Days 93-96- Rest of vaca

Weds we got up a little later and went down to the amazing Palace breakfast... yum. We contemplated what to do before we started back to SJC... hang at the pool, go to the beach, go back to Sugar Loaf... and decided just to walk on the beach for a while. I'm pretty sure we would have stayed another day if I hadn't had to be at work Thursday for inventory. So, I did a little shopping, and we went for a walk. Then around lunch time we hit the road. It was another easy drive and we got back to apartment well before dinner. 

The rest of the week we hung out, ate a lot of fruit and other tasty foods, drank a lot of coffee, and enjoyed being around each other. We did go see Mockingjay Part 1 on Friday - it was interesting, at the movies here you select seats when you buy the tickets. A lady sat next to us whose daughter lives in New Jersey, she was nice. Oh, and apparently the marketers here have caught on to Black Friday - there were signs in a lot of store windows, but it wasn't that crowded so I don't think they've been too successful. Isn't it weird they left it in English? Pics below.

Saturday came all too quickly... and it was depressing. I think having Cheryl here was really, really great,  and it just made me wish she was here all the time to share this experience with me. After I took her to the airport (I promised her I wouldn't cry on the drive back for safety reasons, but I did a little anyway) the apartment just seems so sad and lonely. It's good she was here because now she'll be able to relate more when I tell her about stuff, but it made the contrast of not having her here a lot sharper and sadder. It helps that I will be going home for the holidays in 3 weeks but I'm still trying to perk myself up. I just teared up typing this... ugh!

One of the two new hires I was training at the plant resigned while I was on vaca to go somewhere else for money. I'm glad he went ahead & did it - I didn't get to train that much anyway since I've been so busy with the budget, so he has mostly done project work. Not as much of a setback as it would have been if he'd waited a couple more months. So we have to hire another person and make the job more appealing apparently. And now that we've made it through the budget crunch, my focus has to be making sure every day gets me a little closer to going home!!

Yeah, nothing like a speedo view over breakfast. The side view was even better since his belly hung out  from under his shirt but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

A beach bod is not required to wear a thong in Rio.

Our favorite Palace in the background, and you can see Christo just over it in the distance

At the mall on Friday (before movie)

Day 92 - Rio tour

Our tour guide (from tourbylocals.com), Simone, was supposed to meet us at the hotel at 10:00, so we got up bright & early to have breakfast & get ready. The Palace complimentary breakfast was easily the best I've ever had. Everything you could possibly want and then some, and all of it was delicious. I had to be careful not to get crazy so I wouldn't be sick for the tour!

Simone arrived right on time, and we took the subway to the Christo exit. We could've hired a driver, but it turned out being fun to use the transit. Simone turned out to be really cool - about 50 years old and originally from Rio, she's lived all over the world and speaks 5 languages I think. She's a muscian but has been doing tours for 8 years to pay the bills. She was great, really amusing, knowledgable, and laid back. We took a van up to Christo, which turned out to be a much more pleasant experience than the tram I took the first time. Christo wasn't nearly as crowded as when I was first there so it was a much nicer experience. We really enjoyed it.

After taking the van back down, we took a cab up into the Santa Teresa neighborhood. This is the area I stayed in when I came to Rio the first time. It's beautiful and artsy. We walked around a lot, had lunch at a great little seafood restaurant, and stopped for some acai at a place that has it in its original form - nothing added except a little sweetner. It was delicious. We shopped and walked around for a while, then headed down the amazing tiled stairs to the Lapa neighborhood. From there we took the subway to downtown and went to have coffee/dessert at this beautiful bakery - just stunning. Finally we headed over to go up to Sugar Loaf - Cheryl and I agreed this was the best part of the day. The park up on Sugar Loaf was beautiful and the views were amazing. Christo is something you'd really want to just check out once, but Sugar Loaf is one of those things you could go to over and over. If I end up back in Rio I will definitely go back there. 

After our tour was over (an hour and a half longer than it was supposed to be), we were exhausted. I claimed I would die if I walked anywhere (it was true) so we had dinner in the more casual restaurant at the hotel, where I had the most delicious steak sandwich I've ever had, and Cheryl had filet. It was a spectacular day! However, it did not involve a foot massage on the beach so not as great as Monday ;)

Christo photos:

The delicious acai

A horrible photo of me but Simone is in the background

Santa Teresa

Stairs from Santa Teresa neighborhood down to Lapa. Amazing...

And Sugar Loaf