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Published: March 14th 2011
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Oh Rio...what a beautiful city. It is surrounded by beautiful beaches and lovely mountains. When we first arrived we took the bus to our hostel and of course got lost along the way. It took us a while of walking around and asking people in our spanish/hand movements to find our way. There are many different parts of the city and we first explored Botafogo, where we were staying. We quickly learned that it is the business district and not much going on so we next headed to the beach of Ipanema. This is the nicest part of Rio and we soon learned why. It is on a little strip of land surrounded by a lake and the ocean. The beach is very nice with good waves to swim in.
The next day we started out with a little hike up sugar loaf mountain. It was a gruesome hike but when we made it to the top it was all worth while. We were gifted with beautiful views of the whole city. The rest of the day we explored the center of town and walked and saw the historic dristrict then headed up the hill to Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is
a part of town that used to be a very rich area but is not anymore. All the buildings there look really nice but also really run down. We made it to the top and they where having a pre carnaval party so we hund out there a partyed with the locals until dark. That night was a Friday night so in the district of Lapa they always have a huge street party. For this particular street party the city always puts outhouses everywhere, and its a good thing too because they were always full. We had a great time with the locals and danced the night away to Brazilian music.
Beach day!!!! Because we stayed out so late the night before we decided to have a beach day. We spent the whole day at the famous Copacabana beach watching all the men in their speedos and the women in their thong underwear. Everyone thought I was weird for wearing a bathing suit that actually covered my butt. When we first arrived there was nothing but perfectly toned tanned men in speedos or thongs. Not a woman in sight! We learned quickly that we had arrived at the gay section
of the world´s most famous beach. After a few minutes of men men men, we moved on.
At our hostel we met a couple who were going to have a walk around the favelas(slums on the hills) so we joined along. At first we were unsure of how safe it would be but it turned out to be not so bad. All the people were very friendly and said hi to us as we walked by. We even went to the favela the Micheal Jackson made his music video "They dont care about us". After that we headed to Lapa for their famous Sunday market and once again stumbled upon another pre carnaval street party. It seems that we came to Rio at a good time. They were selling beer on the streets and everyone was drinking and having fun, including us.
During our last day we only had a couple hours left so we headed up to the famous statue of Jesus. This is one of the seven wonders of the world and it really is amazing. From the top you can see the whole city. We took lots of pictures of the city and the cross and was
well worth the trip up.
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