Barra De Tijuca

Closing Time

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

“Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Closing time
Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time
You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

It’s amazing how fast two weeks can go by.

We woke up Sunday morning and ate whatever was still in our fridge for breakfast. Thinking it was a good time for a second go at faceTime, we called the girls. Even though we were coming home in a few days Kaili still took it hard and it was a sad moment.

To shake the sadness, I  packed up the essentials and headed down to the pool, Shane soon followed.

After a few hours of relaxation and a slightly darker tan we slipped into the bar for lunch. Since it was Sunday most of the restaurants offered the national dish of Brazil, Feijoada on their menu. Shane wasn’t being a team player, he got the host to put on American football and ordered a hamburger…side eye… but he promised to help me a little with my order, since it’s meant to be shared. I jumped in head first to my delicious lunch and it was probably the best meal I had. Although, my mom can give them a run for their money.

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After lunch we met  Cathy and Patti at their place, not far up the road for a car to drive us to Maracana stadium. Apparently the drive to opening ceremonies was a long haul due to traffic and closed roads, this time the driver to precautions and we went through the mountains and Favelas to get there, it worked out great. We had time for a snack and then we made our way to the stadium.

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This was a sight to see and a pretty special place for me to walk into. The turnout of people was pretty spectacular.

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The athletes came in and took their spots and then the show began.

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The show started out strong but I have to say that after London, I am not sure anything can compare. Once the semantics were over, the party began. It was a concert for the Cariocas, which was awesome for them. They were having the best time. But for us Americans whom didn’t know any song or performer it became an old story after awhile.

The rain picked up and it was getting later by the minute so we decided to start our journey through some wild weather back to Barra.  Our driver Max was waiting for us where we left him, luckily. We had an interesting ride back, Max told us about how two men tried to carjack him while waiting for us. He was telling us the story in very broken english and google translate all while driving in the rain. He wanted to show us what he did so he leaned over Shane and opened the glove box and pulled out a knife. Apparently he threatened these men with it and scared them away but it was a interesting play of events, especially for Shane who was in the front seat and not sure what was going to happen. We laughed about it the rest of the night. We made it home just fine and I’m pretty sure the closing ceremonies were still going after we fell asleep.

If there was any day to sleep in, this was it. Our final day in Rio. Nothing really to do as the pool is closed on Monday’s and we had check out after lunch. We lounged around, grabbed some food and chocolate for the girls and then met Patti and Cathy at theirs for our ride to the airport. We were very lucky to have access to the Delta sky lounge this trip. Free food, drinks, wifi and a place to relax really can’t be beat.  The airport was swarming with media trying to catch interviews with athletes and even artists entertaining waiting passengers.

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With that our trip home was a cinch. After a very good meal and some free wine I watched a couple of chick flicks and then reclined myself down for some sleep.

It’s really too bad the media made Rio out to be this terrible scary place because it was brilliant. I can really appreciate the hard hand that came down on Lochte because this city of Barra did not deserve that negative bullshit. The people were funny and went out of their way to take care of us, even with a language barrier. There was no harm in grabbing a taxi, and even alone I would have felt safe…(that is taking common sense precautions.)

That said there were a few things that I missed being out of the states. Their paper products leave much to the imagination as does their plumbing. There were zero signs posted outside of stores or restaurants so you have no clue if a place is open or when it’s closing. And their food, well let’s just say we have it really good here in the states. But after two weeks, it gets easy. The transportation, the shopping the language and ok not the food but most everything becomes easy and natural. I will miss it and I get why people love it there, it’s a pretty awesome place to visit.

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Obrigada Rio!

Tourists

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

We took Friday and Saturday to be tourists. We spent Friday  wandering around Pepé beach and walked up the coast to Barra beach. We stumbled upon a farmers market serving fruit, fish, cheese and freshly made pastels.

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The weather threatened to dribble on us and although the sun was hiding the weather was still enjoyable.

We tucked into a kiosk by the beach for some drinks and a snack.  fullsizerender-3The views and the waves were hard to beat.

We picked to end our day at the Windsor hotel for a last adult beverage. They had a rooftop pool and bar and since the weather wasn’t perfect for sunning we had the place to ourselves.

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We planned a dinner with Wags, his mom and Patti. I really wanted us to try Porcao a local Churrascaria  but the one in Barra was closed for renovations. Instead we went to Fogo de Chao, which we have been to in San Diego…so much for branching out.

The food was fine but again we were disappointed in the salad bar offerings. Dessert was and has always been the best part of the meals here.

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Saturday morning while lounging around our place I was trying to find something new for us to check out. I came across a TripAdvisor  forum talking about a little island right by Pepe beach. They have a water taxi that will take you across the lagoon for 1 Real$ and once there we could eat and drink at some of the local restaurants and bars. Shane did the legwork to figure out where we find this ferry taxi and then we called an Uber and set out.

