Rambling in Rio!!

It has been a great few days in Rio de Janeiro (my favorite city - so far!!) Sunday I went to the "hippie market" and then to Ipanema Beach with some new friends. I drank some agua de coco - coconut water. This is not your typical coconut water. For one, you get the entire coconut. Second, the coconut is not the typical brown one. It is the green one, which is the outer part of the coconut. You pay $4-$5 reals for one and them the man selling them axes out a hole for you to drink out. So cold and so refreshing!!  

The beaches here are filled with vendors selling everything from drinks, jewelry, temporary tattoos, food and even bikinis!!!

After the beach, I strolled along through the rest of Ipanema and Copacabana and took the metro back to the hostel. On Sundays here, they close the street in Botafogo and open it to runners/bikers/skateboarders. I went for a nice jog through the neighborhood and did some people watching. Since I was robbed last time I was here, I refuse to bring my iPhone in public. This caused me to run with no music for the first time in a long time. Surprisingly, not nearly as bad as I thought.  It was nice to listen to the noise of the city over the latest Calvin Harris hit (and I love Calvin Harris!) 

That night I had some acai for dinner and went to Santa Teresa with a friend for drinks.  After drinking caipirinhas at one of the best caipirinha spots in Rio, Bar do Mineiro, we wanted some more action, so we headed to Lapa via one of Rio's infamous van taxis for $2.50 reals. I was a bit nervous about it, but I was assured by many here that they are fairly safe, so we chanced it and were totally fine.  

In Lapa, we visited the steps and then wandered around for a bit and really just spent the night popping in and out of local bars.  While out in Lapa, two young boys, similar but maybe a bit older than the 4 who robbed me last year, came up to us and said they were hungry in Portuguese, so I gave them $2r. I was told after that it was highly unlikely that they were hungry, but I just don't know how I could not help a hungry child.  

Monday was a rainy day (sad!), so we chilled a bit and saw Hangover Part III.  Not a bad way to spend the day either.  When you see a movie here, it is in English if it is originally in English with Portuguese subtitles, which really helps with my studying. Not many times can you say The Hangover helps with studying! 

Last night was another fun night in Lapa that ended with me dancing to Cyndi Lauper's "Girl's Just Want to have Fun" with a caipirinha in the pouring rain.  Some things never change.  

Today, totally off topic, my friend sent me this great photo of me surfing in Florianópolis! 

After I updated my Facebook page with this great new pic, we headed to Parque Lage via the bus.  Parque Lage is now an art school and beautiful park.  We admired the view, drank coffee and checked out some art.  

After that, we were off to Jardim Botanico, Botanical Gardens.  It was absolutely gorgeous and it felt like I was walking in a story book.  Pictures, not words are best to show this.  Definitely worth the $6reals.  

For dinner, we headed to a kilo place.  A kilo place is where you go to a buffet, fill with what you want to eat and have your food weighed. It cost around $50/kilo and it was around $30reals for me to be satisfied tonight.   Now I am chilling on the couch at the hostel.  Tomorrow, the plan, weather permitting, is to go to see Cristo and then the beach.  Last year, I went to see Cristo it was so cloudy you could only see the armpit.  Hopefully this time is a bit better.  

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Tchau Tchau!!