Rio de Janeiro

Our flight from Quito to Sao Paulo, Brazil included a long layover in Panama City, Panama. While we were tired from our red-eye flight, we decided to make the most of it and to explore the city. While it was somewhat complicated to get to the old town (we had to go through customs and it was a nightmare trying to get a bus pass) we ultimately made it. We started with a cup of coffee at a cool coffee shop (both because Panama has great coffee AND because we were in desperate need of a caffiene boost). From there we simply wandered around. Panama City has two amazing areas: the old town (colonial architecture, dusty cobblestone streets, authentic but touristy restaurants) and the new town (modern high rises - in fact Panama City is only behind Chicago and NYC for the most high rises of any city in the Americas). We stuck to the old town area but then walked to the new area to hail a cab back to the airport. We'll definitely be back for a longer stay next time!

We flew from Panama City into Sao Paulo, and immediately went to the bus stop and took the first bus out to Rio de Janiero. Rio has amazing things to offer: it's bay is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, it has some of the best beaches in the world, it has an amazing food scene, a colorful culture, and bustling nightlife. However, we were a little terrified to go there all the same. We had heard that Rio was known as one of the most crime-ridden and violent cities in the world. We had even heard someone say that you didn't get a real Rio experience unless you got robbed at gunpoint in the streets. We learned, however, that this was way overexaggerated and our fears were pretty much unfounded. Like any major city in the world, as long as you stay in safe areas and keep your wits about you, you're likely going to be just fine, as we were.

We stayed at a hostel in the Botafoga area, an up-and-coming area a bit inland of the beaches. It reminded us a little bit of the gritty, cool San Telmo area we stayed at in Buenos Aires. Rio is extremely hot and extremely humid, and our cheapo hostel only allowed the AC to be turned on between the hours of 10pm and 8am. They suggested doing what Brazilians do to stay cool: take 3-4 cold showers per day (which turned out to be awesome advice!). After a quick cold shower we decided to walk around a bit to try to reduce our fears. We found the area to be perfectly safe, and even sat down at a trendy coffee shop and cool sushi place after dark.

We woke up early the next day and worked out at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. There is a nice running trail around the lagoon and several outdoor workout stations for pull-ups, dips, etc. After our workout and our first cold shower of the day, we went to get vaccinated! While to world is crazy right now with Covid related worries, there are also other vaccinations we needed for this trip, such as the yellow fever vaccination. This is an expensive shot to get back home, even post-insurance, but in Brazil it is completely free for both citizens and tourists. We went to a nearby clinic and within 10 minutes Kyle was in a room getting the shot (Nicole had already been vaccinated). The only issue was a slight language barrier, but there was someone who helped translate, so we're like 75% sure it was the correct vaccination! Afterwards they gave Kyle the slip of paper indicating that he had a shot (no lollipop, unfortunately) and told us where we could exchange that slip for the official international certificate. We decided to put this off for another day and hit the beaches!

We had met a Canadian and a German guy at our hostel the evening before, and we joined up with them to walk down to Copacabana beach (one of the most famous in the world) to get some beach volleyball in. While there were tons of games going on (including people playing with soccer balls and only using their feet and heads) we weren't able to join any. We settled for sipping our first caipirinhas and watching, which was not too bad of a compromise. We left the beach after sunset and cooked dinner at the hostel before heading to Pedra do Sal, an outdoor area and surrounding neighborhood where they play authentic Brazilian samba, as well as folk and hip hop music. We had a few more caipirinhas, danced a bit, and got some grilled meat and cheese (not the sandwich, an actual block of cheese on the grill) and headed home.

The following day we decided to hike up to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue (you've likely seen it in movies and photos, it's the big statue of Jesus with his arms spread wide overlooking the bay). The hike starts in a Parque Lage, a city park with ruins and an old mansion/museum. The hike is an extremely steep one through the jungle with birds, monkeys, and other little critters that keep you company. It gets pretty brutal towards the top, with a lot of scrambling necessary. After the long, hot and humid hike you are greeted at the end by a huge crowd of tourists that took the bus and cable car to the top. While overcrowded, the view of the bay is breathtaking, and there are wonderful opportunities to take tacky pictures with the statue. We hiked back down (much easier this direction) and went back to pick our stuff up from the hostel. We actually had to switch locations because our previous hostel was fully booked that night.

After checking in to the new hostel, we headed back down to the beach. While sitting on the beach (drinking more caipirinhas, of course) a vendor selling henna tattoos came up to Kyle and started drawing on him, despite frequent comments that he wasn't going to pay for anything. The guy just kept drawing and drawing, and after giving Kyle a gaudy tribal sun/eye tattoo on the arm, started asking for money. Kyle confirmed, once again, that he wasn't paying anything and the guy left us. That's when we learned that the henna tattoos do NOT rub off right away, and can actually last several weeks. Kyle was not amused....but Nicole found it to be pretty funny. We walked from Copacabana over to Rio's second most famous beach, Ipanema, for sunset. The sunset here was spectacular, and we made note to spend more time on this beach if/when we passed back through Rio. We cooked at the hostel again and finished the night with a couple of beers at a cool outdoor spot that we had passed by on the previous nights.

The next morning we did a sunrise run on Copacabana beach. After the run and packing up our stuff, we headed to the Feira Livre de Gloria market to good some fruits and vegetables for cooking on Ihla Grande (we wanted to avoid paying island prices for food). We also knew that we would need to have cash handy as there were no ATMs on the island, and most transactions were (allegedly) in cash. Because of this, we went on a large scavenger hunt of the city trying to find an ATM. We did eventually find one (in a subway station) but when we got to the bus station we saw a whole lineup of them....better safe than sorry though? With cash, groceries, and a bus station meal in hand, we were off to Ihla Grande!

Levi's shirt count: 353.