Back from Brazil
Here is the much-awaited (ha) update, complete with pictures, of my latest trip down South.
Saturday
We went to Fernando and Gabriela’s wedding. Philippe knows Fernando from the Yacht Club, and that’s where the reception was. The wedding was in a tiny little Catholic church up on some hill somewhere. I didn’t want to be the weirdo taking pictures of someone else’s wedding so I don’t have any pictures of that but here are some from the reception:
The bride and groom.
Natalia, Fabio, Rafael, and Tati
Philippe and me.
A view of the room. Not the best picture, but it gives you an idea of what a Brazilian reception looks like (a lot like a US reception).
The cake and the entryway.
Rafael with the tie-money jar; the groom takes off his tie and one of his friends goes around and cuts of pieces and “sells” it to the male guests as a way for the bride and groom to get some cash. Kinda like the Dollar Dance at some American weddings.
As a party favor they give out Havaianas to the girls. You KNOW I was grateful for that after dancing in 4 inch heels all night.
They had a mini-buffet for the dinner and so by the end of the night, I was famished. That’s when they brought out the hot dog cart. I LOVE this wedding.
Philippe, me, and Marcos (doesn’t he look a little like Sean Hayes?)
Things get interesting towards the end of the night. They start handing out these ridiculous ties and feather boas and all sorts of crazy stuff. Here’s Philippe and me with the bride and groom.
Sunday
OK, enough about the wedding. Sunday we went to Maracana, the second largest football (soccer) stadium in the world. It was fun except for the whole having-to-watch-football part.
Philippe’s team, Vasco, was playing so we shouted along with all the cheers that basically cheer Vasco on and say some stuff not suitable for kids about the other team.
The fans really get into it. They light off flares and fireworks and have flags and drums and all sorts of stuff. I’d never been to a football game before so the only thing I could compare it to was the Quidditch Cup in the Harry Potter movies. Am I a dork or what?
More fans. These are actually all Vasco fans. They make the supporters sit on different sides so they don’t kill each other. Literally. They even have to use separate entrances and exits when coming to and leaving the stadium.
Tuesday
We went to the Botanical Gardens. In general I wouldn’t take so many pictures of botanical gardens but in Brazil they’re pretty cool.
Some swampy Amazonian-looking area.
A wild monkey! All of Philippe’s friends laughed when I said we saw wild monkeys because these monkeys are so tame they’ll come up and eat out of your hand. But so? As long as they’re not in a cage, they’re wild to me.
It’s tough to see, but this guy’s in the middle of the picture. Of course, right after I put my camera away after taking 15 pictures of him, he tilts his head to the side and strikes a pose for the next picture-taker.
Another monkey. It’s kinda like Where’s Waldo to find the monkeys in these pictures.
A view of the surrounding hills.
Philippe next to a huge tree.
Philippe’s parents.
Me being a dork.
More trees!
Me.
Philippe’s parents and some big trees.
I guess dorks are attracted to each other. In Philippe’s defense, though, this picture was my idea.
If you look closely you can see the Cristo on top of the hill in the background.
Isn’t this tree cool? It’s blurry in real life, like a natural Monet (for once it’s not my camera).
Leblon beach.
Thursday
Three guys whose names I forget, Letitia, and Gabi at this bar/restaurant that the former president of Brazil used to go to. That makes us cool.
Me and Philippe there, enjoying cold beer and awesome caiparinhas.
Friday
You might have heard of the Pao de Azucar (Sugar Loaf) in Rio, which is a huge hill in the middle of the city. You can take a cable car up to a smaller hill and then another cable car up to the Sugar Loaf. The smaller hill is practically in Philippe’s backyard and we were feeling adventurous, so we hiked up it. You can’t hike up the Pao de Azucar without an experienced guide, though, otherwise you have a 99% chance of death. I’ll pass.
We saw more monkeys! These ones were the little guys, that are less than a foot tall.
This one ate a granola bar out of this guy’s hand.
View from the top. The beach in this picture is in a lot of movies about Rio because it’s secluded and therefore easy to close off to the public while filming. There’s also an awesome pizza place in the building with the red roof.
Cable car to the first hill.
View of the bay where we later went sailing. The small boats are still small up close – they’re about 6 feet long and are sailed by 8-13 year-olds. Crazy, huh? They’re in the middle of a regatta. And Philippe knows all this because he sailed the same boats from the same club at the same age. How cute.
View of the Corcovado and the Cristo.
The Pao de Azucar.
Saturday
For the weekend we headed out to Ilha Grande, the island where Philippe’s parents own some property (400,000 sq meters to be exact, because you know I asked).
Philippe kayaking.
Me kayaking.
Philippe on the beach.
Us on the beach.
A view of our room from outside. Check out that mosquito netting. Despite the fact that it really does keep all the bugs out, I still had nightmares all night long that nasty things were crawling on me.
A path on the other side of the island.
Monday
We took a tram ride (how touristy!) through Santa Theresa, which is like Rio’s version of Montmartre.
View of downtown. That crazy cone-shaped (but with a flat top) building is actually a cathedral.
Some arches and the cathedral.
Tuesday
Took it easy on my last day there (other than the sailing incident where I got smacked in the face with the boom, lost my sunglasses, almost got flipped in the water, and generally feared for my life since the boat was only about 10 feet long and was less than a foot above the water – have I mentioned I’m kind of afraid of water?).
A little harbor by Philippe’s house.
The street in front of Philippe’s house.
And after a little going away party at the Billabong Happy Hour at Outback (or Ouchback as they say with their accent), I returned to the good ol’ US of A.
