I love this place: July 2, 2010

Yes, I know....Brazil lost to the netherlands. It was a blast watching the game at a restaurant on the beach but as you might expect people were pretty sad and bummed. The mood of the city was pretty somber the rest of the day. But we decided to cure this sentiment for ourselves by taking a van up to Corcovado mountain to see the Cristo Redentor statue. The van ride up was a little scary because the drivers are taking these switchbacks turns up through the Tijuca forest at higher-than necessary speeds. It was amuzing though I suppose. Once we got to the top we were at the highest point in the city and you can literally see all of Rio and beyond. It was a truly specatulcar view (yet another) and we amused ourselves by taking lots of (touristy) pictures and asking Olavo what certain buildings were below (as part of the running joke poking fun at how people in our group expect him to know everything about Brazil and Rio...even though he is fom Sao Paulo.) Being up there truly was a moment of sheer beauty and awe. We then made a tasty stir fry dinner, I finally got to see my family and Patches on Skype, and then we finished out the night with more samba dancing in Lapa. This never fails as a good time....and we met some of Tamo's PhD. friends who helped us with our samba moves. More incredibly friendly and nice Braziian women!