My Rio Experience

Hi guys! Just wanted to update you on my Brazil trip. Rio was kind of a blur. Our time there came and went so fast and much to my chagrin I was not able to see the Christ up close due to bad weather. But besides that the people were super nice and very good looking. ;) There were a lot of gyms around the city, like one every two blocks. They also had workout centers all over the beaches.

            We stayed at hostel at the Copacabana beach that provided the basics… well sorta, we didn’t know they wouldn’t have towels… so I improvised and used my shirt, which worked out ok… our first night we went to a nightclub called Melt. That was a lot of fun (we even made it to the VIP lounge)! On the first floor there was a live band playing samba and on the second floor they had techno. We found out the hard way that “cariocas” (Brazilians from Rio) are super persistent… The pick-up line for the night was “have you ever experienced a Brazilian kiss? Tonight might be your only chance!” I wonder if that works on other foreigners??? Well anyway, they had good music and once we made it to the VIP lounge we got rid of all the creepers.

            The second day we snuck on to a special bus that was reserved specifically for those invited to the UN conference. That took us on an hour and a half scenic ride through Rio. When we got there we were worried they would notice we weren’t part of the conference and get thrown in jail and premier on the next episode of Nat Geo “Locked up abroad”. My friend Anya and I were getting a little worried but we made it all the way through security just fine until they asked us for our documentation and needless to say we didn’t have any. So we just took a bus back to the biggest shopping mall in Rio. It was a pretty fun and exciting experience.

            On the last day we went to downtown and did a little shopping. It kind of reminded me of New York and Chinatown with all the little vendors. From there we went to Corcovado which is the hill where the Christ is, but when we got there they told us that there was zero visibility and it was raining so it wouldn’t be worth going up. That took up all our time and Rio and we were very disappointed we didn’t get to see the most famous statue in all of Brazil. I guess that just gives me an excuse to go back! Also, no hang-gliding for me :( I’m sure there will other opportunities to do other stupid and dangerously fun activities J til next time!