Day 3 in Rio

[ahka]

This morning, I woke up at around 8:30.  It took a while to wake Boris up.  By the time we got ready to go to the breakfast it was almost 10am.  The breakfast usually ends at 10:30.  At the breakfast we met Orlando and Olesia, I asked them about the soccer game.  Olesia told me that it was an experience, however, she did not enjoy it because it was raining and they couldn’t see the game very well.  She said the only good thing about being there was experience the energy of the fans on the stadium. 

I asked them what language they were speaking with each other.  They told us that they speak German.  Apparently, Olesia studied in Switzerland for a year where they met.  Guys told us that they are leaving Rio today.  We wished them safe travels and we said our goodbyes.

After breakfast we went to see Veronica and change our tour day to Saturday.  She was happy to see us again and in seconds made a phone call and changed the date on our tour ticket. 

After that we went shopping.  The air was cool and it did not feel like a beach day.  We walked up the streets and stopped at various stores.  We walked through the Copacabana area a few blocks away from the beach.  At one point it started raining heavily and we spent a lot of time in different stores.  However, we did not buy much, just a few things.

Once we got tired from walking we returned back to the hotel walking along the beach.  We ate lunch and while Boris was checking his e-bay stuff I took a nap.  Once I woke up we decided to go see Veronica again and get the Samba show ticket.  When we got out it was raining, so we quickly run one block to the mall. 
       

After that we decided to have dinner and stopped at this French sidewalk restaurant.  We ordered some chicken and tea.  Before waiter brought us food and tea he brought us a small bottle with clear liquid.  With all of the restaurants and cafeterias in the USA and even one restaurant here that had hand sanitizers, I did not take a second thought about the content of that liquid.  So, I took it and put it on my hands, in seconds, I realized that it was not hand sanitizer.  The waiter saw me putting this liquid on arms and we all started laughing.  Apparently, it was liquid sugar!  My arms were sweet for the rest of the day even after washing with soap a few times. LOL It was hilarious! 
   

For dinner I had chicken with vegetables and Boris had chicken with French fries and rice.  The food was very good.  The vegetables on my plate were mix of many different things including something that I have no clue what it was.  There were some green beans, broccoli, potatoes, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and something white and crunchy, looked like a root of something.  It was pickled and was very yummy.

After dinner we went to our room to change and get ready for the show.  At about 8:50pm we got a phone call from the front desk that our show guide was waiting for us in the lobby.  We got downstairs in minutes.  Our show guide’s name was Juan.  He also explained that in Russian his name is Ivan.  Boris and I agreed to tell everyone here that we are from Russia, so we have been having fun with people, learning their Russian vocabulary.

On the mini bus that took us to the show there were two more couples and 6 guys.  Once we arrived at the show site, I asked the guys where they were from.  Apparently, they were from Hungry.  They got really happy once they heard from us that we were from Russia.  They immediately started giving their Russian vocabulary that included some good phrases and some not so good ones.  The show did not start but it was already a lot of fun.

Before the show, three dancers in costumes were walking around and theater workers were walking behind them with cameras to take pictures.  They did not want us to take our own pictures and turned with their backs as soon as they saw us aiming at them with cameras.

The show was a lot of fun.  The costumes, dancing, singing, drumming, acrobatic numbers were very entertaining.  At the end of the show, a guy called out names of most of the countries in the world and spoke a few words in those languages.  There were literally people from all over the globe.  We were the only representatives of Russia though.  I video recorded some pieces from the show.  I will try to put them together and upload to youtube once we are back at home.
   

The internet connection here is very bad.  I think it is a good thing though.  We came here not to be on the computer but to relax and just be together in this paradise.  The love is in the air here.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day and clear up on Saturday.  So, our plan for tomorrow is to do absolutely nothing.  Well, in the evening we plan to go to the market that begins at 7pm and finally start getting the presents.