After being on the ship for 7 days I was more than ready to get
off and take on Salvador. My friends and I spent all day roaming around
and saw some amazing views.
One of my professors was born and raised in
Brazil so he was able to give us some great pointers for what to do and
try, one of which was a caipirinha. It’s a Brazilian drink that,
according to my professor, should be consumed responsibly.
So being the
curious college students we are, my friends and I went to one of the
local restaurants to try them. It was probably one of the best, most
refreshing drinks I’ve ever had! 
Aferwards,
we wandered throughout the city down random streets and ended up
running into some locals who spoke English. It turns out that they were
apart of a dance crew and had spent the past 15 years traveling the
world with their company. They’ve even performed in Texas. Before we
knew it several hours had passed by so we headed back to the ship to be
in bed because our flight the next morning to Brazil departed at 5:50
am.
Aferwards,
we wandered throughout the city down random streets and ended up
running into some locals who spoke English. It turns out that they were
apart of a dance crew and had spent the past 15 years traveling the
world with their company. They’ve even performed in Texas. Before we
knew it several hours had passed by so we headed back to the ship to be
in bed because our flight the next morning to Brazil departed at 5:50
am.
Let’s just say that by no means am I a morning person. There were
about 15 of us traveling together so trying to get everyone awake,
together, and into taxis was a nightmare but it was all worth it when we
landed in Rio.
Before landing, I saw the coolest aerial view of Rio de Janeiro. I saw Favelas and there was way more greenery than I expected to see.
After landing, our van picked us up and took us to our Airbnb which ended up being a 5 bedroom penthouse suite right across from Copacabana beach.
So
obviously that was the first thing that we did after we unpacked. We
layed out for hours, enjoyed the cool water, and played a bunch of sand
volleyball! It was also a Brazilian holiday so the beaches was PACKED
with people. They even closed the mainstreet so no cars could drive on
it so it was filled with cyclists and pedestrians. The weather was
perfect and we ended up staying out so late that we were physically
exhausted and ordered Dominos pizza for dinner and called it a night.
We got off to an early start the next day as we made our way to towards Christ the Redeemer.
It was one of the coolest sights that I’ve been to. When we were leaving from the airport he looked so tiny but once we went all the way up the mountain it was way bigger. There was an option to hike all the way up it, but we found out that it was the equivalent to over 180 floors so we politely declined.
Afterwards, our tour guide got us as close as we could to the Favelas while keeping us safe since they are corrupt and controlled by cartels. They are typically the slums of the area and are built up on top of each other. The coolest part of it all was that it was the same place that they filmed the movie Fast Five!
Our
next was stop was the Santa Theresa steps. I don’t know the history
behind it, but they are so vibrant and colorful. As we were slowly
making our way down the steps, a lady who was selling Açai bowls out of
her house stopped us. She didn’t speak any English but her Açai bowls
spoke for themselves. It was my first time ever having them and holy cow
I didn’t want it to end because it was so delicious. Later on, we found
out that Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams walked down these same
steps.
Our last destination was to the infamous Sugar Loaf. I don’t know why it’s called that, but it it has one of the greatest views in all of Rio. They have cable cars that take you all the way up to see everything. Afterwards, while we were waiting for out driver to get us, I decided to relax and refresh with some coconut water.
My day started off by seeing some really cool sites, and during the evening I moved on to tasting some really good food. From day 1, I was told that I need to eat at a Brazilian Steakhouse, so that’s exactly what I did. Although it is a chain, Fogo de Chão was the number one place to go to and let me tell you, it was nothing short of amazing.
We ended up staying for 3 hours and it was filled with good company, lots of laughter, a run in with an MMA fighter, and all the meat you could imagine. Needless to say we basically rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and ubered ourselves home.
The last two days in Rio were very rainy so that kind of put a damper on our plans. It was the first port of this whole voyage that we have had bad weather while in country. But that didn’t stop us one bit. We bought ourselves an American football and had ourselves the best 5v5 pick up game of sand football that Rio has ever seen. We were playing for hours while the rain came pouring down and it was so much fun. My team won, obviously, and afterwards we went swimming in the ocean and experienced some of the biggest waves I have ever seen.
It was sick. By the time we checked our phones it was dinner time so we went back to the Airbnb and the girls we were with made us a nice home cooked meal. After dinner, we made our way to the samba club that had a live performance by one of Brazil’s best artists.
We were there forever learning to dance and having a great time. We had such a good time that we were out until 4:30am.
The last day was pretty uneventful because we were supposed to go hang gliding but due to the really and weather we ended up waiting for hours at the site hoping the weather would clear up. Unfortunately it didn’t so we just went to the airport 4 hours early and used the free wifi until finally arriving back in Salvador.
