RIO

RIO
We had a day in Rio before we flew to Iguassu Falls. We drove up to the Statue of Christ. The statue itself is amazing and the view is spectacular. It reminded how much Christ loves each person and how he truly does watch over each of us. Pretty amazing.

Then we drove around in a neighborhood called St. Teresa. That was an interesting experience and a little scary. Partly because we really had no idea where we were going and what we wanted to do there other than we heard it was a cool place. Would not necessarily recommend unless you know what you are doing or if you take the trolley....Then we walked downtown and came across the most amazing restaurant that was an all-you-can-eat pizza and crepes. They even had dessert pizzas and crepes. We all thought we had died on gone to heaven! It was purely deliciousness! After that we spent time enjoying the view from our hotel pool area. We had a great view of Copacabana beach. Then we woke up early and headed to the airport to go to Iguassu Falls.

Christ Statue



View from the statue







We saw this cute monkey who was showing off.


Travis likes his mustard and ketchup


Favelas
I was torn whether or not to do a tour of the favelas but to be on the safe side we decided to forgo the plan. Rio is especially known for their favelas. They are shacks built up on the mountains. The land in owned by the government and I guess they have allowed people to build their homes this way. Rio is an extremely expensive city so the poor people were pretty much forced out of their homes. Since they had no money to commute they built these little shacks on the mountains close to the city. Some are right next to huge mansions. This is information out of our Brazil book. I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the favelas and since they are only "safe" to go in if you are invited by someone who lives there or you can go on a tour. However, we decided to just look from a distance. It makes you appreciate what we have.




Pizza and crepe restaurant. I wish I had the picture of Kristy jumping up and down in front of the restaurant. She seriously said she had dreamed about a place like this in her dreams. She was cracking me up because the whole night she was so happy. By the way everyone there gives you 'thumbs-up' it is kind of fun. You see people doing it all the time. So this place deserved a 'thumbs-up.'


Random: the city is neat because there are mountains everywhere and the city is built between mountains and the ocean.


The juices were yummy!