Welcome to Miami (Rio Day 8)

February 26, 2009

The flight from Rio to Miami was amazing in three main ways: 1) it was completely uneventful, 2) it was half empty so that I had two seats to myself, and 3) I slept the entire way!

My flight from Miami also took off on time and once again I managed to have 2 seats to myself. However, the people from our group flying to L.A. were delayed, therefore it was determined that they were the unlucky ones that had caused our initial Miami to Rio delays.

The Slums (Rio Day 7)

February 25, 2009

Our first stop was a "favella" or a slum. About 80% of Rio's inhabitants live in these and most of these areas are controlled by drug lords. The one we visited sells 700 kilos of cocaine a year, kind of impressive. They do have amazing views though.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Here I am with a caipirnha, my drink of choice all week.

Finally, it was time to head back to Miami, but I did stop by the duty free shop in the Rio airport.

Party in the Streets, Check (Rio Day 6)

February 24, 2009

In the morning, we went to the Botanical Gardens, home of the world's largest water lillies.






Afterwards, we hung out in Ipanema Beach and had some cocunuts.










That evening, we hit up a "bloco" or block party. Then went to the "Girl from Ipanema" cafe. After taking a walk on the beach, we ended up at a street rave. It was super amazing. Hot latin music, hot latin men, yum yum. We went across the street to an Irish Pub for a bit for some cold drinks and clean bathrooms. Lucky for us, we were there when the fights broke out at the rave. We saw a guy get on a car and jump off to kick a guy in the head. All in all, a good night ;)

Let's Get Wild (Rio Day 5)

February 23, 2009

In the morning, we took a Jeep tour of the Tijuca Forest, the largest urban forest in the world. There were supposed to be monkeys in the forest but sadly I didn't see any.

This is me with our tour guide on the Jeep tour. She was really cool and taught us some fun things to say in Portuguese.








Tijuca had a lot of really cool waterfalls like this one. Here I am with Chad and Mike.

Monday night, we went to the Sambadrome to see the Carnaval parade. It was absolutely amazing - lots of vivid colors, lights, and sounds.

The Sights (Rio Day 4)

February 22, 2009


On Sunday, we viewed the main sights of Rio. We first visited the mountain Corcovada and saw the iconic statue of Cristo Redentor. The statue is huge and the sights were absolutely amazing. To get up to the top, we took a ride on the funicular railway. A random fact: the statue was voted into the "New Seven Wonders of the World."


After lunch, we went up to Sugar Loaf Mountain in a cable car. And I actually kept my eyes open! Random fact: the Sugar Loaf is the highest point above sea level in Rio. On the way down, we saw rock climbers climbing up the mountain, something that I would never do :)

That night, we walked along Copacabana beach browsing the street vendor's wares. We were all looking for costumes to wear to the Sambadrome Carnaval parade on Monday. I found a really cool feather headband. We ended up at a cafe in the red light district. All the women there (and some of the "women" - i.e. men dressed as women) were hookers. Yep. And when we sat down, half the people thought we (the girls in the group) were hookers and the other half thought we were just dumb tourists who didn't realize where we were. It was awkward, uncomfortable, sketchy, and potentially dangerous. But when in Rio...

A Really Bad Burn (Rio Day 3 continued)

February 21, 2009

Getting into the Hotel Atlantico Copacabana, I met my roommate Carla. After breakfast, we headed the few blocks to Copacabana Beach. Needless to say, 15 SPF sunblock + 1 hour in the Rio sun = really bad sunburn. Ouch!

We grabbed lunch at this hole in the wall café that was very yummy.

We went dancing at Rio Scenarium, a cool samba club that used to be a museum.

Almost a Hostage (Rio Day 3)

February 21, 2009

No amount of books, movies, or newspapers articles on the topic can ever really prepare you for the real life scenario of participating in a shootout. It’s definitely surreal, and I don’t think anyone can understand what it feels like unless they experience it themselves. Anyway, the story:

After arriving in Rio, getting our bags, and passing customs, our group met up with our tour guide and got on our bus. The trip from the airport to the hotel was supposed to take about 20 minutes. However, it was Carnaval and there was bad traffic.

We get to the highway and soon we just stop driving. The police had blocked off traffic in our direction – it looked like there were some people with guns walking around. Being the tourists that we were, we started to take pictures. Initially, it didn’t seem that bad. It looked like someone got shot and the police were just looking into it. People in neighboring cars had gotten out of their cars and were walking around looking at what was going on. Then, we heard the first set of machine gun shots. The noise was quieter than I thought it would be, and not as startling. Nothing at all like you see on TV. At this point, we were still far enough away from the action that it was only mildly scary but still pretty interesting and exciting. Another part of the adventure our group was having, like the delays in Miami.

A bit in front of us, there was a bus that was full of kids and I guess their teachers. That was when we saw them get off and all start running in the other direction. Which is when the people in the other cars starting running away in the other direction. And when the cops with their Kevlar vests and their own machines guns started to run away. I think this is the point where it became a little too real. Our bus was on the far right side of the highway, near the edge of it. Next to the highway was a building. We saw two guys with masks step out from the side of the building holding machine guns. They were joined by a third guy and they started shooting at the highway.

We asked our bus driver if it might be a good idea for us to exit the bus and maybe run in the other direction like everyone else was doing. He said that we were too close to the guys with the guns and we were better off inside the bus but we should all get down on the floor away from the windows. And then the guys with the guns noticed our bus and started pointing to it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they were thinking. Their best bet to get away was to hop on a bus, and a bus full of tourists was probably even better. Hostages always help with escape plans.

