ipanema-jardim botanico
if you remember that far back, we weren't happy to leave buzios. we loved it there so much and were missing piper like crazy, so we weren't looking forward to returning to rio for the last 3 days. it worked out perfectly that we ended our vacation in ipanema, because it's much less touristy and more low key, which was what we needed. i mean, compared to copa...the food is better, the service is better, the beaches are less poluted (but equally crowded) and the area is just more catered to the locals.
the day was hot as sin. we looked at a map and realized we were less than a mile from this big reservoir in rio. known as the central park of rio. it is 5 miles around, so we rented bikes, made a few loops and got some sucos de maracuja, or maybe it was guarana. here i am cooling off in the misters. i loved these signs. the trash all weepy for not being thrown in the proper receptacle.
after that park (if i hadn't procrastinated so long, i might have remembered the name) we walked to the botanical gardens. the gardens were pretty empty, maybe because of the scorching temps, but otherwise i can't begin to guess why everyone in rio doesn't go every day. the gardens are unbelievable. completely. everything was so gigantic. sometimes i had to touch stuff to make sure it was real. i felt like a tiny garden fairy flickering about.
jake took all of these pictures if you can't tell. they are all pretty amazing.
be glad that you can't see my face in this one. because i'm looking at a big, fat, scaley and crusty lizard. it was huge. we ran down to get a closer look and he waddled off into some bushes.
the shade hardly helped. our water was bathtub temperature in 15 minutes.
i have no idea what these pillar things are, but there were tons of them. in fact, the picture of jardim botanico that i saw in my Wallpaper travel book had these and that was what sold us on wanting to check it out. they had aged in such a cool way. i love these pictures so much. if i were an artist or something, these pillars would have inspired me to create something amazing and worth millions. just trust me on that.
stunning. i can't believe this is a real place. i remember not being able to tear myself away from this vivid greenery and a giant white bird flew right towards me. it was an amazing sight. mostly because the bird decided at the last second not to poop on us.
the gardens have different sections with international themes. i loved the japanese section. but instead of feeling like a fairy, i felt like a giant person. in case you were wondering, i'm much more of a fairy type, i have never really cared for being scary and stompy.
this was a perfect day. we spent all day at the gardens. we were exhausted that night, but it was cool because twilight was on in our hotel. in english. i fell asleep but jake was enjoying himself so much that he finished the movie alone.
jake and i stayed home from work today with some serious sickies, so this post is absolutely an escape from reality. it feels good to relive sunny days.
i have more to write on ipanema! look forward to me seeing a monkey! a real wild monkey!!
also, more rio here and here, and buzios posts here and here.
more buzios
jake and i at dinner. we chowed on cuban food this night.
so by the time we got to buzios, we were starting to miss our pip real bad with a capital B. i made her her very own sand sculpture to show our devoting love to her. i love it.
some brazilians walked by when i was done and i heard the woman read "peee-pier'' confusedly. it was a special moment for me. i mean, it was a special laugh for me. Piper must seem like the weirdest name ever to a brazilian. also in this picture below i was in mega-sculpt mode since you can see the wave line getting higher and higher. my work of art was destroyed about 2 minutes after i finished.
look at this gecko jake brought to me. he left the room to get something from the go-cart, and came back with this little friend. i was keen on the idea of bringing him home, but i just couldn't think of any ways to swing it. but, how cute, right?? i love him. also, there are lizards everywhere. i mean, you are just walking along and you feel their judging eyes on you constantly. they have a way with that. lizards, not cute geckos.
sometimes jake and i would be willing to shell out serious dough for an activity and then we'd be pleasantly surprised with the cheapness. i was expecting 20 bucks to rent snorkle gear but it was 5 reis an hour. that equals about 3 dollars. plus the guys watched our stuff for us. i've heard a lot of stories about disappointing snorkle stories, but jake and i had such a great time. so many beautiful fish, reefs and some starfish! don't make fun of me for pretending to be a mermaid. but if you want to make fun of the salt water i swallowed trying to sing under water, you can do that.
i guess i never realized jake and i were so naturely. but we are. we were constantly chasing animals around. look at my friend pinchy. and later i chased some wild chickens but i'm not even going to talk about how that ended up. plus, my biggest regret of buzios was NOT getting a picture of this ragamuffin horse on the side of the road whose best friend as a little yellow bird. it was a little yellow bird sitting on the horse's shoulder every time we drove by. it was adorable.
