Wednesday

What a busy day we had today! Marcel (Erik's driver from work) and his girlfriend picked us up at 10:30. we all went to Corcovado to see Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). Before we left we could not see him from our hotel because of clouds but once we were on top of the mountain everything was clear. Beautiful! Once we took some pictures. We happened to be up there when the priest was saying prayers and putting ashes on foreheads. So I received my ashes there - very cool! The butterflies were so beautiful - electric blue!
Then we went to Lapa to see the arched aqueduct. which looked beautiful in the pictures but were much smaller and covered with graffiti.
Next we went to a cathedral that Marcel was baptized at, there was amazing stained glass.
Then a tea house in Centro - Confeitaria Colombo, we had great food and yummy desserts and new fruits.
Drove by Flamengo e Botafogo - one of the famous beaches, but you can not swim there to polluted.
There was a ferries wheel at an old Military base that separates Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. It is a special attraction to celebrate Rio being in the running for the 2016 Olympic games. So we went on it and had a beautiful view of the beaches.
Then back to the hotel to rest before going out again. The best part of being with Linny and Marcel is we learned a lot about the history of things. We saw parts of the city we would have never seen. Plus we learned about the schools down here. Like the public schools do not teach enough to get into a public university but you can get in if you went to a private school. It is different here. The public universities are free but really hard to get into, and you have to go to private school to learn enough to pass the entry test. If you go to public school and want to go to a university you have to go to the private school and pay for it yourself.
There is also 2 ways of saying Thank you - One is said by a man and the other by a woman.
We are having a great time!

Tuesday

Yesterday was unlike any Fat Tuesday. We headed to Cocacobana in the afternoon. We did a lot of people watching. There was a lot of street parades with colorful people. There was lots of good food and good people around us!

Monday - Samba

Last night we went to see the Samba schools compete, this is what all the pictures of Carnaval are of. The flashy outfits, beautiful floats and amazing drum bands. We danced (ok I danced) for 6 hours before we had to leave. We saw 4 of the 6 groups - each one lasting 92 minutes (if they went over that they were deducted points).
This was not what I was expecting it to be but it was beautiful! I am glad we saw many schools. I was amazed by the first group but realized quickly that they were one of the poorer groups. Group 2 was my favorite by far!
It is 11:30 and I hungry so I will up date more later. Have fun today and enjoy your Mardi Gras!

Sunday

Yesterday we spend the day walking around Cocacobana and Ipanema people watching. I have learned that Cocacobana is great for the food and Ipanema seems to have the better people to watch. We thought the parade was at 2pm but ended up to be at 4pm so we went to the jewelry store and took the tour. It was cool to see how they mine the gems in Brazil and then turn them into the beautiful jewelry we love so much! The store with the tour was very proud of their work and cost way too much! even their gift store (which had nothing to do with gems was way over priced). Then we went to the other jewelry store and I finally found my Mom's Nativity. Yeah. We found lots of paintings that we want for above our bed. We will look again on Wed or Thursday (maybe they will be cheaper since less people will be around).
We finally saw one of their parades and realized we had seen one the day before - yes that is right we saw them and did not even know that the jeep with people on the back playing music was the poor mans version of parades. So Sunday was a little more organized the police blocked the roads well in advance and there was tons of people. The parade this time had a dance group and a bus like thing that had the band on top of it. The dance group was surrounded by "guards" holding hands to keep the crowds away. It was very hard to see where the dance group was, they were small 2 to 5 people. It was crazy that there was so many more people watching or walking and dancing with the parade then actually in the parade. They all sing the same song which we finally found the words for but still have no idea what it says. On the "float" there was a sign that said "Obama E Negro. Mas foi Pra CASA BRANCA" and another one that said "Bush: so no sapatinho" We translated it but we still did understand the meaning of it.
There was a lot of things that is like our Mardi Gras - the biggest difference is the people are nicer. The American word I have heard the most is F***. It is funny hearing it with accents. The streets are a lot like Bourbon just wider so there is more people. They even had a guy peeing in the street right behind me. There was a lot more people dressed up the kids in cute costumes and the guys in little dresses. Some girls were dressed up but not as many as the guys. Most girls have crazy head bands on. We went to the hippie market - lots of fresh food, crazy looking fruit and tons of things they claim to make themselves (even as they are taken them out of the plastic bags they are shipped in)
We have decided it is a mixture of New Orleans Mardi Gras and Spring Break in Florida. We are having a great time! I did try the Pineapple caprinia and the orange caprinia today - the orange was very good!
Hopefully we will be able to get some pictures up today...

Saturday

We walked around Cocacobana and Ipanema yesterday. Had a great time watching all the people! Lots of Parade groups on street corners with the bands dancing and having a great time. Most people are dressed normal but there was a lot of men dressed like woman (not just gay men either) On the beach there was a lot of "lost" swimsuits. People really do not care if they should be wearing a string bikinis! We learned that we should only order one thing to eat. They do not give out "doggie" bags so we wasted a full meal between the 2 of us. You think they would have told us. The first place would only let us order the appetizer and we were full. The second place let us each order a meal - I ended up with 2 pieces of steak and enough other stuff to feed a family of 4. But I did find out I REALLY love Caprihinas - the limes were good but the tropical ones were YUMMY!!!! I am so looking forward to trying more today - there was 5 flavors!
Today I skipping the fashionable flip flops for tennis shoes - comfort over fashion today! Too much walking.

Watch what you say around little ears

Yesterday before school Jaxon was getting ready to walk out the door when he said something about school being very boring and he needed a drink!
I asked him what kind of drink he needed.
Jaxon - you know like a coke or a D. cream soda - I really like D. cream soda don't you!

I nearly dropped to the floor trying not the laugh! A 5 year old saying " I need a drink" Wow do I say that....

Good results

Just wanted to let you know that My Mammogram came back normal. I do not have to go back for a 2nd one - Yeah!