Brazil!
Finally … I know, it has taken forever … but yes, Brazil was
amazing!
Our trip started in Rio … a very vibrant city – the people,
the culture, the food (the fruit is sooooo fresh/good/flavorful)…. All
amazing! We stayed on a hotel on the
Copacabana Beach, and in a good area to walk around. We did lots of walking J In Rio we did the usual tourist tours, with a
twist – we went to see Cocovado – We knew the statue was huge, but wow, it was
even bigger than we thought – check it out …
And of course we had to check out Sugarloaf – we hiked part
way up and then took the gondola – amazing views …
We also did a hike of Tijuca rainforest – we hiked the heist
peak (3,350 ft) in Rio – this was one of my favorites in Rio – it was a really
cool rainforest with waterfalls and cool flowers … and one of the local
residents did some nice posing for us. Unfortunately the weather was not super
co-operative and we didn’t have much of a view (ok, no view) at the top J
Our guide also took us out to sample the night life … in Rio
Scenarium – this was a super cool night club, 3 floors in total! The club was
more like a museum in terms of décor – very cool/fun vibe. We got to dance some samba (or pretend to)
and the food was pretty good too. Jonathan really enjoyed the Caparinia’s … J
After a few days in Rio we went to Paraty. Rio was fun, but
Paraty was just … amazing. If we go back to that area of Brazil, we will go
straight to Paraty. It is a quaint little colonial town, which has kept it’s
original architecture and streets. The streets are designed such that when the
tide comes up, the water floods the streets (made of rock) and then the tide
washes the streets on the way out. Pretty neat. Every hotel has rubber boots J
The first day there we did a cool bike ride to some local
swimming holes and around the town. It was fun to watch the local jump off the
jungle ropes into the water – and our guide did some crazy high-up jumps too J We opted for the lower
key jungle rope … very fun! The food in Paraty was amazing and we had trouble
choosing which restaurant to go to J
Also, the Ice Cream shop there was, well, spectacular!
There were loads of cool shops in the city and we did some
good Christmas shopping while there – so many cool/local things! Our favorite
day by far, was our ‘beach day’. This was no normal beach day. We did a 45min
hike into a remote beach – you had to hike in, or boat in … it was so cool!
There were a few little fishing huts and cantinas with amazing food – we had
fresh fish, rice, and beans – delicious! And there was even a crab who decided
to join us for lunch ;-) We opted to
hike another 30 min over a ‘hill’ (see below) to an even more remote beach –
where we had the whole place to ourselves. It was perfect. We could have spent
an entire day just hanging out there.
We also spent a day doing a beach tour by boat – also
beautiful … but not as cool as the hikes J
We spent extra time relaxing, walking, walking and more
walking J
we toured Paraty and Rio both by foot – always a great way to see more of the
city
