the daily(ish)

Jules pretending to enjoy a coco on Copacabana beach…

The girl does not like coconut.

the daily(ish)

When Rio is nice it is very, very nice.  It just turns out that winter has far more cloudy, overcast days than sunny ones.  I took this on one of the rare beautiful days.  Actually, it was very windy that day.  See how the ocean is eating the entire beach?  It’s normally a pretty wide beach. I’m kind of desperate to get some color before going to London, but I don’t think it is going to happen.

Dearest Rio,

Do you think it is possible to have a few more of these days (see below) in the next couple of weeks?

My sickly looking skin and I would be eternally grateful.

Ciao-Ciao,

MAV

the daily(ish)

So, this is the bathroom of the crazy restaurant…

Why yes, that is the largest collection of creepy dolls in the world glued and stapled to the ceiling and walls.

I can’t tell you how strange it was walking on the beans that covered the floor…

Walking into this bathroom was like walking into a crazy person’s head.  A really, really disturbed crazy person…

Photo credit goes to the Wife.  All the girls kept telling me how nuts it was, but I refused to go until I saw the pics.  I kinda wish I hadn’t gone in, those were some scary ass dolls.

sao paulo

Hellooo, everyone!* Hope all you all enjoyed your weekend.

We had a great one!  Seriously, we couldn’t have enjoyed ourselves more than we did.  Well, maybe if we had given in to the M’s suggestion of staying just one more night…of course, then I may have had to be rolled onto the plane! 

Our one and only reason for traveling to Sao Paulo was to see our dear Brazilian friends who left the company a year and a half ago.  We hadn’t seen them since February 2010, so as soon as we found out we were coming to Rio we starting talking dates.

It was so, so, so nice to see them again!  To eat, drink and be merry with friends- such a treat! It’s something we took for granted when we lived in Atlanta, but now it’s this rare little gem to be treasured and cherished.

Friday night we enjoyed the best meal we’ve had all year…

M is the master of the barbeque- the master. Jules was in awe of this Brazilian grill and our friends back home can bet they’ll be seeing one just like it when we move back. 

We ate and ate and drank and ate and talked and ate and drank and talked until the wee hours of the morning.  Great night.

We slept in and awoke to a huge breakfast spread.  You’re going to notice a big “eating/drinking” theme this weekend.  Hence, why one more day there and I would have had to have been rolled onto the plane back to Rio.

We spent the afternoon touring around the old city section of Sao Paulo…

Because I really only cared about seeing them, I did no research on Sao Paulo itself.  I had no idea Sao Paulo was such a huge city…11 million people.  That’s big.

After touring around we had a very late and very delicious lunch.  We had thought to have a feijoada (traditional Saturday Brazilian dish- we haven’t had one yet) but when So mentioned Mexican, well, for those who know my Wife- you know we were on a direct path to tacos and margaritas…

It was actually a Tex-Mex place and it was divinely authentic.  Or as I said to So- perfectly authentic non-authentic Mexican…just the way us Americans like it.

That night we were still stuffed from our late lunch so we stopped by So’s family’s house to say happy birthday to a niece and then off for drinks and snacks in a great little neighborhood packed to the gills with bars and restaurants. 

Sunday we met up with our other Brazilian friends and their ridiculously cute 1 year old (the guy is still in the department, but his family is now based in Sao Paulo) for a wonderful lunch in their neighborhood.

At one point during lunch Jules looked over at me and said “Here we are, in Brazil, having lunch on a Sunday afternoon with our Brazilian friends.”  We do that sometimes, just step back and comment on our life…how crazy our reality is and how freaking lucky we are to have the life we do. 

As I looked around the table, I too, just had to sit back and admire the view…

We seriously can’t thank M & So enough for their incredible hospitality and welcoming us with open arms into their beautiful home.  We’re thrilled they’re coming to Rio soon because we’re definitely not ready to say goodbye again. And we never did get a picture with all 4 of us!!

Pics from the weekend…

 

 

*All 12 of you!  Hellooo!  Seriously, I’m starting to wonder if anyone is still checking in here at 2GITW and need some serious motivation for continuing to chronicle this journey.  I think it’s pretty common to have dips when you blog full-time, but be a dear and drop a line, leave a comment, wave hello! Let me know you’re still out there!

Buzios

Our first weekend in Rio was a relaxing one. We decided to forego the stress of driving and arranged a taxi guy to take us for a fixed price. It took us about 3 hours to get there on Friday thanks to the traffic and having to stop 372 times to ask for directions to our hotel once we reached the town.

Buzios is a beach town and has a cute little downtown area with tons of shops and restaurants along cobbled streets. Their claim to fame is that Brigitte Bardot vacationed there. They say she “discovered” it, or I guess put it on the holiday destination map, or whatever. Anyway, they have a statue of her overlooking the sea which we promptly mauled…

We had a lovely dinner on Friday night and then hung out by the pool all day on Saturday. After a rainy first week in Rio the pleasant weather in Buzios was all we needed to be happy.

Saturday night we milled about the town, wandered through the market and eventually ended up at a restaurant our hotel had recommended. The food was pretty awful, but the wine was good and unbeknownst to us (or the little Granny clutching her heart in the background) there was a drag show that night…

Sunday we walked over to a nearby beach…

Jules was the only one brave enough to get in the ocean though. The water was absolutely frigid.

We made it back to Rio in record time thanks to our new cab driver who was apparently auditioning for a role in The Fast and the Furious. When we got out at the hotel I swear I almost dropped to the ground and kissed it.

This weekend we’re staying in Rio to enjoy the city. I can’t wait to see the Corcovado! I got a few glimpses of it on our way out of town and I have to say it’s pretty breathtaking.

I’m still unsure if I can handle going up to Sugarloaf though. I saw the cable cars taking people up and I’m going to need to do some accident rate research before braving it. Ugh.

Guess I should start working harder on my life list # 85- Overcome my fear of heights.