It was bitter-sweet, to leave Brazil yesterday. We really had a great time there. We were initially planning on just having a casual Sunday and gearing up for the flight home, while lounging around the hotel, or something. Instead, we ended up having an action packed last day. We initially set out to photograph some of the more historical parts of the center of Rio. But when we arrived there, it was pretty apparent that it was a sketchy time to be out. Even thought it was daylight, it was Sunday morning, and there weren’t a lot of people around, except for the really seedy ones. So we got back in the cab, and decided to checkout Sugarloaf, instead. It was very cool. I’m glad that we did it. Even the the second peak was totally covered by a cloud, when we were up there, the tram ride had some superb views.

^— Descending from the highest point.

^— Looking up, from the lower peak (timer shot).

^— Reagan, on the way up to the first peak. PS, I love this shot.

After Sugarloaf, we headed back over to the Lagoa, to kill some time. We did another bike ride, rode the paddle boats, and even did a little bit of skating. Hahahah. We were watching these kids skate this bowl, at the lagoa. I decided to ask them, if they minded if I borrowed a board and took a turn. The kid was totally cool about it. Reagan snapped a couple of pics. It was a lot of fun.

^— Me, in a 5.0 grind at RJ.

Follow this link for a few more shots from our last day in Rio.

We stared out the day with a bike ride around the lagoa, that sits about 6 blocks inland from Ipanema. It was a really fun ride. The outside perimeter of the lake is about 8 kilometers. It is great to see how many fitness minded Cariocas were out running and biking. Nike plus had a tent set up to stretch people out and distribute Gatorade. After the ride, we took a hike to the Rio Botanical Garden (which is the photo above, btw).

The Botanical Garden is right across the street from the stables of the horse track. There is a huge wall around the stables that is completely tagged up. It is amazing. I was ogling it, the whole way to the garden entrance. I almost tripped a few times, because I was staring across the street, instead of where I was walking. Below is a shot looking across the street from the front of the garden.

The garden itself was incredible. There was every type of tropical plant that you could imagine. It was also full of tropical birds and reptiles.

This little area with the columns, below, is the reason that Reagan wanted to see the gardens. There was a photo of it, in one of the little information books that she bought when we were planning the trip. It is pretty cool in real life, too.

Here for more photos from the bike ride and Botanical Garden.

Reagan and I were both kind of sad to leave Buzios. We are now back in Rio, this time staying on Ipanema Beach. It is really nice here. It is a good spot to wind down and get ready to go home. It is going to be tough to go back to the grind, after we have had such a good time here. We are both pretty anxious to see Piper again, though.

Here are a few shots from our last day in Buzios. It rained like crazy all night, Thursday night. It was actually still kind of sprinkling Friday morning. We took a trip to Praia Brava, which has a pretty good break. Reagan found this crab in one of the tide pools.

As we were walking on a path around the bay, we saw this place where the shore break was shooting into the air, when it hit the rocks. Reagan said that she wanted a shot, like Arial, from The Little Mermaid, where the water is shooting up behind her. Hahahaha. Of course I obliged.

After Praia Brava, we went back to Ferradura, a very chill beach that we discovered earlier this week. Reagan made this little sand sculpture of Piper’s name.

Below is the finished product

This one is of Reagan wading around looking at the sea turtles, in front of our apt.

Here is one final shot of Buzios.

Click here for more shots from Buzios.

Ok, Rio is pretty cool. But, dude, Buzios is insane! It is seriously like something out of a movie. The whole little town is a fishing community in a peninsula located a few hours north (by bus) of Rio. I was able to talk Reagan into experiencing the Brazilian Rodoviaria and cross-country bus trip that I became so fond of, when living in Sao Paulo. Reagan is now also a fan. She was poking me in the arm and pointing to something out the window, about every 5 minutes. That is something that I love about Reagan. She is as entertained as I am, by the simple things, like a bony Brazilian cow, running in a field.

^–the view from our deck.

^—The outdoor beds. Reagan’s favorite part about our inn.

We arrived in Buzios in the early afternoon, and spent some time around the pool unwinding, before renting a buggy. The buggies are old VW fiberglass body beach buggies, and everybody drives them here. They are pretty awesome.

It is kind of necessary, too, since there are 28 different beaches in town. So, no matter which pousada (inn) you stay in, you need some transportation if you want to check out more than one beach. It is pretty ridiculously cheap, as well. Driving down here, is a lot like driving in New York, except on cobblestone.

^—Every once in a while, when I’m photographing Reagan, I can get her to go full-Kate Moss. Hahahahah. This was one of those occasions. Even though we were both laughing, I think that Reagan could pull it off, for real.

We had a bit of a panic Tuesday afternoon, when every ATM that we went to was having some sort of a problem dispensing cash to us. I finally decided that there must have been a problem with the Cirrus network, when I saw some other equally frustrated out-of-towners cursing out the ATM. Little did we know that it was likely caused by a blackout in SP. After going back to our room to freshen up, we headed back out. At the bottom of the lane, all of the street lights (along with everything else, went completely dark.  We decided to head to the city center anyway, in case it was just a transient outage. Nope. EVERYTHING was pitch dark. It was kind of creepy. When we got back to our little resort, we had to use the light from my blackberry to get back to our apartment. There is no emergency backup lighting at this place, hahaha. It was a pretty crazy night. That is also my excuse for not blogging yesterday.

