South America- Day 28- Rio

Got up this morning and headed to Corcavado, the mountain where the Christ the Redeemer statue reigns over the city. Took a cab up to the area where we picked up our tickets and then waited in line to get in one of the vans. Youth summit groups were everywhere and we were glad we had opted for an early time slot to help alleviate the rush. We zig zagged and wound our way up the mountain and then saw how crowded the site really was. Still very impressive, but a total mobscene, to be expected I suppose. We cut through crowds and pushed our way to see the sites of the city below and to try to get a little distance to better appreciate the statue. At 38m tall, you're basically right under it the whole time!

We managed to find a cab and then headed to the Ipanema area. We had a great time renting bikes and biking around the lake and down the beach for two hours! A beautiful day and the area is just so pretty. Rio is a very unique city in that it has mountains, rainforest, beaches and a lake all right here-- every bit is different and visually impactful. We really loved this part and it was a welcome break from the crowds of Corcavado.

Grabbed some lunch and then headed to the beach for a bit. Can definitely see why this is considered one of the best beaches in the world-- its gorgeous and stretches a long way. Pale sand, blue water, mountains and the city behind you.... really awesome. The temperature actually dropped a little bit, so we were a little chillier than expected, but still partook in the coconut water (out of coconut with a straw) and a caiprinhia/beer-- very relaxing!

We only stayed about an hour though as we wanted to get over to Sugarloaf and its cable cars to ascend before sunset. Sadly, we hit our second youth summit snag and waited in line for over an hour, only moving 40 feet or so (we weren't even in the actual roped lines yet as this point). Frustrated, we decided to scrap it wince we could have been there for several more hours due to the disorder of the site, and grabbed a cab back up to our peaceful neighborhood.

 

Had a drink at Bar do Gomez around the corner and then headed down the street to Espiritu Santa, an Amazonian restaurant. We met a father and son couple from Minneapolis there, who were on a similar trip to ours, and had a great time talking with them for a while. While we didn't end up trying the piranha stew, we did have plantains with crab as an appetizer that we're going to figure out how to make as well as a rice dish with meat and seafood and an amazonian fish with a potato/ brazilian nut patty. So tasty and we could see how it got such great reviews online!