Rio Trip

Daniella, a childhood friend whom I hadn't seen in almost 12 years, was visiting Brazil with a family and fortunately it worked out for me to see her. I traveled to Rio and spent two fun-filled days sightseeing with her and the family she was traveling with. Naturally, we had soooooooooooo much to catch up on. It was just so awesome to get to see her again! That is definitely one of the highlights of my year! My parents were in Rio for the holiday, so they got to see Danni as well. Yay for all of us! :)

We had some trouble meeting up, but thankfully I was staying 3 blocks away from where she was at and so we managed to meet up at the apartment shortly after I arrived. Even though it was pretty late by then (past 11 p.m.), we went out for a few drinks at a nearby bar and my parents, who were already in Rio, met up with us later on.

The next morning we were going to go to the Cristo, but it was too cloudy (and ended up drizzling), so we went to the Botanical Garden instead.

A huge jack-fruit:

Later on we went to the Maracanã soccer stadium but since it's undergoing rennovations we couldn't go in.

The next day we went to the Cristo which ended up being a HUGE ordeal. It took us over 5 hours, 4 of which we spent standing in lines ... ridiculous!! They better change things drastically before the World Cup!

A shot while climbing the stairs: 

Danni at the top:

 

The Sugar Loaf in the distance (the highest rock to the left):

That's the Niterói bridge off in the horizon:

 Circular thing is the Maracanã soccer stadium:

 And obviously, this is the Cristo. There's a chapel underneath it (inside that black part) and this was the first time I went there that it was open. Amazing, I know.

 

  
The view was stunning! Obviously these pictures don't do the subject justice.

 
A goodbye pic after rushing down from the Cristo. My parents almost went back home without me! I had NO idea it would take SO long to go up to the Cristo and even longer to get back down, so I was 2 hours late.

A last pic together ... sigh ... sniff ... sob.