World Cup

I would be remiss in remembering our time here without documenting the mania that is the World Cup or Copa Mundial! About a month before the World Cup started, the kids here starting collecting these stickers. Every boy (and some girls) was obsessed with them, taking them everywhere they went. There is one sticker for each player, one sticker for the whole team, and several other random stickers, so more than 1,000 overall to collect. 

The stickers go into an album that has two pages for every team. 

You buy the stickers in packs at the store like you would baseball cards, and then once you have duplicates, you trade them. That's where the fun begins. We bought the boys zero cards, and yet they somehow ended up with over 25, just from kids giving them their extras that they didn't want and then trading them for others. The kids also play these games where you can win them. The trading is so popular that there were Cambiatóns or Trade-athons where groups of people come together to trade the stickers, all over the city: in neighborhood parks, malls, schools, etc. 

Now that the World Cup has actually started, the games are being played all day, every day, everywhere.  Everyone is talking about, everyone is watching it, and all the kids have their favorite teams and players. It's an obsession here, and it's been really fun to be a part of it, even if our enthusiasm isn't quite as high as most. There is a mall here that is full of outdoor sports stores, and they installed a large screen with free viewing of the games. So we went there for the USA v. Australia game last week and had fun watching with our fellow Americans. 

We are going back to the US in July for a visit during our winter break, and it will be fun to watch the games with our nephews and niece, as they also have World Cup fever.

GOoooooooooOOOOooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brazil: Isla Grande

On Monday, we traveled 2 hours in a private van from Rio to a town along the shore, and, from there, we took a 30-min ferry ride to the island of Isla Grande. Isla Grande doesn't have any cars, so it was a super chill place, and the kids could run around at will. The island is known for its beaches, which you can either charter boats to take you to or you can hike to them. Since it was winter time, the weather was decent, still 75, but not super sunny, and lots of afternoon showers. With all the rain, the hiking trails were a bit of a muddy mess, so we did most of our exploring by boat, which was great fun. 

More holes to be dug! This one the kids made into a power boat!

On Tuesday, we went to Playa Lopez Mendez which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Lots of soft sand. Lots of nice waves in aquamarine water. Palm trees. No services at all, so super chill. Hard to beat. 

Wednesday was a rainier day, so we went to a beach closer to home. 

Our Airbnb was great. It was 4 bedrooms, so plenty of room for both families. And it was right in town, so walkability was super high. We were there for 5 nights, so we were able to mix and match our nights out: Moms night / Dads night / Date night for us / Date night for them. And the kids had a blast just hanging out at home. Win win for everyone. 

My trip highlight was on Thursday. We had perfect weather, so we chartered a boat to take us around to all of these secret beaches and coves with snorkeling. We had a perfect day. 

Stop #1 on our boat tour was a snorkeling cove called Laguna Verde. So many fish!

They were nibbling my toesies!

Stop #2, a beautiful beach I don't know the name of. 

Stop #3, another snorkel spot: Laguna Azul.

Stop #4, another lovely beach.

Brazil: Río de Janeiro

Last week, we traveled to Brasil for 10 days with another family from Emerson's class at school. We spent 3 days in Rio, followed by 5 days in Isla Grande, with travel days on either end. We had a wonderful time. The Mom is Macarena (Maca), the Dad is Juan Pablo (Juan P), the daughter in Emerson's class is named Mila, and they also have a 5 year old son named Enzo. Drew started both full days in Rio with volleyball lessons on Copacabana Beach. This was a bucket list item for Drew, so he was super happy. I've never seen so many courts on one beach; they were endless.  

On Saturday, we had tickets to ride the tram up to see the Christ The Redeemer statue. Unfortunately, this did not pan out; really the only miss of the whole trip. Our tickets were for 11am, with our check-in at 10:30am. According to google maps, our Airbnb was 10 min away from the bottom of the tram, so I said let's leave at 10:15am. Well, this was a mistake, as our Uber trips ended up taking 40min due to traffic. So we ended up arriving with only 5 min to spare, and it wasn't enough. We missed our check-in window, and so they converted our timed entry tickets into general entry tickets. The line for general entry was MASSIVE, but it looked like it was moving, so we decided to give it a shot. Apparently the week prior had been nothing but rain, and this was the first really nice day, so the entire city came out to do exactly what we wanted to do. 3 hours later, we were still at least an hour away from the front, and Drew rightly recognized that we would have to stand in a similar line at the top to get back on the tram to come down. So we pulled the plug and called it a day. We were disappointed for sure, but everyone was really good sports about it, and the kids did so well in line; no meltdowns at all. It's amazing what being with friends does to kids' behavior, jajaja. Highlights of the adventure were seeing monkeys as we waited in line and getting ample time to talk with our friends.

After our Christ the Redeemer fail, we spent the afternoon at Ipanema Beach, as our Airbnb was only 2 blocks away. Ipanema Beach lived up to its reputation 100% and totally redeemed the day, pun intended. The sand was bleach white and sooo soft. Sure it was crowded, but everyone was kind and enjoying life. