Rio to Salvador

So we said goodbye to all of our travelling companions and then mom and I headed out for our last day in Rio. To our surprise, the rain had still held off from the night before and it had actually cleared up and was sunny out. the one good things about our hostel was the location so we walked down to Impanema beach. We walked along for a while and then found a good little spot to sit and enjoy the *site*s. Rio is really beautiful as it's so green everywhere, there are huge mountains/hills all over the city and coming out of the water are islands which no one lives on as they are basically giant rocks but that are completely overgrown with green. And naturally on the beach . . . there were a few sights to see. The rumors are true about this place, that's all I am going to say. We were there early so we watch people arrive and then splash around in the water, which is a beautiful blue/green color. While we were sitting there, I guess the locals started to trust us as this girl came up, said a bunch of stuff in portugese and then handed me her purse. I help onto it while she went into the water to swim. Then, this other guy came up holding a plastic cup with clear liquid, and asked me to hold his cup for him while he swam. When he came back, he introduced himself, offered us some of his drink and then walked off drinking it. We decided to walk over to Copacabana then and on the way we stopped at one of the many freshly squeezed fruit juice stands. By this point we had figured out what most of the fruits were in portugese since they have there are tons of freshly squeezed places and they are amazing! We walked over to Copacaba which was packed! Way more hopping then Impanema. When you go to the beach in Brazil, there are people who will rent you chairs and umbrellas for the day, which most people do so all you can see is a sea of people, umbrellas and chairs! We took some pictures, grabbed some lunch and then headed back to our hostel to grab our stuff to head to the airport. Our flight to Salvador was an hour and a half with a one hour time change. The airport in Salvador is far from the main city and further for us since we were staying in Barra, but we grabbed a cab since it was already so late . . . local buses it was though for the rest of our stay in Salvador.

Rio de Janeiro - December 31

So we woke up on the 31st and what . . . its raining . . . in Rio? How strange! The cloud cover was pretty bad but we couldnt stay in our hostel (as nice as it was) so we headed to a mall for a few hours. The mall really wasnt that interesting but it was air conditioned! After a few hours there we went to a Churrasaco which was amazing! It had amazing sushi as well as crazy crazy amounts and varities of meat that they brought around on spears and gave to you! We were there for a few hours, mostly just seeing what went by, but it was soooo good! It started to clear up a bit after that so 4 of us decided to brave it and go back (for some of us) to Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar) to see if we could go up. Sugar Loaf isnt as high as Corcovado and so it was really beautiful! Its so high up we could see all of Copacobana, the islands off Rio and the National Airport and all the mountain around it. We were really glad we went, it was really worth it! You have to take 2 cable cars to go up which I found a little frightening. When you stepped off them there was a gap that undoubtedly a small child could go through, but I figured how many tourists have gone up here before and not died . . . After Sugar Loaf we tried to jump in a cab to go back to our hostel but because it was about 6pm, New Years and our hostel was at the corner of Ipanema and Copacabana, the main roads had been closed and a cab just to the top of the strip was about all we could afford, we got dropped at the top of Copacabana and walked down. Now, if you have ever seen a map of the place and imagine its about 40C with the sun hitting you, there are hords of people everywhere coming out for New Years, we have been walking all day, well it was about the longest walk of our lives . . . We finally made it back at about 8pm and for lack of a better word we were exhausted and so overheated I thought my ears were going to start whistling! We lied down for a few and then at 11, the girls headed over to the beach to meet the 2 boys who had gone over earlier. We walked down to the beach with the other million and a half people that had to have been there. They had 2 stages setup on different parts of the beach but we stayed further down and just stayed for the countdown and then some amazing fireworks that followed! It was really beautiful! 2 cruiseships also sat in the harbour although after the fireworks going off we couldnt see them anymore! Everyone in Rio dresses in white for New Years and the beach curves and slants (if that makes sense) so you could see the masses on the beach all dressed in white! It was really amazing and great to be there! Also, at midnight everyone comes armed with at least one bottle of champagne so at one point my mother had champagne running down here back and legs. I used her for protection so I was pretty clean (thanks mom!) After the fireworks we headed back to the hostel (home sweet home by this point). The next day the boys flew to Ouro Preto, the happy couple went to Sao Paolo and mom and I headed for Salvador!