Rio de Janeiro

And now, the last stop on our trip of a lifetime: Rio de Janeiro.  Can't you just hear the lively samba music when you form those words in your mind? Rio de Janeiro.  For anyone who has watched the movie Rio, or its sequel Rio 2, I can confirm that it is almost exactly the same.  The happy waiter arriving at your plate unannounced, jollily shouting, "Picanha???!", the crazy motorcycle drivers navigating the city, and the small, beautiful streets winding around the hills- its all there.  One of my favorite things about this city is the way it is constructed around nature.  Rio is known for its hilly, forested landscape as well as the look of the sun on the water each morning and every night.  What I loved is that the touristy city lives in harmony with these beautiful points of nature, built around and with the landscape.  

Another characteristic part of the city is the religion.  From Christ the Redeemer to every church in the city, a religious feeling connects the majority of the touristy points.  And the touristy points are basically what we did on our three days in Rio.

We went on a cable car ride to the top of the famous Pao de Açucar (the Sugar Loaf).  From the top we could see the city so well, stressing again how it is built around the hills and water of the land.

Some more of that Mexican/American love.

The next day we went on another cable car to the Christ statue, again giving us a beautiful view of the city.  It was a pretty good hike after we got off of the cable car and it was only when I got to the top that I noticed the electric stairs that everyone else was using.  

The picture below is an item of pride of mine because it was a ruthless battle to take it.  Unfortunately, the day of our tour that we decided to see the statue was a Sunday and this touristic point was simply CRAWLING with tourists all battling to take the same picture.  There is even a green screen and a photographer when you get back down the mountain for the poor souls who don't get their picture.  

Another huge touristy point for me was these mosaic-ed stairs, called the Escadaria Selarón.  I don't know the history behind them; my only reference is a popular teenage song where the singer is found dancing on these stairs in the music video.  Feel free to check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzS61Jennkw if you are interested in getting to know the Funk Carioca music culture.  Just keep in mind that this isn't the good Brazilian music.  But anyway, I loved this staircase.  The colors, the artistic work, and the random placement all came together in a very pleasing way for me.  The were made by an chilean artist called Jorge Selarón, who made them as his tribute to the Brazilian people and culture.

And if we're in Rio, we can't miss out on the avenue where the world famous Samba parade takes place every year.  There are dozens of Samba schools practicing for a majority of the year for this event when they each have (I believe) 90 minutes to dance down this avenue and show off their skills.  In Catanduva a few weeks later for our Carnaval, we had a samba school mimicking the wonders that happen in Rio.  I was impressed by them so i can hardly imagine what goes down in Rio.

Oh and did I mention that we got to rent some samba costumes and try out our moves too?

And then last but certainly not least… our last beach.  This was probably the most famous beach of our tour, Ipanema.  I am sure that some of you have heard of the song, "A Garota de Ipanema" or "The Girl from Ipanema."  This is that beach.  If you haven't heard it, I'll introduce you to some better Brazilian music.  

This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D_Lom2pjZQ is the original and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGWkyCzoiiU is by Stevie Wonder (who, on a side note, I did happen to see in concert here).  The water on the beach was the first cold water beach we encountered all trip.  And by cold I mean, March in western NY cold.  I was sincerely impressed.  I jumped in and jumped out to say that i did and then spent the rest of our time there laying in the hot, ever so hot sun.

And unfortunately, thats all folks.  This trip was an incredible adventure, a huge leaning experience, and the highlight of my exchange so far.  Traveling is the best thing that I know and this was 31 days of it.  I saw some incredible cities, walked beautiful streets, and swam in gorgeous beaches.  I met people from different countries, different languages and different culture with whom I formed strong friendships that I will never loose.  It was an adventure that I will never forget, worth every penny and every reused pair of dirty socks.