Rio: Visit Santa Teresa.

We loved this neighborhood. It is in central Rio and houses a lot of the colonial architecture of the city, which has fallen into very stylish shambles and havoc. Romantic aesthetic, with houses like this one falling apart and you walk past wondering how and hoping no one ever actually makes it pristine ever again, it looks so good in its current state.



A great little area of the city with shops, chroma, fascinations, restaurants and magnetism.























This building is actually one of the ministries of culture and as we walked toward it, samba music was gushing from the windows. Dancing lessons. Xavier remarked that these Brazilians care more about dancing and music than renovation. I think we can safely say that they would readily agree with his statement.

Rio: Watch these dudes play soccer/volleyball on the beach.

Most impressive. These guys were playing an adapted form of volleyball - with no hands. Same rules applied, except they kicked the ball to serve and then used their heads, chests, knees, shins, shoulder blades to bump, spike, etc. And they were amazing. Beaches have more goal posts for this purpose than volleyball nets. This is a country crazed about soccer, no wonder that the beaches are always cluttered with camps for 2-3 year olds, already scoring impressively.

Rio: Go to the Botanical Garden.

Since we only had four days in the city, I chose an afternoon in the botanical garden over a trip into the rainforest (Parque Nacional de Tijuca is the largest area of urban rainforest in the world, which literally borders the city - full of monkeys and crazy species of plants and insects, of course - but takes a bit more commitment than a girl lazily strolling in her Havaianas. Next time). The botanical garden in Rio de Janeiro is right next to the city's lagoon - a good place around which to stroll or bike. On my way to the garden, my cab driver started beating his hands on the wheel of the car and then abruptly pulled over. I don't speak Portuguese (although it is impressive how much more useful French was than English while we were in Rio), but it was pretty clear he was upset that his car had just broken down. No problem - there are cabs everywhere in Rio. One word of caution, well two, let's say: 1). Wear a seat belt. Wow! These guys terrorize the roads - tear down the streets as they go. 2). If you don't know Rio (which, if you've just arrived, you won't), they'll likely take you on the scenic route...meaning the most circuitous route to get to a very simple place just over the hill (runs the meter nicely). By the fourth day, I had a much better sense of where we were and finally, we had an untarnished driver who kindly drove us straight from downtown to Copacabana up and over a hill we had never taken and arrived 15 minutes faster than any of our nearly identical trips! All of that said, cabs aren't that expensive and they are often the safest option. Back to the fierce and delicate awes of the botanical garden (Brazilian flora and fauna - the most diverse in the world):