X-mas is coming

Today is the last day of november and we get closer to christmas every day.
One of my favorite things about christmas in Rio is this huge xmas tree we are gifted with every year. Since 1996 Bradesco, a brazilian bank, gives us this beautiful floating tree to make our december even more beautiful. It's placed on Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, the heart of the south zone of the city and one of the most expensive places to live inRio.

The tree gets bigger and more beautiful every year and this saturday (dec 2nd) a 82 m high structure of 2,8 milion microlamps and 500 ton of weight will be lit up. This picture was taken by O Globo news durig the tests made yeasterday; you can see how big it is comparing the people in the picture with it. There is a party every year to celebrate the tree and everybody likes to go there to watch it.

If you come to Rio in december, don't miss it. The tree will be there until the end of january, i think. There are dozens of bars and restaurants around the lagoon where you can drink and eat at night while watching this guiness awarded beautiful thing. I'll be there and take some pictures for my on. Show you later.

xxx

Sad end

"Hey, will you give us a ride?"

It's been a sad city and a sad country after saturday game. Disappointed is the best word. First thing in the morning was to through away all the flags we had here in the office. I get angry every time i see anything green and yellow.

No more world cup talking.

World Cup

Unfortunately, it's not a stadium. I really wish I were in Germany to watch the games but I had no money left after my last acquisition (i'll show you later). So I had to to count on brazilians' hability to make everything a big party to have a good time during the games.

This is what is happening every Brazil's game day in the place you usually hear of as a basic touristic point in Rio: Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf in English). And I was there!!

The place was totally full with 1.500 people watching the game together. Really exciting! This has been the best game so far and we've already won Ghana last Tuesday.

This saturday will be our chance to beat France and show them who is the best.

Many thanks

Sorry for not having any pictures for you but i'd like to thank you all for the warming welcomes and to ask you not to quit coming. :)

Actually, Joe, the light in my pictures is different because i take them with my cell phone. I almost quit posting because I thought you wouldn’t like it but I’ll insist a little longer. It means my pictures are not gonna be so good but i'll try not to disappoint you anyway. ;)

Anne and Michael I didn’t know I had blocked them… Hope you keep teaching me how to use this… And Mike did you like the city? Where did you stay?

Though I have no pictures, let me tell you a little more about Rio.

It’s an ugly rainy day here today. Cariocas are not used to cold and rain so it’s funny to see everybody in coats every time temperature falls lower than 20ºC. I’ll try to steal my boyfriend’s camera and show you how the summer city looks like in autumn. Don’t give up on me guys!

What's out there

This is the view i have from my table at work. It's an example of one of the things that fascinate me about Rio: we are always in touch with nature. There are trees everywhere and you don’t have to go far to be in the middle of the forest.

This bay in the picture is Guanabara Bay. The Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500. One year later they came back with another expedition to know better the new lands they had found. One of the first places they discovered was this bay. They first thought it was a river and, as it was January, they named the place January River – in Portuguese, Rio de Janeiro.

This bridge you see is Presidente Costa e Silva Bridge. It’s commonly called Rio-Niterói Bridge because, as the name says, it connects Rio de Janeiro to Niterói, a neighbor city. It’s very used every day because there are many people who lives in Niterói that work in Rio and it’s the best way to the Lakes Region where everybody likes to go in summer.

You can also use small boats to cross the bay; it is much faster and pleasant.

Ipanema sunset

Let me start with the obvious: the beaches.

Rio has the most beautiful beaches i've ever seen and they are of the main touristic point of the city - yes, we have Sugar Loaf an Corcovado too but i'll talk about them later.

They are not just beautiful, they are different. And the reason is the people. People from Rio (the cariocas) make the beaches a special place. It's a place to meet people, where you have special friends (the beach dudes) and where everybody goes every sunny weekend. Every summer weekend nobody does anything before going to the beach and Monday is the day to show the tan around.

The most famous beach is Ipanema - the one of the picture. It's my favorite neighbourhood and a wonderful place to live. It's just not very cheap but the place everybody should stay when visiting Rio.