Our friends picked us up at Heathrow airport and drove us to Basingstoke. It was Andre and his daughters only, as Nikki was working this day. She works for the NHS as a nurse and was not going to be home until after 8pm. It had rained that morning but was clearing up very nicely. Once home, we relaxed and freshened up. Nikki's mother was visiting from Cape Town, and it was so nice to see her! The last time we had seen her was in 1999. We had some lunch at home and sat around chatting mostly. Once Nikki got home, we ordered some Chinese take out, but I had to be a problem and ordered curry instead, lol! We had dinner at home, and Andre and I had a few beers. We chatted some ... read more

We awoke early today so that we could go feed the marmosets on the trail at the Sugarloaf base, and then go down to Praia Vermelha to swim. It gets hot early down in Rio and the cool water felt great! We stayed down there until about 10am and then went to the flat to pack and get ready. I had packed the night before, so I went to get lunch at Bob's Burgers, while the girls packed. At about 3pm, we left the flat and got a taxi to SDU airport. The traffic was light and it took about 15 minutes, at a cost of 18 Reais. Our flight to Sao Paulo was at just before 5pm. We boarded the GOL 737-800 of flight 1711 and were soon off to Sao Paulo. The flight should ... read more

Our host at the flat had told us about an annual free event that takes place, in which they offer free bus rides in a circular loop, visiting a few culture sites in Rio. It just so happened that it was this day, so we decided to do it. We caught a bus to downtown Rio and made a visit to the first stop on the loop, which was the World War II Memorial(Monumento Nacional aos Mortos da Segunda Guerra Mundial). When one thinks of WWII, they often think of US, Britain, France, and Germany. It was nice to see all about the Brazilian contribution to the war effort, which was actually quite large. They had military displays all around and a military band playing, so it was a really unique experience. The mausoleum below was ... read more

This morning, we had some breakfast foods at our flat, which we had purchased at the little market downstairs. At around 10am, we got bus #511 to the Botanical Gardens. The ride was about 30-40 minutes. It is a 6 Reais entry fee. It was not crowded at all and we barely ever saw people in there until near the end. We stayed there for a few hours, but first went to eat. Food choices in there are slim, but we did find a little place, where we had some sandwiches. I had a Kuat to drink. I sure do love the guarana sodas! We really liked the gardens and I highly recommend them as a "do not miss" thing to do in Rio. The pathways are easy to stroll, and we saw a good amount ... read more

We arrived into Sao Paulo at about 7:30am and cleared customs and immigration in about 30 minutes. Our connection to Rio's Santos Dumont airport was at 10:30am. We were flying GOL airlines on a 737-800 and were in row 19. GOL airlines is one of our partners at Delta, and they give us a great discounted rate. It was a fast 45 minutes to Rio and we admired the views of one of the most scenic airport approaches in the world. We caught a taxi to our apartment in the Urca/ Botafogo area, which was only 20 minutes away. We rented a room from somebody on Airbnb. It was a lovely flat and the woman was so nice! We settled in, freshened up, and walked to the mall for lunch. We decided on a little place ... read more