It's New Years Eve in Niteroi and we're watching a bunch of guys dressed like girls having a party out the window. I guess it's some kind of tradition.
We've been having an awesome time in Rio so far, as you can probably see. We've visited Copacabana, Christ the Redeemer and Ipanema beach. Because of a certain encounter with the forests of Rio, we won't be going up Sugar Loaf. But we got to experience some awesome views!! We also got to spend an entire beautiful day on the beach here in Niteroi, which is Lucas's home town and just across the bay from Rio. The beach is kinda like a restaurant patio. You get chairs and an umbrella and they'll bring you custom coolers full of whatever drinks you want. Food and clothes and jewelry come floating by all day!! It's awesome. We can wait to go to more beaches here. Except the ocean beat me up. But nevermind that...
We also got to go to Lucas's brother Alexandre and his new wife Juliana's wedding reception!! It was so fun, but because of my serious lack of Portuguese I got dizzy from doing so much smiling and nodding. Lucas's family is really nice and his brother is letting us stay with him and Juliana in their new apartment. So nice!!
Last night we went to a samba club in the Lapas area of Rio, which is kinda like Granville only way more Samba-y. The first club we tried had the longest line I've ever seen!! We walked a block down the line (actually a whole block) and still couldn't see the end of it!! Needless to say, we tried somewhere else, and had an awesome time not being able to Samba. Lucas is pretty good, tho!
Tonight we're going to Copacabana (along with an estimated 2 million other people) to celebrate the New Year. Pictures of that to come!!
So Happy New Year!! Beijos, tchau!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Pictures of Rio
Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar)
Praia de Camboinhas, where we spent the day getting awesome tans.
Lucas, Greg (seriously, the speedo...) Carlos, Manuela, and me (sorry).
Christo from Ipanema Beach.
Niteroi, straight off the plane!
Rio from near Christo. I didn't get to go here for phobic reasons. Realllllly terrible. I'll never speak of it again.
It was cloudy, but here he is! Buddy Christo!
Rio.
The Copacabana Palace, where Madonna stayed!! We're drinking beer in front of it 'cause we can!!
Copacabana with Carlos and Lucas.
Sand scuptures. See the little hanging Gondolas !!
Beers on Copacabana with Carlos and Lucas.
Copacabana at dusk.
Ipanema.
The Two Brothers mountain (Os Dois Irmaos), next to Ipanema.
Ipanema again!
And again.
Capoeira demonstration. There's knives on the stick that guy is holding.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Oi, from Rio. (Proncounced Hee-oh)
We´ve been in Rio for 3 days now and have been having a great time. We´ll post some pictures soon. Today has been the sunniest day we´ve had yet so we just got back from the beach.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Sao Paulo Christmas
Christmas in Sao Paulo was awesome!!! I guess we have a lot to say because I haven't written anything in a week. So, Christmas:
In Brasil Christmas is celebrated at midnight on the 24th (I guess technically the 25th, but...). We were at Andreia's with her extended family. It was almost like New Year's--at midnight we said a little prayer, kissed everyone in the room and ate a huge meal. Afterwards we did presents. Andreia's family does Secret Santa, and they stand up one by one to describe the person they bought for, while everyone tries to guess who it is. Really fun to watch, even though we didn't understand a word. We got some presents too!! Oh yeah, and dinner was outside. It was a beautiful warm night. We could hear fireworks in the neighbourhood for literally 24hours. Greg and I went to bed around 2:30am and the family was still partying strong.
The next day everyone came over again for lunch, which was really nice. We had a nice relaxing day.
On the 26th we got together with Bruno, Karla, Daniela and Daniel at a pub kinda like Yaletown Brew Pub, where they brew the beer there. The beer was really good and actually as strong as Canadian beer, so that was good!! (The beer here is very refreshing, but equivalent to drinking Coors Light, which means we win all the drinking games!) We had a great time with Karla and Daniela and Daniel (Bruno, I could have done without.... :)) But we had to cut it short because we had an early flight to Rio the next day.
So that was Sao Paulo. I'm really excited to go back to see everyone there before we fly out. Saudades, guys!!
Public Soccer Stadium, inside the Soccer Museum.
At the nightclub with Andreia, Danielle's cousin (sorry I forgot your name!!), Danielle, Guilherme, Andre and Cassiano.
The Radesca's fridge (one of two) full of food for Xmas.
Fridge #2.
Mrs. Radesca with her Brasilian daughter and her Canadian daughter (her words, translated by me!!)
