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It’s official. I’m in Brazil. Rio De Janiero to be exact. Ipanema to be even more exact. I’m glad I’m finally here, because getting here was not the most pleasant experience.

I left early in the morning on June 1, 2008. Flew to Atlanta, sat in the airport for 8hrs (my apologies to my family in Atlanta for not calling sooner), flew to Rio, sat in the airport waiting on my luggage, and the taxi’d it to the hotel. Total travel time door-to-door? Just a pinch over 24hrs. Wow.

Of those lovely 24hrs, two experiences are worth mentioning. The Atlanta to Rio plane ride, and the drive to the hotel.

Out of all the plane rides I have had, this one by far was the best. To the left of me I had a window. I typically don’t get to take full advantage of the window seat since I fly mostly at night (hey, it’s cheaper). This time however I touched-down in Rio at roughly 8am. The sun was up, the clouds were non-existent, and Rio at a couple thousand feet is an amazing view. Sorry, no photos.

To my front, I had a nice little screen. I’m guessing it was about 7″ or so. Perfect for watching movies. The best part, it was all on-demand and the movie select was pretty current. You could also listen to music, but blah. I used my 10hrs of airtime instead to watch National Treasuer: Book of Secrets (3 stars), The Bucket List (4 stars), and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2 stars). Not a bad lineup. +1 for Delta.

And to my right, a pretty brazilian local. She had just gotten married to some guy in Atlanta and was heading back home until all the paperwork and such cleared. Oddly enough, she didn’t sound too excited about moving to the States. She liked the States, but she loved Brazil, and it showed. I got the impression that she planned on moving the hubby to Brazil before too long.

Once I arrived in the airport and got my bags it was through immigration and off to the hotel. Immigration is an interesting / nerve-wracking thing. As I sat in line waiting my turn, I wondered what would happen if for some reason they denied me entry. Would I be placed on the very next flight home, or held for two weeks until my purchased departure. These are the odd things I wonder about…

I had the luxury of sharing my taxi with another Seattle-ite. She was coming to visit her husband, who is in the same program as my girlfriend. It made the drive easier as the taxi-man didn’t speak English; Portuguese and Spanish only. I shouldn’t call him a taxi-man though, he was actually a chauffeur. Nothing cooler than arriving somewhere foreign and seeing someone holding a sign with your name. Gotta love it.

The entire ride was pretty interesting. There are lanes on the road, but I would say they are nothing more than recommendations. There were a few stretches of 3-lane road that quickly turned into 4 or 5 lanes. Also, motorcycles are free to ride the white lines. Basically, what I came to understand, is that if you can fit, you can go. Very interesting, and efficient (from what I could tell).

There was also plenty of scenery on the way to the hotel. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what all of it was. Our chauffeur tried his damnedest to explain different parts of the city to us, but mostly to no avail. I have to give him credit though. He was very patient and tried really hard to explain what various buildings were to the stupid Americans who were too lazy to pick up a little Portuguese before visiting. And to think, he was in the car with us for almost an hour. I wish I had patience like that.

Once at the hotel, it was lights-out. I took a few naps during my travels, but sleeping in airports and on airplanes never leaves you feeling refreshed. Time for some serious shut-eye.

. . .

A few hours later and it was time for a quick and dirty introduction to life in Brazil before the sun went down for the day. The hotel (actually it’s a condo, but whatever…) is called Ipanema Sweet and located just a few blocks from the South Atlantic Ocean (click here). Niiiiiice.

The weather was shabby at best, leaving just enough time to grab a bite to eat, snap some photos of the surrounding stores, take a brief trip to the beach, and grab a snack. I think the snack was called a Sugar Apple. It looks weird as can be, but it’s good. Too bad I can’t bring fruit back.

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