Rio de Janeiro: Choco Butts, Caipirinhas with tons of sugar and Acai!

Hey my beloved friends!
I am sure u were already waiting for our next entry, right? So here it is!
Currently we are in Rio de Janeiro, not the capital city of Brazil, but the most fun one!

Rio,the city of beauty!

Here we stay with Johnny, the guru of the couchsurfing community in Rio. He knows everybody on CS and is the organizer of numerous events. Thank you Milton for this awesome connection!

We arrived last Saturday at the GIG airport and there we had already our first problem with the language barrier. Here, for some ATM machines require a second card insertion at the end of the process what we did not know nor understand. Without speaking and reading Portuguese we were lost. A friendly guy helped us out...but he was a little bit offended when I started mocking about this crazy system. Well, that's me - love me or hate me;)

After about 30 min in the taxi we arrived at Johnnys place which is in Ipanema. Ipanema and Copacabana r the best districts in Rio and have the most famous beaches. We are just a few minutes away from the white sandy beach of Ipanema;)

On the first day we bought us new bathing suits...MIKE got a hot bermuda and I was looking for a "classic" Brazilian bikini.

Love this bikini ;)

What I really love are acai beeries. Here u can buy them almost everywhere as shakes or frozen mixed with protein powder or bananas...hmm. If u eat this stuff, it is like a full meal - you are filled up for hours.

On our second day, Johnny took us to a typical Brazilian restaurant, Estrela do Sul. That means a buffet with great salads, all kind of typical Brazilian dishes, sushi, shrimps, etc. But the the best part are the waiters running (literally!) through the restaurant with skewers full of various prepared, delicious steaks excited to cut down thin slices for you until you are full...or even longer:)

That day I skipped to be vegetarian. As u guys know, I am a part time vegetarian...so when the meat is awesome, I eat it but I try to eat meat less often than once a week. However, in Rio it is hard to do so.

Following Johnny's recommendation, we then went to Sambódromo / Passarela do Samba. In January there r so called rehearsals, a sort of preperation for the samba schools that r going to perform @ the Carneval. It is free!!

Samba baby!

So... as you can see, there is a lot to do in Rio...Samba, party and sightseeing.
Another day we went up the Corcovado to see the gigantic statue of Jesus. Up there u have an amazing view over Rio.

Rio at night! (Now you know, why it is also save during night times;)

But what about the parties??
I am sure u wanna see that and u expect it from me and MIKE to show u again crazy party pics, ha?

Of course we have some for ya!

We met a very fun girl on CS, Tally, an exmodel, very outgoing and super cool. She wanted to bring us to a very hip boat party but unfortunately there were some problems with the reservation and this stupid bouncer didn't let us in!!! This never happened to me before in my entire life:(

His problem!!! We went then to Lapa, one of the party areas downtown, having some caipirinhas on the street.

Me and Tally

After this refreshment, we went to a friend of Tally, Angel. He runs Riobohemia, a cool hostel and throws parties almost every night. This evening/night was really freaky...I think this picture expains everything:

me and Tally giggling...

MIKE gave Tally a relaxing foot massage cause she was wearing hot red heels (u know the better they look, they more they hurt!). He has no shirt anymore because a bird shit on him before...really badly! His whole shirt was full of bird puu. I was laughing about this situation I think a full hour! Angel was taking the pics.

Angel of/from Miami (lol)

We also went to the big CS meeting at the Copacabana. Johnny said that on a regular and sunny day, around 500 people gather there weekly. Unfortunately it was raining so there were less people then expected, but still more than 100! We met some fun people at this meeting and made some arrangements to party the next days...so have the impressions how funny it can be in the clubs of Rio!!

CS meeting in Rio! The biggest community in the world (More than 18.000 members).

Freaking out in Club Six (Lapa)

me, MIKE and the DJ in Club Six

Now I think u r ready for some beach pictures! Sand, beautiful people and free openair gyms where MIKE had to stop by and do some work out ;)
I did some squats...I was the only girl :P

Ipanema beach

Benchpressing in the sun :)

Look at the guys face with green shirt:) These two pics remind Me on one of my favorite mocking videos about bodybuilding. CHECK THIS OUT

Conclusion: RIO is awesome, come here and u will see!

We decided to skip the bus tour through Brazil and stay until next monday with Johnny. Then we will fly directly to Buenos Aires...:)

Johnny is one of the best hosts u can get; he even cooked for us :)

Johnny

For the next Rio report we will try to get some of the promised choco butt pics for you. With an average string tanga rate of over 90%, they will be delicious;) Stay tuned!


