Rio de Janeiro

So it all started after I got back from the tropical hotel on the 23rd. I was the first one in the union for our Rio like a Native trip. Everyone else started to pile in and I realized I didn’t know any of them except Amanda who later became my buddy. Once everyone was accounted for, we all got on a bus and went to Manaus International Airport. A lot of people were tired and many people were sleeping on the ground and using their backpack as a pillow. After the first flight I was pretty tired. It was about 3 and half hours long and I didn’t get too much sleep. The second flight was about an hour long. It was very sunny once we got off in Rio. We met our tour guide named Rodrigo who reminded me of the main character for the movie Despicable Me. Once we boarded the bus, Rodrigo started to talk about the history of Rio. I don’t remember what exactly he said because I was so tired, but I remember him saying that 11 million people live in the greater Rio area. He also referred to the city as Rio Janeiro, not Rio de Janeiro. But anyway, the bus took us to Copacabana beach where we had breakfast at Nescafe Kiosk which was really good. They had all sorts of bread, cheese and meat to make breakfast sandwiches. After that, we were supposed to go on a bike tour of Copacabana but I was quite exhausted so I decided to head right back to the hotel, as did Andrew and a few lifelong learners. We stayed at the Windsor plaza a few blocks down from Copacabana palace and the beach. After meeting my roommates, we all met in the hotel lobby to go on a jeep tour through a favela. The jeeps that took us to the favela stood out quite a bit. It was pretty obvious that we were tourists. Rio is situated very strangely. Unlike you would expect, all of the rich people live near the beach and towards center city while all of the poor people who live in favelas are high up in the hills with great views. Once we got to the top of the favela, the view of Rio was breath taking. Surprisingly, all of the inhabitants of the favela were very welcoming. They would wave and say hi to us as we walked by their homes. Rodrigo said that they were proud that people from all over the world would come and visit their favela as opposed to another. Many of the houses were basic shacks, yet most of them had satellite and a decent sized TV. Once we got to the bottom, we needed to wait for the other group to come down. On the way back to the hotel, the driver of our jeep bought a jack fruit from someone on the side of the road while we were stopped at a red light. It was kind of sweet; I thought it was pretty good. Once we got back to the hotel, me and Andrew (not the same Andrew that I met earlier) decided to buy a bottle of Bacardi and drink a little before we went out to dinner with Stevie, the other Andrew, Malachi, Jamie, and Bryan. We went to a restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel. I got a beer and Caesar salad with filet mignon, which was really good. The total was 27 reals, which is around 15 dollars American. After going back to the hotel with everyone, we decided to drink a little more and then wander down towards the beach to find a bar. We weren’t the only ones either. I think it was agreed that everyone did the same. The bar that we ended up going to was filled with old men, and hookers along with little kids wandering around and trying to sell gum and small candy bars. I ended up deciding to go across the street to a beach bar where it was cheaper and a lot less crowded. It was probably one of the greatest moments to be able to relax on Copacabana beach with people my age. The city was beautiful at night. I ended up walking back with Jasmine, Jamie, and Andrew and went to sleep around 1:20. The next day, kyle, my other roommate from Boston, enlightened me to the fact that he tried to bring two hookers back last night but got stopped at the door to the hotel. Not really thing most sanitary thing I would have done. The next morning, we all met in the hotel lobby to get on the bus and take us to the Sugar Loaf Mountains. The first mountain we hiked up but some people, mostly lifelong learners, decided to take the cable car. It wasn’t too bad of a hike compared to Sleeping Giant Mountain. Once we got to the top, the view was incredible. You could see the city for miles and miles. I didn’t realize how big Rio was before I got to the top. Then we took the second cable car up and the view from there was even better. A 360 degree view of the city of Rio and the ocean. After taking the cable car back down the mountain, almost everyone signed out and claimed independence from the percussion class in order to spend a day at the beach. Andrew and I decided to have some Bacardi before we went so we relaxed on Copacabana beach for around an hour before getting dinner at a restaurant across the street from Windsor. At this restaurant, the waiter spoke French better than English so I ordered in French and actually got what I wanted; who would have thought French class could have paid off. After dinner, Rodrigo told us to go to the top of the Windsor for a surprise before we went sambaing. Once Andrew and I got there, the bartender gave us free drinks along with everyone else on SAS. Once we got to the samba club, we all ordered more drinks and some people got dinner, and then we hit the dance floor. I didn’t know how to samba, so I watched people before I asked Amanda to dance with me. We both had no idea what we were doing but it was so much fun. Then Amanda didn’t want to dance any more, but I still did, so I danced with Sarah. When she didn’t want to dance any more, I danced with Liz. After Liz had enough, I danced with Alex. When Alex was tired, I danced with Carter. I think I learned that when I drink, I like to samba. After we left the samba club, people were going out to other clubs, but I went to sleep at around 1:30. The next day, we all met in the lobby again at 9 and got into two separate buses to go to see Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Mountain. We arrived at a train station at around 10, but it wasn’t your typical train, more like a slower monorail. It took us up to the top of the mountain, right at the feet of the Christ Redeemer statue. The view from there was better than the view from the Sugar Loaf Mountains. I don’t know what combination of words I have to say in order to give that view justice. Once we took the train back down, we all went to a smaller beach called Prainha. It was about an hour drive, but worth it. The water and the waves were great. I ended up throwing a Frisbee the whole time with Kyle, Brian, David, Hacob, Amy and two Brazilian kids that were around ten years old. It was a perfect ending for my time in Rio.