Caiprihinas, Tiny Bikinis and Jesus
Ah Rio, what an appropriate last stop. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people, sun, warm weather and relaxation. Rio was really a great place, we had a blast. …but I’m getting ahead of myself. Our flight to Rio was mostly uneventful, as by this time Katie and I have become expert packers, fliers and basically anything that goes into traveling. Our short stopover en route to Brazil was in Portugal, which, from our brief stay and the general demeanor of our flight attendants from TAP, seems to be very much like Spain. By that I mean one prioritizes life in the following way: 1) Partying 2) Eating and Drinking 3) Looking Good 4) Everything else 5) Working and benefiting the economy. They follow a similar schedule of 9AM – 1PM work, after that take a 2+ hour lunch and come back to work (if you feel like it). I’m not being critical, I’m just jealous. Sounds like an awesome place to be. But when we got to Rio, I saw a whole new level of lifestyle.
No matter what day of the week it is, it seems that the average ‘Rio de Janeiran’ wakes up sometime around 10, jogs along the beach, stops at one of the many pull-up bars on the beach to get jacked and tan and show off his physique, then drinks a coconut (like me) and heads onto the beach to play a game of volleyball, paddle ball or soccer (while drinking beer) until the sun sets.
He then eats (maybe his first real meal all day) and heads to the clubs until 4 AM. Rinse and repeat. Again, I’m pretty jealous. How do I know all this? This guy told me:
So with this schedule, as you can imagine, beaches and bodies are of utmost priority. As we strolled down Copa Cabana and Ipanema, we happened upon (rather happily, in my opinion) many scenes just like this one:
Unfortunately, even if most people looked like that, there are always some that look like this:
So let your eyes wander responsibly.
But Rio has much more than just beautiful beaches and (some) beautiful people, it’s an incredible city surrounded by mountains and forest directly on the ocean. We had the amazing opportunity to have our tour guide (André) all to ourselves (no one else booked a tour with him that day) as he took us all through the Tijuca Forest, up to Cristo Redentor and across the city. The forest (which is a re-planted forest!) has plants from all over the world growing side-by-side with beautiful waterfalls scattered throughout the greenery.
André was a tremendous sport when we stopped to get our photo with Christ the Redeemer. Since we were up so high, we were actually in/above the clouds.
This made for some really great photos and some spectacular shots, but it also made trying to get our perfect picture very, very frustrating.
After a few passes when Jesus looked like this:
We finally managed to get a great shot (credit to André as the photographer).
And it was with that photo that we completed our world tour. It was with a tremendous amount of relief and bittersweet accomplishment that we made our way down from the mountain. Katie and I just looked at each other shaking our heads and saying ‘wow… we really did it.’ There were times that weren’t easy, some were downright miserable, but all-in-all, I couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate our wedding. When you start and end in the same place, getting to the destination means nothing – everything is about the journey… and what an unforgettable journey.
So thank you all again for all of your support, comments and love. We’ve got our wedding this Saturday and couldn’t be more excited. See you there, and thank you for sharing every flight, photo and step with us along the way.