rio de janeiro, brazil... carnaval

with heartbreak at my heels i decided to join my friends for a last minute trip to rio de janeiro for carnaval...

its a place i never really expected to go since christa, libbe, and i had planned a trip there and it had not come through for us.  nevertheless, we were in for a wonderful time with our gracious host and good friend denise who we were meeting there!!!

rio from the air was the largest place i think i have ever been, i remember looking and looking and looking and it seemed there was no end in sight.  after about an 11 hour flight we finally made it in and denises brother was there waiting for us!  to my sadness we still had about an hour and a half ride into the outskirting town of saquerema...apparently it can take about 3 and a half hours to get from one side of rio to the other!!!
...it was such a wonderful feeling when we arrived at denises house. she welcomed us with open arms!  we could smell the fresh beach air and the temperature was warm and muggy!!! now time to get a lil sleep before visiting the beach in the morning!

ahhhhhh so nice to relax on a beach after a long cold winter and a heartwrenching break up!!! it was about time we tried to have a lil fun!!! there were these stone walls with glass all over the place in the neiborhood, which we found quite awesome!  now back to denises for some welcome caiperinas!!!

caiperinas!!!! well its the most fabulous local drink of course!  casshasa( kinda like a brazilian tequila) sugar, ice, and muddled limes!!! me, denise, julia, and rob above!

so with the afternoon glow on we headed out through town to denises family for a traditional dinner!!!

i couldnt ask for a better day! hanging with the family eating yummmmy food! chillin on the beach! on the way home we decided to stop at a local lil outdoor bar on the beach...there was music playing people dancing and you just couldnt help but feel happy!!!

i think it was right about here where i had my first dose of sadness and i busted out in tears! i was having such a great time with my friends but i couldnt help to think how much better it coulda been with the boy!  oh well! we went home that night talked for a while and went to sleep! what a sap i am i slept with his picture under my pillow...we were in for a doozy of a day the next day!!!

ok, so i know i was kinda still in the midst of my sadness...but julia and rob decided it would be a great day to jump off a mountain...thats right...jump off a mountain. and i dont know why the hell, but i decided to do it!!! hahahaha!

so yup! here we are waiting for our ride up the mountain!!! what the hell was i thinking??

by the time we were at the top of this mountain i was really ready to jump, it was such a gorgeous view...

when we got up here they told us that due to the lack of wind, it was possible we wouldnt be jumping today...(not sure but maybe its for the best) hahaha i dont know what i was thinking!!!

you could see all the way to the ocean from up here...without the wind we cant jump tho! so fortunately in brasil, even atop a mountain there was a makeshift bar and we had some drinks and enjoyed the view!

hahaha well at least im not this poor kid, hes the guy who jumps first kinda like the guinea pig!!!

julia couldnt resist chasing cocks around! there were a bunch of random animals up here!!!

the guides finally determined that we werent jumping today for sure, so he offered us a trip to a nearby waterfall...we had coconut milk refreshers and crammed into a tiny car!

now you can call it what you like but i prefer to call the next place drunken falls!!! hahaha but it was a gorgeous lil fall with what else! a bar! and NO food! goooo figure!!! so we spent the dusk hours sat at a table in the top of the falls, adventuring down rather clumsily into the falls and sliding down moss covered rocks like a slide into the pool!  ambushed a brazilian families bbq trying to get some meat! lol!!! it was quite a nice day!

ahhh i just love the locals! they always have the best of everything!!! so after a long day we headed back to denises to shower and nap!  she made me some concoction to take before sleep!!! the city of rio de janeiro tommorrow!!!

so first stop is corcovado mountain...to see christ the redeemer statue...its a pretty amazing image known throughout the world...

first views as we headed up the mountain...

i must admit, although its a touristy thing to do...the views are breathtaking and its really quite intense...definitley worth the do!!!

this guy is massive, and carved from soapstone...which was a gift...the way the sun hits him really says it all, even for those who arent religious this is really an amazingly beautiful sculpture...

its a panoramic view of the whole city(which i told you was huge) ...some cool things to note:  brazil is actually a self sufficient country not having to rely on much for import, fuel, etc. the cars all use natural gas...im fastly falling in love with this place!  so on to the beaches of copacabana and ipanema... pretty beautiful as well on the whole, very touristy tho!  we stuck around for some walking downtown and sunset drinks on the beach...

after a long drive home we decided to have a lil girls night on the town in saquerema!  its been awfully quiet around here...but you know over the next few days the carnaval people will start moving in!!!

people seriously, the meat here is soooo goooood. i just cant even tell you... drool, drool, drool!!!