Rio de Janeiro and Salvador!

Oi gente,

This past month I traveled to the "Cidade Maravilhosa"... Rio de Janeiro and also to Salvador for the last time during my exchange. So much has happened since then that hopefully I won't forget about anything.
I stayed the first half of the time with my (real) dad (who was in Brazil because of work) and our Brazilian friends (that I have known since I was little), and the other half  with Sylvia and her family.
The first couple of days we stayed in our friend's weekend house in Barra da Tijuca. A neighborhood that feels more like Miami than the more European influenced neighborhoods of Rio's Southern zone.
 I went to the beach various times and had a great time with my dad.

After the weekend was over I went with my friends to their normal house in Urca, a neighborhood in Rio's Southern zone located under Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain). They had work since in Rio break hadn't started yet, so I hung out with Sylvia annd Lara (her host sister a lot). Some things we did were:

•  Hiked up Pao de Acucar on this really cool trail through the forest and watched the sunset.
• Went to Centro and Lapa, and saw a staircase made out of tiles, the arches of Lapa, and The church of Rio de Janeiro
• Went to the Hippe Market. A market of various clothes and crafts that is held in Ipanema every sunday.
• Kayaked in the ocean twice and saw a sea turtle and entered in a cavern that we found.
• Walked from Leme to the of Leblon and night.

Used public transportation alone which I thought was cool because it made me feel very independent.


I'm sorry I'm not going more into detail but I'm leaving in two days and I have so much to do!


I also went to Salvador with Jennifer some of the things we did were:

• Walked around Salvador alone (first time I had done that)
• Went to the Elevador Lacerda, Mercado Modelo, and Pelourinho
• Went the the Museum of Modern Art and saw a concert.
   

I'm really stressed out so this post is kind of vague

,
Nevo