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