HOLA!!
feeling like it was time to go exploring again, iben and i left to rio de janeiro, brazil on monday february 10th. we landed in brazil on a wednesday. like any foreign country that i've never been to before there is a "figure shit out" period that usually takes a few days. in this case... it was no different. there is a subway that runs throughout rio and a typical bus system that takes no getting used to. needless to say, rio de janeiro is easy to get around. the people are friendly and helpful although no one speaks english. i would say that of the countries i've visited china as a whole speaks the least amount of english followed closely by brazil.
the currency at the moment is 2.4 to a dollar but the costs are much more expensive than i anticipated, especially since we came at the most touristy time of year, carnaval. iben and i found a studio (about 700 square feet) for R$4500 (brazillian currency is the "real", 'reee-al') a month which equates to roughly $2000 US dollars. in the off-season the price drops to about $1200/month. with the world cup being hosted here in june, our renter said the price of our studio will be $6000/month. they take their futbol seriously, seriously. restaurants, grocery stores, and alcohol are on the cheaper side of seattle prices although not as quality. "is there anything really cheap?" one might ask. yes. havaianas. they're like 8 bucks a pair. i now have three.
before leaving traveling this time i was pretty obsessed with how little i could bring with me in my backpack. the last time out, my backpack fully loaded weighed 54lbs. yes, 54 POUNDS. why? i don't know. your guess is as good as mine. hair products? pull-up bar? four pairs of toms shoes, maybe? well, any guesses on how much my bag weighed this time? i'll wait...
if you guessed 23lbs i say you is lying, or because i told you on the phone before writing this.
anyways, super stoked about that. the only element my bag lacks is gear for temperatures under 50 fahrenheit. but temperature is easy to prep for when traveling as clothes are ubiquitous. unfortunately, my list from last trip was deleted, but here is my list of what i brought with me this time:
clothes:
2 jeans
2 shorts
6 t-shirts
1 hoodie
1 long sleeve
1 short-sleeve button-up
3 under armour long sleeve rash guards
1 jiu jitsu boardshorts
2 swim shorts
7 underwear
6 socks (4 short, 2 ankle high)
1 running/workout shoes
1 hiking shoes
1 walking shoes
1 slippers
toiletry type stuff:
toothbrush
face lotion
retainer w/ case
mma mouthguard
chapstick
hand sanitizer
small mirror
hair gel
2 cortizone cream
ear plugs
eye sleep shades
toiletry case
travel towel
hair clippers and 8 lengths w/ carrying case
shaver
straight razor
major electronics:
ipad w/ keyboard case
iphone w/ case and original box & contents
galaxy note cell w/ case
kindle w/ case
nintendo 3ds xl w/ zelda game, mario game
2 apple lightening chargers
1 micro usb charger
nintendo 3ds xl charger
universal plug
misc:
flashlight w/ case and light adaptor
2 wallets
brazil lonely planet (iben's idea, ugh)
watter bottle
passport w/ cover
vaccine records
2 extra visa headshot pictures
$100 worth of thc edibles
travel pillow
duct tape
super glue
lint roller
2 compression bags
1 backpack
and
infinite units of good feelings
well that's the jist of it. i will post about carnaval and brazillian culture soonish.
love you guys!!
paul (and iben :)
our studio is pretty sweet; situated in the city of copacabana a block from the beach, a block from the metro station, and next door to copacabana palace
"christo redentor", or christ the reedemer was the the first attraction we saw when arriving in rio. the statue is beautiful and massive (98ft tall). we stayed for a few hours killing our cell phone batteries taking pictures. the platform overlooks all of rio de janeiro and on a clear day you can see everything.
at night the lights would turn on to luminate christo a purple-ish color. it was awesome.
lots of coconuts in brazil
street art by some puruvian guy who settled in rio like 30 years ago
a church
our favortie: chocolate filled churros
some friends we made along the way. they've taken us to "blocos" or block parties, which consist of thousands of people dressed up, drinking, singing and dancing for hours. these blocos go on for the whole month of carnaval.
traffic stops for the blocos. if they come to a stop during a blocos, the traffic waits until the blocos passes which can last hours.
ipanema beach on a sunday during carnaval. they estimated close to a million people within a square mile on this day.
