On realizing Rio is perfect in every way

This trip was Scott’s first time staying at a hostel… EVER.

I remember my first time at a hostel… Julia and I avoided everyone we came across, had locks for our lockers and declined requests to go out. Let’s just say I’ve come a long way since then.

Anyway, Scott loved the hostel, and so did I - of course. They were super friendly and helpful, plus we had an awesome pool accompanied by awesome people. Our first evening consisted of a sunset walk on the beach with the discovery of super cheap coco locos (coconut + vodka = genius).

We then headed back to the hostel and immediately made lots of friends to go out with that night. The night life in Rio is something that needs to be experienced by everyone. To put it simply: we didn’t get back until 5:30am.

DAY 2:

Four hours later we were up and at em, off to find some breakfast (we had just missed the free hostel breakfast). What did we decide on? Bob’s Burgers of course!!!

Terrible idea. For the rest of the day, Scott was smelling his hands, declaring, “I still smell like Bob’s!” We never went back there…

After the “meal,” we were off to Sugar Loaf. Now, this had been listed in my guidebook in the “top ten views ‘without any particular order.’” Thank god Scott knew that this was actually in the top two… Take a look for yourself:

We took a cable car up to the first mountain and were completely taken aback by the views. Then came the second mountain. It was here that I learned what it actually feels like to have your breath taken away. When you have absolutely no idea what to expect and then you see mountains upon mountains engulfed by the ocean… I wish I was more poetic, but all I have is awe… and pictures:

We traversed down the mountains (AKA took the cable cars), and then headed for the beach. Because WHY NOT. It was time for coco locos. Again we watched the sunset, vowing to come back to this magical place.

Now, I know you may be thinking, “Rio? Magical? Aren’t they the murder and rape capital of the world???” And hey, maybe they are, and maybe you have every reason to think that. BUT from my experience: Rio de Janeiro was the home of the cleanest and some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on. No trash, no crowds = Paradise.

At this point it was time for some real food. I had gotten some unknown chicken thing at the top of the mountain, but was ready for some real sustenance. So, off to unlimited steak! We headed there with our Israeli friend that we had met the night before. Wonderful service, salad bar and ALL YOU CAN EAT steak for $25. Just think about that for a second. I never wanted to leave.

But alas, the time came to leave. We met up with some of our French friends from the night before, and headed to a bar. This is when Scott realized that he would no longer be ordering the “Caipirinha” that is so famous in Brazil… After trying it at four different places, he was still not impressed (I, being a bit smarter, had given up after the first one I tried.)

We were able to have a relaxing night with our French and Israeli friends, exchanging entertaining and inspiring stories of our travels.

DAY 3:

We made it to breakfast on time!!! First thing on the agenda: BIKES!

I think the first time that I rented bikes in a city was Barcelona, and ever since then I have tried to do it as much as possible. Not only is it good exercise after all of the eating and drinking, BUT it is also a very efficient way to see a city. Rio de Janeiro was no different. 

We biked along Ipanema beach and the Copacabana beach. Not only was the weather exquisite, but the beaches were perfect in every way.

Scott and I couldn’t help noticing the Brazilian people along the way as well… kind of a miracle we didn’t crash. And by “didn’t crash,” I mean I didn’t end up seriously injured. I may have hit a curb or two and nearly spun out of control, but was able to keep it together without Scott realizing I was following him like a maniac.

After biking? Paddle boarding, of course! I have always wanted to paddle board, but have somehow never had the chance to. Of course the first time I paddle board would be the choppy Atlantic ocean, but hey, I’LL TAKE IT. Turns out, I’m kind of a pro… at least that’s what my kind, Brazilian instructor told me :)

Next stop? The market!! We stopped by the our trusty friends at the front desk to see where this outdoor market was that we had heard of. We headed in the direction that they pointed us.

Yeah... it was the supermarket. Some sort of miscommunication had taken place. Sooo back to the hostel. New directions. Off to market again.

Souvenirs? CHECK. This place was great, and we found absolutely everything that we needed! 

We grabbed some coco locos from the beach and then back to the hostel (it was seriously in the best location, in case you hadn’t gathered that already). We chilled at the pool with some guys from New Zealand that we had met the night before - hilarious guys. And they invited us to dinner with them… guess where? The Brazilian steakhouse!!! No further encouragement needed.

