Home Sweet Home

Originally I was only planning on coming home for about two weeks. I felt any longer would really kill my traveling momentum. After a lot of peer pressure (who am I kidding I am the easiest person to convince to do something) I decided to extend my trip to 5 weeks so I could go to the UCLA vs Texas football game. I am SO happy I made this decision. Not only was it an incredible game (see below) but those 5 weeks went by so fast. In true Vandria fashion I had plans every night. As I cannot recap every night I will do a top 5 (in chronologic not favorite order):

Trip to SF

I came home from South America for Anna and Ryan's wedding (see below) but the date I chose

was because of the Dave Matthews concert at the Mountain View Amphitheater. Ashley, Jen and I bought tickets for this show back in March however Ash had to bail due to work/travel in Europe. I am pretty sure my SF friends got together and decided to boycott my visit as the majority of them were out of town. But it was actually a very nice relaxing weekend. Usually I am so busy trying to make time to see everyone, this weekend Jen and I went at our own pace. On Friday night we went to dinner with Katie (Moy) and Matt then went bar hopping around the Marina with Gibbs. On Saturday we met up with Amber, her bf Ryan, Gibbs and Libby for brunch at my favorite place in the city - The Tipsy Pig. They honestly have the most amazing Huevos Rancheros and Bloody Mary's. However I do not recommend drinking one right before running 5 miles.... I was so dehydrated and burping up bloodies all throughout Jen and my scenic run across the Golden Gate Bridge.... Yummy!

Tom joined us for the Dave show, which was honestly one of the best Dave shows I've seen (note: I have been to more shows than I can count). Tim Reynolds performed with him and was incredible! Additionally the Mountain View Amphitheater is an awesome venue. (Sorry Ash! Though not too much as you were in my favorite city in the world- Barcelona).

Jen and I capped off a perfect SF weekend by driving down the CA Highway 1. It took about 9.5 hours but was well worth it! Such a pretty drive.

Ak & Abel's wedding

I apologize for this next line to any friends whose amazing/fun wedding I have attended. Anna and Ryan's wedding was honestly the best wedding ever! Madeline and I were looking forward to this wedding all summer long. We constantly talked about it and both bought new dresses (and me shoes) in Brazil for the occasion. We hyped it up so much I was kind of worried we were setting impossibly high standards.

Well.... they were definitely met and surpassed. What made it so special was the history and friends. For those of you who don't know Ak and Abel they are good friends from High School (who also both went to UCLA). They became best friends freshman year and as Ryan put it in his letter/vows "it all changed that one New Year's Eve sophomore year when you (Anna) were laying on top of me (Ryan) and we shared our first kiss..." When the rabbi read this the entire audience burst out laughing. Anna's family in Russia made the most amazing video that shows that they were destined to be together before they were even born. This amazing video brought us all to tears.

The other thing that made the wedding so much fun was the music! In the words of freshman AK "all I wanna do is dance" and we did... Mads, Jessica and I along with the boys (Ari, Ellman and Garron) danced the night away. I gotta say, I wish all weddings has the hora. It was so much fun! It was so fun to see how excited the boys got. It was a great night with wonderful friends celebrating two amazing people. Mazel Tov!!

The Cousins Visit CA

Due to timing conflicts I was unable to go to Arizona during my month home. Luckily two of my cousins were able to take time off and come to me! Jen, Luke, Mady and Logan visited the after labor day. We had a lot of fun on my Uncle Lanny's boat and then went to Disneyland. The park was a little over whelming for Mady,

however despite the fact that at times she looked like she was having a bad a time, as soon as we left she asked if we could do it all over again.

Janine, Mike & Scotty came a few weeks later for a weekend. I met them at La Jolla Shores where Scotty spent the day playing in the sand. It was really great spending time with all of them.

Sadly Jamaila and AB could not make it out. Get a Skype account!!

Texas

Thank you to all who convinced me to make this trip. I would has been so sad had I missed this amazing weekend! From the moment we landed on Thursday, we did nothing but eat, drink, eat, party, eat, drink, eat, party.... Highlights of food: Salt Lick BBQ (I have never consumed such mass amounts of meat in one sitting and remember I am currently living in Argentina where all they eat is meat), Austin City Press food truck (Jen and I discovered this ah-mazingness at 3am after already having eaten pizza.... 2nd meal was the best decision ever!! stopped by the next night with a larger crew and tasted just about every sandwich) and Juan in A Million (come on isn't this the best name ever!). Oh yeah and did I forget to mention we won 34-12!!!!!!!!!!! It was great spending time with all my Bruins in Austin!!