Saturday
We went to Fernando and Gabriela’s wedding. Philippe knows Fernando from the Yacht Club, and that’s where the reception was. The wedding was in a tiny little Catholic church up on some hill somewhere. I didn’t want to be the weirdo taking pictures of someone else’s wedding so I don’t have any pictures of that but here are some from the reception:
The bride and groom.
Natalia, Fabio, Rafael, and Tati
Philippe and me.
A view of the room. Not the best picture, but it gives you an idea of what a Brazilian reception looks like (a lot like a US reception).
The cake and the entryway.
Rafael with the tie-money jar; the groom takes off his tie and one of his friends goes around and cuts of pieces and “sells” it to the male guests as a way for the bride and groom to get some cash. Kinda like the Dollar Dance at some American weddings.
As a party favor they give out Havaianas to the girls. You KNOW I was grateful for that after dancing in 4 inch heels all night.
They had a mini-buffet for the dinner and so by the end of the night, I was famished. That’s when they brought out the hot dog cart. I LOVE this wedding.
Philippe, me, and Marcos (doesn’t he look a little like Sean Hayes?)
Things get interesting towards the end of the night. They start handing out these ridiculous ties and feather boas and all sorts of crazy stuff. Here’s Philippe and me with the bride and groom.
Sunday
OK, enough about the wedding. Sunday we went to Maracana, the second largest football (soccer) stadium in the world. It was fun except for the whole having-to-watch-football part.
Philippe’s team, Vasco, was playing so we shouted along with all the cheers that basically cheer Vasco on and say some stuff not suitable for kids about the other team.
The fans really get into it. They light off flares and fireworks and have flags and drums and all sorts of stuff. I’d never been to a football game before so the only thing I could compare it to was the Quidditch Cup in the Harry Potter movies. Am I a dork or what?
More fans. These are actually all Vasco fans. They make the supporters sit on different sides so they don’t kill each other. Literally. They even have to use separate entrances and exits when coming to and leaving the stadium.
Tuesday
We went to the Botanical Gardens. In general I wouldn’t take so many pictures of botanical gardens but in Brazil they’re pretty cool.
Some swampy Amazonian-looking area.
A wild monkey! All of Philippe’s friends laughed when I said we saw wild monkeys because these monkeys are so tame they’ll come up and eat out of your hand. But so? As long as they’re not in a cage, they’re wild to me.
It’s tough to see, but this guy’s in the middle of the picture. Of course, right after I put my camera away after taking 15 pictures of him, he tilts his head to the side and strikes a pose for the next picture-taker.
Another monkey. It’s kinda like Where’s Waldo to find the monkeys in these pictures.
A view of the surrounding hills.
Philippe next to a huge tree.
Philippe’s parents.
Me being a dork.
More trees!
Me.
Philippe’s parents and some big trees.
I guess dorks are attracted to each other. In Philippe’s defense, though, this picture was my idea.
If you look closely you can see the Cristo on top of the hill in the background.
Isn’t this tree cool? It’s blurry in real life, like a natural Monet (for once it’s not my camera).
Leblon beach.
Thursday
Three guys whose names I forget, Letitia, and Gabi at this bar/restaurant that the former president of Brazil used to go to. That makes us cool.
Me and Philippe there, enjoying cold beer and awesome caiparinhas.
Friday
You might have heard of the Pao de Azucar (Sugar Loaf) in Rio, which is a huge hill in the middle of the city. You can take a cable car up to a smaller hill and then another cable car up to the Sugar Loaf. The smaller hill is practically in Philippe’s backyard and we were feeling adventurous, so we hiked up it. You can’t hike up the Pao de Azucar without an experienced guide, though, otherwise you have a 99% chance of death. I’ll pass.
We saw more monkeys! These ones were the little guys, that are less than a foot tall.
This one ate a granola bar out of this guy’s hand.
View from the top. The beach in this picture is in a lot of movies about Rio because it’s secluded and therefore easy to close off to the public while filming. There’s also an awesome pizza place in the building with the red roof.
Cable car to the first hill.
View of the bay where we later went sailing. The small boats are still small up close – they’re about 6 feet long and are sailed by 8-13 year-olds. Crazy, huh? They’re in the middle of a regatta. And Philippe knows all this because he sailed the same boats from the same club at the same age. How cute.
View of the Corcovado and the Cristo.
The Pao de Azucar.
Saturday
For the weekend we headed out to Ilha Grande, the island where Philippe’s parents own some property (400,000 sq meters to be exact, because you know I asked).
Philippe kayaking.
Me kayaking.
Philippe on the beach.
Us on the beach.
A view of our room from outside. Check out that mosquito netting. Despite the fact that it really does keep all the bugs out, I still had nightmares all night long that nasty things were crawling on me.
A path on the other side of the island.
Monday
We took a tram ride (how touristy!) through Santa Theresa, which is like Rio’s version of Montmartre.
View of downtown. That crazy cone-shaped (but with a flat top) building is actually a cathedral.
Some arches and the cathedral.
Tuesday
Took it easy on my last day there (other than the sailing incident where I got smacked in the face with the boom, lost my sunglasses, almost got flipped in the water, and generally feared for my life since the boat was only about 10 feet long and was less than a foot above the water – have I mentioned I’m kind of afraid of water?).
A little harbor by Philippe’s house.
The street in front of Philippe’s house.
And after a little going away party at the Billabong Happy Hour at Outback (or Ouchback as they say with their accent), I returned to the good ol’ US of A.
posted by Vicki | 10:13 PM
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