January 5th: Day 4
Today we finally arrived in the most recognizable city in South America, Rio de Janiero! This place is crazy, nothing like anything I've ever seen before. After we landed in Rio Airport, we grabbed our luggage and headed towards the vans that were waiting outside. We piled in the vans and off we went. The streets were busy and it seemed like every inch of wall space was filled with graffiti, but artsy, almost classy graffiti. After arriving and unpacking into the hotel, it was time to head to the rooms and relax, well that was the plan at least... We had free time for a few hours so a small group did what all tourists do, head straight to the beach! We hangout at the Copacabana beach for a few hours, laying in the sun, talking, laughing, people watching and splashing in the clear blue ocean water. Being the snackaholic I am, I treated myself to some shrimp skewers, and they were to die for!! I bought two, one for me and one for Tyler, but he never got his, oh well. When the time came, he wandered back to the hotel to prepare for the subway experience, and what an experience it was! To start we all bought card from the same machine, and then attempted to enter through the wrong turnstile. Once the goofiness of tying to enter the platform was over, the real trouble began. We did not enter fast enough to all fit on the subway car, and the door closed on Georgie's leg. No one knew what to do and thank the lord, she got out safe and no one was seriously injured. The half that did make it on the subway, got off at the next stop to wait for the remaining group members. That was my first subway experience, after that I prefer to walk. When we arrived and finally escaped the subway we found ourselves in a busy pedestrian mall, surrounded by everything you could want and more. We wandered the streets taking in the sites for a while, and then we observed the same ones again, and again. Lesson of the day, Tait is not the best with directions, but he tries. After the wandering ended we loaded back on the subway and back to the hotel we went. We were on our own for supper, so a group of us walked to a small cafe and had burgers. The burgers were not bad, but then again nothing could compare to the banana burger from the night before. Since dinner was done and the sun was set and we were still feeling ambitious, we walked back to the beach. While at the beach we saw groups of people playing soccer and volleyball, before I knew it, we somehow wound up in the middle of a volleyball game with people who spoke no English. It was a huge culture shock, but an experience I will never forget. We couldn't speak to each other, but the smiles were shared and everyone had a blast! It was time to go so we walked back to the hotel, and prepared to listen to a presentation by Andy and Alex covering biodiversity in the Amazon. The presentation was really cool to listen to, especially since we had been in the Amazon just a day earlier. Some of the plants and animals discussed were things that we actually got to see first hand! Overall today was a great day, and we were able to relax which we all desperately needed. I am not much of a beach guy, but I must say I could really get used to Copacabana, and I am super excited to see what Rio has in store for us!
Fun Fact of the Day: Sports is a binding aspect of all cultures. Language is a barrier that sports and smiles can easily overcome. To quote my high school Spanish teacher, "Language is for communication, not just spoken language, but more importantly, body language."
Fun Fact of the Day: Sports is a binding aspect of all cultures. Language is a barrier that sports and smiles can easily overcome. To quote my high school Spanish teacher, "Language is for communication, not just spoken language, but more importantly, body language."