Mr and Mrs Radesca
See, Xmas was outside!!
Dinner!!!
Secret Santa.
Viva Brasil!
Rafael showing his love for the Canucks!
In Brasil Christmas is celebrated at midnight on the 24th (I guess technically the 25th, but...). We were at Andreia's with her extended family. It was almost like New Year's--at midnight we said a little prayer, kissed everyone in the room and ate a huge meal. Afterwards we did presents. Andreia's family does Secret Santa, and they stand up one by one to describe the person they bought for, while everyone tries to guess who it is. Really fun to watch, even though we didn't understand a word. We got some presents too!! Oh yeah, and dinner was outside. It was a beautiful warm night. We could hear fireworks in the neighbourhood for literally 24hours. Greg and I went to bed around 2:30am and the family was still partying strong.
The next day everyone came over again for lunch, which was really nice. We had a nice relaxing day.
On the 26th we got together with Bruno, Karla, Daniela and Daniel at a pub kinda like Yaletown Brew Pub, where they brew the beer there. The beer was really good and actually as strong as Canadian beer, so that was good!! (The beer here is very refreshing, but equivalent to drinking Coors Light, which means we win all the drinking games!) We had a great time with Karla and Daniela and Daniel (Bruno, I could have done without.... :)) But we had to cut it short because we had an early flight to Rio the next day.
So that was Sao Paulo. I'm really excited to go back to see everyone there before we fly out. Saudades, guys!!
Public Soccer Stadium, inside the Soccer Museum.
At the nightclub with Andreia, Danielle's cousin (sorry I forgot your name!!), Danielle, Guilherme, Andre and Cassiano.
The Radesca's fridge (one of two) full of food for Xmas.
Fridge #2.
Mrs. Radesca with her Brasilian daughter and her Canadian daughter (her words, translated by me!!)
Mr and Mrs Radesca
See, Xmas was outside!!
Dinner!!!
Secret Santa.
Viva Brasil!
Rafael showing his love for the Canucks!
At the Paulista Museum.
Paulista Museum.
Sao Paulo Futebol Club Field.
At the Pub with Andreia, Daniel, Daniela, Bruno and Karla with a K.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Feliz Natal!
Merry Christmas!
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas for us, but today's the day here in Sao Paulo. Tonight we're having dinner with Andreia's family (at midnight!!!) and it should be a lot of fun! Her aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents are coming, too. I need to practice my Portuguese today.
Yesterday was a busy, busy day. Greg and I split up so that he could be spared all the grammar talk at the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Downtown Sao Paulo. Andreia and I went there and it was really cool!! Greg and Rafael went to the Soccer Museum and sounds like they had a lot of fun. Apparently one guy is credited from bringing soccer back to Brasil from a holiday in Scotland. If he only knew...
After museuming we went for lunch at a Rodigio (sp?) like Samba in downtown Vancouver. If you're not familiar with Samba, it's all you can eat salad buffet and meat on swords. But the salad buffet had everything!! Every kind of pasta you could want, they had a quesadilla station (kinda like an omelette station, only way cheesier), and every kind of side dish you could think of. The sword meat was really good, too. So far the food has been amazing, although our favourite meal by far has been the lunch we had at Andreia's place (in the pictures). Her mum made Feijoada, which is kind of like a pork and beans stew. So good. I'm gonna learn how to cook it when I get home.
After lunch we went to Sao Paulo's shopping street, Oscar Friere. We've been calling it Hobsom street. The shopping here is awesome! So many stores, many of them actually affordable with nice things! Vancouver shopping is so lame. We met Fernanda there, had some award-winning coffee at a little coffe place she knew, then went to Paulista Ave to meet her husband, Gustavo, for dinner. Paulista was crazy, because they were putting on a Christmas show at the bank, so they shut the street down so people could watch. It was also Christmas happy hour, so placed you would never knew were bars were spilling out onto the street with co-workers having two-for-one Christmas drinks. We went to FNAC, which is an book, DVD and electronics store, and it was mental. SO we promptly drove to a not-quite-so-crowded pub which is almost totally patio and had a light dinner. The pub was awesome! We're really upset that we didn't bring our caera yesterday, because it was a really cool place. When we see Fernanda and Gustavo in the New Year, we will for sure be bringing our camera.
