Gooooooaaaaaaaal!

Day one in Rio was spent on a sightseeing tour, with the highlights being the views from Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. Rio is best seen at a distance: the vistas from the mountaintops are beautiful, but when you get down into the city it is quite hot and crowded.

Day two was supposed to be slower but filled up pretty quick. In the morning we spent some time on the famous Copacabana beach, though found it too hot (32C) and the water too choppy to stay for any length of time.


In the afternoon we had tickets for football. It was the championship game for the Rio province league so there was quite a buzz. The far-and-away favorites, Flamengo, won on a single goal by their superstar Ronaldhino. Given the reaction from the crowd, they appear to have also cured cancer and solved world poverty as well.


Now we're waiting in Sao Paulo for our flight to Manaus. Unfortunately, we're pretty sure that the customs officials here screwed up and took away our immigration forms when they were not supposed to when we connected through the international terminal, and now we'll need to see if we can talk our way out of a fine when we try to leave the country next week. Otherwise we have to pay a $100 fine. :(