Windsor Asturias Hotel Rio de Janeiro

... stigma and shown you're not ashamed of them and you are there to be seen to help. Volunteering here is much safer than studying because you are not just another gringo taking advantage of Rio and ignoring the blatant problem.

Here their work gets comissioned by social event organizers. Some are truly psychadelic, but look like they belong in the Tate Modern and others depict the problems from the favelas. Karina here organized an exhibition of their ...

Back in Recife, i met up with ashley and kristi to begin our 3.5 weeks of travels.. less than 24 hours hanging out with the Mels and my new roomy suzi, we knew that it was meant to be (from the waste up as ash would say..hahaha) and then there were 4! we headed north to Praia da Pipa - a great beach town, where we spent 3 nights. we hung out at the beach, swam with the dolphins, drank many many caipirinhas, danced forro, made friends at pablo´s bar, ate ...

... th*t c*me out from the w*lls *nd required single file tr*ffic only, we p*ssed. Th*t night we h*d goul*sh th*t h*d e*rlier c*used * bit of * row *nd resulted in my gr*sshopper le*rning well *nd pretending th*t she w*s Hung*ri*n in order to win the deb*te over c*rrots versus no c*rrots….I swe*r I could feel my chest swell with pride. We h*d * spot of wine t*sting th*t night but I c*nt remember the n*mes of the ones I liked but they were *ll *rgie so I will h*ve to s ...

Hola!
Today we found ourselves a pretty interesting tour of a few of the favelas in Rio - basically they are gang-controlled slums, but they seem pretty safe and people were very friendly. We thought the favelas were not half as bad as expected! Everything seems to work similar to 'normal' urban areas, with the better located houses being more expensive than worse ...

... at 1-1 half-time, they were poor in the second half with Santos overpowering them to win 1-4. Amusingly, an old man circumnavigated the perimeter of the pitch at half time, doing keepie-uppies - an impressive feat.

Monday was equally relaxing - we made our way to the famous Copacabana beach, to see what all the fuss was about. I'd say that the beach is popular for its proximity to the city right behind it, as well as the people frequenting it themselves. We sunbathed and ...

We made it to Rio! Unfortunately the weather isnt cooperating for a beach trip or trip up the Sugar Mountain, but the city is nice as far as we know so far! Already ran into Anne from my Spanish class in Germany- we will hang out tonight, and tomorrow probably meet up with friends from our amazon trip:-) seems like we already have a social circle in Brazil! Trip is almost over... almost ready, almost not.

... og venter til klokka blir saa mye at vi kan ta oss en ol, hehe.. Vi prover aa holde oss til etter 1600 (...) men vi faar se! 16.02.2009 mandag Gaarsdagen begynte bra... det ble sol, saa vi dro paa stranden og jeg ble brent noe sinnsykt :) Paa kvelden tok vi noen ol paa hostellet, og skulle dra ut paa en pub her i Ipanema. Det er ikke langt, sikkert bare 3-4 kvartaler. Vi var 10 stykker, 6 jenter og 4 gutter. Plutselig, ut fra ingenting, kom det sikkert 8 brazilianere lopende ...

... sair para tentar apagar o fogo e não conseguiu e acordou. Então eu lembrei da nossa descendência e Angela acrescentou que esteve na casa do nosso tio avô, que era feiticeiro. Ela disse que ele tinha um cajado que quando era lançado no chão se transformava em cobra. Ela lembrou-se que havia o congado e que quando eles saiam costumavam cantar lançando feitiços pela cidade. Eu lembrei que minha mãe sempre contava que minha avô era rainha do congado. O congado é um eventos ...

... had to pay another 10 Reals each for the priviledge. Everyone wants a slice of the tourists!

With the paperwork completed we were asked to stand on the promenade and wait for our instructor.



We had to wait 10 minutes (it could have been worse) and then a handsome ...