feeling like it was time to go exploring again, iben and i left to rio de janeiro, brazil on monday february 10th. we landed in brazil on a wednesday. like any foreign country that i've never been to before there is a "figure shit out" period that usually takes a few days. in this case... it was no different. there is a subway that runs throughout rio and a typical bus system that takes no getting used to. needless to say, rio de janeiro is easy to get around. the people are friendly and helpful although no one speaks english. i would say that of the countries i've visited china as a whole speaks the least amount of english followed closely by brazil.
the currency at the moment is 2.4 to a dollar but the costs are much more expensive than i anticipated, especially since we came at the most touristy time of year, carnaval. iben and i found a studio (about 700 square feet) for R$4500 (brazillian currency is the "real", 'reee-al') a month which equates to roughly $2000 US dollars. in the off-season the price drops to about $1200/month. with the world cup being hosted here in june, our renter said the price of our studio will be $6000/month. they take their futbol seriously, seriously. restaurants, grocery stores, and alcohol are on the cheaper side of seattle prices although not as quality. "is there anything really cheap?" one might ask. yes. havaianas. they're like 8 bucks a pair. i now have three.
before leaving traveling this time i was pretty obsessed with how little i could bring with me in my backpack. the last time out, my backpack fully loaded weighed 54lbs. yes, 54 POUNDS. why? i don't know. your guess is as good as mine. hair products? pull-up bar? four pairs of toms shoes, maybe? well, any guesses on how much my bag weighed this time? i'll wait...
if you guessed 23lbs i say you is lying, or because i told you on the phone before writing this.
anyways, super stoked about that. the only element my bag lacks is gear for temperatures under 50 fahrenheit. but temperature is easy to prep for when traveling as clothes are ubiquitous. unfortunately, my list from last trip was deleted, but here is my list of what i brought with me this time:
clothes:
2 jeans
2 shorts
6 t-shirts
1 hoodie
1 long sleeve
1 short-sleeve button-up
3 under armour long sleeve rash guards
1 jiu jitsu boardshorts
2 swim shorts
7 underwear
6 socks (4 short, 2 ankle high)
1 running/workout shoes
1 hiking shoes
1 walking shoes
1 slippers
toiletry type stuff:
toothbrush
face lotion
retainer w/ case
mma mouthguard
chapstick
hand sanitizer
small mirror
hair gel
2 cortizone cream
ear plugs
eye sleep shades
toiletry case
travel towel
hair clippers and 8 lengths w/ carrying case
shaver
straight razor
major electronics:
ipad w/ keyboard case
iphone w/ case and original box & contents
galaxy note cell w/ case
kindle w/ case
nintendo 3ds xl w/ zelda game, mario game
2 apple lightening chargers
1 micro usb charger
nintendo 3ds xl charger
universal plug
misc:
flashlight w/ case and light adaptor
2 wallets
brazil lonely planet (iben's idea, ugh)
watter bottle
passport w/ cover
vaccine records
2 extra visa headshot pictures
$100 worth of thc edibles
travel pillow
duct tape
super glue
lint roller
2 compression bags
1 backpack
and
infinite units of good feelings
well that's the jist of it. i will post about carnaval and brazillian culture soonish.
love you guys!!
paul (and iben :)
our studio is pretty sweet; situated in the city of copacabana a block from the beach, a block from the metro station, and next door to copacabana palace
"christo redentor", or christ the reedemer was the the first attraction we saw when arriving in rio. the statue is beautiful and massive (98ft tall). we stayed for a few hours killing our cell phone batteries taking pictures. the platform overlooks all of rio de janeiro and on a clear day you can see everything.
at night the lights would turn on to luminate christo a purple-ish color. it was awesome.
lots of coconuts in brazil
street art by some puruvian guy who settled in rio like 30 years ago
a church
our favortie: chocolate filled churros
some friends we made along the way. they've taken us to "blocos" or block parties, which consist of thousands of people dressed up, drinking, singing and dancing for hours. these blocos go on for the whole month of carnaval.
traffic stops for the blocos. if they come to a stop during a blocos, the traffic waits until the blocos passes which can last hours.
ipanema beach on a sunday during carnaval. they estimated close to a million people within a square mile on this day.
