O, Rio!

Two things have become very clear to me since we arrived in Rio:
1) Carnaval absolutely lives up to its reputation as the largest party in the world
2) I really and truly do not speak Portuguese (and neither do Yishai and Aviva)

Those packs weigh 20 kg each

Rio de Janeiro is amazing. I can only assume that during other parts of the year people actually work here, but so far the impression I received is that the entire country is either partying or at the beach all the time. The locals are all unbelievably tan, and Aviva has wondered a few times if they ever do anything other than work out or work on their tan. I know that it is terrible to gloat, but at the moment I don't believe there is anything more wonderful than summer in February, after the cold miserable rainy and icy mess we left in New York only a week ago. It has been 80-95 degrees Fahrenheit (25-35 C for you metrics) and sunny every day so far.

We spent our first few days relaxing and acclimating, while becoming alternately incredibly frustrated and terribly proud of ourselves for completing everyday activities. Finding an ATM the first day took about an hour of wandering around until we finally found an HSBC and marked it on our map. (It turns out that most of the local banks will not accept foreign cards, including strangely enough Santander, while one of the few that will is the Banco do Brasil. Go figure.) At a trip to the grocery store we were stymied to discover that there was nothing that resembled milk in any of the refrigerators. When I tried asking an employee (using the three words I thought we might have in common- vaca, leite and refrigerado, and a complicated bunch of hand gestures) I was pointed towards the shelf of long-life milk, although he did show me which ones actually contain dairy. Apparently that's what they have here. The supermarket trip turned into a lovely (and economical) supper of bread and olive oil dip, cheese spread, olives, tomato salad and fruit.

Yum!

Another particularly memorable moment was at a restaurant one afternoon where we stopped to get lunch. Our waiter was unbelievably attentive. He wanted to remove the plates from the table to keep the food warm but we wouldn't let him. He insisted on serving us from the serving plate to our plates. We couldn't reach for another portion of rice without his hurrying over to serve us some. So you can only imagine my embarrassment when, in trying to express our gratitude and thanks for a delicious meal, I accidentally threw an offensive gesture his way. What we Americans recognize as the OK sign is in Brazil a very rude sign.

On the other hand, we were positively glowing with pride when we successfully navigated the bus system to get to the Corcovado (the hill with the enormous Christ the Redeemer statue) on our first day. The trip up to the Corcovado is made on a quaint little train that runs through some very lush greenery, and makes for a wonderful ride.

Tram ride up Corcovado

The statue itself was quite impressive and afforded some beautiful views of the city.

 And of course, we had to get the picture!

We also visited the Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar) - via bus of course- just in time for a truly spectacular sunset. The Sugarloaf Mountain is two peaks jutting out over the water, visible from almost anywhere in southern Rio, which are accessible via two cable car rides.

Riding up

Sugarloaf cable car

The view from the top

While looking over this stunning panorama with the sun just sinking over the horizon I overhear the guy next to me say, in a thick Canadian accent, "Well, I guess this could give Vancouver a run for its money, eh?". I suppose that's one way of putting it.

Giving Vancouver a run for its money

Carnaval is out of this world, but unfortunately that will need to be next post, since it is way past my bedtime. I would love to hear some feedback, so leave a comment! Good night, Rio!!