Brazil's Adventure Has Ended

It is Monday morning and I am back to my daily routine here in Bama, USA... Every adventure has to come to an end and Brazil's is no exception... Reflecting back on the two weeks, I think my friend and I have done a great job picking the sites to visit: Iguazu Falls is a must see for everyone visiting Brazil or Argentina and moreover one needs to visit both sides of the falls!! Yes it is expensive but once you go that far, the money excuse should not come in the argument at all.... Just visit both sides!!! Itaipu dam is a bonus of Iguazu ... Natal was a great resort town with beautiful beaches and great sand dunes, we loved it and wished for more time there but ..... Rio is absolutely amazing!!! It has a little of everything for everyone and then some.... New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach was just spectacular!! All in all a very nice trip...

On the advice side of the trip for those of you thinking about Brazil: language was a big problem, you need to learn some Portuguese or else you will face many challenges. Some tourist information agents speak English but the general public does not.... Be very careful everywhere about mugging, it is a very serious crime especially in Rio.. You can be mugged anywhere just be alert and have your back up plans... We left our passports and wallets in the safe in our hotel room and only carried paper copies of the passports just in case.... Cameras, iPhones and all other gadgets need to be used with knowledge of who is around you... Having traveled to Ecuador and Peru, I have developed some common sense technics for identifying trouble spots.... But having said that, we felt safe in Rio, contrary to all readings on the web.. On the packing side, I have learned to pack light and be able to throw dirty clothes away at the end of the trip to make room for gifts if you must!!!

With this page, I bring this trip's blog to an end until my next adventure ... So long dear friends and family... I hope you find this blog useful and informative... You can always email me or call me for more information .... ttfn!!!

Delta Airline captain Kader Frendi at Rio de Janeiro airport...

Rio: We Are Still Here !!!!

May be it is our last day in Rio, or may be not!!! We are being cautiously optimistic today that we will get out of here and on our way home by midnight today so we shall see... In the mean time, we are packing and getting out of the hotel for some downtown exploring again.... We did not venture out last night because we were told by the hotel people that it was not safe to do so !!! In addition, there was a demonstration not too far from our hotel and we even heard some loud explosions which I thought were from tear gas canisters that riot police use to disperse crowds, but could not confirm that... Brazil is having political and economic problems so demonstrations on weekends are not uncommon...
Today we saw all sorts of stuff in downtown Rio, the good the bad and the ugly.... Just like every other big city around the world, Rio is no exception, it has its ugly side as well... I guess the ugliest side of Rio is its lack of security in some areas... Tourists have been mugged in broad day light by a group of kids !!! However, the optimistic side of Rio is that it is moving forward with all sorts of construction projects, new modern tramway, beautiful water front and museums....

Top view of a church from our hotel roof

Top view of a boulevard near my hotel

Street view of a church near our hotel

Brazil Federal Reservve building

Nice set of buildings near the harbor 

Interesting museum on the harbor 

Museum of art of Rio

Museum of arts.and its surrounding 

Rio: The Adventure Continues......

Well, it seems that Rio does not want us to leave just yet so we are back to downtown Rio, how about that??? We left our Copa hotel at 5:30 pm thinking we were heading home to the USA only to find out that our flight has just been canceled!! The reason given: Pilot is not feeling good!!! Wow I said, is that the real reason or a make believe reason?? I even joked with the lady at the Check-in desk that I was an engineer and I could fly the plane: Off Course NOT!! Well whatever the reason we are back in Rio and this time in Centro (center) for another 24 hours, so they say!!!

Our new hotel is also Windsor but not the same quality as the one we were at in Copa, a far cry from that one!!! Oh well, we cannot do much about it now, we just have to enjoy Rio for yet another day... It is better to be safe than sorry.. This is my first international flight canceled as far back as I can remember.. It is so weird that on the way to Rio from Atlanta, we needed to change plane because of engine temperature being high, now from Rio to Atlanta our flight is canceled altogether!! What is wrong with a Delta Airline and its planes,  I ask????

Tomorrow we have another whole day to explore more of Rio downtown so may be it is all good after all .....

A picture of a church taken from the taxi on our way to the international airport

A Favela picture taken from the taxi 

View of the street below from the top of our new hotel

View of a nice church from the top of our new hotel

Bye bye Rio

As the saying goes, everything has to come to an end, so our vacation is no exception it is coming to an end and the long flight home is waiting!!! I have only seen a small piece of this huge country, Brazil, blessed with natural resources and beautiful landscapes! Most importantly, beautiful people with good hearts and fun loving. Everyone was polite and welcoming to strangers like us.. We will truly miss this country and especially Rio.... It is so full of energy that I needed only 4 hours of sleep every night and I was ready to go the next day... As I continue my adventures around Latin America, Brazil will be on my mind, Argentina and Chile are next with Patagonia as the focus of my next adventure... Watch out Penguins here I come!!!

Since our flight to Atlanta is not until 11:10 pm today, we decided to check out of the hotel, leave our luggage upfront and go for a long walk to Lagoa (Lagoon), Ipanema and Leblon beaches! This, we thought, will close the loop on Rio and that way we can claim to know Copa and its surroundings well.. We have already began to know some neighborhoods around town that when riding in a taxi we know where we are!! Logoa, or Lagoon in English, is a beautiful area of Rio that is directly below the right side of Christ the Redeemer statue. There is also a helicopter landing and take off platform and a nice jogging/walking/biking path all around the Lagoon. Walking there was tough as the heat was on today, 94 degrees or so today and humid... We took it easy and tried to walk in the shade the whole way. When we got there, the views of Christ the Redeemer were great, though the statue was small from this distance... We took many breaks to cool off!! We then headed to the Leblon/Ipanema boundary and then headed to the beach!! It was crowded today given the hot temperature!! We found a small rest area with food along Ipanema beach and had our small lunch there. After lunch, we stopped a taxi to come back to our hotel for a short break before heading to the airport.... Here are my last pics of the trip!!