After another round of shots, they started to advance toward us. Luckily, the police noticed this and figured out what they were thinking. Seeing that an international hostage situation would not be the best idea, they lifted the roadblock and waved the cars and our bus forward. However, this meant that we needed to drive right by the gunmen. We did so quickly, all the while kneeling on the ground, hoping we didn’t get shot at. A few people did hold up their cameras to the window so I will post pictures and video soon.

Emergency Landing (Rio Day 2)

February 20, 2009

After about 4 hours of sleep at the Airport Regency Hotel, I arrived at the Miami airport yet again. With nothing to do but wait for my 2p flight, I made friends with some of the other people on the ill-fated plane to Rio, including a very cute and helpful Brazilian guy. We finally boarded our plane and took off, amidst much clapping of the excited passengers.

(At this point, I would like to mention that although we never actually boarded the first two, this was the third, yes third, plane that was assigned by American Airlines for the flight from Miami to Rio.)

About an hour into our flight, the captain made an announcement. “Ladies and gentlemen…” You see how annoying this becomes? It turns out that we had yet another mechanical failure and we would be turning around to make an emergency landing in Miami. The equipment used to monitor the other plane traffic in the air was not working an all. The captain informed us that this was an important safety feature needed for all planes flying into South America. Um, hello?! Isn’t this an important safety feature ALL the time? But I digress.

After landing (safely) in Miami, we all rushed over to the customer service desk to complain. This was indeed getting ridiculous. We were promised another plane that would be boarding as soon as they transferred our luggage but were slightly delayed by the passengers that decided to cancel their flights and go home. One passenger was heard to state, “this is a sign that I wasn’t meant to go to Rio!” I however had not just spent thousands of dollars and months planning to just go home – I was going to make it to Rio.

We took off around 6p and after a few hours of no announcements, I was able to relax enough to sleep. I woke up as we were landing in Rio, around 3:45a, almost 24 hours after our original scheduled arrival in Brazil.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may we please have your attention" (Rio Day 1 continued)

February 19, 2009

Shortly before our flight from Miami to Rio was due to take off, American Airlines made an announcement. That would be the first of many times that the words "Ladies and Gentlemen, may we please have your attention" made my insides clench in anticipation of bad news. Turns out that our plane had some "mechanical difficulties" and we would be moving to a new gate. And yes, this would be on the other side of the airport.

Our original flight was due to take off at 9:50p. We were informed that our new flight would only have a "short" delay. Right. Our new posted time would be 11p. At 11p, when we were no closer to boarding than before, another announcement was made. Apparently, our new plane also had "mechanical difficulties,” one of the doors was not working and they would need to fix it - it would be another hour. 40 minutes later, we were told that we have a confirmed take off time at 2:20a. You could imagine the reaction of us all. I started on the 3rd of the 4 books I brought with me.

Around 1:30a, we hear "Ladies and Gentlemen, may we please have your attention.” A small part of me actually believed that this would be good news, maybe we would actually be boarding early. Not so much. We were told that the plane would take longer to fix than expected and that they couldn't keep the flight attendants that late so they were rescheduling us to a new flight for the next day... at 2p. This would mean that we would be arriving in Rio around midnight, missing a whole day of our trip. As we all settled into line to wait for our hotel and meal vouchers, I first realized that this trip was not about to go as smoothly as planned.

The Miami airport is completely empty at night.

Waiting in line at the hotel to check into our rooms.

Admiral's Lounge (Rio Day 1)

February 19, 2009

I sit here in the Admiral's Lounge of the Miami airport waiting for my connecting flight to Rio. I'm sure many of you are wondering the same thing I would be: why in the world did you just shell out lots of $ for 2 hours in an executive lounge. Good question and it has a good answer.

About an hour before landing in Miami, I was talking to a fellow traveler. As we waxed poetic about the inane sort of topics one speaks of to traveling companions, I stop with a muttered curse. This was the moment that I realized that I had forgotten to send in my foreign travel notification. Some of you know what that means and understand the dire consequences. Everyone else, I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you ;)

Anyway, I had no alternative but to find a computer, with internet, immediately... and then pray that I could find the appropriate form on my company's website, which is filled with a myriad of random information. Like an oasis to a thirsty desert traveler, the Admiral's Lounge comes to view, albeit with a hefty $50 entrance fee. However, since the alternative was far worse, I paid.

Accomplishing my task, I took to exploring and was quite impressed. There was quite a variety of complimentary hot and cold beverages, snacks, internet, a music lounge, showers, bathrooms that smell like spas, etc. I must say that I do not feel like I am at an airport, instead, I am in a four star hotel. If I could afford the membership, I would definitely be returning in the future.

Now, I'm off to my flight. If luck holds, I will be able to sleep. Otherwise, I still have 3 books, a logic magazine, 2 travel guides, and my iPod to keep me company on the 8 hour and 39 minute flight. And as a last resort, I could deign to talk to my seatmates :)

WARNING

This blog will have a mix of random, funny, insightful, witty, and intellectual stream of consciousness stories about my travels around the world, starting with my trip to Rio for Carnaval. On occasion though, it will just be musings from whenever I am bored on my trip, usually stuck at some airport or hotel (see first entry). Read if you like, but please don't complain about it if it's not interesting. Also, please let me know if there's anything that you want more detail about, or any spelling mistakes. Unless it's an egregious grammatical mistake, I don't care. And yes, I will try to post pictures if I can.