Rio Day Three Neiro

We woke up around 9 and, after a quick luke-warm shower (it's too hot to take hot showers here), grabbed some breakfast from the hostel. For the 2nd day in a row, I had a ham sandwich and a piece of fruit. As we were heading out, it started to drizzle, so we grabbed the rain coats that Joey graciously offered to lend us. When we arrived, I was surprised to find we were actually at a full-blown bike shop and not just a place that rents bikes. I didn't look around too much, but I did see a few bikes for R$4,000, which is about $2,000 USD. I'm not sure how much the average bike here costs, but I can't imagine too many people here plunking down $2k for a bike.

It took us about 15 minutes to communicate with the man in the store that we wanted to rent bikes for the day. After we requested one with a basket so we could carry our stuff, he made a call, and a few minutes later a man came around the corner walking a bike on each side of him. He handed us a small slip of paper that had the cost and what time the bikes needed to be back. They were R$80 for the day, but we only had 2 50's and a 20 on us, and he didn't have change, so he gave it to us for R$70.

Thankfully, everyone bikes on the sidwalk in Rio. I've always been afraid of biking in the streets of Chicago, and at least there they have dedicated bike lanes in the streets. Not sure I would be able to bring myself to ride my bike in the street here. But as luck would have it, I wouldn't need to.

We started off toward the Botanical Garden. It took about 20 minutes to get there from the bike shop, and was R$6 to get in. I'm not much into walking around looking at plants, but this place was pretty cool. There were a bunch of very cool trees and a few neat waterfalls as well. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.



We were starting to get hungry, so we hopped back on our bikes and headed to Parque Lage where we were hoping we could grab a bite to eat. Lucky for us, right as we walked up there was a little cafe that also served food. We got an amazing Italian sandwich and bruschetta, Lauren had a coffee, and I had a Coke Zero. I have yet to see a Diet Coke here; I'm pretty sure Coke Zero is basically their version of Diet Coke. After we ate, we were walking away when I glanced back and realized we were right up against the side of a mountain. Our table was literally right inside that arch in the middle:



I almost felt like I was looking at a scene from a movie. It was just so incredible, it was hard to me to realize that it was actually right there in front of me.

We had planned on heading back to get in a bit more biking before they needed to be returned, but figured we should walk around a bit since we were there. Sadly our camera died shortly into walking around, but it was amazing. There were so many gigantic trees and awesome waterfalls. I actually thought it was better than the Botanical Garden. Sadly, the pictures don't do it justice because the camera died before we really got into the good stuff.



We decided to hop back on our bikes and get in a quick lap around the lake. On our way, we finally stopped and bought a coconut from one of the street vendors. As someone who loves coconut, I was very excited to try coconut water, but it was actually disappointing. It pretty must tasted like water with a hint of soap. I can't really figure out why it's so popular here. I also can't figure out why it tasted nothing like coconut. Might just be one of life's great mysteries.

After we kinda enjoyed our coconut water, we headed back to the bike shop. I have no clue how, but Lauren knew more or less right where to go. I have trouble getting around Lansing without getting turned around, so I have no idea how she knew which way we needed to go. Right as we got there, it started to rain, so we were finally able to put our rain coats to good use. We walked back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit. Lauren then went to the grocery store and got stuff to make pasta. We had peanuts and brazil nuts for an appetizer, and then pasta and bruschetta for the main course. It was a delicious meal on the cheap.

After that we stayed in the rest of the night. It was a long day of walking and biking, so it was nice to call it an early night and get some much needed rest.

And that was our day. Definitely the most active and my favorite day so far!

- Bob