Day Number 2 in Rio

The day started at 8am with a wonderful breakfast at our hostel consisting of bread, cheese, ham, coffee, a type of pound cake that tasted lemony (Sarah´s word for it), mamao (type of papaya) and bananas. We left the hostel and caught a bus to Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer statue). It was beautiful today with clouds floating by and swirling around the statue for short periods of time. It was nice to actually be able to see the statue this time. The statue up close looks like a mosaic. We were able to see the whole city. On the way up to the top we stopped about half way for another beautiful view of the city and we saw a pack of about 6 little monkeys in the trees.

After leaving Corcovado, we headed to Pao de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain). The ride in the cable car to about the halfway point was a little nerve racking. My life was dependent on the cable not breaking and that popping my head since I already have an issue with heights. But after calming down the ride up was beautiful. We were able to look around at the surrounding city and bays. After stopping for a bit, we got into the other cable car to head up to the very top. At the top the clounds had completely engulfed the area and all you could see was white. I felt like I was walking through smoke but it was actually clouds. You couldn´t feel it as you walked through though. We decided to explore the trails along the top while waiting for the clouds to disappear. The trails felt like we were in the heart of the rain forest. The clouds were still misting by, bamboo was everywhere and everything seemed to be so green. After spending time looking for wildlife which amounted to lizards and butterflies, we headed back to the top. Unfortunately the clouds remained.

Our next stop was dinner at the Grill Espresso. There was a buffet and you loaded up your plate. The going rate was about 23 Reis for 1 kilo. Altogether I enjoyed a ton of delicous food for about 7 US dollars, can´t ask for too much better. After dinner we went to Copacabana beach. We walked along the boardwalk type area and people watched. There were many women in thongs and men in spedos, which lead to some wonderful people watching. We also stopped to watch a sand soccer game for a bit and I enjoyed some coconut water. My camera died so I was unable to post my pictures but I will add more tomorrow. Until then Adios!