Saturday, December 19, 2009

Rio de Janeiro - December 11-15, 2009

We arrived in Rio de Janeiro late on December 10, took a taxi to the hotel and went right to bed. We got up bright and early on the 11th and headed straight for Ipanema Beach. Above is one of the many kiosks which line the beach, where we had numerous caipirinhas throughout our stay. The caipirinha is the official drink of Brazil.

Here's a view of Ipanema Beach, about one block from our hotel. The beach is beautifully maintained. Anyone caught sleeping is arrested and hauled away to jail.

Each beach has their own distinctive black and white tile pattern. Ipanema's is above and the Copacabana's tile is below.


We waited for our tour guide, who never showed up. But it didn't stop us from seeing the sights on our own. We left our hotel, walked half the Ipanema Beach and the entire Copacabana Beach. After a much needed lunch, we continued walking to the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain, where we took two cable cars to the top.

Here's a view from the midpoint stop on Sugar Loaf. We continued on the second cable car, but before reaching the top, we were enclosed in fog. Needless to say, there were no pictures from the top.


Saturday and Sunday are big days for the beach, as you can see from this and the next two photos. Unfortunately it poured all day Sunday, so we only had one beach day. We think that only beautiful people are allowed on the beach, since there were hardly any overweight people. Also, most of the men must have been born with perfect bodies. I have many more pictures to share. Just let me know, and I'll send them.



Since Eric has been out of work for a while, he considered running one of the beachfront kiosks. However, I'm sure he would have either consumed or given away all the caipirinha profits.

Every kiosk was doing a booming business in coconut sales. The standard price was about $1.50. It was interesting seeing them opened bare handed with a machete.

There were many sand sculptures, which you could photo for a fee. This was the best one on the beach. I had to be held back from jumping on top of it.

Since I was in Rio for Hanukkah, we had a special menorah placed on the busy street in Copacabana.

On our final day in Rio, we went to one of the local fruit and vegetable markets, as seen in these two photos.

Since our flight did not leave until 11:35pm, we had to plan a full day. We did some shopping in the morning, but with the current exchange rate, the prices were worse than New York City. We arranged for a city tour before returning to the airport.

Here we are at one of the new seven wonders of the world - The Christ Statue. It looms high above Rio.
Eric just couldn't wait to shake hands with Jesus.

This is a panoramic view of Rio from the roof of our hotel.

And who knows if we will be back again for the Olympics in 2016. We already have our reservations for the 2012 Olympics in London.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. I'm already planning another around the world adventure for 2010.

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