Fun Times with friends in SD & LA

Checking out Buenos Aires

Mads and I spent a week and a half in Buenos Aires. The goal of the trip was for me to get situated in an apartment and get to know the city that would soon be my home. Despite the FREEZING weather (the first two days we were here it was about 45-50°F!!) we had a blast. As this was about 2 months ago I am just going to give some highlights:

Hanging out with Jouliette

I was so excited to discover that I knew someone who lives in Buenos Aires! I went to high school with Jouliette and we share many similar friends. Mads joked that Jouliette is the La Jolla High Ambassador for Buenos Aires, as the most random people contact her upon their travels down here. She has been living here for 4 years

after falling in love with an awesome guy while studying abroad here. We out with her a hand full of times during our time here. She has a really great group of American girlfriends who have all been living here 4-5 years and who all have Argentine boy friends. They were so warm and welcoming and have made me really excited to return.

BAIT Hostel (http://www.baitba.com/)

Located in Palermo Soho, the location of this hostel is unbeatable! It is walking distance to the Subte (Metro D line), great shopping, amazing restaurants, bars, and night clubs.

As far as hostel accommodations go it is a typical hostel - beds, common area with free WiFi, a kitchen, etc... What sets BAIT apart for any other hostel though is the people. The hostel attacks a fun, diverse crowd and the staff who works there is incredible! While everyone is great I would like to give specific shout-outs to Pablo who works the morning/early afternoon shift, Melvin who works the 3:30-11:30 shift and Rafa who works the graveyard shift. These three guys are so friendly and can definitely help you with anything you will need. We hung out with Melvin, an American expat living in BA for about 3 yrs now, often. He is def going to be one of my BA besties. Mads and him got along perfectly as they both have soooo much attitude. :)

Timmy!!!

We met Timmy at BAIT. Buenos Aires was Timmy's first stop on a 3 month trip around South America. One day Mads and I invited him along with us for lunch and then to La Bomba (an awesome drum bragde group that plays every Monday night -http://www.labombadetiempo.com.ar). After that night the three of us became an inseparable trio. Mads and I loved to mock Timmy's South African accent and lingo. And I am sure we cracked him up with our ridiculous behavior.

La Boca

La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Buenos Aires. This colorful neighborhood is home to the pedestrian street the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold in every shop. It is known among sports fans for La Bombonera the home of Boca Juniors, one of the world's best known football clubs. I tagged along with Minna, a girl staying in our hostel, as Mads wasn't feeling so hot that day. The highlight of my day was the delicious choripan we had for lunch. This amazing sandwich is named for the combination of the names of its ingredients: a grilled chorizo and a crusty bread (pan in Spanish).

Buenos Aires Bus Tour (http://www.buenosairesbus.com/)

I am a huge nerd, who LOVES audio guides and cheesy tourist things so obviously I was so excited to take one of the bus tours around town. Mads and Timmy, on the other hand, were not too stoked on it. Timmy says in South Africa he and his friends throw ice at the nerds on the busses. Rude! Well I made them take the tour with me regardless. And guess what?? They loved it! It was a really great way to get to know the entire city and understand the lay out. Plus Timmy, a professional photographer, got a lot of cool shots like this one of the three of.

Buenos Aires Graffiti Street Art Tour

http://matadornetwork.com/nights/graffiti-mundo-street-art-for-the-people-in-buenos-aires/

Buenos Aires is covered in beautiful Street Art. The GraffitiMundo tour took us around several areas introducing us to the different art collaborations that exist in Buenos Aires. Here are a few of our faves:

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming…

For those of you who were avid followers of my blog during my travels, I am sorry I went radio-silent after after Rio. I am back to writing and promise to try my best to stay up-to-date. While I am now living in Buenos Aires, I am going to back peddle a bit and write a few entires about the end of Mads' and my trip as well as my 5 weeks home. After that we can move forward. Thanks again for reading!

