Rio de Janeiro

I made it. After flying all night, I was able to make my way out of customs and on to a bus that took me a block from my hostel. I received many funny looks from all the locals on the bus as I boarded with my huge backpack.

I made it to Ipamena which is an area of Rio. Have you heard the song A Girl Goes Walking in Ipamena? This would be the inspiration for that, and I can see why. The beach here is amazingly beautiful. My hostel is only a block back from the beach, which is a necessity considering how hot it has been here. Since I have been here it has been no cooler than 35C each day. A friend saw a newspaper that said Sunday was 46C!!! I am not to good with my conversions from Celcius to Fairenheit but I do know that when I was going through customs at the airport they had a huge sign warning people about H1N1. The sign said that if you have a fever of over 36 you should go to the hospital. Just to put the heat in perspective.

There is no way to escape the heat though. Even on the shaded streets it is so hot and humid that we are dying and we are constantly reminded of how hot it is because they have digital thermomiters on almost every street corner. The beach is the only escape, and everyone heads to the beach. I have never seen so many umbrellas and people on one little strip of sand.

Besides spending some quality time at the beach, I have also done the typical tourist things. One day we went to Pao de Acucar to watch the sunset. It is a huge rock that sticks out on the coast. You have to take two different cable cars to the get to the top but once you are up there it is a breath taking view of the city. It is amazing how large this city is, but I dont feel like I am among millions of other people. It was a clear night and we were able to watch a beautiful sunset over the city.

The next day we went to Corcovado aka the huge Christ that overlooks the city. We made the mistake of going in the middle of the day, which ment once we got to the top the only shade we could find was beneth the arms of Christ. We were up there just long enough to take picutres and look out on the city before we headed back down to seek some shade and a cold drink. It is just amazing though how they built this huge statue at the top of this mountian. I was dying just walking myself up the stairs in the heat(we found the esclator after we hiked the stairs), I could not imagine working on the Christ and having to carry building supplies up during the heat of the day.

We have found one way to cool off... the national drink of brazil, Caipirinhas. It an amazing cocktail of crushed limes and sugar with cachaca (a rum made from sugar cane). It is quite delicious and refreshing after a long day in the heat.

Tonight we are meeting a guy who works at the front desk of our hostel and he is going to give us a lesson in the Brazilian dance Capoeira. I will let you know how that goes :)