Is This Rio Life? - Rio, Days 6 and 7

Yesterday was a bit of a throwaway day, since we woke up really late and didn't do much.  However, we did meet up with Jimmy's friends from SF, and went to Ipanema's bloco and then caught a cab to downtown Rio.  It was a lot of fun - thank goodness for camera phones to perpetually remind you of things.  

 

 

Then, we had to wake up early this morning to finish our Rio adventure with a trip to Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer.



Since we bought our tickets for the tram online, we were able to skip to the front of the line, which was awesome.  

We were there almost when it opened and it was still really crowded.  There were great views and a nice breeze.

I lost my sunglasses last night :(

A lot of people doing this - laying on the ground, posing with arms out, using selfie sticks.

There was a chapel in the base of the statue.  You're not allowed to take pictures inside, so I took one outside.

Jimmy wanting the tram down to leave already.

 

Other than that, today was a mad dash to get back and pack up at the hostel.  Right now, I'm about to leave to go to the airport to catch my flight to Foz do Iguacu - waterfalls await!

Life's a Rio Beach! - Rio, Day 3

Today was a bit of a lazy day, especially compared to the day before. We spent pretty much the whole day at Ipanema. Here's a view of the beach. You probably can't tell, but the beach is covered with umbrellas as it gets further down. We saw a younger crowd at this beach compared to Copacabana, but there were less places to eat and drink. We spent most of the day at the beach and I got a bit burned after falling asleep again. (Shame face.) I also spent most of my time building sand walls and ditches to culture the water that kept coming to our chairs and umbrella. We kept having to move ourselves back.

Although yesterday was the first day of Carnival, we didn't see a ton of festivities. But today, we definitely saw evidence of the celebration in the city. Tons of people in a variety of costumes wandered around. Not much clothing is worn and it's not unusual to see men in flamboyant outfits. Here's a sight from when we had lunch. A group of Minnie Mouse guys. My favorite is the big one.

We had to leave Ipanema to get lunch, and as we made our way back, there was a crush of people on the streets next to the beach. In this picture below, there's a guy dressed up as an Angry Bird.

I didn't take many pictures there because a guy warned me in Portugese to put my phone away or someone would take it. But Jimmy was brave and took pictures, which he shared with me for this blog. (Thanks, buddy!)

This should give you an idea of how packed it was at around 7-8pm. 

Then we cleaned up and grabbed a late dinner at a place near Copacabana. It wasn't very good.

Tomorrow is another long day. It's the first night of the famous Samba Parade, which we have tickets for, and begins at 9pm and goes until 2 or 3am. Time in Rio is running out, so it's a race to see everything else.