A Lil Bit of Funk... A Lil Bit of Samba with Jona

**Post written by Mads**

When my brother first started coming to Rio frequently around he was recommended by his drum professor in the U.S. someone to study with in Rio named Miguel. Miguel is famous fpr being a master at the repinique, which is the drum that leads the samba school during Carnival. My brother would make the trek out to Miguel's house in Cidade de Deus, the same place where the movie City of God was filmed. Sometimes they would practice at Miguel's girlfriend, Portela's, house. Portela soon became very fond of my brother and started calling herself his "mãe preta" or black mom. Portela has three daughters whim all live next door to one another. I became united with the whole family two years ago on New Year's Eve where we all celebrated among the masses of people on Copacabana beach. That is when I met Jonathan, one of Portela's grandsons. We became fast friends and talk online often.

About two months before Vans and I left on our trip, Jona told me that he was going to have a big 18th birthday party and asked if I could come.I wasn't sure of our plans because we only had a ticket into Fortaleza and out of Buenos Aires, but I told him I would do my best to make it to Rio in time. It turned out that because it was raining so much in Salvador we arrived to Rio before we had planned and were able to attend the party. After the two hour bus ride in the rain to Anil, the town in which Jona lives, we made it. Jone was so delighted! We had a great time dancing to samba and watching the local boys put on a show dancing to funk. Funk is a type of music that originated in the favelas (the slums) at the baile funks and is now popular among the upper class Cariocas. Funk is kind of like Brazilian rap with a common beat that plays in every song. The lyrics are really crude and the dance is like freaking but choreographed. (For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca). Funk is pretty funny to watch... Vans is obsessed! The young boys at the party has choreographed full routines and did some really incredible things with their stomach muscles. See videos of some of their dances below.

Jona invited us to come back to his neighbor-hood two weeks later for a concert by Bom Gosto. He offered for us to stay the night at his house since it would be too dangerous for us to go back to the city in the wee hours of the morning alone (my dad had accompanied us to/from the birthday party). Although Vans and I had gotten very little sleep the night before, we rallied and made it out there. We started the night eating at a local festa that reminded Vans of a carnival. Drinking beer to merely stay awake, we held out until 1am when the band finally took the stage.

Once they began to play the concert was awesome and well worth the trip! I was pleasantly surprised because we got to be in VIP with plenty of room to dance. After the show Vandria's new favorite music began to play.... baile funk!!! The next day we had Jona make us a CD full of the new songs we have discovered, both samba and funk. Thanks to one of his DJ friends we were finally able to discover the name of the anthem of our summer (winter) "Stereo Love" by Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Z3YrHJ1sU). This song has literrally been playing EVERYWHERE.

Our last night in Rio, Jona came out to Lapa to join us for our Wednesday weekly tradition of Grupo Revelação. The show tonight was AMAZING! It's like they knew it was our last night in Rio. They played such a long set and performed all of our favorite songs. We didn't want the night to end after the band was done, so we stayed a bit and danced to a little funk!

After a while we had to leave as the music starts to get very repetitive. As we were leaving the club Jona pointed out the tãtã (hand held base drum) player (who happens to be Vans favorite musician of the group). So excited to see her boyfriend in person Vans ran up to him and asked to take a photo. Such a perfect way to end the perfect last night of the perfect trip to Rio!

Holy Christ.... It was Cold!

Located 710m* atop Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park, Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) has become an icon of not only Rio de Janeiro but of all of Brazil. Almost as impressive as the statue itself, are the views of Rio and the surrounding areas from the platform at its base.

At night,

the brightly lit statue is visible from nearly every part of the city. Standing 39.6 metres (130 ft) tall, Christ has been watching over the city with outstretched arms since 1931. In 2007 Cristo Redentor was named one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World".**

It, along with Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf), are the most visited of the Rio de Janeiro sights. Despite being in Rio for 6 weeks, I did not visit Christ until my last week. The problem is they (mainly being Lonely Planet) say to go and visit on a clear day. Well, once the sun came out after a full week of rain the only thing I wanted to do was go to the beach. Hehe. Then came classes, and then more beach time (time was running out and I needed to get in as much tanning as possible before heading to Buenos Aires - where they actually have a winter), then more rain. I finally made plans with one of my old classmates Kristina to go up to the top on the Friday of both her and my last week in town. I wouldn't say it was the best day, as it was slightly cloudy, but considering the fact that it had again been raining the entire week, the small patches of blue sky were sufficient for us.

