Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 146

We made it to rio. party capital of the world. it certainly lived up to its reputation. young and old alike go clubbing and dance in the street. the beaches are lovely. surfice to say none of the locals seem to do any work, but hey.... met lots of lovely people here both travelling and local. mild annoyance that after trying to learn spanish, they speak portugese. those dam spanish. why didnt they conquer brazil too! ... read more

Ahh...at last, another iconic moment in the trip...(and another misuse of íconic´)..but still a significant milestone in the journey...to get to the most famous and exotic of Brasil´s places..Rio de Janeiro...and just for starters..its not a bloody river at all..the turkey who first landed..way, way back, thought it was and so named it..the next bozo that came along didn´t have the nouse or the courtesy to re-name it...like Porto de Janeiro, no, he wants the first bugger to have wear the ignomy for all time...anyway... Into the most beautiful city in the world, they say.....across the longest bridge in the world maybe..thinking I was back in the Florida keys...on and on, in the distance, the beautiful layout, the buildings, the mountains, the rock features, the fabulous beaches, the city skyline, the cable cars, and the Big ... read more

We arrived in Rio the night before Lorna's birthday and stayed in a truly nasty hostel in Downtown Rio. When we awoke we got out of there very quickly and headed to the posh hotel in Copacabana we had booked as a birthday treat. After exploring the area and enjoying the luxury of the hotel we went for dinner and champagne at a lovely restaurant on Ipanema beach. Lorna had sparklers in her pudding and the waiters sang 'Happy Birthday'. Most of our following time in Rio was spent lazing on the beach and working on our suntans. We were in need of some relaxation time after the hectic schedule in Peru and then travelling through Brazil. For the first few days when the weather wasn't so good the beach was quiet, then when it got ... read more

Carol, Giselle and I arrived in Rio around 11:00. The first thing I noticed was the number of people with shirts that read estacionamento- Portuguese for parking. They seemed to be all over the place, and I wondered why there were “so many parking cops.” It turns out they are the humane parking meters of Brazil. When you are parking they guide you into the space, if it is sunny they cover your window with an old piece of cardboard, and when you leave they help you get out of the spot. Nothing in life is free, and the services of these men and women are no exception. The more demand for the parking spot the higher the price, but generally you give pocket change if it is not busy, two or three reais (around ... read more

after a huge night at a mexican bar on tues night and a purposefully very quiet night last night were hoping to finally get some sight seeing done today. fingers crossed all goes well.... di have no idea if this will work, but its a map of all the countries visited so far in lukes wee life. div style='text-align:center;'a href='http://www.travelblog.org/VC/my-visited-countries.html?cl=idasnzcujmmxbefritnlpospukmxusarbrcipeuy' onclick='window.open("http://www.travelblog.org/VC/my-visited-countries.html?cl=idasnzcujmmxbefritnlpospukmxusarbrcipeuy&popped=1","tb_map","width=820,height=510,toolbar=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=auto,resizable=yse,status=no,location=no");return false;'img src='http://www.travelblog.org/VC/vc-mini.php?cl=idasnzcujmmxbefritnlpospukmxusarbrcipeuy' width=197 height=107 alt='Visited Countries' border=0brMy Visited Countries/a/div brGet your own ... read more