Rio de Janeiro

We got back from our trip to Brazil... it was really fun! it was too bad though because it's their winter so it was rainy and overcast most of the time, and we got alot of rain so we couldn't spend much time on their beautiful beaches, but we still had a blast. It was fun to see another culture, and another part of the world. It fuled my desire to travel...


"Christo Redentor", the newest wonder of the world. It's 30 meters high and the arm span is 28 meters wide. It's perced on top of a little round mountain and has a great view of the whole city. It was pretty amazing to see (although I don't think it was as big as the statue of liberty.) In the back of the statue they have a little chapel. The guy that is not josh was the other U.S. steeple chaser, Mike spence. His wife Christy, and his mom came to brazil as well. All us ladies shared a room at an AWESOME hotel!

Josh and I sitting in the "Barra de Tijuca rain forest" it was really pretty, but we didn't get to see any tucan's...

This is a little monkey in the forest. There were alot of them. They'd just run around in the trees like squirrels. They were cute and friendly. They'd eat from your hand, or try to take your camera.

This is a bannana tree, with a big red bannana blossom on the bottom of the branch.

There were lots of cool markets around the city, I just thought these fish were cool.

Me in one of the market places... they had lots of exotic, tropical and delicous fruits! Pineapple, papaya, mango, star fruit, guava etc.

This little city settlement is called a favela. They are the slums of the cities. Apparently they are not patrolled by the police, but rather, are controlled by the drug lord. There are apparently 80 murders a day in rio, and most of them occur in these favelas. They houses are made of cement, or other random building materials. some have glass windows, and some just have open window panes... they are VERRY delapidated adn run down. favela's are built upon favela's and they get up to 5 or more stories high, just crammed with people. It was sad to see that so many people just have this kind of a life style, that is all they know.

Not a favela, just a basic neighborhood. there is grafitti all over the place.

We had a few dinners in these delicous "turasco's" or Brazillian BBQ's. They have a huge bar in the middle of the resturant that has breads and cheeses and all sorts of crazy and delicous salads, and fruit, and sushi, and spring rolls with strawberries, or kiwi (so good) lots of sea food dishes (I tried octapus, not a pleasant experience) Quail eggs (taste ok) then these waiters go around from table to table with skewers of all kinds of meet: different flavors and cuts of steaks, chicken, pork, lamb, different flavors of sausage, grilled pineapple and even chicken hearts!