Our original plan was to walk up the mountain. Our teacher had told us that it was a lovely hike that took about 2-3 hours. Being somewhat of athletic and adventurous types we decided that we could totally handle the hike. Mads, on the other hand, thought we were crazy. "Have you seen the mountain?!?" she asked. "It's pretty much a vertical climb!" But we decided we could do it as we were sure that there had to be a path that would lead the way. After asking several employees and locals standing around the entrance, we realized that was not the case. The lady who sold the tickets to the tram told us it would take close to 4 hours and that we would be walking through favelas, not a smart thing to be doing at that time of day. While I am sure she was just trying to get us to pay the R$36, it seemed no one could point us in the proper direction. We were sent up random side streets, that branched off in many directions with no signs or people to show us the way. As it was getting to be a little after 1pm we decided walking probably was not the best idea and we ended up taking the tram after all.

The tram ride up the mountain was very beautiful. Kristina and I tried to look for paths along the way but did not see any clear passage ways. We decided the tram was a smart decision. This was especially true when we reached the top of Corcovado. Note: 710 m = 2,330 ft. That is really high, and on a somewhat cloudy and windy day it is REALLY cold at such a height. No one warned us to dress warmly. So, take this as a warning.... If you are going to visit Cristo Redentor

in the winter, bring a sweater/coat (something warmer than my JCrew cardi). I'd also wear pants, as I was freezing in my little shorts.

Despite being a cloudy and windy (read: cold) day, it was beautiful! The view from the top is really something. I figured it would be similar to Pão de Açúcar, and while it was in some ways - atop Cristo there was so much more to see. You could literally see ALL of the city. After taking the cheesy tourist shots with the statue, we walked around and took some great shots of the city (pic: me pointing out Ipanema Beach) and then quickly descended the mountain to escape from the cold.

Footnotes:

* I do not understand why the United States in the ONLY country in the world to not follow the standard of measurement the rest of the world uses (metric system). When I see something in meters or Celsius I cannot easily determine the length/height or temperature without having to do a lengthy math equation (see below). When the thermometer outside reads 15°C (59°F) I don't know what that means, I just know it's cold. Just like I know 29°C (84°F) is hot (trust me I learned that the hard way on a 6k (3.73mile) run). As a world traveler it is very annoying! I think the United States needs to change over to the metric system.... England did it!

Formulas to use if you are an American abroad:
1 km= 0.621371192 miles

1 mile = 1.609344 km
F = 9/5*C + 32

C= (F-32)*5/9

** The "New Seven Wonders of the World" was a project that attempted to update the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" concept with a modern list of wonders (of the original list, only one remains standing, the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt.). A popularity poll was led by the Swiss-based "The New Open World Corporation" with winners announced on July 7, 2007. I have been to 4/7 wonders!! In addition I have also seen 4/14 finalists that did not make the list. See below designated with an (X).

New Seven Wonders of the World:

1. Taj Mahal, Agra, India
2. Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (X)
3. Christ The Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (X)
4. Roman Colosseum, Rome, Italy (X)
5. Great Wall of China, China (X)
6. Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Perú
7. Petra, Jordan

The other finalists listed alphabetically, were:

1. Acropolis of Athens, Athens, Greece
2. Alhambra, Granada, Spain (X)
3. Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia (X)
4. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France (X)
5. Giza Pyramid Complex , Cairo, Egypt
6. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
7. Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
8. Moai (Easter Island Statues), Easter Island, Chile
9. Neuschwanstein Castle, Füssen, Germany
10. Red Square, Moscow, Russia
11. Statue of Liberty, New York City, U.S.A. (X)
12. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
13. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
14. Timbuktu, Mali

Daytime in Lapa & Santa Teresa

One day after my Portuguese class, I went to lunch with several people from the program. One guy suggested we check out Confeitaria Colombo located close by in the historic center of town. This beautiful bakery/tea house has been around since the late 1890s. It wasn't until they sat our party of 8 that we discovered the lunch buffet was R$55. Wetake advantage of the array of food and dessert (to which I went back at least 3 times). The lunch was very lovely... I'm not sure I would recommend eating there, as it was definitely overpriced and the food wasn't that amazing, but the venue itself was great. What surprised me the most was the clientel. I would think that with those prices it would be filled with tourists - but it wasn't. The whole place seemed to be filled with people enjoying their lunch break. After lunch, I came home to find Mads just waking up (it was nearly 3pm.) I had emailed her telling her my plans, but as she pointed an email doesn't make an alarming sound that wakes her like a phone call would. Oops. As it was now too late to go to the beach we decided to spend the afternoon walking around exploring our hood. While Lapa is the place to be at night, there are also a few things we found to do during the day.