I hope you all enjoyed following us along, though virtually, on this trip! The blog has become my little project so much so that I stayed up late some nights just to populate the blog and not have a blank day. The Internet connection is better late at night anyway so...

Until my next adventure, so long virtual and real friends and family...

View of Christ the redeemer from Lagoa (lagoon)

Beautiful view of the Lagoa 

Christ the redeemer statue seem from Lagoa

Mediterranean house in the Lagoa area 

Ipanema beach

View from Ipanema beach of the LeBlon beach and its surroundings 

Ipanema beach

Rio: Downtown

On our next to last day in Rio, we decided to venture into downtown and more specifically into the art district of Rio; Santa Teresa! Our morning routine is the same, wake at 8:00, have a nice buffet breakfast and of to the races. We left the hotel at about 11:15 am or so... We took a taxi to Santa Teresa, but we really wanted to go to Selaron, a beautiful art work along steep stairs... You will say what a  simple idea, but I find it to be rather interesting and serves as a huge tourist attraction now. From Santa Teresa we took a "free" tramway, yes "free"!!! Some nice Brazilian guy who spoke a little bit of English asked the driver to let us off near the Selaron and so he did... We were both pleasantly surprised to see tourists from around the world taking pictures of this amazing place. A collection of tiles from around the world. We found tiles from San Francisco, Texas, and other places around the US. We spent nearly 2 hours at Selaron, at times sitting in the shade and watching tourists take pictures and look for tiles from their homeland. The day was very hot especially in the direct sun, so we took many breaks..

After Selaron, we moved on to a place called Lapa, two story arches with a tram rails on top!! Reminded me of the colosium in Rome... We then went into a very interesting and unusual church shaped like a pyramid on the outside and circular inside!! I never saw such a church in all my travels... After taking pictures inside the church we headed to "Centro" which is the center of Rio, no surprises there, just another boring big city! After getting money from an ATM machine of Bradesco bank, we took a coffee break and headed back to Santa Teresa again... Here we walked around narrow streets and stopped at gift shops! We then walked back to the Selaron. The walk was rather scary this time since we were the only people in this narrow street and that is usually a No-No in any big city, especially Rio!! I was the one who came up with the idea and I took all critism from my friend for putting us in danger! But we survived that and I was very happy to see crowds  again on the street! We headed back to our hotel at 6:30 pm! After a short break in our hotel we went for a long walk on Copa beach and even had dinner at one of the outdoor bars on the side walk... Here are some pictures from the day...

Wall full of colorful tiles from around the world and Brazil

The art work along steep steps

Colorful steep steps

Beautiful Grafity artwork 

A tramway on top Lapa, colosium like arches

A church !!!!!

Awesome art work on a wall in Selaron

Petrobras headquarters in Rio

Church ceiling and walls

Yet another huge piece of Grafity artwork

Rio: Christ the Redeemer

We are now nearing the end of our vacation and today we visited one of the iconic landmarks of Rio; the big statue of Christ on top of the mountain known as Christ the Redeemer. We bought our train tickets yesterday in a Rio mall for a train ride at 12:40 pm so we showed up at 11:45 am! Every train was sold out until 5:00 pm so we were lucky to have a ticket. The train is small, only two cars, and they go up the mountain every 20 minutes... This train reminded the cog train of Pike's peak in Colorado Springs! We ran into American and French tourists and off course many others... The place is packed with people... The train ride took us through some forest on the way up... Once on top, the views of Rio were just spectacular! It is a must for any visitor to Rio to stop by this place to really enjoy he views and the scenery around Rio... It is not enough to see it on TV or on the Internet, being there, if you can afford it off course, is a whole different experience! It is wonderful...

Here are few pictures from today....

View of the Lagoon and Ipanema and LeBlon beaches 

View of the sound side of Rio with all the mountains

View of the tourists at Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loaf and Botafogo bay can be seen is a distance

The famous statue of Christ the Redeemer

Everyone plays the Redeemer on top and so did I :)

View of Copa from Christ the Redeemer 

View of Maracana stadium 

View of the entire downtown and Bay Area 

View of the giant statue from the back

View of the statue from the city below

Rio: Maracana

For a soccer fanatic like me, visiting Maracana is a dream come true!! This is the stadium where the beautiful, artistic and spectacular Brazilian soccer was put on display by numerous Brazilian national teams and by unmatched soccer stars like Pele, Didi, Vava and Garrincha, not to forget Tostao and Zico!! Just too much talent for a single country whose national passe time is soccer.. Brazil is the only country in the world to win 5 world cups in soccer, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002!!

Maracana was built 1950 and the final of the first post-war World Cup was played in Maracana in front of 204,000 fans!! Yes it it is not a typo it is two hundred thousand four!! Brazil was the heavy favorite to win that match but Uruguay shocked the world and broke the hearts of millions of  Brazilians by winning the game and hence the cup in Maracana in 1950!! There are more stories about this famous stadium and in 2016, Maracana will serve as the venue for the Rio Olympics opening and closing ceremonies and other Olympic events.. 

Here are some pictures I took today...

The Maracana model

The statue of Garrincha

Prominent Zico

The legendary Pele

In the Maracana press box answering questions from ghosts 

Maracana hallways leading to team locker rooms 

Players' entrance to the stadium

Sideline benches

A view of the stands 

More stands 

Payers' restrooms with jacozi tubs at the very back 

Players lockers with my current 3 favorite players...