Rio de Janerio, Brazil

I THINK I FOUND A NEW HOME! Brazil is amazing.. I know I said that about almost every port.... but Rio was the best so far.

The town was so beautiful... it was huge with soo much to do. I had an extremely busy three days but it was worth it. I would be on the move constantly and I did not even put a dent in what Brazil had to offer.

This is a picture of a small part of the city. The big body of water  in the middle is a salt water lake and then on the other side it the ocean. The city was built on a huge tropical mountain. A lot of the city was built on the hill as well as around the base.



Day 1: The minute the ship was cleared with immigration me and a friend got in a taxi and sped down to Copacabana which is one of the most beautiful beaches in Rio. Once we arrive we went shopping at the hippie market. This market is an open air market that held all the tourist like things as well as a lot of hand crafted items. It was lovely. But we did not stay long. Soon after we decided to venture to the Christ the Redeemer statue. It proved to be one of the most spectacular views of the city I could ever image. It is located on one of the highest points in Rio so you are able to see it know matter where you are in the city. That is where I took the picture above. We did not get much time at the Christ the Redeemer statue because we needed to get back to the ship and get ready for a field trip we were scheduled to go on. The field trip was to a Samba school and dinner. Samba is a traditional Brazilian dance that consists of two steps and a lot of shaking of the hips. The school is primarily used to train dancers who want to participate in the carnival celebrations every February. But on Sundays (which is the day we went) the school is turned into what I would refer to as a huge club. There was loads and loads of people all dancing, drinking, and having a good time. It was so much fun! After the school we went to a restaurant which had a really nice atmosphere. It was an open air type of set up.. which was nice because I don't think Brazilians believe in air conditioning!! At the restaurant there was food, drinks and of course more dancing!! We stayed there until about 22:00 when we decided to head back to the ship so we can have another productive and exciting day!
Here is a picture of Christ the Redeemer.



Day 2: I had a SAS trip leaving at 08:30 to two tropical islands on a schooner. If you don't know what a schooner is just imagine a pirate ship converted a little to hold a large number of people comfortably. It took about an hour to reach the boat  that was going to take us to small secluded islands off the coast of Rio but once we got there it was no time at all until we anchored in the middle of the ocean to take a quick dip. The water was so cold!! After everyone jumped in and settled down again we were on our way to an island where we spent a little time laying on the beach and swimming. After that island we went to a private beach where we had time to relax and have a traditional Brazilian BBQ. The food was absolutely amazing! Of course I spent a lot of time sun bathing and some time with my goggles and snorkel swimming around :) We left the island and made our way back to the bus that was going to take us back to the ship. We made it right in time before we had  a nice little rain storm. After the rain stopped pouring me and some friends decided to go attempt to watch the sunset on what they call Sugarloaf Mountain which proves to have an almost equally awesome view. The clouds decided that we would not be able to see the sunset all that well so we decided to head back and catch some dinner and have a few drinks before calling it a night. The picture below is of the schooner.



Day 3: IT WAS SO RAINY TODAY!!! But that did not stop me. I took a long slow stroll around the town taking in the view with my raincoat on and an umbrella over my head. It was nice to take the time to 'stop and smell the roses' My voyage has been fast paced and busy and it was time to slow down and take it all in. So I did. It was wonderful. I met a lot of amazing people... and some that would try and talk to me but I had no idea what they wanted to talk about because I unfortunately did not brush up on Portuguese before I left. But in all reality... Brazil was amazing, the people were so friendly and kind (even though Brazil does not like the US) and I would most definitely recommend visiting!!!!!!

2 PORTS LEFT, 23 MORE DAYS.......... See you all very soon!

I love and miss everyone!!

~~Amy