RIO!!!!

we left caraiva on thursday (see part one of brazil) and headed toward rio de janeiro. we drove all day thursday (well, we didn't leave until about 2 so i don't know if that qualifies as all day...) and drove through more beautiful country. seriously, brazil is every bit as gorgeous as the pictures make it out to be. we drove through open fields, mountains, forests, coastal lines- basically, every kind of terrain that brazil had to offer.

we finally got to rio friday evening. we were beat so we went and ate dinner. i wanted to go to a "brazilian" restaurant and eliardo said that restaurants like fogo de chao that served grilled meats were typical brazilian food, so that's where we went. it was a delicious food bomb and after we ate we all passed out early. saturday we went to the beach. let me tell you, rio's beaches are amazing. clean white sand, clear blue waters and tons of people.

walking up on ipanema beach

we walked up and down the beach and then headed to look around town for a bit. we stayed in ipanema and i think it was the perfect place!!! the beach was great, our hotel was close to the beach and to lots of bars and the area was really cool.

the lake in rio

that night, we went out with some of eliardo's friends. it was great!! we went to a few bars and then ended up at a samba club with a live band and everyone dancing. we ended up staying there until almost 4, going to grab some food and then to another bar!!! crazy fun times.

chopp!!!

view from the samba club- it was in the middle of a deserted alley overlooking a cathedral

samba!!!

the band

so this is the only pic of lp and me. and it's dark. and you can't see us. ugh!!

eliardo and me

eliardo's friends, sergio and sylvia

me, in the club!!

eliardo left sunday. lp and i were going to go with him, but when we got to rio, we decided it was too amazing to leave so soon. so we booked a one way flight and stayed two extra days. our last full day we had "the perfect day." it started with a trip to the beach. at the beaches, you could rent an umbrella and chairs for cheap cheap cheap so we got ourselves an umbrella and 2 chairs. lp stayed under the umbrella and i worshipped the sun right beside him. we stayed out for THREE HOURS!!!! (thank goodness for the umbrella).

beachin' it!!!

lp grabbed a coconut to drink

after the beach, we decided to grab some lunch. i did not know this but the song "girl from ipanema" was actually written in rio at a local restaurant in ipanema. we went to eat a big ol' plate of meat (like i said, brazil loves their grilled meats) and have one last caipirinha. this is the place:

we went back to our hotel and then decided to head to the botanical gardens in rio. it was really pretty and had some great views of the christ the redeemer statue.

palm trees-they had like a million kinds of palm trees

there he is....

lillies

don't go chasing waterfalls

we ended the day by going to a great restaurant by the ocean that had one of the best views of the sunset and ordered, my favorite thing, champagne. it was the perfect end to the perfect day.



the next day we left. just a side note- we go to the airport, walk up to the counter and as we are checking in, the power goes off. and it stayed off. for a while. by this time, i'm so thirsty and this airport has NO place to buy water!!!! it was so weird. anyway, here are all the people waiting without power.