January 6th: Day 5
Today we were typical American tourists, and I'm so glad we were! We began the day early, heading to Christo with the hopes of beating the mobs of people. We arrived and were amazed by the mountain we had driven up, it was switchback road the whole way and we were only about half way up! We unloaded and took pictures of the beautiful scenery while we waited for our tickets, then we loaded into another van to ride to the top. As we arrived we were all so excited because we were about to see one of the most famous monuments in Brazil. Christo was breath taking; simply stunning. The immense size of the statue was unbelievable. Standing next to Christo was a very humbling experience, not due to the size, but the meaning behind the statue and all that it represents. Christo was erected to watch over a city filled with sin, and standing at his feet, I felt compelled to pray for forgiveness of my own sins. It was such a moving experience it is difficult to find the words to describe the feeling. After taking in the moment, I went back to being a tourist taking pictures and enjoying the sights of Rio and the beautiful beaches below. After a few hundred pictures between us all, we headed back on the buses and down the mountain. On the ride back down, I saw a side of Andy that made me loose it, he was hilarious! He randomly decided to break into song singing , "Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo" from South Park. It was beyond hilarious, and had the entire bus laughing! At the bottom we waited for a good while before the van could make the trek back to us due to the vast amounts of people trying to see Christo, but it arrived and it was off to Sugar-loaf. Sugar loaf was everything I expected and more. We took a cable car up the mountain stopping midway to changes cars. The views from the glass sided cars were amazing! You could see for miles, mountains, beaches, ocean, city, we saw everything. At the summit of Sugar-loaf, it was very crowed but we were still able to reach the prime spots for pictures and for Erika to do a headstand! One of the most memorable views from the summit came form a young lady who didn't understand what happens to a sun dress in the wind... Needless to say, the moon was out at Sugar-loaf, and we all were able to see. One of the coolest sights was the flocks of black vultures which rode the thermals, to the summit and soared so graciously all around Sugar Loaf. After enjoying the views it was time to go down, but there was a problem. Andy had lost his ticket and feared that he would be stranded at the summit forever! Tait handled the situation swiftly, but Andy was ruffled for a good portion of time afterwards! Lunch was at a buffet called "the Deck" and it was good! I filled my plate a few times enjoying everything form jello to a seafood concoction, that I still don't know what was in it! Full bellies meant it was time to load up in the van and head off to tour the rest of the city. First stop was to what we assumed to be real samba dancers, instead it was drunken Argentinian tourists dressed as samba dancers. They were very friendly and took pictures, laughed, and joked long with us. Next stop was in front of the soccer, or fut-ball, stadium, where both the world cup and Olympics were held! It was so cool to see even though I don't understand soccer in the slightest. We were approached by a strange man selling fake soccer jerseys, so we all bought one. After this we visited the stairs at Lapa. We all ran around climbing over every thing and having a really good time. Running across the wires we saw two small monkeys, they looked just like squirrels it was very strange to see. Before loading the bus, Tait bought us all coconuts to drink from, and the man selling them taught Tyler and myself how to open it. It was a lot easier than I first expected. It reminded me of coring an apple in a way, cut of he top, stab the core, twist and pull, insert the straw and enjoy. Since the tour was over we all went back to the hotel to relax and hang out. Food soon crossed my mind, so Anne and myself walked a few blocks to get pastels, a meat filled pastry. These pastels, were amazing! The coating was crisp and flaky, the meat was hot, moist and spicy, an absolutely dynamite dinner! Back to the hotel we went with food in the belly and a smile on our faces. Presentations were cancelled tonight since Jack was feeling ill, and her and Tait went to the doctors. I ended up hanging out, swimming and eating pizza into the wee hours of the morning. Today was an amazing day, I felt like a typical American tourist and loved it! Tomorrow we have a hike planned, I just hope it is as good as today was!
Fun Fact of the Day: Christo was erected to watch over the "sinful city" of Rio de Janerio and was set to change the image of the city form a city of sin and crime, to a christian hot-spot and an area with high morals.
Fun Fact of the Day: Christo was erected to watch over the "sinful city" of Rio de Janerio and was set to change the image of the city form a city of sin and crime, to a christian hot-spot and an area with high morals.
