Brazil

Day 1:

We finally made it to Manaus after 2 days winding up the Amazon River. Stepping off the boat, you get hit immediately with the heat and humidity. The port of Manaus is very lively with crowds of people walking the sidewalks dodging each other. The sidewalks are lined with street vendors selling anything from hardware and tools to jewelry and souvenirs. There are small mom and pop stores, an opera theater, fish/meat markets, pet stores, and a few larger grocery stores. Only having a few hours before my flight to Rio, I just got to explore Manaus for a bit.

The flight to Rio de Janeiro was about 5 hours with a stop at Brasilia. Flying into Rio at night was pretty wild. After dodging lightning strikes in the sky, we descended into Rio, getting a clear view of the city and Christ the Redeemer on the hill. We got to our hostel in Ipanema at around 10:30. Our bedroom was shared with 6 people and I got the top bed on a triple bunk. The hostel, "Ipanema Beach House," is in a perfect location 2 blocks from the beach and walking distance to Copacabana. Even at 11pm on a Tuesday, there were a good amount of people out and about. We walked around Copacabana until 2, checking out the beach (which stays lit at night with stadium lights) and some small restaurants on the boardwalk.

Day 2:

The snoring of an overweight, swedish guy on the bottom bunk of our hostel room was our alarm clock at 8. Waking up and seeing Rio in the day is totally different than seeing it at night. The hills and mountains, the beaches, and the way that the city is set within the landscape is absolutely incredible. It had apparently been raining for the past week, but the sun and perfect weather came out for the 2 days we were there and we didn't get a drop of rain. Traveling by bike is by far the best way to explore Ipanema and Copacabana, especially with the bad traffic in Rio. Will and I grabbed beach cruisers from the hostels and made our way along the boardwalk stopping for fresh Acai Bowls, Coconut drinks, cheese bread from street vendors, and some local shops and stores. After a few hours of exploration, we taxi'd our way up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. The view from the top of Christ the Redeemer is probably the coolest view I have ever seen in my life. (Pictures don't do it justice) Will and I could only handle so much ducking under the arms of tourists posing like the statue, so we headed back to Ipanema for a local steak lunch. With so much anticipation of being able to surf in Rio, it was a bit of disappointment that the waves happened to be flat for the two days we were there. We substituted it for a quick swim in the ocean and some bodysurfing in the shorebreak. We zig zagged our way through the streets on our way back to the hostel to shower up before dinner in Copacabana. Dinner was a delicious assortment of Brazilian foods at a pay per pound buffet. After dinner, we were finally able to meet up with some other Semester at Sea students at a pub to watch the soccer game on TV. The fans here in Brazil are die hard and go crazy for any decent play. Following the game, we all went out to the famous area called the Lapa, which is filled with clubs and restaurants. Live music and dancing kept us up til the late hours of the night before we headed back to the hostel.

Day 3:

In one last desperate attempt to find surf, we taxi'd to a place called Baja about 30 minutes away from Ipanema. Unfortunately, there was still no surf, so we made our way to Copacabana to say goodbye to the awesome city and get one last Acai Smoothie. I definitely want to come back to Rio in the near future. With the World Cup and Olympics taking place here in the next few years, I think I can probably find an excuse to come back. Aside from almost missing our connecting flight in Brasilia due to a gate change and an extremely frustrating language barrier, the flights back to Manaus were not too bad. You can practically run through security in Brazil, as we learned when frantically trying to find our connecting gate (I didn't even take my phone or wallet out of my pocket and basically threw my backpack through the x-ray machine). Manaus greeted us with delicious  $1 steak skewers from a street vendor (accompanied by a pepto bismol, of course) and a hot shower back on the boat. It was pretty late when we got back and we heard that a handful of students had gotten mugged in Manaus while we were in Rio, so we decided to only explore a few blocks away from the ship at night. 

Day 4:

I had planned on waking up early to take a quick boat tour of the Amazon, but Will kindly decided to to turn off my alarm while I was asleep. Instead, I woke up at 9 and explored the city by foot with a group of friends. Every block in Manaus is pretty much the same; crowded sidewalks and street vendors selling tons of random stuff. I had fun bargaining the prices of a few small souvenirs with the street vendors. I am also convinced that there is not a single french press in all of Brazil. I battled the language barrier at just about every market I could find only to be lead to the coffee mugs. The last day at a port, everyone has to be very careful not to be late boarding the ship or you get the painful consequence called dock time. For every 15 minutes that you are late back to the boat, you have to stay on the ship for an additional 2 hours at the next port. I made sure to get to the boat extra early for our 3 o'clock boarding time. The boat left the port a bit after nightfall and we slowly watched the lights of Manaus get smaller and smaller as we floated away down the Amazon River. 

So now we are at sea for 9 days before we hit Ghana. I hear these are going to be some rough seas, but I'm kind of excited for it! 

Here are some pictures from Brazil, enjoy:

The Amazon River, en route to Manaus 

The Port of Manaus with the MV Explorer in the background

Flying into Brasilia

First night in Rio de Janeiro

Our Hostel

Front Porch of the hostel

The backyard and pool

Check out my awesome top bunk

The streets of Rio de Janeiro

The beaches of Rio

Ipanema beach

Acai Smoothies

Fish Market

Christ the Redeemer 

Up Close

Incredible views from Christ the Redeemer:

Biking around Copacabana and Ipanema

Swimming in Ipanema

Some refreshing coconut milk

Last day in Rio

Adios Rio, I'll be back soon

Landing in Brasilia at Sunset

Exploring the streets of Manaus

Some interesting cobra juice in Manaus

Floating back down the Amazon