The food was exquisite once more. At some point during the dinner, Scott and one of our new friends had disappeared. Where you may ask? The bar upstairs, of course! (and by “of course” I mean we had absolutely no idea where they had gone and were frantically searching for them, when the thought occurred to us… they’re at the bar). 

We joined them, and had a grand time shooting darts and drinking on the balcony. It was then back to the hostel for a night of what can only be referred to as “shenanigans.” Kiwi guys are funny.

A lesson in Brazilian geography and efficiency (or lack thereof)

I don't know about you, but when I travel, I try to think about the worst possible thing that could happen to me. That way when something doesn't go according to plan, it's nowhere near as bad as what could've happened. Even with these precautions, nothing could have prepared me for this.

Let me tell you a little story...

About the most confusing fifteen hours of my entire life.

It started out like any other trip... A beer at the bar with Scott, discussing our trip to beautiful Rio de Janeiro. We were on different flights because, long story short, I had reserved the wrong dates originally, realized this too late, and had to go with a different airline in order to arrive at the same time in Rio.

So, after bidding Scott farewell, I excitedly boarded my flight. The time for our departure came and went, but I was unfazed, happily listening to my audiobook. Then the power in the plane went out, just for a second or two, but enough to get people concerned. And then it happened about five more times. Still no announcement. 

At this point it's been an hour.

I'm still not too concerned as I sit there because Scott's flight hasn't even taken off yet.

Then they make an announcement. In Portuguese. And I just keep hearing the word "problema." Then they make an announcement in English, but all the Brazilians were talking about it, so I got nothing. After that, all the announcements were only in Portuguese. So all I could do was guess at what was going on based on the reactions around me. 

Perk? At least Brazilians are expressive.

It was a unique combination of stressful and entertaining. As you can see from my texts...

From eavesdropping on Portuguese and English conversations, I was able to piece this information together: people had gotten scared that there was a mechanical problem, so they left the plane, which meant that their luggage had to be retrieved, which meant that we had to wait much longer. 

Consequently, due to TSA regulations, our current crew could not bring us to Rio de Janeiro. So we were gonna go somewhere else, and I had no idea where.

Three hours behind schedule, we took off. Breathing a sigh of relief (even though the destination was unknown), I settled in for a movie. Any qualms I had about the situation disappeared as I watched Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis fall in love on the set of Friends With Benefits. Besides the fact that the power of the TVs kept going out so that I had to keep restarting the movie, it was a very relaxing experience.

I actually ended up sleeping a lot, and was overjoyed to arrive in Brazil, but then there was an announcement and the whole airplane groaned... So I went back to sleep. 

Woke up an hour later: everyone was walking around the cabin… Sooo I went back to sleep... What else was I supposed to do?!

Then I picked up the fact that we had just gotten a new crew, and then I saw them all walk on - YAY! 

After several announcements (that I haven't even the slightest clue about), there came the most ominous announcement of all. I still don't know what the announcement was, but the response from the passengers was all I needed to hear. 

Shouts of anger took over the announcement. Chants were started. People were standing on seats, screaming at the top of their lungs. I thought the poor flight attendants weren't even going to make it out alive. As the Brazilians cried out for a good fifteen minutes, it was easy to pick out the other foreigners.

We were wide eyed, frantically trying to find someone who wasn't involved in the mutinous chant to tell us what the hell was going on.

I finally found a flight attendant... He didn't speak English. Then I found an American guy who said we had to disembark, go through customs and board another flight. I would've thought that this was a joke, but one look at the lady standing atop the chair behind me was all I needed to realize this was indeed the truth. 

It wasn’t until I got to the ticket counter that I found out where I was. Brasilia. 

To be 100% honest, when I first heard this, I thought it was Portuguese for “Brazil.” I know, I really need to study up on my South American geography. Turns out, we still had an hour and a half flight to Rio. 

Meanwhile Scott was in the Rio airport waiting at my gate with two coffees. Why? Because Rio had announced that we had arrived and landed at gate 2. 

This has been a long post, I KNOW. I’ll just cut to the chase: I made it to Rio (albeit 8 hours behind schedule), and have never, EVER been so happy to have reached my destination and to run into my dear friend’s arms.