Sunday, February 27, 2005


Team Waterloo


The crew

Sunday, February 13, 2005

So sad, last day in rio

Yesterday, rio had some crummy weather so we stuck to some indoor activities. Im convinced that shopping in ipanema would be every girls dream...amanda you´d have a great time here. For me it was too much, but i did buy a cool t-shirt, a drum & bass / samba CD as well as a few gifts. Today, arun, pete and igor caught earlier flights but shawn and i had time to check catch a football game at the maracana stadium. It was a pretty important match, semi-finals of the Rio state championships. The game was amazing, Americanos beat the favorite team, Botofogo. This stadium is very famous for holding over 210,000 fans during the 1950 world cup final match between brazil and uruguay (in which brazil lost in the final moments, several fans had heart attacks in the stands, and the goalie went insane and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution)...it still holds the record for the most people in attendance for a football match. What an experience, brazilians are absolutely nuts about this sport.

1950 World Cup Final, Maracana Stadium

Looking back, we all had an experience of a lifetime...from pristine beaches, to crazy night clubs, to street parties, to mountain hikes, to excellent food (i didnt blog about this much, but i ate some pretty damn good food), Rio has it all. I hope everyone reading gets a chance to visit this wonderful place. This has been the only city in the world that i have visited, where every (and i mean every) local that ive spoken too has said they absolutely love it and would never leave. I can see why.

The end.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Sore all over

Well, im back in rio...every muscle in my body is aching from yesterday´s hike to parrot peak. This hike was one of the most physically and mentally challenging hikes ive ever done. First off, shawn and i missed an important turn near the beginning because the sign was overgrown with tropical plants so we wasted about 1.5hr and 300m of hiking before we actually began the real hike. With only one ferry leaving the island in the afternoon we were very tight on time. Add to this the humidity of a tropical rain forest, another 1000m to climb, and sore muscles from the previous two days...lets just say it was a challenge. Stupidly, i didnt bring much food, so a small chocolate bar and a bag of cheetos was my energy for the day :) Sweating like monkeys the entire way up, we were rationing water about half way up the hill. But in the end, we made it through the tropical rain forest, through the bamboo forest and up to the peak in 1:45h...blazingly fast (our guide recommended at least 3h to get up). The view from the top of the island was as expected, amazing.

Top of Parrot's Peak. The hike started from the town on the bottom left (on the right is the beach we hiked to on the previous day)

After the hike, we went back to town for some food...took an overcrowded ferry back to the mainland (when i say overcrowded, i mean south-american overcrowded...complete chaos). Our guide bruno was a riot. One of the funniest people ive ever met, and in typical brazilian style...very good with the ladies. Typical pickup lines included ´Ive never known you, but ive always loved you´ and ´you´re on the catwalk to my heart´. You´re laughing, but in the end, every single girl (7 as i recall) he charmed ended up coming out with us to the bar.

Today, im heading out to do some shopping in ipanema and tonight there's a huge parade of all the top samba schools from carnival. I also plan to swing by leblon beach (right next to ipanema beach) at some point.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Ilhe Grande

This post is coming to you from the island paradise known as Ilhe Grande. Today started at 6am, our guide bruno picked us up at our hotel at 6am, he had with him two lads from london. These guys are absolutely mental...shawn and i are constantly laughing at they´re humor, and we´re learning a whole bunch of british slang as we go. For instance, ´fun bags´ is a great one. The weather today again was amazing, reaching about 30C. We had a two hour car ride, then a 1.5h feiry ride before we started hiking on the island. The hiking has been fantastic, as there are no cars or roads for that matter on the island, we spent the day hiking from beach to beach...each one better than the previous. Our final beach today was simply paradise...both shawn and i agreed that its been the nicest beach we´ve ever been to (beating out our favorite maui beaches). The atmosphere is so layed back here...im sitting at a semi-outdoor internet cafe, with vodka in hand. We´re heading off to the bar right now...our guide is showing us a great time. Tomorrow, we hiking to the top peak on the island ´parrot peak´. Chao!

Ilhe Grange (Parrot's Peak is the little nipple on the top right)


Hang tight dude! (Shawn)


Damn all these women getting in my shots...


That's better! Beautiful rainbow.


As good as it gets...

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Hiking

Im barely awake while writing this blog, im sure ill pass out right after. Shawn and i have just got back from and entire day of hiking. We got a local guide, Gui, to pick us up at the hotel and take us on a hike called Gavea. You can check it out here: http://www.riohiking.com.br/tours.htm .

Gavea (the flat one)

The hike was great, perfect weather for it...mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks and a nice wind. It was about 800m to the top, with only a few places along the way that needed some concentration. The view from the top was absolutely amazing. You could see many beaches, the west part of rio, the entire national park (can´t remember what its called, but it´s the worlds largest national park contained within a city) and the city itself (not to mention a great view of the largest favela). Since it was a windier day, there was dozens of hang-gliders and parasailers, many of them making approaches very close to the summit of gavea (our guide exchanged a few jokes with some of the people while they were in mid-flight). What surprises me is how little people hike in rio. According to our guide, this was the most rewarding hike in rio, a city of 7 million people, the busiest season for hiking, we saw about 25 people the entire day. Our guide claims that brazilians usually choose the beach over a hike. There were plenty of other peaks in the area which looked like great places to climb if only we had more time...oh well.

