Brazil

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February 23rd 2007

Published: March 12th 2007

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Global Travels

Copacabana Beach

RIO DE JANIERO

CARNAVAL 2007!!!
I arrived at a land of tanned, bared buttocks and sunny beaches specifically to celebrate Carnaval and get some relaxation! It was, as usual, slightly busy and there was not enough of the trip set aside for relaxation. Over the course of exactly one week in Brazil, I managed to go to the Sambodrome to watch the parade of floats and ornately decorated costumes, explore Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and local haunts, complete a city tour including Sugarloaf and Corcovado, and ended it all with a night at Maracana stadium to watch Brazil beat Venezuelan in soccer.

The Sambodrome was quite impressive with its size...it took each float over an hour to get from one end of the stadium to the other. The floats varied in theme, size, color and shape, but the music was always the same Samba beat. I was there from 8pm until past 3:30am...and could've stayed all night. My seat was very close to the band, so you can imagine how loud it was. The reflected after the evening that it was not quite what we expected. In Rio, Carnaval is celebrated more as a

Sand Sculpture at Copacabana Beach

spectator sport in the Sambodrome, whereas in other cities like Salvador, the spectators are truly participants and join the dancing during the festival...for hours straight. Throughout the week there were bands and local celebrations in Copa and Rio, mostly on the main streets parallel to the beaches. One highlight was sitting at a local restaurant and bar in Ipanema when the judges were announced the scores of each group after the event - it was fun to see which Samba schools were most liked by the local Brazilians.

As for the beaches...No matter what shape, size, color, model, make body you are - you can hang it all out on the beaches here. Despite being extremely crowded and the water a bit dirty by the late afternoon from everyone´s trash, the beaches were quite fun to hang out on and explore. Great people-watching and stunning weather!

My city tour required a lot of driving around, but worth it to visit Sugarloaf and Corcovado. Sugarloaf is what you see in most pics of Rio with the cable cars leading from one free-standing small mountain to the next. The ride is entertaining and the view from up there is incredible.

Beach Scene in Rio De Janiero

Corcovado is near the top of the largest urban forest in the world in Tijuca National Park where a very large statue, Christ the Redeemer, can be seen from all over the city.

I caught a heavily anticipated soccer match at Maracana between Venezuela and Brazil. Venezuela didn't put on much of a game and the Brazilians had an easy win of 3-1. Outside the stadium they have something like the Hollywood Walk of Fame - a sidewalk with the footprints of famous Brazilian soccer players.

After a week of touring, beach-combing, fruit-eating, I had a one night stay in Sao Paulo.

SAO PAULO

Here, I pretty much updated our blog and ordered pizza to our room and slept. I know, a mortal sin to travel to a new city for 12 hours and not even explore its streets...but it had to be done. I was exhausted. Sorry about the (almost) two month delay in sending out blog updates. I finally got the internet connection and software needed and it takes a lonnnng time to upload photos from third world countries.

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