RDJ...

So I finally got situated in Rio and it has been nothing but great times so far. Kind of reminds me a little of Australia, the beach life and mixing pot of cultures. Before getting it much more details I just wanted to wish the best to my sister and brother in-law as they make it through this tough time in life. I hope all is going well back home and please know that I am thinking about you while travelling! My heart goes out to you from Rio....

So back to what life has been like for first few days here in rio...

The food...
has been excellent so far. We started with supposedly the best restaurant in rio called Parquao which is an all you can eat brazilian bbq. Pretty much like Espetus in SF but much bigger with much more types of meat, sushi, and pretty much a meat coma an hour and a half after eating. Today we enjoyed the classis feijoda dish which is black beans and pork in a gravy with rice, veggies, and deep fried pork skin. It was also very filling! Besides that, the street food has benn great as well. The hot dogs which is much different then an american hot dog as they put all kinds of stuff on it like corn, tomatoes, mayo, ketchup, and much more. The corn on the cob on ipanema was interesting first. The fresh churros on the streets are insanlely good, as they fill them with your choice of chocolate, duce de letie, or other fillings. The fresh juices are great and the ascai smoothies that lou turned me on to are also very refreshing.

The beach....
Ipanema beach is insane when the sun comes out. The first day we got here we headed to the beach but it started to rain so we went to the market and just laid low. Monday the sun was shining and we went back out to the popular post 9 and found a spot. As it was the independence day for Brazil and the sun was out, the brazilians headed out to the beach. One reason I can see myself living here one day.

Life in Rio has been great so far, the people here for the most part have been very friendly and people seem to just enjoy life. A little different then the day to day rat race that I am so use back home.