March 2015

Santa Teresa

Rio

Pano of Rio

Painter

Sand castle

Overlooking Rio

Awesome view!

Rio

Coconut water

Old part of Rio

The beach

Melissa, Kelly and I headed out for Brazil on Saturday morning. Made it to Sao Paulo where we headed to our first nights stay. Apparently we didn't read the fine print where it said we stayed with other people in an apartment. Interesting experience. But it worked out. Only had time to eat dinner at a yummy Japanese restaurant, and the next morning spend s little time walking to the nearby cathedral. My memories on Sao Paulo will be of the huge amount of homeless people.

Sunday we headed to Rio. Our living arrangements are in Copacabana, 1/2 block from a beautiful beach! Nearby is a lot of shopping, restaurants, and anything else you might need. We have a very small apartment, but it's complete with a kitchen, bathroom, living room and even a washer dryer. Something I haven't seen in 3 months.

We spent most the day Monday on the beach. So many interesting things to see. People watching tops it all. I have a nice conservative swimming suit, but there are so many different types, and even some without a suit! Sellers everywhere with all types of things to buy. And more homeless.

The waves were pretty rough, but it was fun to get in and swim a little. Small sunburn. Lots of exercise walking the beach. Love that part.

Today we took a cab over to an old part of the city, Santa Teresa. It's streets were cobblestone and small. Beautiful old buildings and awesome views. A "free" guide took us on a 2 hour walking tour. We tipped him. We had some lunch, sandwiches, chicken and steak. Walked more and found the history museum. Took a bus back home and collapsed from exhaustion.

A couple of sad things were when we were waking I had a water bottle that was 1/4 full and this teenaged boy asked for it. I thought it was strange, but I gave it to him and he drank it up. And last night at a sidewalk cafe the waitress was cleaning off the table and a homeless women came up and asked for all the leftover table scraps from the last diners. So sad.

I'm so blessed to be able to experience traveling. Following in my parents footsteps.

Abasto! There is nothing like fresh fruits and vegetables, and a ton of them at cheap prices. Heading to buy them is a new adventure every time! There is truly no description that can explain the activity and excitement that awaits a trip here! The sights, sounds and smells are incredible. I guess I would say that Abasto is the size of a football field plus some. A huge conglomerate of everything! Everywhere you look are stalls of different types of food and goods. Eggs, huge blocks of cheese. There is a huge area just of potatoes and onions. Another area with bananas and plantains. A meat market, thousands of pounds of tomatoes. Lemons, oranges, pineapples, apples, grapes, strawberries. Coconuts. Fruits that I don’t even know what they are. And the people. Everywhere. They have sellers that are calling out prices, some are sleeping on top of piles of food, babies being held by working mothers. Nursing babies. Kids helping parents to sell. Men and boys charging 5 B’s to carry your purchases in a wheelbarrow all over the market. Bags of every kind of grain you can think of. Fruit Loops and cold cereal. Pounds and pounds of it! Shops with soap and paper supplies. Pots and pan stores. Clothes. Dishes. Live chickens, dead chickens. Plants and plant supplies. An entire stall full of garlic! Stalls full of charcoal, cause barbecue here is popular. The smells! Yes, and watch where you step and always, always move out of the way of men carrying 100 or more pounds on their backs, or pushing a wheelbarrow full of charcoal. The prices are fair and I have yet to have anyone try to charge me too much. There is the washing, washing, and special cleaner on all the fruit. I love the fresh stuff here!