Well, we got an early start today. Hadley got up extra early and took a picture of the Rio sunrise from our balcony:


Then we got up, grabbed some breakfast, and jumped in a cab and headed to the top of Sugar Loaf.


We got to Sugar Loaf and, although we were told we could hike to the top, we realized this wasn't true once we spent almost an hour walking only to hit a deadend. We returned to the base of Sugar Loaf and joined all the other tourists in line for the cable cars.

More than a million tourists come here every year to enjoy breathtaking views of the entire region. It is located on a small peninsula at the entrance of the Guanabara Bay, forming two steep hills (morros): Urca with 220 meters and the Sugar Loaf with 575 meters.

A cable car system joins both hills with the base station. The first leg of the ride ends at Urca. The excitement of the travelers is felt from the very beginning due to a totally glazed cabin that allows passengers to get a fantastic aerial view of the region. In Urca there is a wide platform with trails in the middle of deep vegetation and natural observation posts located at different heights. From there, you can see the Copacabana beach, the port, the Christ of Corcovado, the Guanabara Bay and Niteoroi.





The second leg goes to the top of the Sugar Loaf. It is also a marvelous ride with even more breathtaking 360-degree views of the region.







After seeing all there was to see at Sugar Loaf, we made the trip down, grabbed a cab, and went to small bistro not far from our hotel to grab lunch. Then we hit the beach! I took a picture of Hadley enjoying the surf:


And then another picture of a typical Brazilian couple on the beach:


And then, of course, I had to give body-surfing yet another try, and I almost crashed into a girl who probably thought I was an idiotic American:


After we'd had enough beach for the day, we made our way back to the hotel. On the way, we saw some guys with Brazilian afro's (who weren't too pleased that I snapped their picture)...


...and we saw some guys doing some amazing flips and acrobatics on the beach...


...and then we HAD to try the corn that we had seen vendors selling for days....and it was GOOOOOD!!...


We found a nice little part of the beach where the waves were larger, yet the crowd wasn't too bad...


We walked by the amazing sand castle again so I took yet another picture of it...for a price, obviously!


And then we got back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit, and went to the beautiful Copacabana Palace for drinks. Here's a picture of my beautiful bride while we were there:


We tried to have dinner there, as well, but we didn't have reservations, so we tried a nice, cozy restaurant called the Esplanada Grill. Actually, the American medical students that we met at Sushi Leblon had mentioned it, so we decided to try it out....and it was awesome. We finished dinner, grabbed a cab back to the hotel, and called it a night.

To see more pictures from Day 5, click here, here, and here.

Trip to Rio (Day 5)

Well, we got an early start today. Hadley got up extra early and took a picture of the Rio sunrise from our balcony:


Then we got up, grabbed some breakfast, and jumped in a cab and headed to the top of Sugar Loaf.


We got to Sugar Loaf and, although we were told we could hike to the top, we realized this wasn't true once we spent almost an hour walking only to hit a deadend. We returned to the base of Sugar Loaf and joined all the other tourists in line for the cable cars.

More than a million tourists come here every year to enjoy breathtaking views of the entire region. It is located on a small peninsula at the entrance of the Guanabara Bay, forming two steep hills (morros): Urca with 220 meters and the Sugar Loaf with 575 meters.

A cable car system joins both hills with the base station. The first leg of the ride ends at Urca. The excitement of the travelers is felt from the very beginning due to a totally glazed cabin that allows passengers to get a fantastic aerial view of the region. In Urca there is a wide platform with trails in the middle of deep vegetation and natural observation posts located at different heights. From there, you can see the Copacabana beach, the port, the Christ of Corcovado, the Guanabara Bay and Niteoroi.





The second leg goes to the top of the Sugar Loaf. It is also a marvelous ride with even more breathtaking 360-degree views of the region.