i saw this water shooting up and i had the brightest light-bulb idea ever to pull an ariel. i wonder if i'll ever be able to do it again. it's not something most people stumble upon more than once. my obsession with mermaids is out of control.Part of your wooooooorld.
did i mention i got suckered into getting a hideous henna tattoo? this guy on the beach wouldn't leave me alone about it (jake was busy frolicking in the water), and after i said "no" a million times he finally just grabbed my hand and started drawing. i didn't really know what to do, i was so shocked! it took forever to go away. this was weird because there weren't many solicitors on the beaches like in copacabana, so why the crap did i get suckered there? so weird.i feel like i'm leaving so much of buzios out, but i don't want to write all night. um, we are going back. for sure.
also, i have a problem being rambly. at least i only have Ipanema left! that's good right?
buzios
there were these two beds we looked down on from our balcony. i laid in them and read my book a few times. and i felt like i was in a lifetime movie. the kind where your husband doesn't kill you.
it was really the most charming little fishing town i've ever been to. look at this little bay!
these beautiful trees with red blossoms were everywhere. the red against the bright green is stunning.
jake on our balcony
inside the main part of the inn
i know, again with the bed.
fishing boats everywhere!!
in the 1960s, buzios didn't even have electricity or running water. then Bridget Bardot visited with her boyfriend and suddenly it started to become a real destination for beach-goers. the town is obsessed with bridget bardot today, and this statue is near the main square. ok, i'm not trying to be conceited, but i have been told on many occasions that i look like a young bridget bardot. usually by 60ish year old men who knew of her back in the day. the first time i was told that, i was so curious and wanted to know all about her. i have always had a fascination with the 60s and i guess i love to pretend that i am somehow linked to that decade. btw bridget bardot is in my opinion one of the most beautiful women in history and although i am extremely flattered, i unfortunately do NOT see it myself.
so, here is me with the statue. i guess we do kind of look like twins here.
i love buzios so much that i will definitely be doing another post about it.
ps look at my handmade leather sandals in the bottom pic. i bought them in rio from the very woman who made them!
a tall drink of rio
one morning we got up around 5:30 to watch the sunrise. it was worth it, so beautiful. plus it was already about 95 degrees, so it was nice to get out before the real heat came to town (at around 9a.m).
we really grew to love this little spot between ipanema and copacabana. it is this perfect point and you can see both beaches nicely from it. by the way, if you are trying to look up my skirt to see my goods, you might as well give up. i wear running shorts under my dresses. anyway, stop reading my blob if you like that kind of thing.
it is so obvious that im thinking about little bananas in this picture. so sweet. so rich.
i mean...really.
someone needs to tell brazilians that eggs need to be REFRIGERATED! sick. i ate nary an egg the whole trip.
we made out later.
tiny bananas. i miss them the most. they are so delicious and cute.
we went to a soccer game at maracana. that stadium is insane! about an hour before the game started and the place filled up, the chanting, mud-slinging songs and taunting started. and it never stopped. there was so much energy in the stadium. and really it was so incredibly loud. i watched a lot of the fans more than the actual athletes because i was so intrigued at their behavior. i really thought this one girl might cry when the palmeiras missed a goal.
there have only been seats in this stadium for 10 years. before that, some games there would be as many as 210,000 people standing and watching the game. now, with the seats, it holds about half of that. and, there is a moat around the field to protect the players from crazy spectators. yep, straight up mid-evil style.
random picture from a farmer's market. these huge pokey fruits were everywhere. they are filled with jelly. i wanted to try one but never dared. they are just too dang pokey to be trusted.
then we went to the Christ statue. it is hard to understand in the pictures how remarkable this statue really is. it is huge and on one of the tallest peaks in rio. i mean, it's huge. i think i can skip church for like a year after seeing something like this.
photo-ing the statue
if i could rapunzel someone, i'd do it in rio. probably here. that is what this little balcony type thing made me think of, at least.
i think it is about 35 meters high. who knows what that is. tell me in feet and then maybe i'll be impressed*.
this is another view from our hotel in copacabana. but this time it's at night! jake really is a great little photographer. note that he isn't in many of the pictures. wait til i get my holga's back.
*kidding. i'm totally impressed.also, i think i rambled again.
hi! i'm tan! hooray!
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?