We were let off on the road and told to walk down an alley way and the ferry was waiting for us.

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Once we were on the small island we tried to map our way to one of the restaurants but the island is so small that even google maps was confused. So we just wandered around.

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Finally we found one of the places that we were looking for. Clearly it was well marked, amazing anyone can find it.

fullsizerender-8This is when we really felt like we were in Brazil. It was low key, tropical and scenic.

We sat along the water and took in the sights while we waited for our order of pastel de carne.

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We spent a few hours on the island and then left for the beach to meet Wags  for a last hurrah. We met some very nice and interesting people, did some dancing and enjoyed the night with the cariocas. It was a great finale to our trip, now it’s time to get ready for closing ceremonies. I can’t believe the two weeks is almost up.

 

Let’s Watch Tennis

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Do you know what happens when you go to bed at 7:30 p.m.? You wake up at 3:00 a.m. and that is a fact, at least for me. Instead of stressing about the time and worrying when the girls were going to wake up, I scrolled through Instagram, read a few chapters  of my book and then fell back to sleep. I woke to Shane making coffee at 6:45, not bad….hoping for maybe 7:00 tomorrow.

After a very casual breakfast we went to meet the gang at the Olympic venue. Cathy was able to get  us tickets to see some swimming, something I haven’t been able to do yet.

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Shane and I decided to head back to the apartment to change and grab some lunch before watching tennis. Apparently a few hundred other people had the same idea and we weren’t having much luck in the food department. We finally settled on some “street” pizza, that is what I am going to call it. More like a pop up tent with some beers and pizza, I think there were fries and hot dogs too…

img_9879Doesn’t look terrible does it? Don’t let the picture fool you, it wasn’t good, like at all. AND can we talk about why other countries feel the need to douse their food in warm mayo? Warm mayo is like what would happen if men produced milk, it would taste so bad. You’re welcome for that!

Once back at the tennis venue we settled in for a few matches. As the sun went down we watched Wag’s win his first match of the Paralympics 6-4 6-4.

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He had some fans waiting for him afterwards, kids longing for autographs.

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And then we all took the obligatory photo together with our wonderful matching ( ahem sarcasm font) t-shirts on.

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We finished the evening with dinner at a restaurant near our abode. Nothing great, just okay food. Well the coconut cake was pretty delicious but all I have to show for it is a picture of our beers.

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Today is Shane and my 10 year wedding anniversary. At this time 10 years ago we were a little bit drunk probably very loud. Eight years ago we were in China at the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics. Four years ago we were being serenaded by Chris Martin, Jay Z and Rhianna at the London closing ceremonies and tonight we are settled in our place with Brahma cerveja, so maybe I should say goodnight and talk to him instead of you.

Boa Noite.

Take Off

~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

This last week has been rough. Kaili started kindergarten the past Monday and as the week went on, the harder the days got. I prepared her her as much as I could for our trip, maybe too much. There were days leading up to our departure that I wish someone would have told me how I was supposed to act and feel because I was doubting everything. She was very sad and I was very sad.

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When we said our goodbyes, there were some tears but I know we all will be just fine. Kaili walked to school with grandma and Averi and with a last wave goodbye,
we headed to the airport.

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I’m not going to lie and say how tough it was waiting for our flight. I watched other moms entertaining their kids while I sat back with a glass of wine.

We had three legs to our trip, San Diego to Atlanta, Atlanta to Sao Paulo and then on to Rio.

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We didn’t get enough sleep on our red eye so we had a hard time keeping our eyes open on our layover in Sao Paulo.

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Luckily that last flight was quick because I was “stick a fork in me” done.

Our luggage made it off the plane promptly and while Shane grabbed the last of our bags I had already paid for a taxi. We were on our way. It took about an hour to get to our condo, there was a lot of traffic and the main road was closed due to the games. The not so friendly police officer didn’t care if we were staying on that street so our driver was forced to take a longer detour.

I have had an exceptional time corresponding with our AirBNB host. We were greeted at our resort condo with all the information we needed.

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Our view is pretty nice and although you can’t see it in this picture, the olympic stadium is to the right. We are literally across the street, it’s actually closer in person than I thought it was. After we got our access passes for the resort pool, we strolled over to the supermarket. Picking up a few of the necessities like coffee, beer, water and flip flops.

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We are so wiped, hoping to make it until at least 7:00 before we call it a day. Tomorrow David plays fourth on after 11:00 am. Probably 4:ish here and noonish in  California.

As I write this I am looking out the window. There are some men playing soccer and beyond that there is a shopping center. I think that is what we will do in the morning. I will report back with the goodies I find.

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