After seeing all there was to see at Sugar Loaf, we made the trip down, grabbed a cab, and went to small bistro not far from our hotel to grab lunch. Then we hit the beach! I took a picture of Hadley enjoying the surf:


And then another picture of a typical Brazilian couple on the beach:


And then, of course, I had to give body-surfing yet another try, and I almost crashed into a girl who probably thought I was an idiotic American:


After we'd had enough beach for the day, we made our way back to the hotel. On the way, we saw some guys with Brazilian afro's (who weren't too pleased that I snapped their picture)...


...and we saw some guys doing some amazing flips and acrobatics on the beach...


...and then we HAD to try the corn that we had seen vendors selling for days....and it was GOOOOOD!!...


We found a nice little part of the beach where the waves were larger, yet the crowd wasn't too bad...


We walked by the amazing sand castle again so I took yet another picture of it...for a price, obviously!


And then we got back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit, and went to the beautiful Copacabana Palace for drinks. Here's a picture of my beautiful bride while we were there:


We tried to have dinner there, as well, but we didn't have reservations, so we tried a nice, cozy restaurant called the Esplanada Grill. Actually, the American medical students that we met at Sushi Leblon had mentioned it, so we decided to try it out....and it was awesome. We finished dinner, grabbed a cab back to the hotel, and called it a night.

To see more pictures from Day 5, click here, here, and here.

Trip to Rio (Day 3)

We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, and then went outside and flagged down a car service to take us to Corcovado. We were delighted to find that our driver/guide, Robert, was very accommodating. Although he didn't speak much English, Hadley was able to communicate with her Spanglish skills. Of course, the language there is Portuguese, which is more different than Spanish than you'd think. Regardless, Robert could understand enough of our English, and Hadley could understand him, so we were good to go.

On the way to Corcovado, he took us to some type of heliopad that had some pretty good views:

View from the Heliopad


Another view from the Heliopad


Lizard at the Heliopad


Safari ants at the Heliopad


Robert drove us up the mountain to Corcovado, once we left the Heliopad. Corcovado is actually the name of the hill (2,400 feet tall) on which the statue of Jesus stands. The statue is 100 feet tall, and it is covered in a mosaic of soapstone. Jesus is standing with open arms, blessing the city. On a clear day, this spot offers a complete 360 degree view of Rio. Unfortunately for us, by the time we climbed to the top (about 20 minutes on foot), the clouds had dropped and we literally couldn't see three feet in front of us. We waited and waited and took a few pictures as the clouds came in and out:

Hadley's Picture of the statue


Another picture taken by Hadley


My only picture without the clouds


Once we'd had enough of Corcovado, Robert took us back to our hotel, where we changed into our bathing suits and headed to Ipanema. We stopped for a quick bite for lunch in a great little place in Ipanema called Gula Gula, known for its salads and desserts. After stuffing ourselves, we headed to the beach!

Beach shot


Enjoying a coconut AND the scenery!


After we'd had enough of the beach and people-watching, we headed back to the hotel to clean-up for dinner. Here's a shot from our balcony around sunset:

Sunset


Hadley had made reservations at a restaurant in Leblon called Carlota, chosen by Condé Nast Traveler as one of the 50 most exciting restaurants in the world. We found Robert outside the hotel, and he drove us there and we were seated immediately. Dinner was absolutely amazing!

Dinner at Carlota


After dinner, we walked down to Academia da Cachaca, a laid-back yet up-market Leblon restaurant specializing in North East Brazilian food and great cocktails all built from the traditional Brazilian spirit of cachaca. There are at least 500 varieties of the potion to choose from - served up either straight, as traditional Caiparinhas, or as colorful fruity concoctions by barmen who are quite clearly pass masters. Unfortunately, the wait was too long and we decided to pass. We did, however, befriend the host...a nice gentleman named Lauro. He spoke great English and suggested we come back the next day. That said, we grabbed a cab, headed back to the hotel, and called it a night.