First stop:

Photos at one of the major landmarks of Rio and of the Lapa quarter, the Arcos da Lapa. These arches cross the main street in Lapa, Avenida Mem de Sá, where all the partying takes place on Friday and Saturday nights. We have spent many a night under the arches listening to random pagodes play their samba. Usually I do not have my camera, as it is not safe to have at night, but while out during the day I decided it was ok to stop and take a photo.

The Arcos da Lapa, a double tier of arches 64m/210ft high and 270m/ 295yds long, are part of the Aqueduto da Carioca, which was constructed in the colonial period to bring fresh water from the Rio Carioca to the population of the city. Deactivated at the end of the 19th century, the arches were adapted in 1896 to serve as a bridge for a tram - the Bondinho de Santa Teresa (the only tram still in use in Rio de Janeiro) - that transports passengers between the centre of Rio and the hilly Santa Teresa neighborhood.

When we went to Santa Teresa I begged Mads to take the tram. As it was getting late by the time we left the house we decided it was better to get up there before the sun set than ride the tram. Mads had ridden it before, and told me it really wasn't that cool, but I was still bummed because deep down I am a cheesy tourist who really needs to do everything. So one day after class, I took the tram across the arches and jumped off before it hit Santa Teresa. Afterwards Mads asked me if it was everything I expected.... not really but for R$0.60 I was glad I saw that for myself. Haha. It was definitely fun to ride the tram, but honestly I didn't even realize we were crossing the arches until we were half way through them.

Second stop:

The Escadaria Selarón is a set of world-famous stairs created by Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claims it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people". Leading up from Rua Joaquim Silva ("pee alley" - see Weekends in Lapa), the stairway straddles both the Lapa and Santa Teresa neighborhoods. There are 250 stairs measuring 125 metres long which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world. These stairs were the site of the Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell music video "Beautiful" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_M15ougn6E&feature=av2n). Clearly after watching this video I HAD to go and take pictures on the stairs.

Santa Teresa

So we didn't go to Santa Teresa on the same day as our Tour de Lapa, but I decided it would be fitting to put it in the same posting as it lies right above Lapa. Santa Teresa is

located on top of the Santa Teresa hill and is famous for its winding, narrow cobbled streets which are a favorite spot for artists and tourists. Named after the Santa Teresa Convent founded in the 1750s, Santa Teresa used to be an upper class borough, as testified by its magnificent mansions, many of which are still standing. Santa Teresa ceased being an upper class neighborhood long ago, but it has been revived as an artistic hotspot. It is home to several artists and art studios and galleries.

Because Mads and I have visited Santa Teresa just before sunset we plan to go back again to walk around the cute little

shops. After it got dark we ate at a delicious (but pricey) restaurant called Aprazível. It is hidden on a windy road at the top of a hill. Not even knowing the name of the restaurant, Mads and I saw it from below and made it our goal to reach this cute location. Coincidently it turned out to be a place that had been highly recommended to us. The place was so cute! It has spectacular views of the city and such cute garden decor. There was even a table that was in a tree house!! After dinner we walked down into town for a little and then caught the tram down the hill jumping off right before it crossed the arches.

Agora fala um pouco de Português

After traveling around Brazil for a little over six and a half weeks I decided to take a language course. My ability to understand Portuguese had significantly increased (I even attended a fairly complicated three man play and at the end only had two major questions for Mads). However, I still felt that I was unable to converse with people when out on my own. While it has been easy to use Mads as a crutch, I do plan to return to Brazil and would like to be able to get around if she is not with me. So I looked online and found the Bridge Brazil program (http://www.bridgebrazil.com/). The program was kind of pricey. A one week course cost about $500 (tuition + registration) and that didn't include the R$135 (~$70USD) text book that I opted not to buy as I thought it was silly for one week.

The classes were held in Centro- the downtown working district of Rio. I was able to walk to/from class in about 30 minutes. Classes ran from 8:30am - 12:30pm. I didn't really let the 7:30am wake-up call stand in the way from me having fun. Mads and I still went out Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. My fellow classmates looked at me like I was insane when I would tell them how we were out till 4am. Clearly I was very concerned about my studies. I was able to pay attention in class (thanks to some strong coffee) and rally at night (thanks to some naps). More than a week and my body would have definitely started to reject me. But I think I managed just well.

