Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 9

As our plane flew into Rio, we were amazed by the beauty of the scenery beneath us! The mountains, turquoise sea, white beaches and green rainforests surrounding the city are simply stunning. We were expecting to relax a little and enjoy the city at a leisurely pace as we had 12 days here. It soon became apparent however, that there was far too much to see and do to allow that, especially during carnival week! it also became obvious very quickly that we were going to be moving a lot more slowly than we had been due to the extreme heat here… It was 42 degrees on our second day! Aside from the insane heat, Rio is such an exciting city and provided an amazing way to finish our incredible six months of travelling around The ... read more

Another beautiful hot day and all we can think about was jumping into the nearest body of water we can find. In our case, it was the Atlantic. Jon rents two lounge chairs and an umbrella and I buy myself a thong bathing suit...priorities. All these body types look exactly like mine: big boobs, small waist, finished with bubble butt. I feel like the women here are my long lost sisters. There has to be some Brazilian in me, the resemblance is uncanny. A thin, dark skinned man comes up to us holding a pole that hangs cigarettes and beach towels. Jon buys a pack of smooths and lights one up. The man looks directly at me and asked, “American?” “Yeah,” is it that obvious? “Like to buy some weed?” ... read more

The next morning we had some time to kill before our 24-hour magic carpet ride, known for its fold down seats and high-stakes theft. We decided we wanted to soak up one last part of the jungle before we entered into bustling Rio. Trip Advisor pointed us to Parque de Avery. From the reviews, it sounded like a bird sanctuary. When we got there, it was really more a bird zoo. Caged birds as far as the eye can see. Very pretty, a little depressing. Never been much of a “caged-animal observer myself” but hey, I got to hold a toucan…so I guess there’s a win in there somewhere. When it was time to catch the bus, we stocked up on beer and snacks for the long haul. Normally a 24-hour ride anywhere would ... read more

Saturday January 23rd, 2016. Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro Province, Brazil. After a posh breakfast we decided to venture out into Rio again. Rio was founded in 1565 by the Portuguese as a fortification against French privateers who traficked wood and goods from Brazil. The Portuguese fought the French for almost 10 years with both sides having rival native tribes as allies. During the early 18th century the city took off. It had been a minor outpost in the Portuguese Empire until gold, diamonds and ore were found in Minas Gerais in 1720. Rio then became an important port for exporting these minerals and replaced Salvador as the main city in the colony in 1763. Brazil became independent in 1822. It adopted a Monarchy as its form of government. The capital is now Brazilia. Surprisingly ... read more

"?Rio, de Janeiro, ?Riohohohoho, ?land of sun, samba and wine" - top 3 hit from Maywood, a Dutch pop duo in the 70's. Poor things apparently didn't know that Rio was a city, not a country. And that it's so much more than just sun, samba and wine. We think it's more 'city of beaches, Cristo and beer'. The beaches obviously being Copacabana and Ipanema. Seriously though, Rio was a very positive surprise to us. Yes, the two world famous beaches are a big part of the Cariocas' (people from Rio) lives, but the neighbourhoods by the same name are very pleasant as well. Especially Ipanema, where we stayed, was quite nice and safe. We felt the whole city was actually quite safe, nothing like the stories you hear. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite the 'beachy ... read more