And so it is...

 After 69 days in South America, we have been to 4 countries, at least 14 cities, endless running, cycling, swimming, sunning, eating....we are finally packed and ready for our return to our beloved United States..
We have had our last sunset:

Enjoyed our last dinner in South America...

Saw our last full moon..

Observed our last sand castle..

Ran our last run...

Ate our last breakfast..

Took our last swim..

 When it is all said and done, we have thorougly enjoyed the journey, the beauty, the laughter, the cultures....the amazing people we have met along the way..
A perfect ending to a perfect trip..
Until our next adventure..
Hasta que nos encontremos otra vez...

Buzios, Brazil-the Wess' are here!

 "Originally settled by European pirates and slave traders, this happy mixture of many bloods prospered and became a picturesque fishing village, elected one of the 10 most beautiful areas in the world, famous for its unique combination of rustic charm, architectural harmony, incredible beauty and sophisticated boutiques and restaurants frequented by discerning visitors who come from all over the world to savour its magic."
This, in short is Buzios. It is a group of 20+ beaches that attract the rich and beautiful Brazilians plus travelers all over the world. It is included in the world's top ten beaches according to many travel sources. As of noon today, we had only gone to one beach probably because It is so nice just to veg at our Pousada here. The hotel we are in is a taste of heaven in itself. We hardly can pry ourselves away from the poolside, a mere 2 minute walk from our room. Breakfast is served here at the pool and we have not moved since we ate this morning. I swam 600 yds. just now in the little 15 yard pool.

I must admit it felt good swimming again. After staying up to the wee hours of the morning to watch the Super Bowl in the lobby of the hotel last night, we slept in until 10:00. I did not last the whole game but H stayed up and whispered to me when he got back that NY won-he was a happy camper! I guess this puts us a little more on ABQ time so perhaps we will feel less jet lagged at home in 3 days...
H enjoying a rest outside the hotel lobby:

The hotel lobby

We have gone to dinner twice in the little town area about a 10 minute walk from our place. The party apparently comes alive at midnite but we will most likely never experience this..like "old" people here, we are doing dinner quite early by Buzios standards. Last night we ate at a buffet that charged us by the kilo of food we put on our plate. This was kind of interesting compared to the night before where I got a chicken dish that would feed a family of four...probably twice...
This afternoon, we finally got off our butts and took a bus tour of the Buzios area and saw briefly 10-12 beach areas out of the 20. It was a quick overview of bustling Buzios. Large and small, the beaches are simply beautiful, some crowded with tourists, some not.
Pictures of just a few of the many sights we enjoyed today:

Many many cruise ships docking here

                                                         Statues of three fishermen

 Bridget Bardot apparently left her mark on the beaches of Buzios back in the 60s:

Another very pleasant day...2 days until the big bird takes us home!

Rio Scenario

A day running/ hanging on the beach. My legs were tired, as tired as one might be after a half marathon distance run..it was also stifling hot yesterday..my poor body could take not much more heat. We did find a triathlon store along the shops on the beach shore. It was cool to see that. I bought some golden protein bars. Apparently they are made of gold-they were $5 US a piece...wow! I can't  even imagine the price of their clothes-I did not look. 

Running in our beach attire. Lots of sunbathers in all kinds of attire!

 

The view out our window near sunset..

 

Then we headed early by taxi down to the club-

A hubbub of action in Rio. Is it a club? Is it a restaurant? Is it a party? YES-to all! We arrived early last night to "Rio Scenarium" a local nightclub, which is quite eclectic in nature..3 floors with the first floor buzzing with Samba music, dancing and dining. There were grandmas to kids there. As the evening wore on the crowd got quite large and dancing more energized. We had a good meal then sat and people watched. Of interest were 2 young beautiful Brazilian girls who were being hit on by men twice there age. Yikes! A museum of sorts on all the other floor. We made it home safely in a taxi that easily went 75 MPH on the roads of Rio. I was grateful to make it home in one piece! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can hear Barry Manilow...

 At the Copa...Copacabannnnaaa...

