so, i'm in rio. everything worked out... just in
time. the navy gave me my country clearance 3 days before we left, my visa came the day be
fore we left, i got out of norfolk (because we bought plane tickets out) and then we somehow made it onto the flight to sao paulo. thanks bad weather! we're staying at nathalie's aunt's house. which is about equidistant from copacabana beach and ipanema beach. which is nice because it means we can walk to either beach within a few minutes. which is important, since the beach is an integral part of carioca culture. wake up walk along the stone-paved sidewalks. similar to the ones in lisboa, only lisboa's pavings have more intricate patterns and ships and things. but they're all fun. and pretty. the weather has been difficult. i
ts overcast in the morning, then the sun burns it off and its sunny for midday, and then in the afternoon reverts to overcastness, but it's kind of cool because it increases the aura of mysteriousness.
the first night in rio we went to a concert in lapa for a band called something like bangafumenga, which was cool. they had a huuuge percussion section, it was mostly percussion, and they had a guitar,
and a flute, and a saxaphone, and a trombone, and a trumpet, and a little electric mandolin looking thing. and they'd play songs and sing, and then everyone would sing along or dance. everyone would hold hands and go in circles around the stage which was in the center of the room. and then they would make pyramids and everybody would run under the other people's arms two at a time.
the next day we went to breakfast with nathalie's aunt and cousins by the forte de copacabana, which has a nice view down the beach a
nd of the sugarloaf. and then we went and ate at her nanny's house in another part of town. and then went back to forte de copacabana to look at some of the museums there. on the way, there was a samba school getting ready for carnival. so they wer
e having a block party down the beach.
today we slept in, well, i slept in nathalie kept trying to wake me up from 7am to 10am to go to ipanema and the beach. we were there
from like 11 to 230... so, yeah, my legs got a bit sunburned because oops, i forgot to put suntan lotion on them. tommorow,
we will probably go downtown and go to some of the museums i want to see, hopefully, the weather will be nice. maybe we will go up to the corcovado.
time. the navy gave me my country clearance 3 days before we left, my visa came the day be
fore we left, i got out of norfolk (because we bought plane tickets out) and then we somehow made it onto the flight to sao paulo. thanks bad weather! we're staying at nathalie's aunt's house. which is about equidistant from copacabana beach and ipanema beach. which is nice because it means we can walk to either beach within a few minutes. which is important, since the beach is an integral part of carioca culture. wake up walk along the stone-paved sidewalks. similar to the ones in lisboa, only lisboa's pavings have more intricate patterns and ships and things. but they're all fun. and pretty. the weather has been difficult. i
ts overcast in the morning, then the sun burns it off and its sunny for midday, and then in the afternoon reverts to overcastness, but it's kind of cool because it increases the aura of mysteriousness.
the first night in rio we went to a concert in lapa for a band called something like bangafumenga, which was cool. they had a huuuge percussion section, it was mostly percussion, and they had a guitar, 
and a flute, and a saxaphone, and a trombone, and a trumpet, and a little electric mandolin looking thing. and they'd play songs and sing, and then everyone would sing along or dance. everyone would hold hands and go in circles around the stage which was in the center of the room. and then they would make pyramids and everybody would run under the other people's arms two at a time.
the next day we went to breakfast with nathalie's aunt and cousins by the forte de copacabana, which has a nice view down the beach a
nd of the sugarloaf. and then we went and ate at her nanny's house in another part of town. and then went back to forte de copacabana to look at some of the museums there. on the way, there was a samba school getting ready for carnival. so they wer
e having a block party down the beach.
today we slept in, well, i slept in nathalie kept trying to wake me up from 7am to 10am to go to ipanema and the beach. we were there 
from like 11 to 230... so, yeah, my legs got a bit sunburned because oops, i forgot to put suntan lotion on them. tommorow, 
we will probably go downtown and go to some of the museums i want to see, hopefully, the weather will be nice. maybe we will go up to the corcovado.
