Rio 2
After our long morning at BJJ and with Christ we were pretty exhausted and went back to our now travel staple home cooked meal of pasta with either tomato or pesto sauce. Once again we made a shit load and spent the next several days trying to eat it all before leaving town. By the way, grating tomatoes with a cheese grater to make sauce, pretty awesome.
The next morning we set out on what would end up being about 10K worth of walking around the city. First stop was to Dios Armois (spelling may be all wrong) or two brothers. A small park on the south end of the city where Leblon beach ends. It is a nice hike up to the top and made even better by the way the natural setting erupts out of the urban landscape around it. The views were nice and there were some monkeys that we are starting to realize are pretty much everywhere. They are pretty ugly fuckers and are more like the Brazilian equivalent of squirrels. They look like if they were larger and you gave them wings they would be helping the wicked witch of the west as her minions.
Next stop, after more pasta and some rest, was to Santa Teresa, the Escalaron steps, Lapa and some other sites I cant spell. Santa Teresa is an older neighborhood in the more central part of the city. It has many small hostels and lots of the reviews claim the best food in the city. In the center is a large (250 steps) staircase covered in mosaic tiles. It was commissioned by someone to be really cool and they did a great job (all questions see wikipedia). The walk to the top was slow and hot, but at the top is an old convent that does not seem to want visitors. Around the way is an old mansion that has been converted to an art exhibit. Sitting at the top of a hill it has amazing views of the city from a central tower that looks about 270 degrees across downtown. Not as good as Christo Rendento, but free. The house itself is an old mansion that has been donated to the city and renovated, to a degree, and now contains art and sculptures. A fair amount of the house has not so much been repaired, but had metal and glass sections built into the rubble to complete missing walls. It gives a very cool airy and open look to a beautiful old stone mansion that if restored would feel closed off, cold and claustrophobic.
There is also an old aqueduct in the area and its cool, but kind of random. After that we were exhausted and headed back to the house.
The next morning it was up and out again. This time out of town to Barra de Tijuca (that is also spelled wrong) to look for surfing. We found some, but not much. The stranger thing was who we ran into. Marina found a listing for a surf school and we located it pretty easily on the beach. The conversation went something like this; "The surf instructor there asked where we were from. Hawaii. Oh cool I am going there to surf later this year. Do you know Caveirinha? Yes, we trained BJJ with him a few times. Oh he is my brother-in-law. No shit." Took a photo and turns out sure enough we met Za, Caveirinha's brother-in-law, randomly on a beach outside of Rio.
Surf wasn't great, but it was a nice beach and fun to be in the water. We headed back to town, got in another BJJ class and headed home. The next morning we packed up and took the bus out to Arraial do Cabo.
After our long morning at BJJ and with Christ we were pretty exhausted and went back to our now travel staple home cooked meal of pasta with either tomato or pesto sauce. Once again we made a shit load and spent the next several days trying to eat it all before leaving town. By the way, grating tomatoes with a cheese grater to make sauce, pretty awesome.
The next morning we set out on what would end up being about 10K worth of walking around the city. First stop was to Dios Armois (spelling may be all wrong) or two brothers. A small park on the south end of the city where Leblon beach ends. It is a nice hike up to the top and made even better by the way the natural setting erupts out of the urban landscape around it. The views were nice and there were some monkeys that we are starting to realize are pretty much everywhere. They are pretty ugly fuckers and are more like the Brazilian equivalent of squirrels. They look like if they were larger and you gave them wings they would be helping the wicked witch of the west as her minions.
Next stop, after more pasta and some rest, was to Santa Teresa, the Escalaron steps, Lapa and some other sites I cant spell. Santa Teresa is an older neighborhood in the more central part of the city. It has many small hostels and lots of the reviews claim the best food in the city. In the center is a large (250 steps) staircase covered in mosaic tiles. It was commissioned by someone to be really cool and they did a great job (all questions see wikipedia). The walk to the top was slow and hot, but at the top is an old convent that does not seem to want visitors. Around the way is an old mansion that has been converted to an art exhibit. Sitting at the top of a hill it has amazing views of the city from a central tower that looks about 270 degrees across downtown. Not as good as Christo Rendento, but free. The house itself is an old mansion that has been donated to the city and renovated, to a degree, and now contains art and sculptures. A fair amount of the house has not so much been repaired, but had metal and glass sections built into the rubble to complete missing walls. It gives a very cool airy and open look to a beautiful old stone mansion that if restored would feel closed off, cold and claustrophobic.
There is also an old aqueduct in the area and its cool, but kind of random. After that we were exhausted and headed back to the house.
The next morning it was up and out again. This time out of town to Barra de Tijuca (that is also spelled wrong) to look for surfing. We found some, but not much. The stranger thing was who we ran into. Marina found a listing for a surf school and we located it pretty easily on the beach. The conversation went something like this; "The surf instructor there asked where we were from. Hawaii. Oh cool I am going there to surf later this year. Do you know Caveirinha? Yes, we trained BJJ with him a few times. Oh he is my brother-in-law. No shit." Took a photo and turns out sure enough we met Za, Caveirinha's brother-in-law, randomly on a beach outside of Rio.
Surf wasn't great, but it was a nice beach and fun to be in the water. We headed back to town, got in another BJJ class and headed home. The next morning we packed up and took the bus out to Arraial do Cabo.
Dois irmaos, Two brothers (minus a ~ that I'm too lazy to put in), but that's ok. Sounds like some fab sights to be seen in Hee-oh. Nice cliffhanger of an ending to the post, too. Way to leave your audience wanting more!
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