To see more pictures from Day 3, click here, here, and here.

Trip to Rio (Day 2)

Today we arrived into the international airport in Sao Paulo around 11:30 AM. Then we hopped on a shuttle and went to the domestic airport so we could fly to Rio de Janeiro. The plane ride to Rio was about 45 minutes, so we landed in Rio around 12:30 PM on Friday, December 31st. We hopped in a cab and headed to our hotel, the Othon Palace. Slightly dated, this hotel is still very nice and is the tallest building on Copacabana beach. We checked in, dropped our stuff off in the room, and I took my first picture from our balcony:



and then made a quick trip around the block to a small convenience store to get some snacks and, most importantly, some bottled water. On the way, just as we turned the corner to go to the store, a large crowd of men dressed as women came running down the street:



Keep reading for details from the rest of the day...

We hit the store and then went back to our room to take naps. The flight was long and I didn't sleep much, so I crashed for a couple of hours. We got up, got dressed, and then headed out for the evening.

Hadley had done some great research, so she had a restaurant in mind. That being the case, we set out on foot to find it. Unfortunately, a good number of the businesses close early on New Year's Eve, so when we got to the restaurant, to our dismay it was closed. We were hot, tired, and hungry, so we walked a few blocks more and went in the first place we found that was open, Rua Barao Da Torre 340. This was actually a great little restaurant! Somehow we were seated without reservations, ordered some calamari and our first round of caipiroshka's:



The traditional Brazilian drink is actually called a Caipirinha, and it's made with limes, sugar, ice and cachaca. However, Hadley likes vodka, so we chose the caipiroshka...which is the same thing except with vodka instead of cachaca. Either way, they were delicious! Halfway through dinner, Hadley spotted actor, Jared Leto, and two of his friends having dinner. I guess he was in Rio to enjoy New Year's, as well. We got the bill, wrapped up dinner, and then headed back to Copacabana beach for the fireworks.

Once we got back to the beach, it was almost overwhelming to see so many people. There were literally over two million people on beach! Reveillon is literally the planet's largest New Year's Eve celebration. Copacabana beach is about 4 kilometers long, so you can imagine how many people it could hold. There were stages set up with bands playing, and people were literally everywhere! Reveillon also coincides with the Festa de Iemanja, the goddess of the sea in the tradition of the Afro-Brazilian religions. Devotees dress in white, create altars of lighted candles in the sand:



and bring offerings of flowers, perfume, and cachaca to the revered sea goddess:



Some launched their gift into the sea on miniature boats in hopes that Iemanja will accept them:



And check out this sand castle...AMAZING!



Once we'd had enough of the beach, we decided to head back up to the room to get a great view of the fireworks from our balcony:



There were barges out in the water that lauched all of the fireworks...truly an amazing performance. Although we enjoyed them, part of our hotel blocked our view, and the huge clouds of smoke eventually rose to point that we couldn't see anything! Regardless, the fireworks were awesome, and were a great way to celebrate the New Year! We finished our drinks and hit the sack...to get ready for the next day...

To see more pictures from Day 2, click here, here, and here.

Trip to Rio (Day 1)

If you'll recall, we were fortunate enough to go to Africa back in July. Because we bought an "around the world" ticket, there was another leg that we had to use by the end of the year. Neither of us had ever been to Brazil, and we had heard of Reveillon, the huge New Year's celebration in Rio, so we decided to spend New Year's Eve in Rio!

Our flight left for Sao Paulo at 7:45 PM on Thursday, December 30th. Oddly enough, there was no traffic on our way to the airport (almost impossible in Atlanta), and security wasn't bad, either...so we arrived for our flight without a single problem. Hadley watched a movie while I messed with my phone and iPod (as usual). Of course, an hour or two into the flight, she was dead asleep...and I was wide awake. For some reason, I find it hard to sleep on planes. Anyway, I eventually dozed off, thus bringing Day 1 to an end...