After dinner we came back to Andreia's, got ready and went out to Hip Hop night at a night club Dani knew. We met Danielle, Cassiano, Andre and Guilherme, as well as Dani's sister and some of her friends. We got there at about midnight, but the club wasn't open yet, so we had a couple beers on the street at the place next door. After about half an hour there were about 40 people on the street drinking in front of the club, so they let us in!! We danced to hip hop until about 3am. The line-up for the club at 3am consumed the entire street, as did the lines for the few other clubs we passed on our way home. I was happy to be going home at 3am, but I guess most Brasilians like to leave the house at that time. And it was Christmas! Crazy!
So that was our busy day in Sao Paulo yesterday. I'll let you know how our BRASILIAN MIDNIGHT CHRISTMAS SEAFOOD BUFFET goes!
Merry Christmas,
Lauren.
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas for us, but today's the day here in Sao Paulo. Tonight we're having dinner with Andreia's family (at midnight!!!) and it should be a lot of fun! Her aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents are coming, too. I need to practice my Portuguese today.
Yesterday was a busy, busy day. Greg and I split up so that he could be spared all the grammar talk at the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Downtown Sao Paulo. Andreia and I went there and it was really cool!! Greg and Rafael went to the Soccer Museum and sounds like they had a lot of fun. Apparently one guy is credited from bringing soccer back to Brasil from a holiday in Scotland. If he only knew...
After museuming we went for lunch at a Rodigio (sp?) like Samba in downtown Vancouver. If you're not familiar with Samba, it's all you can eat salad buffet and meat on swords. But the salad buffet had everything!! Every kind of pasta you could want, they had a quesadilla station (kinda like an omelette station, only way cheesier), and every kind of side dish you could think of. The sword meat was really good, too. So far the food has been amazing, although our favourite meal by far has been the lunch we had at Andreia's place (in the pictures). Her mum made Feijoada, which is kind of like a pork and beans stew. So good. I'm gonna learn how to cook it when I get home.
After lunch we went to Sao Paulo's shopping street, Oscar Friere. We've been calling it Hobsom street. The shopping here is awesome! So many stores, many of them actually affordable with nice things! Vancouver shopping is so lame. We met Fernanda there, had some award-winning coffee at a little coffe place she knew, then went to Paulista Ave to meet her husband, Gustavo, for dinner. Paulista was crazy, because they were putting on a Christmas show at the bank, so they shut the street down so people could watch. It was also Christmas happy hour, so placed you would never knew were bars were spilling out onto the street with co-workers having two-for-one Christmas drinks. We went to FNAC, which is an book, DVD and electronics store, and it was mental. SO we promptly drove to a not-quite-so-crowded pub which is almost totally patio and had a light dinner. The pub was awesome! We're really upset that we didn't bring our caera yesterday, because it was a really cool place. When we see Fernanda and Gustavo in the New Year, we will for sure be bringing our camera.
After dinner we came back to Andreia's, got ready and went out to Hip Hop night at a night club Dani knew. We met Danielle, Cassiano, Andre and Guilherme, as well as Dani's sister and some of her friends. We got there at about midnight, but the club wasn't open yet, so we had a couple beers on the street at the place next door. After about half an hour there were about 40 people on the street drinking in front of the club, so they let us in!! We danced to hip hop until about 3am. The line-up for the club at 3am consumed the entire street, as did the lines for the few other clubs we passed on our way home. I was happy to be going home at 3am, but I guess most Brasilians like to leave the house at that time. And it was Christmas! Crazy!
So that was our busy day in Sao Paulo yesterday. I'll let you know how our BRASILIAN MIDNIGHT CHRISTMAS SEAFOOD BUFFET goes!
Merry Christmas,
Lauren.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sao Paulo: Part Uma
We've been staying with Andreia and her family for the past couple of days now in Sao Paulo. They've been taking great care of us and showing us around the city. Sao Paulo is a big place so we really appreciate having people to take us in.
Some famous church in Sao Paulo.
Christmas time on Paulista Avenue.
We went out driving with Andreia and her brother Rafeal. Here's the university, parks, and other city views
Lunch with the Rodrigues Radesca family
Manicure time for Lauren
Brazillian Starbucks. All the Christmas flavours are iced.
They named a store after me, to make me feel welcomed
Brazillian Sushi. Pretty much the same as Canadian, except with more dancing.
Some famous church in Sao Paulo.
Christmas time on Paulista Avenue.
We went out driving with Andreia and her brother Rafeal. Here's the university, parks, and other city views
Lunch with the Rodrigues Radesca family
Manicure time for Lauren
Brazillian Starbucks. All the Christmas flavours are iced.
They named a store after me, to make me feel welcomed
Brazillian Sushi. Pretty much the same as Canadian, except with more dancing.
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