Two Days in Rio

Wow, Rio is a new entry on my "most beautiful cities I've ever visited" and may well take over Sydney, Australia as my new favorite.  There are not only the famous beaches of Copacobana and Ipanema, but many others within the limits in this city of 8 million.  It has a rep for being dangerous but that wasn't my experience at all.  Of course, I kept my distance from the Favelas, those areas where houses are crammed on the side of many of Rio's many surrounding hills and mountains as these areas are famous for their drug gangs and lots of violence.  If you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about, rent a great movie called the "City of God" that is a true story of life there.  It was one of the movies that the professors had the students watch to learn about this side of Rio.

I've included some pics of our adventures there (I was leading a group of 30 students in my group).  We completed a "ropes course" where we walk along tightropes and other cable-type walkways far up in the trees, rode in the gondola up to Sugarloaf mountain, and of course trekked up the mountain to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue (Rio's most famous landmark).  The beaches were awesome and it was fun to realize that not ALL the people in Rio are slim and beautiful.  In fact, I decided that there should be both an age, and a weight limit for wearing Speedos on the beaches there !

This is a place I definitely want to come back to and spend some more time (maybe this time without the responsibility of watching over 30 youngsters with fun on their minds).

We are now headed back up the Amazon River where we will exit Brazil this Sunday and begin our one-week sojourn across the Atlantic toward Ghana (I have my Dramamine ready;)