i’m icing my swolen hand right now. because hot temper and clumsy do not mix. also, because i guess im a little daintier than i thought i was. i’m not sure how detailed this post will be because of my hurty hand. probably still pretty detailed, because i over achieve a lot.

anyway, we are back from brazil! yay! i loved it there. really, i loved it.

ok, i’m really trying to think of a way to organize this information, but it’s not coming to me. so this might be a ramble. hhmmm, i guess i’ll just start out with the first few days, which were spent in copacabana.

we stayed at the orla copacabana hotel. my favorite part of that hotel by far were the views it gave us of the beach and of this favela (second pic). i have a huge fascination with these neighborhoods on hills, that are semi stacked on top of each other. they have little tram type things that go up and down the hill because it is so steep. kiss living in one of those things goodbye though, unless you are keen on getting shot. for real…

copacabana lived up to it’s reputation, which is a good and bad thing, i guess. the good is that it boasts one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. the bad is that it is known for it’s crappy restaurants and poor service. i say skip copacabana altogether and stay in ipanema if you are going to rio. too many people told me that, and i wish i’d listened. it worked out though because the hotel and staff was wonderful, and we had a great stay for those few days. i was glad in the end that we were dividing up our trip between three places.

random things about rio (my point of view)

~let me see that thong. seriously, i felt uncomfortable because i was NOT wearing a thong swimsuit. every woman wears them on the beach. cellulite, muffin top and saddle bags unite in rio, and dont forget your tho-tho-tho-tho-thong.

~compared to the U.S. 90% of rio seems to be a very healthy size. i didn’t see as many rail thin people there as i see every day in NY, but on the contrary, the only people i saw who were obese, were from the states as well….and from my eaves-dropping skills i found they were from my home state of tennessee. all day and all night there are people out jogging, roller blading, biking and skate boarding. it seems to be for health/fun and not to be skinny. again, everone looked healthy, meaning athletic and many with a booty. i am always interested in the health and fitness of people around the world.

~think of the craziest driver you have ever seen in your life. for you new yorkers, that is probably a cab driver…well NY craziest driver equals the way the elderly drive in Rio. DO NOT for a second think about crossing the street unless the light allows you to. or i swear to you, you will die. jake was almost killed by an eighty year old going mach 50.

~you have to hale a bus! or they wont stop! and they have bus workers that hale them for you! we took a few buses and spent the majority of the ride on two wheels. please refer to my previous squiggle.

~at first i thought there was this miracle brazilian breed of dogs that dont poop, but would you believe it? EVERYONE cleans up after their pups. everyone. many of them just quickly sneak a news paper underneath their bums when they start to doody, and then an easy toss. this year for christmas, i want all my neighbors to read this. and to obey it.
~most of the tourists seemed to be brazilians. i have never been the quiet one, but rio shut me up. i had to resort to weird public dancing and singing made-up songs about Pao De Queijo/Suco De Maracuja just to get some attention. otherwise i was the shy, frightened tourist who didn’t understand anyone. which, to me, is a fate worse than death. do we all agree that drawing the wrong kind of attention is better than no attention at all? ok, phewww.

*this post ended up being a little weird and much less organized than i thought. i will really try better in the next few. hopefully we can do this in under 5 posts?