walk...











Corcovado from town...

Brazil: helicopter flight over Rio and around Corcovado

So, after hiking up Urca for our first day in Rio, we decided to take a helicopter flight over Rio and around Corcovado (refer to the older post below this about our hike).








At the helipad...








Fer, Liz, Sean, and I getting ready to go for our ride!








Liz and I afterward! Can you tell we thought it was awesome?










Although it was a quick flight, it was one of, if not the best experiences we had on this trip! Rio was absolutely AMAZING from the air! We were able to see Rio, all of the amazing beaches including Impanema and Copacabana, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Urca, and of course...Corcovado (the statue of Christ)!



























Corcovado! You really can't gain a grasp of how huge this statue is. It's the same size as the Statue of Liberty. Quite amazing!
















And, some more!

















After our long hike up the mountain along with the amazing flight, we had to hike back down the wet and muddy mountain and walk a good 5 miles back to our condo. We were a little whipped that day, but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Brazil: Urca/Sugar Loaf Mountain

After spending an AMAZING New Year's Eve on Copacabana Beach, we decided to fully exhaust ourselves in Rio the next day. As you'll see...we surely did! This is a picture of some of us walking down a typical street in Rio. Our destination? We were on our way to Urca and Sugar Loaf Mntn for the afternoon.
*By the way, you can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them :)
After walking for what seemed like FOREVER, we made it to the beach! Liz and I are pretty excited!












Once we arrived, we noticed the HUGE line to get tickets to take the tram up the mountain. It probably would have taken 2-3 hours to get the tram tickets. So, we took this picture by the water and debated what to do with our afternoon.
We finally decided to get some food at an air-conditioned buffet just next to us, and then hike up the first part of the mountain. The huge cone shaped mountain behind us in these two pictures, is Sugar Loaf.










After enjoying some air-conditioning and water sin gas (non-carbonated water, thank goodness), we started hiking half way up the mountain. You have the option to hike all the way up, but it would be a full day hike, not many people are willing to do it, and well...I'm 7 mos prego and didn't feel like popping out a baby in the middle of the rainforest. SO...we decided to hike the first part of the mountain, skip the long lines for the tram, and maybe pick another non-holiday type of day to take the tram all the way up. *Remember, it's New Years, so EVERYTHING is swamped with crowds! So, this is a picture of the boys and of the gang along our hike.









This is just one of the views along our hike through the rainforest. The beach that is wayyyy down there, is where we took the family picture and ate the buffet. Yeah, it was a bit of a haul, but totally worth it :)

And, this is a lovely monkey we fed along the way...










This is a picture of Rio along the hike (excuse the tram cables in the picture)


And, this would be US! We made it! Can you tell by the sweat-soaked shirts and muddy shoes?


The rest of these? These are just views from this halfway point of Rio below. The views were so amazing that we actually took a helicopter flight over Rio and around Corcovado. I will post those pictures on the next one with details of the rest of our day.
Unfortunately, we couldn't take a tram up the rest of the mountain because we didn't have tickets, and we couldn't take one down afterward, so we had to hike it down and walk back to our condo that evening. But, I'll give you all a glimpse of Corcovado and the helicopter in the next post :)

South America 2010: New Years Eve

After a 3 hour flight from Portland to LA, and then a 12.5 hour flight from LA to Sao Paulo, we finally made it to gorgeous Brazil for our week and a half vacation! And, this vacation was COMPLETELY kid-free! Woo hoo! Let the party begin!

*I did this post on a MAC, so sometimes the pictures don't line up with the text if you're viewing this from a PC. So, sorry if it isn't matching up :)

So, this picture is of us "excited" gals in the Sao Paulo airport. We were so glad to be there, and SO incredibly glad to be officially off of that airplane...








When we arrived, we hired a driver in a huge 16 passenger van to drive us from Sao Paulo to Rio that evening. Before hitting the road, we stopped at a road-side store in Sao Paulo to grab our first Brazilian-type grub. Here are the four gals after eating our ham and cheese sandwiches and trying some guarana :)







Along our drive to Rio, we stopped at a Cathedral; a typical tourist destination in that particular area...










When we arrived in Rio, we were STARVING! So, we began walking the streets and came upon BOB'S. It's supposedly Brazil's version of a Burger King. So, this picture is of Sean and I at the infamous BOB'S, enjoying our yummy cold fries, and as you can see...Sean was missing his lovely implant. No worries though, when we returned to the states he was reunited with a new implant and great smile :)









After eating at BOB'S and walking around downtown Rio, we made our way to Copacabana Beach. It was New Year's Eve and the largest New Year's celebration in the world was about to begin. It's Brazilian tradition to wear all white on the night of New Year's, so as you can see, we're participating in the tradition :)






After hanging out down on the beach, we walked back to our condo, which was on the 22nd floor. It overlooked Copacabana and was the PERFECT place to watch the amazing fireworks. What a fun New Year's and AMAZING fireworks show over the ocean