Ipanema Beach -- Chad even managed to find himself a chair and an Arnold Palmer!  

Rio -- OK, this is what many of the male viewers have been waiting for -- a look at the beach life in Ipanema! These are two girls that we befriended in our beach travels ...and fortunately for us, they spoke Spanish, English, and Portugese! They would also like to note that they speak Italian, though this is of no real help to me :-)

Rio -- a view of Copacabana. As you can see, my nerves are getting worse by this point.  

Rio -- this is another view to the north. At this point, I�m just playing with the special features of my camera. I was badly in need of a tripod!  

Rio -- this a view to the south. The big lagoa, or lake is in the foreground with Ipanema in the distance between the lake and the ocean. I have no idea how this lake formed. We are staying basically right in the center of Ipanema.  

Rio -- a view to the northern part of the city. The Atantic is on the right, with the airport out in the far distance.  

Rio - here is an amazing view out towards eastern Rio, and Sugar Loaf, the sight of my pictures from earlier in the week. An amazing view!  

Rio -- ...and here is Chad�s pose. Oddly enough, Chad is not drunk at this point (a rare moment in his travels), but his ability to extend both arms straight out from his sides seems to be severely lacking -- HA!  

Rio -- this is the popular pose that all the tourists take from the stairs below. We figured that we are tourists, so why not! The solemn look on my face is meant to mimic that of Jesus ...  

Rio -- the Jesus Christ statue. This stands what we estimated to be about 50m tall, and can be seen from just about anywhere in the city. The views of Rio from this location are absolutely spectactular, and Chad and I were fortunate enough to experience this just after sunset.  

Rio -- a view of west Rio from the train on the way up to the Jesus Christ statue.  

Settling in to the Ipanema beach life

Well a week has gone by, and I still have not understood a single word of Portugese -- really though, I´m not frustrated with this at all. HA! Actually, I´ve resorted to the classic traveler mindset of first asking the person if they speak Spanish or English, and if they say no, I quickly move on. I have not given up hope though. I´ve met a couple of people that speak Spanish, English, and Portugese, and they have helped me start to decipher the apparent jibberish that I hear flowing from everyone around this city.

Chad left this past Saturday. We had a number of adventures just about every day/night, and I think that he can attest his second traveling experience abroad was exotic, frustrating, and eye-opening all-in-one. We tried to partake in another competitive golf match while in Rio, but the nice course that we wanted to play at demanded 450 Reais (or~$220) per person, and tried to explain to me in broken english that we may be kicked off the course after 9 or 10 holes. This didn´t quite sound right, so we passed on the adventure. Just one example of the frustrations of life in Rio.

The pictures above capture some of the impressive beach life that frequents the sands of Ipanema on the weekends, along with an impressive sunset / night that we spent up at the Jesus Christ statue, which stands about 50m tall, and can be seen from just about anywhere in the city.

Arun, a friend from Boeing, flies in tomorrow and stays through Sunday. He is an experienced Rio traveler, so maybe he can broaden my horizons in this city. We plan to check out a Flamengo soccer game on Thursday night. However, the game will not be at the famous Maracana stadium, as I have recently learned that it is closed for reconstruction until November --- uuuugggghhh!!!

One highlight of the past weekend -- I finally managed my way into my first Foot Volley game, and actually had my first victory! After being grilled about my soccer / foot volley experience, and going through what I could only perceive as a juggling tryout, they finally agreed to let me play. The first game was somewhat ugly -- I don´t think I landed one serve in bounds. ...but I quickly recovered, obtained a new female teammate, and proceed to dominate the next game -- WOO-HOO! I plan to continue my winning ways this afternoon....

Rio -- not sure if this will work on the blog, but this is a video from the top of Sugar Loaf of the entire surrounding Rio area. .  

Rio - a look back at the Sugar Loaf tourist site from El Centro. If you look closely, you can see a cable running from the right to the left.  

Rio - this guy is just hanging out, posing for the camera.  

Rio - one of the highlights of the adventures was one of the many small monkeys hopping through the trees of the thick forest at Sugar Loaf. They were all over. Chad and I spent a good hour chasing these little fellas around.  

Rio - another similar view, without the surrounding forest.  

Rio - In our advneturous mindset, Chad and I soon ventured down to the backside of Sugar Loaf and caught an impressive glimpse of Niteroi through the thick surrounding forest.  

Rio - an adventure we will not soon forget!  

Rio - a view of Botafogo, the town between Copa and centro.  

Rio - a view of the bridge that attaches Centro with the island of Niteroi.  

Rio - a view of the Centro, or downtown area.  

Rio - the is the impressive view after the second leg. The huge beach in the distance is Copacabana.  

Rio - sporting the Broncos colors in Rio!  

Rio - a view of the coast after the first leg.  

Rio - there are two cable cars that you need to take to get to the top of Sugar Loaf, a tourist site on the eastern outskirts of the city. This is the view of part of the city after the first leg.