Hey Blog!
I'm a little behind in blogging these past couple of weeks because it's been pretty crazy. Since I last did a check in, I am feeling more settled and into a rhythm here which is good. As I said in my last blog, a best friend from home visited me this past week and it was the best time! It was a little hard to balance school and my other activities while having a visitor here (mostly because everything is still very new, and I'm still getting adjusted), but I tried to put aside my responsibilities for the week and be a tourist! During the first weekend we explored my area a lot, did beach walks, and hung out with my cohort.
This blog will be lots of sights and pictures so strap in...
The Flamengo beach view <3
The street I get my groceries from :)
Last Sunday, we did the famous "Cristo Redentor" hike! We hiked in a group of around 20 people (all college students on exchange). It was more tiring than we expected, but super fun. If you are only visiting Rio for a short period of time, I'd recommend taking the train up to the top, or a bus (locals agree with this advice too). The hike does take a couple hours, and there aren't really any lookout points on the way up. If you like hiking, definitely do it! But if you just want to see the top, you can get there a lot faster other ways. :) We started the hike as early as we could, but by 10:30 am it was swamped with tourists at the top. The view was incredible though, and we made the most of the chaos up there!! Sunday night we played in an "IBEA Ping Pong Tournament" that one of my cohort members set up (I got third place woo hoo). It was super fun and we all just hung out in the apartment common area.
Us at the TOP!
On Monday, we went to the famous Escadaria Selarón. Super cool spot and so unique- we loved it!!
Escadaria Selarón
Made by a Chilean ^
That night we hit "Pedro do Sal" to just check it out. This is an insanely popular street party in Rio, but the crowds were a little bit too much for me lol. The amount of people was crazy but the scene felt very "Rio" to me :). After heading home from Pedro do Sal, we slept for about 30 minutes before waking up to hike "Dois Irmãos". This is a pretty famous hike in Rio too, and you have to start around 4:30 in the morning to make it on time for sunrise (the best time to go). So we did! The entrance of the hike is through a favela, so you get taken on a motorbike up the streets, and dropped at the start of the hike. A lot going on for 5 am.
The hike involved the group of us crawling up rocks and slipping down dirt together, but when we finally made it up I would've done it again 10 times over. It was one of the best views I've seen and the best sunrise in my life!!
Part of Pedro do Sal...
All of these are from the sunrise hike!!
Tuesday we headed to Ipanema and Copacabana area. We walked all along the coast through both areas, got acai, and then a very traditional Brazilian dinner in Ipanema to end the night. We kept the day chill but still got to visit other areas.
Feijoada and Moqueca de Camarão (must eats in Brazil)
Wednesday, we walked around a park by Uliving and then did a boat day! The pickup spot was in Urca (about 20 mins away), and two of my friends decided to come along. We booked a sailboat through airbnb experiences, and we had the best boat driver ever! I got to practice my Portuguese with him (he was very patient) and we sailed around until sunset. He gave us snacks and a drink too!
Gustavo and his sail boat
And us on the sail boat. He let Ben drive...
Thursday was another big day! We went to the Rio Botanical Gardens (perfect for a day when you want to be outside/escape the city and just walk around a lot). We saw cactus gardens, huge bamboo forests, lots of palm trees, fountains and flowers. After this, we stopped to get a delicious salad and more açaí. That night, we met up with three of my friends and went to "Sugar Loaf Mountain" or Pão de Açúcar. We decided to take the cable car up instead of hiking, and with our student discount it was pretty cheap. The area on top of the two mountains was very pretty, and it reminded us of Sentosa island in Singapore. Again, incredible views. We bought some chocolate and beijinho (coconut) brigadeiros which were so delicious. That night, we went to a club that hosts a samba band, and also went to Lapa- recommended by my Brazilian friends, we had a lot of fun!
Botanical gardens
Monkey!
Pão de Açúcar
Samba band
To wrap up this blog and the week, I had IBEA weekend!! To give some context if you're new here: my cohort of 34 people organizes a weekend away for every semester that we're abroad. The Germans, Americans, and French have all had their turns, so this time the Brazilians got to plan it! They took us to Buzios, a very popular beach vacation area for Rio locals. Buzios is so so pretty and has such blue water which I love. We took a bus from Rio after class on Friday and didn't get there until around 10 pm (4 hour bus ride). We got pizza, explored the huge house, and did "opening ceremonies" for the IBEA olympics that our Brazilians planned! They divided us all up into color teams and we competed in mini games throughout the weekend (my team won!!! go green!!!). We all stayed up really late jumping on the trampoline that the house had, talking, and just hanging out. Saturday we did a boat day in Buzios, so we all piled on a kind of pirate ship and spent 4 hours dancing and singing together. It was very "Mamma Mia". Definitely was my favorite part of the weekend.
Boat day with the ibeans
IBEA gen 7!!!!! & our rental house
Saturday night we ate the BEST Brazilian dinner (we had people come in and cook it for us) full of meats, rice, pasta, salad, farofa, and even dessert. The rest of the time we spent playing games and competing, hanging out with each other, dancing, and then packing up to leave sadly. It was a really short weekend because we left Sunday at 11 am to head back to Rio, but overall a really good time. We're hoping to plan at least one more weekend all together before the end of the semester because we didn't want that to be the last one.
This week has already been busy, but I will save it for the next blog that I do. :)
I appreciate you so so much for reading!!
With love,
Brigitte <3
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