Rio Reveals itself

Day 3...
We awake 10 minutes before the free breakfast ends (yummy and worth it)...only to discover later in the day that the hotel room clock was 2 hours fast! We've been getting up too early for days, wondering the whole time why they weren't clearing the buffet at 10 am, like we thought...
ahhh, tomorrow more sleep.

the sun comes out!!! fabulous afternoon working hard at holding down chairs on the beach...hotel "service" means a chair, towel, and umbrella that they lay out as you approach (great hotel!). Interesting scenes of people. We were mesmerized by the woman on the beach who was entirely beautiful and alluring at first glance and then on more scrutiny turned out to be a male transexual homeless prostitute (her belongings in a plastic bag serving as a pillow). These people don't wear much on the beach - stories of speedos and string bikinis are true. We keep noticing the beautiful variety in skin color and hair straight to curly.

There are many ethnic classifications from white to black, depending on skin color and hair straightness/curliness. Brazilians decended from Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. According to Wikipedia, Brazilians are classified as Aboriginal, Black, White, Asian, and Pardo:
"The Pardos are a mixture of Europeans, Blacks and Amerindians. Brazil does not have a category for multiracial people, but a Pardo (brown) one, which may include mixed race, mulattos, and assimilated indigenous people ("caboclos")."

According to us, the Brazilians are beautiful and friendly and their physical features truly reflect the international melting pot that is Brazil.

We need cash! Two banks do not accept our debit or credit cards and the search for a Cirrus network will continue tomorrow. But we are doing better at finding vegetarian options in this land of meat eaters.

At night we wander the lively beach street, full of vendors with very cool stuff from lights to wood carvings and things made of gems. Lots of artists and amazing sand sculptures on the beach. You can get a beer and walk with it. Now we have even less cash ....

We were so worried about Brazil's reputation for danger/petty crime, but we have felt really safe and comfortable so far. We are careful, but pleasantly surprised.

Lots of tour operators and two we befriended - one a Swiss guy who moved here a year ago "just for the adventure." fun people. fun time. no more melt downs. We have arrived!!!

and now that we feel safe, we'll take the cameras out and post more pics.