Rio De Janeiro

 We spent a long weekend in Rio De Janeiro, and despite the rainy weather- we had a great time!!

We landed about an hour and 15 minutes later than planned because the plane couldn't land with the heavy clouds.  We went to an airport about 30 minutes away, fueled up, and went back to Rio.  At that point the clouds cleared, and we were able to land.  We went straight to the beach after checking into our hotel.  The waves were huge, so we didn't go too deep into the ocean; then we got some pool side late lunch/early dinner.

We were lucky that our hotel, The Hyatt, had a Kid's Club, and it was opened while we were there.  Josh and I took turns going to the newly dedicated Rio De Janeiro Temple.  The kids just wanted to play in the Kid's Club the whole time.

We headed to our next hotel, The Hilton, on Copacabana Beach, where we stayed for the rest of our trip.  By the time we got there, it was cloudy, but that didn't stop us from going to the famous beach.  The clouds scared everyone away because the beach was pretty empty, and it had the funnest sandbar in the ocean.  We didn't get to stay too long because it did start to rain.  We opted to swim in both of the heated hotel pools in the rain, and it was actually kind of fun.  (There was not thunder or lightening).

The next morning was pouring all morning.  We watched a marathon out our hotel window.  I felt so bad for those marathon runners.  The rain finally subsided by noon, but the skies were still dark clouds.  We chose to go for a walk to see the fort, but it was closed due to the rain, so we just watched the surfers and tiny monkeys instead.

Our tourist tour day was sunny, thankfully!  First we went to Christ the Redeemer.  It was fun to see it up close and personal.  It is huge, and can be seen pretty far away when the clouds clear. (See above picture).  On the way we past the palace where the first princess lived.  After Christo Redentor we went to Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar).  We took the glass tram to the top, and it had a nature wooded area.  We could have spent longer there, but we were with our tour.  We saw lots of little monkeys at both places.  Our tour guide called them capuchin monkeys, but I think they were marmosats after looking at google images.  We also saw a South American coati at Christ the Redeemer that wanted to eat the kids M&Ms, so that was fun!  If I was to advise someone who is planning to visit these two places, I would say just take taxis to both, and pay for the entrance fee yourselves.  You can take the train up to Christ the Redeemer, and then spend as much time as you would like at Sugar Loaf.  Our tour guide was super nice, but we were limited to taking the shuttle van up and limited to time on Sugar Loaf. 

One thing I noticed about Rio is all of the paintings EVERYWHERE.  I should have taken more pictures because it seemed like every wall was painted big grand paintings.  It was actually really awesome.  Here are a couple that I did take pictures of: 

I also wanted to make note of the favelas.  It is crazy how the run down, windowless apartments are crammed together in the favelas- the places where the poor live.  Our guide on our tour told us not all favelas are full of drugs and danger, but being part of the Embassy community we are strictly prohibited to enter the favelas due to safety.  I was able to capture some pictures of them, though. 

We would have loved to have more beach time, like always, but it was a fun trip. I think our 2 years here in Brazil will fly by.