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....