Despite the bad weather the last two days, I had an incredible time in Rio and it is definitely on my list of places that I have to come back and visit. As always, for more pictures go check out my Facebook! And if you wanna contact me then download the app “WhatsApp” or email me at: andrew.santiago.fa16@semesteratsea.org
Next stop—-> Trinidad and Tobago!!!
--
Don't miss the boat!
Read more from Jordan at https://suitelifeofsanti.wordpress.com/
Find your own study abroad program to hone your professional skills and enhance your resume at: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search
If you need help getting started with study abroad, take a look at this: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/getting-started/index.php
Before landing, I saw the coolest aerial view of Rio de Janeiro. I saw Favelas and there was way more greenery than I expected to see.
After landing, our van picked us up and took us to our Airbnb which ended up being a 5 bedroom penthouse suite right across from Copacabana beach.
So
obviously that was the first thing that we did after we unpacked. We
layed out for hours, enjoyed the cool water, and played a bunch of sand
volleyball! It was also a Brazilian holiday so the beaches was PACKED
with people. They even closed the mainstreet so no cars could drive on
it so it was filled with cyclists and pedestrians. The weather was
perfect and we ended up staying out so late that we were physically
exhausted and ordered Dominos pizza for dinner and called it a night.We got off to an early start the next day as we made our way to towards Christ the Redeemer.
It was one of the coolest sights that I’ve been to. When we were leaving from the airport he looked so tiny but once we went all the way up the mountain it was way bigger. There was an option to hike all the way up it, but we found out that it was the equivalent to over 180 floors so we politely declined.
Afterwards, our tour guide got us as close as we could to the Favelas while keeping us safe since they are corrupt and controlled by cartels. They are typically the slums of the area and are built up on top of each other. The coolest part of it all was that it was the same place that they filmed the movie Fast Five!
Our
next was stop was the Santa Theresa steps. I don’t know the history
behind it, but they are so vibrant and colorful. As we were slowly
making our way down the steps, a lady who was selling Açai bowls out of
her house stopped us. She didn’t speak any English but her Açai bowls
spoke for themselves. It was my first time ever having them and holy cow
I didn’t want it to end because it was so delicious. Later on, we found
out that Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams walked down these same
steps.
Our last destination was to the infamous Sugar Loaf. I don’t know why it’s called that, but it it has one of the greatest views in all of Rio. They have cable cars that take you all the way up to see everything. Afterwards, while we were waiting for out driver to get us, I decided to relax and refresh with some coconut water.
My day started off by seeing some really cool sites, and during the evening I moved on to tasting some really good food. From day 1, I was told that I need to eat at a Brazilian Steakhouse, so that’s exactly what I did. Although it is a chain, Fogo de Chão was the number one place to go to and let me tell you, it was nothing short of amazing.
We ended up staying for 3 hours and it was filled with good company, lots of laughter, a run in with an MMA fighter, and all the meat you could imagine. Needless to say we basically rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and ubered ourselves home.
The last two days in Rio were very rainy so that kind of put a damper on our plans. It was the first port of this whole voyage that we have had bad weather while in country. But that didn’t stop us one bit. We bought ourselves an American football and had ourselves the best 5v5 pick up game of sand football that Rio has ever seen. We were playing for hours while the rain came pouring down and it was so much fun. My team won, obviously, and afterwards we went swimming in the ocean and experienced some of the biggest waves I have ever seen.
It was sick. By the time we checked our phones it was dinner time so we went back to the Airbnb and the girls we were with made us a nice home cooked meal. After dinner, we made our way to the samba club that had a live performance by one of Brazil’s best artists.
We were there forever learning to dance and having a great time. We had such a good time that we were out until 4:30am.The last day was pretty uneventful because we were supposed to go hang gliding but due to the really and weather we ended up waiting for hours at the site hoping the weather would clear up. Unfortunately it didn’t so we just went to the airport 4 hours early and used the free wifi until finally arriving back in Salvador.
Despite the bad weather the last two days, I had an incredible time in Rio and it is definitely on my list of places that I have to come back and visit. As always, for more pictures go check out my Facebook! And if you wanna contact me then download the app “WhatsApp” or email me at: andrew.santiago.fa16@semesteratsea.org
Next stop—-> Trinidad and Tobago!!!
--
Don't miss the boat!
Read more from Jordan at https://suitelifeofsanti.wordpress.com/
Find your own study abroad program to hone your professional skills and enhance your resume at: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search
If you need help getting started with study abroad, take a look at this: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/getting-started/index.php
