Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Joel and I were blessed to receive a gift to travel to Brazil for our 6 month trip to renew our passports. It marked the 1/2 way point for our time in Peru. It was nice to have a good week to be alone together. It can be tough living where you work, adjusting to a different culture and not having much privacy. So we enjoyed traveling, long talks and relaxing.

Our first stop was Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately it rained the two days we were there and we weren't able to go up to see the Christ Redeemer statue up close, due to the rain. However, our last day we were able to get a view of it from the top of our hotel. Rio is a big city and didn't impress us much - but, again, there was rain. We did stay in Copacabana and the beach was pretty with really soft, cream sand.

From the rooftop of the hotel we could see the ocean... sort of.
This is the only view we had of Christ the Redeemer. Fruit market in the middle of the city.
Many gas stations, like this one, were in the middle of divided roads. I like the idea of driving in, someone pumping the gas for me and driving off into the sunset... or traffic.
Copacabana Beach in Rio... in the misty rain.