The next day was a bit soggy but I got out early in the morning for a run, jogged the length of Copacabana beach and got some great views and watched a fisherman reel in a fish.
The rest of the day was cloudy with some rain in the forecast so we hunkered down and got lots of school work completed. We really needed a down day as well after being very active the first couple of days in town. I completed the deal to sell the car to someone who saw it in Uruguay which was a great relief to have it completed. I will need to drive to Uruguay to complete the deal before we leave but it is what it is.
Maddy had some calls scheduled for late in the day so the girls and I took the opportunity to get some gifts for mom for her birthday. It was fun to bop around the stores with the girls although actually getting them to decide on something appropriate was difficult. Julie and Caroline found things but Mimi had trouble deciding.
On Saturday we headed out to the zoo and National Museum of Natural History, the subway was the best option and by far the cheapest to get all the way across town.
The zoo was actually really good, with lots of large birds, snakes, monkeys and large cats that are endemic to South America. I think the high light for me was seeing a couple of harpy eagles, the largest species of eagle in the world. The girls loved being inside the aviary with the birds and taking pictures right next to them.
We then did a quick tour through the Museo National (National History Museum), it was free so we didn’t feel bad spending as little time as we felt although we ended up going through almost everything. The insect room was probably the highlight, although I liked the meteorite collection and the T-Rex skull of course. The museum is housed in the old governors mansion and it was beautiful, with amazing views and amazing architecture.
We went back home to relax and get ready for Maddy and I going out on the town. We had a babysitter come over at 8pm to watch the kids, she didn’t speak English so we used a lot of google translator. She was recommended by another one of Maddy’s friends. We first went out for Indian food, which was great, before heading out to a place called Carioca da Gema in downtown Lapa it was an eclectic place with several live bands geared toward Samba. The place had three floors and lots of people our age, it suited us. We ended up heading home around midnight, I am sure that everyone else partied until dawn. Once we got home the adventure really began, our babysitter had apparently fallen asleep and would not be woken up with all our pounding on the door. The doorman finally got a ladder and I jumped over the back gate and woke Caroline up and she was able to let us in the door. We only had two people yell at us for the noise. Oh well, our adventure on the town was fun.
The next day we headed out of town, I was feeling remorseful about leaving as there were street markets and the beach highway was closed down for the day. I really enjoyed our time in Rio, it was for sure my favorite city in South America if not the world.
Travel-Trotter 