Friday, September 4, 2009

Rio De Janeiro

And I’m off to Rio De Janeiro with a quick plane change in Monte video


And after spending an almost sleepless night waiting for Patricia at the Rio Airport we arrive at the safe haven of patricias aunts lovely rooftop apartment – sleep for a few hours and finish off the day with some pastilles (deep fried pockets of deliciousness)
A very cool building in downtown Rio


Another very cool building in downtown Rio – this one is a cathedral


A very old monastery smack in the middle of downtown – according to Patricia’s aunt this is where girls go to pray to get married.


The beach at night from a top floor food court with cars flashing by and sugar loaf mountain in the background and lots of boats in between.


Ipanema beach with the waterfront favella just behind. This is the start of our cross rio car tour led by Patricia’s cousin.


more ipanema
If you were really motivated you could pick a spiky Jacca fruit from one of the many trees around town. Patricia’s aunt was really bent on having us pick a jacca but we never did…though we did pick some mangos
some nice graffiti at the lagoa


And this is the lagoa

This is our high class per kilo buffet lunch – lunch is the big meal here – and buffets are the way to go if you eat out… they come in varying qualities – this one was a nice one – and we each ate almost a kilo – a bit of everything adds up!


Going up! In the cable car to sugar loaf mountain. This is the very cable car on which a famous James Bond scene was filmed



View from the top





The night time leg of the epic rio car tour – I was heavily scolded for hanging my camera out the window – windows up! Especially at a stop light – and don’t let anyone see your camera! Don’t mind my wicked night time photography skills.




I really was there! Me at a waterfall in the botanical gardens – it took us over an hour to walk these gardens and you would never know you were in the middle of a huge bustling city!





Going up again – this time in a train to see the giant Jesus statue Rio’s most prominent landmark


A lofty view


And it was very very windy – we almost got blown over the edge…but not quite

Grocery shopping - in Rio I have my very own preserved peas! This was a very exciting discovery



Dinasaur bones at the museum at the university – there were other things at this museum too including an exhibit of creepy things – like stuffed animals with physical abnormalities…and ….


A big whale


The telephone museum

What used to be the presidents house before he killed himeself a really really really long time ago


The view from Patricia’s aunts.


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