This morning we woke up bright and early. The lights were back on, and the ATMs were up, as well. Phewwww! We headed straight out to Praia de Tartaruga and got our snorkel/kayak on. We seriously had a blast. It is my favorite beach that I have been to so far, in Brazil.

We hit another beach in the afternoon, when it started to cloud up. We decided to play it safe, and head back to the apartment, to sit by the pool, or on our deck in case it started to rain. It was a good move, because there was a total downpour moments after we arrived back at the pad. It is gorgeous here, even when it rains. It also gives me a break to catch up on blogging. Sorry this thing is a freaking novel. If you want to see some more photos, then follow this link.

I was resolved to wake up before dawn this morning, so that I could shoot the sunrise from the point between Copacabana and Ipanema. Reagan was a really good sport, and came along with me. Not even being dramatic, it was one of the most fantastic sunrises that I have seen. I’m totally glad that we did it.

After watching the sunrise, Reagan and I took a bus to the train that goes up to Corcovado, which is the huge statue of Christ, up on the hill.

It was kind of overcast, but for the most part the visibility was great. We were able to get the second train up. So it was only marginally crowded when we got up there. It was mostly just a bunch of European tourists that were on our same train. They were pretty irritating though.

We still got in some pretty good beach time in the afternoon. Even though it looked like it was going to rain, a couple of times, the clouds would break, quite ofter, for some extended periods of sunshine. We were able to sneak in an afternoon nap and still get some night swimming done.

^—Looking down on Fort Copacabana. Below, Reagan taking a dip in the hotel pool, while chatting with some Canadians we met at our hotel.

Tomorrow we are off to Buzios, bright and early. Reagan and I are pretty stoked. Reagan has told me repeatedly that she is most excited to see the Bridget Bardot (spelling) statue there. Apparently Reagan has been told on various occasions that she looks like Bridget did. Apparently Bridget kind of put Buzios on the map, as it was one of her preferred getaway locations. So they built a statue in her honor. Hahaha. I guess I’m excited to see the state too.

I uploaded a few more pics over here. Sorry that I got carried away with the sunrise shots.

Reagan took me to a futebol game today. It was in the Maracana, which is one of the largest stadiums in South America. It has held as many as 200k people before.

Here we are field level about an hour before the game started. Also about 5 minutes before we took our shirts off. It was 40 degrees in Rio today. I’m not exactly sure what that translates to in Fahrenheit, but I can tell you that it is pretty freaking hot.

The game was after we spent the morning on the beach, before it became incredibly crowded. I’m wondering if the the beach is this nuts here during the week. Anyway, I really enjoy this shot the Reagan took, when we were passing through a feira.

After the game, we went out to the point between Ipanema and Copacobana beaches to take some sunset shots. We kind of missed the sunset, and it was kind of cloudy anyway. But we still snapped a few. Hopefully we can have better timing/weather on a different night.

This one is of Reagan, with a little cove in the back.

So stoked to be back in the BR. So far, Reagan loves it too. She didn’t sleep much on the flight, though. So she is currently passed out. We arrived at our hotel around 1:30, got some lunch, then went straight to the beach. It was a bit overcast, on and off. But, we are just glad to be here. This is the view from our roof deck. Woot.

Ugghhhhh. Packing is the worst. I have seriously been putting it off like crazy. I’m sitting here paying bills right now, and even IT seem more fun than packing. Anyway, I’m not sure what kind of connectivity we will have over the next 10 days, so the blogging will most likely get pretty sparse. I thought about getting a bunch of posts cued up to publish while I was gone, but I ran out of time. So, in the mean time, here is a balloon sculpture/fountain.

On Friday, Reagan and I are headed to Brazil. I’m pretty stoked about it. I haven’t been back there since ‘99. It’s so crazy. It will be almost exactly 10 years. Here is a photo from last time I was in Brazil, hahaha. Notice those blue skies.

Reagan has been doing some Rosetta Stone lessons. She has learned some pretty key conversational Portuguese, for the trip. For example, if we happen to see some women jumping, she will be able to notify people around her that “as mulheres estao pulando.” Or, if we are taxiing down the runway, and she happens to notice a little boy sitting on the wing of the plane, she will be able to inform the flight attendant that “o menino esta emcima do aviao!” She’s ready.

Two days, I can’t wait. This post might be a little premature, but, here’s to blue skies and warm weather.

This week musica coolica is kind of a big deal for two reasons. First, it is the year anniversary since I started doing musica coolica. Hahahahah, ok, that really isn’t that big of a deal. The other thing is that Reagan and I will be headed to Brazil, on Friday. So, in anticipation of our trip, I thought that I would share a bit of Brazilian music. The group is called “Bonde do Rolê.” They are from Curitiba, which is in the very southern part of the country.

I first discovered them on a Diplo remix album called “Decent Work For Decent Pay, Collected Works Volume One.” As it turns out, Diplo actually produces these guys. They have a kind of interesting sound. The Brazilians call it Baile funk, which means dance funk. The song I’m sharing today has a really bouncy sound to it. Some may find it absolutely annoying. I think it is great. The name of the track is “Solta O Frango,” which translated literally means “set the chicken free.” It is slang for “let loose.” Give it a listen, if you need a pick-me-up.