I wake up as the plane is landing and I look out the window to see that the sky is completely red!!! This is no exaggeration! The sunrise was making the entire sky red it was beautiful! Well we got off that plane in Brasilia and got immediately on to the next one to Rio.
Once we reached rio we were informed that we would not be staying at the same hotel as the other groups but it would be okay we would still have fun. So we changed in the airport and made our way on to a tour bus where we were driven to breakfast on the beach. Along the way Patricia told us all about the city!
Now when I originally thought of Rio I thought it was not going to be that nice I mean it is the second most dangerous city in the world and I was a little scared but while driving around at was absolutely beautiful!!!!!! They told us there was nothing to be afraid of but just to not walk on the beach side at night!
After breakfast by the beach we walked around the corner to where we were to meet jeeps (which looked like converted pickups) to tour the city! The jeep I was in had a tour guide with the softest voice I have ever heard, so I sat right next to her to make sure I would be able to learn something about the city. We went through a few of the districts of Rio starting in Cococabana where our hotel was to be. Cococabana is the safest of all the places with rio it is the most touristy and not as much affordable to live in however there were some places, such as in the favelas. A favela is essentially a slum. It is government property that people do not have to pay taxes on however these places are not the most desirable to live in. There is a lot of killings, crime and drugs within the favelas. It was even stated that the favelas use different color roofs to determine which kind of drugs each place sells which is quite inventive but not a place you want to go in to…so we looked from afar.
While on the jeeps we took a look at the town and scenery and proceeded first to Cocovado or Christ the redeemer. This is one place every one should go in their life. Not only is the statue amazing in itself but the view around is remarkable. Rio is an urban jungle meaning that it has extensive city though out the rainforest and from Cocovado you can see everything. This is the most amazing view I have ever seen in my life; however, I have a feeling I will be saying that a lot during this trip. This statue of Christ stands on a 20 foot platform and then is 100 feet tall after that. Christ the redeemer is amazingly huge and quite remarkable to be in the presence of.
After this we went to a few other places such as the botanical gardens, waterfalls in the rainforest and a gazebo that overlooked so much in the city it was a place where the chineese were originally supposed to plant and grow tea. We stopped our jeep tour at the botanical gardens and then were able to tour the city at a slower pace which was by bike. We rode about 10 miles to our hotel riding along the beach for a large portion of the time. We finally got to our hotel and were all so exhausted but instead of sleeping…..because you don’t sleep while at port while on semester at sea….we showered and got ready quickly and walked over to the other hotel to meet up with friends for dinner.
When we got to the golden tulip hotel we broke off and went separate direction with most of us going to a Brazilian steak house. Now I know I talk about food a lot but…. I need to emphasize how good this food really is. Man you must go here! You get all you can eat food anything your heart desires. They come around to your tables and carve meet from a spear right on to your plate. Now in Brazil they don’t serve you any old meat - these cows are massaged every day to make sure that it is the best you can have. So basically we stayed here for a long time eating anything we could get our hands on. We tried weird foods such as chicken hearts, ostrige, heart of palm, and ewww anchovies. Oh and did I mention there was all you could eat sushi as well. Everything was so good and this was the best food I have ever had!
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