We ended up taking:
- two rolling soft suitcases
- two rolling duffel bags
- two laptops
- two cameras....
..see a pattern here....
we are building an arc of .....
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Old picture of all our stuff before left.
We ended up taking: - two rolling soft suitcases - two rolling duffel bags - two laptops - two cameras.... ..see a pattern here.... we are building an arc of ..... |
| Here is the difference a tan makes. Even
with Tiffany adjusting the picture to make Hans look less "Casper the Friendly Ghost"-white, he still looks very pale. Can you tell where the sand ends and he begins? Let's play spot the "gringo"... |
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A great sunny day on Ipanema beach... but boy do you find out where you forgot to put on the sun-block. Ouch! Especially since it was the first time we had seen sun in months. You should all remember the horrendous El Nino season in San Francisco the winter of 1997/98. We have seen the effects of El Nino all over the world. We even thought about calling our trip the El Nino Tour. El Nino is as recognizable by as many people around the world as the Macarena song. Perhaps we should make up some words and a little dance. Maybe like a stop-rain dance. |
| The Two Brothers Mountain (or "Thumb of God" as the Brazilians call it) is at the far end of Ipanema beach. Hans grew up just around the corner in an area called Leblon-Gavea. |  |
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The lush and tropical Botanical Gardens are a fabulous place to go and escape the heat. This particular day we happened to get caught in a torrential rain storm that dropped 4 inches of water in 40 minutes. At least the raindrops were warm, since we were drenched by the time we reached suitable shelter. Trees did not work well, and were not very wise, since it was thundering and lighting every 2 seconds. Quite the impressive light and sound show though. |
| It was one of Tiff's favorite places. Very peaceful and easy to connect with nature - that is - before the rains came tumbling out of the sky. |  |
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A lovely fountain in the midst of things. |
| Hans was getting tired of peace and wanted to begin the search for some knarly windsurf / wave riding action on the ocean, so we headed down to Barra da Tijuca where we found windsurf heaven. However, there's a problem...all this great stuff is *NOT* for rent. It seems that the rich keep their equipment already rigged in a cabana on the beach - price $30/month.- "hey rig boy" included! Hans was begging ..... just one board - please!!! But no-one was lending. It is like being a little kid in the candy shop where you can't touch anything. Boo hoo :( |  |