Day 6 in Rio

[ahka]

Today was our last day in Rio.  In the morning we did not rush.  We woke up went to eat breakfast went back to the room to pack and check out.  We left our luggage at the hotel storage where we were offered beach towels. 

  Buffet breakfast

 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  We went to enjoy the beach.  This time the beach was full of people.  We decided to stay at the Copacabana this time and have the Copacabana experience.  As soon as we got on the beach, a guy in red offered us umbrella and chairs for R$3.  We got the umbrella and settled on the heavenly soft white sand in front of the beautiful turquoise ocean shore.

Different vendors with different foods and souvenirs were walking by and offering their goods to us and other people.  Then we went swimming.  The water was just perfect and there were no big waves.  We played cards with Boris and enjoyed this heavenly day. 
     
Boris said that he could’ve stayed there for another week.  I was surprised to hear that.  Usually, by the end of the other trips Boris says that he wants to go home.   It was really nice vacation for two of us in a really beautiful place.  In a week we got to experience all Rio’s seasons, from sunny and hot to raining and cold.  None of it ruined our time together we really enjoyed each others company.
 

After spending several hours on the beach, we returned back to the hotel.  On the way back to the hotel, next to the beach and walkway, was this thing that sprinkled water to refresh.  We have been passing it by before but did not know about the sprinkler.  I have never seen one like that before.  There were four sprinklers and a blue button on the advertising pole.  Once you press the button, the sprinklers, from top to bottom started to work, lightly sprinkling water, one could not even feel the water but it was super pleasant to get refreshed with the mist.  Especially, it would feel great for someone who has been walking or jogging for a while on a hot day.

  Sprinkler

At the hotel, we took out our changing closing and got fresh towels and went to the 13^th floor where they have pool, sauna, gym and shower with toilets.  We took shower, changed for our flight and went to get some food before catching the bus to the airport.

I was very worried about this bus, I was even praying to G-d to help us get to the airport on time.  Different people at the hotel have been giving us different information about the bus stop and how often the bus is running.  So, we went to eat at the place that was on the Copacabana Avenue where the bus was supposed to come.  The restaurant was on the open air and we tried to look at the passing by buses to make sure that our bus would also pass by.  However, we did not see that particular bus. 

After we ate, it was already 4pm, so we decided that we would start our journey to the airport.  We asked front desk person at the hotel again about the bus stop location, got a map and took a backdoor exit from the hotel right onto the Copacabana avenue.  We had to walk three blocks to the bus stop. 

At the bus stop we saw two women who also had their suitcases.  I asked them if they speak English.  They did not but we understood each other about International airport.  They were also going there and they are from Brazil, so they spoke Portuguese.  Once we saw a bus that looked like the one that usually runs to the airport, one of the women run to talk to the driver.  He explained to her that our bus supposed to stop at a different place.  So, four of us moved to the place where the bus supposed to stop.  We suggested on our fingers and limited Portuguese that four of us can take a taxi and it will be reasonable price for everyone.  That is what we decided to do.

A taxi arrived very quickly and four of us loaded our luggage and got into the car.  One of the women set in front and she was talking non-stop with the driver.  I could understand some things and some things couldn’t understand at all.  The driver was telling this woman about the Favela area and government projects as we were passing by that area.  The Favela area is where very poor people live and it is not recommended for tourists to get their noses there.  However, there are some tours that are offered in those areas so tourists can leave some money there by purchasing paintings or other things or by being robbed there.

With the effort from all of us in the car, we figured out what airline we are flying, so driver would take us to the correct terminal.  We dropped those women at one terminal, thanked them and wished them bon voyage.  Meeting those women was real blessing.  I guess my prayers were heard!   I have no clue how we would have made it to the airport without those women.  Most of the bus drivers do not speak any English and our Portuguese is limited to a few phrases and few words.  Our phrase book was pretty helpful.

At the airport we checked in and went to go through security.  While standing in line to go through security we noticed this interesting man.  He was wearing red feathered headpiece like Native Americans and there was something wrong with his chin or lower lip.  The lower lip was stretched out forward with some metal circle inside.  As he closed his mouth, his lower lip was covering his face up to his eyes.  Boris said that a hockey puck could fit into his lower lip.  That looked extremely weird.  He also had tattoos on his cheeks.  Well, they guy was at the international airport in Rio, difficult to imagine where he was headed to and what tribe he was from.  I wish I could have taken a picture of him.

Once we passed security, we still had 2 hours before the flight and we had some Reals to spend.  So, we went to the Duty Free store.  The store was super expensive and all prices were in American dollars.  At the store we met one Russian couple from Chicago that we saw earlier in the week at the market.  We did not talk to them at that time because they were arguing with one another.  It looked like they were arguing again, so we did not spend much time talking to them.

At this store we also met the family from Argentina that was with us on the tour.  The family consisted of father, mother and two adult daughters.  Daughters may be in their 20s.  The family is very pleasant.  They were happy to see us and we had a laugh because they started calling us Russo Turisto (oblike morale) as Boris kept telling them yesterday during the tour.  I asked their names and we learned that father’s name is Luis Blanco and mother’s name is Silvia, she has a different last name.  The daughters stepped away somewhere, so we did not get their names.

We had difficult time communicating because they did not speak much English and we did not speak much Spanish but somehow we found way to get to know each other and even got Luis’s business card.  Silvia suggested that we come back to Brazil to see the beautiful waterfalls and come to Argentina too.  We found that it will take them only 2 hours to get to Buenos Aires from Rio.  Luis said that in 3 hours he will be home in his own bed.  They kissed us goodbye and told us to call Luis if we are ever in Buenos Aires.  Luis and Silvia reminded me of our host family Ben and Endy Smith.

At the airport we still had some time before the flight, so we got our laptop, plugged it in the outlet and started to watch a movie The Informer.  Boris told me that he is getting hungry and I reminded him that we are going to be the first ones to get dinner because I ordered kosher food.

To get on the plane we had to go through more search points.  The security were checking our carry on bags one by one and then right before getting on the plane they checked us with the manual metal detector if we have any metal on us.  Finally, we got on the plane.  This time seats were little bit better then last time.  We could see the big screen TV and were little further away from the toilets that were making squeaky sounds.

As soon as we got in the air, as I predicted, we got our food right away.  It was a very delicious meal with certificates of koshrut from several Rabbis.  We enjoyed every piece of the meal.

The first movie was Dear John due to the malfunctioning entertainment system, half way through the movie, they had to reboot the system and restart the movie again.  That is when I got my laptop to write this post about our last day in Rio.

We have been enjoying every moment of our wonderful vacation in this exotic country and in this beautiful city Rio de Janeiro.  No one robbed us, no monkeys bit us, the water in the ocean was not cold, the flood was cleared up before we came there and overall, we had a wonderful experience.  All people we met were kind, helpful and very pleasant.

The only disappointment for Boris was that he did not see anyone topless on the beach as everyone kept telling him about Rio's beaches.

Boris said that next vacation will be with the kids, he felt guilty that we did not take Michael with us.  Michelle is too young, but Michael could have enjoyed this type of vacation.  There were a lot of people with kids different age around us in Rio.  We looked at the kids and were missing our Michael and Michelle.   Tomorrow we will see them!