The start of Rio

I have to mention that the light and water fountain display that we saw in Peru on the second to last night is the biggest water reserve in the world according to the Guiness book of world records. None of our pictures turned out but it was a very beautiful display of music and interactive fountains. For our very last night in Lima, we stayed at a very beautiful hotel in Miraflores which was so lovely! There was lots of greenery and beautiful water. I have posted some pictures of the day on my facebook page. There is a lot of PDA in Peru which makes me a bit uncomfortable but I got over it. We walked for about one hour on the last night to find the greasy street burgers that we fell in love with the previous night. We did not find the exact stand but we did have greasy burgers from a street stand that were just as good, if not, better (we ate four of them). We managed to get our bags back from our friend who kept them while we were in Machu Picchu, and it was nice to get a change of clothes. The next morning we got up (on time) for a nice breakfast and managed to sneak some croissants and cakes into our sleeves to snack on later.

Several times throughout my time in Peru and even more in the “richer” area of Miraflores I had young children run up to me and beg me for money. Children who are definitely school aged were running around the street in torn clothes and beggin for help in Spanish. I am not sure what the right thing to do is in this situation? Turn away? Give money? Give them a hug? I just wondered where the parents of these children were hiding and what kind of future the kids will have in their lives with no education and no resources. The problems exist everywhere, perhaps more evident and visible in downtown Lima.

We walked around town for the rest of the day and it was a relaxing way to end our busy and exciting time in Peru. Due to expensive Starbucks and too much ice cream we ran out of money and had to pay USD for the cab ride to the airport but I guess that is all a part of the experience. At around 6:15pm before we left for the airport we went to a Baha’i meeting at a friends home which miraculously happened to be about 30 seconds from our hotel. It was a 19 day feast (Baha’i function that takes place every 19 days) and although we only understood very little, we both felt at home in the friend’s home. I was glad that we were able to fit that into our schedule.

So as soon as we began to feel comfortable and at home in Peru we packed up and flew to our next destination: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Our flight with Taca air was comfortable and I was able to sleep from about 11pm until we landed at 6am but Tyson stayed awake to watch the Green Lantern so he was quite tired the next day. We were lucky to sit together on the flight because we were originally seated apart and had to trade. It was a very full flight. We took an airport transfer bus to our hostels in Rio De Janeiro and got horribly lost in a bad part of town with all of our luggage at 7am when the streets were completely bare. We also had our Canada flag patches proudly pasted on our bags to make sure everyone knew we were from out of town. I have to say that we were a bit nervous because we have heard many frightening things about this city. I will add however that several people went out of their way to assist us with finding our way to the hostel, they were very gracious and we had NO problems at all.

We had to stay at two separate hostels our first night because no where had two empty beds. This absolutely sucked but we made it through and we will try to prepare better to ensure it does not happen again. Although I suppose it is better than the dozens of people sleeping in boxes on the streets of Rio tonight.

Anyhow now we are in Brazil, and the weather has sucked today but we are willing to let it go for the first day…we will see what tomorrow brings. We did a lot of research on where to stay and what other areas of Brazil we would like to see. If anyone has suggestions I would more than welcome you to share them with me. Our to do list consists of Sugar loaf mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue tours (of course). We are also intending to see Paraty, Ilha Grande Island and Buzios. We also want to see the beaches here in Rio (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon) and do a favela tour. This is where we have gotten to so far but nearly every item on the list depends on the weather cooperating so we will keep our fingers crossed. Portugese is very different from Spanish and perhaps even more difficult, we have already started to pick some up but I cannot say it is easy. It took us twenty minutes to order Subway for dinner tonight. We also had burgers and chocolate for snacks after dinner so I think I should figure out a form of exercise, especially since I have also created a “must eat in Brazil” list on my first day here. Off to bed for me, I have a big day of beaching, learning and eating tomorrowJ

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"