| Romualdo took us cruising in his gas-economical car to see the sites. Gas, by the way, is $5 a gallon, and to think we were complaining about paying $1.65 a gallon back in SF. Our first tourist stop was the Chinese view overlooking the Zona-Sul (South Zone) of Rio. The views are breathtaking. The combination of lush forests, oceans, mountains and zillions of skyscrapers dotted within. Kind of like Hawaii meets NYC and LA! In more ways than one. We had to be vary wary of hoodlums robbing us. This view spot is notoriosly known as crime ridden. | |
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Here we hang out for photo-ops and enjoy the sunshine. |
| Tiff decided to take some pictures of the view from a higher angle, so she climbed up on a bench right underneath a little gazebo. Imagine her screams when she looked up and saw a dozen of these extra large spiders hanging over her head. Think - thumb sized! |  |
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The view to the left shows the world's largest stadium called Maracana. (Not Macarena - like the song) It has seating for 200 thousand crazy soccer (futebol) fans. |
| On the windy drive home over on the other side of the mountain we noticed a church in the middle of the "jungle". We wondered how many of God's "creatures" were lurking about there. |  |
| It became time for lunch so we picked a great spot right next to a waterfall and had a few choppes - which is Brazilian for light beer. It seems some things are always universal. Beer companies are the major advertisers all around Rio - just like back home. |  |
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Oh, what a mellow waterfall. Nothing compares to oceans of water falling down from Victoria Falls or Iguazu falls - which we saw later in our trip. We certainly figured out where all the rain was going. |
| Every night a tropical torrential downpour dumped full on with lightning and thunder. This is the view out our apartment window. |  |