Bashford adventures in Brazil!: Sufar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer

Wow...where do we start. Today turned out to be an epic tour of Rio de Janeiro, one of the most beautiful cities in the world! The morning started early for us...we woke up at 8:00am. It was our shortest night of sleep so far - 9 hours. The weather was beautiful and sunny and the beach down below our apartment was alive with activity; people out surfing, jogging, walking, riding bikes, and skateboarding. There is a nice wide sidewalk and biking/jogging lane right along the beach.
We rode the bus from our apartment to Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar). The bus ride took us through Barra da Tijuca, the site of the 2016 Olympic Village, Sao Conrado, Rocinha (the largest favela in Rio), through the Leblon neighborhood and right along the beautiful and famous beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. The bus ride took about 1 1/2 hours and we were in seats the whole time (we didn't realize how valuable seats were until later). Sugar Loaf is 2 mountains connected by a tram, that rise straight up out the the ocean right at the mouth of the bay in Rio. From the top of the second mountain you get an unbelievable 360 degree view of the entire city and surrounding area including all the famous beaches, the downtown area and Christ the Redeemer. The highlight of Sugar Loaf had to be the monkeys. They are just like in the movie Rio. We got a great video of one hanging from its tail trying to grab Carson's hand.

Next we headed to Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor). We took the city bus again but this time we had an authentic Brazilian public transportation experience. The bus was jam packed and we had to stand the entire 30 minutes grabbing anything possible to keep balanced. It was a ride full of sweaty hairy armpits, invaded personal space, and inappropriate body contact. It was awesome!!! Maile had a guy rubbing his rear on her arm for 20 minutes and Hannah had a guy's crotch and fanny pack pressing into the side of her head. At the time they were grossed out but now they are laughing about it. The Christ statue was so cool and the views of the city were amazing. The statue is perched right at the tip of the tallest mountain right in the center of Rio and it is visible from almost everywhere. We have tons of pictures to show.

After the Christ statue we started our journey home. We had to take two different buses and it took over 2 1/2 hours. The traffic in Rio is horrible every day of the week and every hour of the day. Both buses were so full that we had to stand most of the time. By the end of the day the kids got good at pushing through crowds of people and slipping into empty seats as soon as someone got off the bus. They weren't afraid to sit next to strangers and try out their Portuguese. Everyone is very curious about who we are and why we are here so they like talking to the kids and hearing them speak English. By the time we got home the entire back of the bus knew all our kids names and were sad to see us get off. We were all laughing at each other trying to speak each other's language. As they drove away they opened all the windows and waved and yelled good bye. It was so much fun.

By this time it was 10pm and we were starving, only having had a few snacks and cans of Guarana throughout the day. So we went to our local BBQ hangout for some takeout. 15 skewers of chicken, steak, and chicken hearts later we were full and ready for bed.
Even though it was a great day, I wouldn't recommend going to both Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer in the same day unless you start early.