agnesola

So, we are in Brazil, finally. It is the start of our big trip and it started with rain, rain and a bit more rain. It stopped during lunch though and we went out for a little walk, it took just around 6 hours. we live in a part called botafogo and we started by walking towards another part called centro. On our way there we got sidetracked and walked towards santa teresa, it was quite a walk, very steep cobblestoned streets but is was very beatiful and bohemic with colorful houses and a very stunning view.

Tram in Santa Theresa

we continued towars centro from this part because there was not very much people and we wanted to see life and movement. We were looking for the right street to take us down from this high place and spotted a gang of monkeys running on the phonewires, our first wildlife experience in Brazil!

Monkeys in Rio

We thought the walk up was steep, but going down was harder on the feet, After struggling not to roll down the streets we arrived close to centro. We spotted the ugliest cathedral I have ever seen, we did not even take a photo from outside, but it had stunning glaswork on the inside.

after strolling around centro for a bit it was time to walk to the hostel, we picked the scenic sea route. By this time it was dark outside, we walked along the beach and there was quite a breeze. It felt like a big storm was coming or something because the sky was cloudy and dark, it was strange but it had a certain serenity to it, a calm somehow.

Well once home we took some cold showers(warm was not an option...) and went to eat, we had a very good but cheap buffet dinner where waiters came all the time with meat on a rotisseri skewer and carved at the table, it was great!

All that was yesterday, today we went to see Christ the Redeemer, we walked to catch a cog train up the mountain through the jungle! no animals along the way unfortunatly but flowers and big trees. We arrived on the top and it was very cloudy, we decided to wait for better weather and after a while we were rewarded with a great view of the statue and of Rio from all directions. it was strange to actually be standing amongst the clouds as they rolled by...

Cristo redentor

well, thats it for these 2 days, we are going to go and make some dinner and the maybe go down to the beach that is 2 minutes from our front door...life is hard...

lots of kisses to everyone, we miss you!?

Ola and Agnes