Brazil

Another great port. With the Bahamas and Puerto Rico in the rear view, Brazil felt like a real foreign country. The first day we got off the ship in Salvador and went straight to the airport to see if we could catch a plane to Rio de Jinero, on the last day of carnival, one of the busiest travel days in Brazil. We where lucky enough to get on a plane, and in just a few hours we arrived in Rio. Will had made reservations at the Copacabana Palace on none other than Copacabana Beach which is right next to Ipanema, which you may know from the Bossa Nova song “The Girl from Ipanema”. The hotel was first class all the way. We had people opening doors for us left and right, greeting us in Portuguese and playing along when we would try and speak it back to them. Thankfully they knew English as well. Included with our stay was one of the best breakfast buffets that I had ever seen, half of it was fruit another half was pastries and the rest was bacon, eggs, meats, cereals, and yogurts (I know my figures don’t add up, the buffet was that big). There was also a selection of about 7 different fruit and melon juices to choose from. On as side note: let it be known that henceforth my favorite fruit shall be mango or as they say in Brazil “manga”. We where there during mango season and I ate and drank mangos whenever I could, there was a restaurant that had mango juice that was more like a smoothie, but it was 100% mango and 100% delicious. The most impressive site I visited was the Christ the Redeemer statue. Located on Corcavado Mountain overlooking the entire city, it’s really an amazing site. Although it was kind of cloudy, we could see all of Rio for a couple of seconds as the clouds blew by. It also gave a mystic feeling to the statue being shrouded in white one minute and then clearly visible the next. Another highlight was going to a pro soccer game in the largest stadium in the world. We watched Flamengo versus V. Redonda, it was really great, although there where no yell leaders in sight, all of the Flamego (home team) fans where beating drums clapping and singing the entire game. The most impressive thing was the 30 foot bamboo flagpoles that littered the fan sections; some looked like pirate flags while others had portraits of their favorite players. These diehard fans wrestled their giant flagpoles, incorporating their entire bodies, for what seemed like the most tiring activity I could imagine. The last day Wes and I went to the embassy where we got the VIP treatment simply for being passport carrying Americans. Although, we couldn’t see a lot of the internal workings because of the strict security rules, it was great to see our tax dollars at work. Yesterday before we left I had a chance to see Salvador, it was the original capital city of Brazil so it has a lot of history and neat architecture. I one of the coolest parts was going to a capoeria school. For those of you that forgot capoeria is a fighting style developed by the slaves in Brazil in order to fight against their oppressors while still bound by their shackles. It is very rhythmic and uses a lot of kicking, twirling and handstand maneuvers. By now I’m sure you are growing tired of my rambling, and there is so much more to tell. But know that I am well, and excited about the adventures yet to come.