Now comes the important question: Am I able to speak Portuguese? Answer: Not really. BUT I wouldn't say the classes were pointless. I just think one needs more than a week to become fluent. The classes definitely helped me with the pronunciation of letters and words (which is the hardest difference between Spanish v Portuguese) , use of the proper pronouns and conjuration of verbs. I plan to buy a copy of the outrageously expensive textbook on Amazon.com and continue the learning process on my own. I definitely think if I actually put effort into it I can become fairly competent at speaking the language. Then how cool will it be to say that I am trilingual?

Funny story from Friday night: I was out and overheard these Brazilian guys speaking to two Argentinan girls. Typically it is not too hard for native Spanish speakers to understand Portuguese as many of the words are very similar, however the sentences they were using happened to contain those few words that are completely 100% different (it is words like this that led me to want to take the class in the first place). I stepped in and translated to the girls. Next thing I knew I had 5 new friends. I spent the rest of the night chatting between the Brazilians and Argentinans. What I discovered, much to my dismay, is that even though I can't speak Portuguese, the few words I do know are totally killing my Spanish. I kept saying words like "agora" instead of "ahora" and falar" instead of "hablar". It was so annoying. The girls found it cute - thinking I was trying to speak both languages equally as bad. I tried explaining to them that I actually can speak Spanish and my brain was having problems at the moment due to my recent Portuguese classes (I am am sure the alcohol had a small role to play as well). As the night went on my deficiency in both languages diminished... that or we were all too drunk to care.

Ipanema

"Tall and tan and young and lovely, The girl from Ipanema goes walking, And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah....."

The beautiful beach that inspired this bossa nova classic (Garota de Ipanema in Portuguese) is where Mads and I spend most of our days. At the forefront of the beach culture, many surfers and sun worshippers socialize daily along this pristine shoreline. Every Sunday, the roadway closest to the beach is closed to motor vehicles and local residents and tourists ride bikes, roller skate, skateboard, and walk along the ocean. There are always circles of people playing football (soccer), volleyball, and footvolley (a combination sport of volleyball and football originated in Brazil).

The beach is divided into segments by marks known as "postos" (lifeguard towers). Beer is sold everywhere on the beach at the barracas (tents). Mads was verry dissapointed to discover that since her last visit in January, the selling of Água de coco was outlawed at the barracas due to the weight of the coconuts for the trash collectors. Now you have to walk all the way up to the boardwalk to buy from the kiosks. Not too far of a walk, but definitely annoying!

We can normally be found just to the right of Posto 8 in front of Barraca da Tania. Not only is

this a beautiful and less crowded location, but it is also perfectly located just 2 blocks away from Mads' brother Gabe's apartment. When Mads lived in Rio for 3 months in 2007 she stayed with Gabe and was literally able to roll out of bed and be laying on the beach within 5 minutes. For us, from Lapa, we have to take a bus that takes anywhere from 45 min to an hour depending on the traffic. This isn't too bad when we wake up at a decent hour, but it is kind of a problem when we wake up any later than 2pm (which we often do after late nights out) as it is currently "winter" the sun begins to cool down around 4pm.

I put winter in quotes as it is typically anywhere from 75-85º here. However, ask any Carioca (person from Rio) and they will say it's freezing! Seriously, no joke. We see so many people on the street in long sleeves, pants, jackets and scarves as we are walking around in our bikinis and cover-ups. I don't know who looks sillier. One Thursday night we were drinking in the streets of Gavea (an affluent residential neighborhood in the Southern Zone of the city where young locals and tourists like to mingle) and we met a guy who literally said to us "It's a shame you came during the winter." Riiiiight. While we have expierenced a week of rain and a handful of windy days, with the beach days outnumbering the bad days I am a-okay with being here in the winter.

Gabe and his girlfriend Carol live 6 months out of the year in the Pantanal (tropical wetland of Brazil) studying the DNA of the giant river otters for Carol's doctorate. Typically this is the time of year where he is not in Rio, however we were in luck as he has been here two weeks helping his mom move. This is great because Mads and Gabe are super close so they have gotten to spend some time together. It is also provides us a place to hang out after the beach. We have done a lot of movie watching and Wi platying (Gabe just got Super Mario World!!!) Sergio (Mads and Gabe's dad) returned to the States last week, but before he left the whole family was able to get together to spend some time on the beach and go out to lunch at a rodozio.