Yup, we are in Rio de Janeiro, the plastic surgery capital of the world! (a plastic surgeon told me this info..:) Uh, I meacaine of the largest cities in Brazil....and I am staring out our hotel window at the broad expanse of the ocean and Copacabana Beach. We are on the 18th floor of the Porto Bay Hotel or as we lovingly refer it to it as "the Penthouse"..:) We arrived yesterday quite early since our flight was changed to O'Dark thirty. A 2 hour plane ride from Salvador and we were here. Our Rio guide was there promptly to pick us up and take us to our hotel. Both H and I were pretty out of it but soon we woke up after being taken to our new digs. They let us check in early, thank goodness. Arriving in our room, we immediately walked onto our little terrace and WOW! It was a WOW moment! Much more beautiful than I ever imagined for sure.

Views from our room

 

The guide told us on our 45 min. ride to the hotel that Rio has gotten a bad rap as far as safety goes. Just be smart, do not carry lots of cash, jewelry, etc. I was so relieved to hear this. 

The minute we set foot on the beach, I felt perfectly safe. As safe as any big city anyways. After a snack in the room, we went for a run on the beach. There is a bike/run path along the beach for miles, onto Ipanema Beach and beyond. We ran about 10 min. when H felt a terrible pull in this bad calf. The old injury reared it's ugly head and we had to walk back. Damn! We are hoping that it is temporary and that we can give a run/walk shot at it today.

Heading to the beach in front of us, we picked up beach chairs and towels from the hotel assistant. I even brought my IPad. Soon after sitting a few minutes I laid down, rested my head on it and promptly feel asleep! The IPad pillow was perfect! We hung out for a bit there, then up on the rooftop pool above us at our hotel. The views of the city and beaches from up there are outstanding! A bit of cloud cover, it never got really hot at all. The summer breeze coming off the ocean makes it perfect weather wise so far. 

About a half block away, we found dinner at an Arabian/Brazilian restaurant. We ate a totally vegetarian dinner and on the way saw "Fox Sports" setup near the beach-looked like Beach Volleyball Tournament was going to be played there? All of Brazil is abuzz with the fact that the World Cup Soccer Tournament will be played in several Brazilian cities in 2014. Then, the summer Olympics will be here in 2016. Our guide told us this is one reason why Rio is safer than before. The policia are apparently trying to take over the "favelas", which are parts of the city where Drug Lords have ruled in the past. The new effort is for these slums to be safer and more friendly when many Nations come to compete for these sporting events. 

Today, we enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast with everything you can imagine for breakfast-there was even little hot dogs...gosh I am not one for beans and hotdogs for breakfast but I am sure some are! 

Our guide "Paulo" picked us up at 8:30 to make our way to the tram which goes up to the "Christ the Redeemer" statue. Paulo is a vast improvement from the last guide.This statue is probably the most familiar things folks think of when they think of Brazil. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world. I feel very blessed we got to see 2 of the 7 while we were in S.A. (Iguazu Falls plus this). The tram was a pretty steep 15 minute ride to the top. The air was a mass of fog on the ocean when we woke up today. It really looked like it might lift as the sun was trying to peek out. But we were not so lucky this time. The clouds socked in the famous statue most of our visit there. We could not see any of the city view we were suppose to see-guess I will have to rely on the picture of the picture! The sun did come out a very few moments so I got the Christ statue with blue sky in the background on a couple photos. On the way back, we got entertained by some musicians on the tram..

What we were "suppose to see" 

Christ the Redeemer 

Beautiful little chapel room below the statue. Very peaceful And serene

Trying to wait it out for the sun to come out..

 

The sun came out for one brief shining moment.

 

We got back to the hotel around noon. Then, it happened...It finally happened..it rained all afternoon today! Oh well it had to happen sometime! Good thing we had not gone out to the beach to run yet today. H's leg is better, not perfect yet. So we settled for a run on the treadmill while watching the rain fall around us in the picture window of the ocean on the 20th floor. Not a bad alternative! :)

We enjoyed the rest of the day just hanging out..not a bad way to spend a Tuesday in Rio!

One of the "favelas" 

 Rain/fog on the beach

During our morning tour

The end of a yet another beautiful day..