January 7th: Day 6
Today I was a billy goat, running trough the mountains with ease! We started off the day great, we slept in until 7:30, to most people this wouldn't sound like a huge deal, but it was to us! A quick breakfast and a bus ride later we found ourselves in Tijuca National Forest in the heart of the Atlantic Forest. We started by looking at the small exhibit in the visitors center, it was nice and had an interesting piece about fires in the park. The park itself was a reclaimed coffee plantation, so all of the forest were relatively young (less than 150 years). We began the hike walking down this small path, and I was in the back. In a matter of five minutes I was in the front, I had zoned out and took off walking and exploring. I slowed down for a minute to take in the beauty of an old rope bridge we crossed. The bridge looked like something out of a magazine, absolutely breathtaking. walking across the bridge brought me back to my childhood playing explores in my yard and crossing my own version of the "wobbly bridge." It was so incredible to feel as if my childhood playtime had come to be reality. After crossing it was back to enjoying the hike, much in front of everyone else, leading the way into the jungle. We came across what appeared to be ruins from the plantation, so we explored them. It was really neat to see what was still left but eerie to discover someone was living in the ruins of what was once a house. Tait jokingly explained that Osama Bin Laden was using it as a hide out while we searched for him in the Middle East. Tait had never made me laugh as hard as he did that day with that comment. We continued on our hike until we arrived at a picnic area to relax and take a few pictures, the only thing was I was missing from the pictures. I was busy climbing up a boulder outcropping, scampering around like a mountain goat. I was hoping round and climbing around as I heard Tait remind me to not get bit or stung by anything while I was up there. It was so cool to be able to climb like that. From there was walked a few hundred yard before we turned off to go to a waterfall, where I stuck my head under the rushing water and hi-fived a few locals. We continued up the mountain until we lost the trail, and I mean LOST the trail. It seemed to just vanish before our eyes so we turned around and headed back the way we came. We hiked back enjoying the sights and sounds of the jungle, as well as the sounds of 15 college kids horsing around. The hike was one of the coolest hikes I've ever been on and I enjoyed every minute of it. One of the most Amazing thing about Tijuca is that it is in the heart if the Atlantic Forest, which is a biodiversity hotspot. This means it has a large amount of biodiversity both plants and animals, but its in threat of total destruction. The Atlantic forest is very unique in the plants and animals it hold home for, and is considered both a rainforest and a tropical forest depending on the region being observed. Since I used up all of my energy at the hike I crashed at the hotel, and took a much needed nap. After waking up, a group of us loaded into the subway and went to visit the famous beach at Ipanima. We arrived at Ipanima, and grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the beach. We ate at a chain restaurant and was not impressed by the food, but I was hungry so there was no complaints. Full bellies and all, we walked, or waddled, to the beach, and it was as beautiful as I pictured. The sand was a gorgeous white, the water a rich blue, and all the people a dark tan. It was incredible. We walked down along the beach until we came to a giant rock outcropping where we sat down and Tyler, Kimmie, and Heather went for a swim. We watched people attempt the tightrope, swim, jump and enjoy the beach. We sat there for a long time until Heather and Kimmie waved us over, at first we thought everything was fine, but at closer look it wasn't. Heather had a large bandage wrapped around her foot and leg, she cut it on barnacles climbing out of the water. We started our walk back to the hotel, and decided as a group that Heather needed a better story. The final story was that Heather was bitten by a small hammerhead shark, and everyone believed it! We shopped our way back, looking at blankets and towels, and all sorts of stuff. I wanted to buy a speedo so I did, I bought a speedo with the pattern of the sidewalk on it. It is so cool, everyone is gonna "love" it back in the sates. We continued our walk back when Tait decided to fill Jack's prescription, so while he did that we bought acai bowls. These bowls had bananas and strawberries in them, they were to die for! When we arrived back at the hotel, it was time for presentations. It was Anne and my turn to present and we killed it! The presentation went over very well and only a few people fell asleep. Since that weight was off my shoulders, it was time to relax, so the speedo went on and I headed towards the pool. After swimming for a while, it turned to skinny dipping because I enjoy it way too much. The next few hours we spent causing innocent trouble and having the time of our lives on the roof. Today was insane, I can't believe I had as much energy as I did. I have no idea where it came from either because I am so tired! I cant wait to see what else is in store for us on this trip! Rio has been a crazy time with so much fun to be had! Curitiba look out, I'll be there soon!
Fun Fact of the Day: Tijuca National Forest was created at the site of a coffee plantation that closed about 150 years ago. This means unlike the tree in the Amazon, the trees in this portion of Atlantic rain forest are at the maximum 150 years old!
Fun Fact of the Day: Tijuca National Forest was created at the site of a coffee plantation that closed about 150 years ago. This means unlike the tree in the Amazon, the trees in this portion of Atlantic rain forest are at the maximum 150 years old!