Rio's Largest Favela (from peak of Gavea)

Last night was a ´chill´ night, we went to a blocko in copacabana, relaxed at an outdoor cafe and got home at 2am.

So at 6am tomorrow morning, shawn and i are taking off for a two-day hiking adventure at a place called IIha Grande. We´re going with the same hiking company as today: http://www.riohiking.com.br/tours.htm

One last side note for all the amazonians out there...amazon.com has no presence in rio! no one ive met has heard of it...i think the right thing to do would be to open amazon.br ... joe can i WFR ?

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

So much to do, so little time

It´s fat tuesday...last day of carnival. I spent most of the day on copacabana beach, the weather has been amazing ever since the second day. Last night we hit a few more smaller blockos and then dancing till 5. Oh, one thing that i wanted to mention is how safe rio is. Granted, i havent been to many parts of the city...but the tourist areas that we've been sticking to are very very safe. There has not been a moment during this trip where ive felt unsafe or intimidated by shady characters. Thinking back to similar places ive been before, rio feels a lot safer than barcelona or rome did. Oh, i just remembered...we did get attacked a couple of times...well actually it was shawn how got attacked...well not really attacked...more like chased and hugged by a 4 year old girl. This was the funniest scene...shawn trying to (politely) get away from a cute little brazilian girl. I wish i got a picture...maybe she´ll attack again.


Shawn and his archnemesis

Alrighty...hope all is well everyone and im not boring you too much. BTW, i cant access my email, so i wont be able to respond if by chance you´ve written. Tonight...should be another crazy night, i have absolutely no idea whats planned but im sure it´ll be fun. You cant go wrong in this city!

Chao!

Monday, February 07, 2005

Day 2: Hello Sunshine!

And sunny it was! We hit the beach for a few hours...took some great pictures. Rio, as everyone knows is set beautifully...ocean, beach,city, mountains. I´ve never seen anything come close. Oh, at this point i think i also should mention the another obvious fact...brazilian women are well...everything you´d expect them to be. The entire beach street in ipanema was closed off with hoards of people walking, jogging, showing off their tans. The beach, packed with people doing the usual beach stuff, but there is one interesting game that the locals play that i had not witnessed (or thought was possible) before. I dont know what its called...but it´s volleyball but with football (soccer) rules. So, all the rules that apply to 2X2 beach volleyball but you cant use your hands! Chest, feet, knees...amazing sport to watch.

Me & Ipanema


Shawn checkin out the surf

After the beach, we spent the remainder of the day visiting the christ statue. Amazing view of rio...i got some great photos.

Sugar Loaf (from the Christ Statue)

That night we went out to a club in copacabana (ann, i think you´re familiar with it). This was an enormous place...Literally nothing short of paradise. I had a girl teach me how to samba. At about 5am, we called it quits...my feet were fried from all the dancing. Oh, forgot to mention, earlier in the evening, we went out to an all you can get restaurant...stuffed myself silly...sushi...every kind of meat you can imagine...nothing that an imodium couldn´t fix ;)

Alright...that was day 2. As of this typing...its day 3...ive been body-boarding at the beach and will be heading out to another blocko shortly!

Adios for now!

Oh Man!!!

What a great city! This has got to be one of the most amazing places in the world!

Hola everyone who cares to read this blog, and my apologies for not writing earlier. Ive been real busy to say the least. From the beginning then. After a long fight from seattle, through Dallas and Miami, we finally arrived in Rio. Although it was by far the longest flight of my life, it went by fairly quickly...good reading material, some sleep, and hockey stories from shawn. So after flying to other side of the world...we´re greeted by rain :( and its been raining the entire week before we got here. BTW, my polish passport worked like a charm! Undetermined, shawn and i pressed to ipanema beach. After a few hours we met up with the rest of the gang and headed out to our first Blocko party! Man was it crazy...samba music...thousands of people, drinking, dancing and of course i got my white polish ass right into the middle of it. What made it even crazier was that it would rain pretty hard during the parade...but since it was warm no one cared! Now this is carnival!! That night we went out to a night club, lots of locals, great music...really (and i mean really) strong drinks. One of the funniest things ive seen so far is how inefficiently bartenders work in this country. It takes about 2-3 minutes for the girl to prepare your drink...and its not cause she´s lazy...first she hand squeezes a few limes into the cup, then manually crushes some ice...then struggles while trying to open a the vodka bottle (they go through a lot of bottles every night) and finally pours the liquor to the brim and adds a splash of whatever you´ve ordered. Ok, so that´s enough for day one...i think we got home around 4am. Day 2 (next post)...shawn and i were up at 10am back on the beach!



Welcome to Rio