Kisses to: Johnny, Angel, Tally, Janin, Eric...and maaany other CSs!!!

C ya soon :*

Adventurous Fortuna...Don't be scared!

Hey my friends, wherever u r, this story will excite u!

In OUR last entry WE showed u OUR planned schedule for Costa Rica...so wlecome to Fortuna which is north west of San Jose, right next to the vulcano Arenal. Unfortunately it is not active any more (since Oct 2010),...sorry guys, no own lava pics!

Arenal today

Vocano from above

Arenal in former times

For our few days here WE planned to have some adventureous moments, like jungle tours with dangerous animals, walking over hanging bridges and canopy (beeing a monkey and "jump" from tree to tree in the rainforest).
Every day WE had to pack OUR little backpacks precisely: Raincoat, first aid set, knife, headtorch, water, food, etc.

Actually already our hostel was quite exciting, as there was quite some wildlife around. The tree in front of our door was full with iguanas...colourful, little dragons and the owners of the hostel had two green parrots as pets, wherefrom one was able to speak some Spanish.

"Liebe ist" (for Henrik and Lisi;)

"Hola, hola"

On the first day WE did a guided rainforest tour and a hiking trip including hanging bridges; i know, very touristy but it was great fun! Just on the way to this area we saw already a bunch of cute cuatis (the one we missed with our camera the last time) scurring next to the street:

I don't know, but somehow, they look nasty

This time we gotcha!

Arriving there, i first thought i will not survive this trip! As u guys know, i am afraid of heights, right? Ohh...one of my biggest fears since i am little. Normally, i am not even able to stand on a latter...
However, something has changed since my "hypnosis" therapy...the fear is gone...completely! i walked over all 11 bridges...without loosing control...
The view from these bridges over the trees, little rivers and hills were breathtaking; here r some impressions:

...from the highest bridge, more than 60 m above the ground.

me and MIKE on a bridge...still smiling!

The guide showed us how to find tarantula's in the forest - one of the largest spider species on earth. He said we have to find a little hole in the soil, check with flashlight, if someone is home and then oscillate with a thin stick infront of it...she may trys to catch it. Surprisingly, the guide was not successful but MIKE was. Unfortunately, no pic because he was always last from our group, and i was on the forfront carrying the cam in my pocket.

Nevertheless, we saw many plants, flowers and animals. Have a look:

Street of leaf-cutting ants...sooo cute!

A juvenile terciopelo or bothrops asper, the most poisonous snake in Costa Rica.

A yellow eyelash viper behind a leave.

Can u find the insect in this pic?

Here it is! A walking stick belonging to the family of the phasmatodea...looks really like a plant!

jungle jungle jungle

more jungle

What a paradise!

After the tour WE wanted to go for dinner with some other groupmembers, as we all were really hungry and the guide promised us that he knows a great "local" place. After he brought us there, we realized that it was a lie...tourist trap!

So we went to another place...in Fortuna. There we have eaten well and cheap and after some beers (except MIKE) we were happy.

The jungle crew: Derek, Yemi, me, MIKE and Ana.

The next day WE were keen to do the zipline adventure tour which is nothing else then sliding through the jungle, flying from one tree to another...like monkeys. Surprisingly, our new friends, Derek and Yemi did the same thing. So we spent another day together which was such a great coincidence!

This canopy "training" was for me the last proof that my "theraphy" really worked. If i would survive this, than i am really healed from my fear. Indeed, this trip was one of the most exciting things i have ever done. U really feel like u can fly.

U just hang on one rope and slide over a zipline...very fast. It is possible to reach a speed of almost 70 km/h.
We all were afraid...scared we do something wrong but the instructor was cool and laidback and his English was good, too.
So here r some pics to impress u guys:

MIKE of course tried the superman first ;) HE is sooo brave. i was the second and last one who tried it, all others did not.
After that we four were just relaxing in the hotsprings and were watching some butterflys.

Kisses :*

In the evening we went out again for a Costa Rican dinner.

All in all a cool trip; PURA VIDA!
Here the song i thing suits best for Costa Rica, a place to explore...

Currently WE r in Alajuela (directly next to the airport) because WE wil leave this exciting country tomorrow and are going to explore Rio de Janeiro next (and because WE didn't want to go back to ugly San Jose)! With this animal representing San Jose the best, we say good bye this time and...

A wet two finger sloth (pfui teifl)

...cu soon in Rio!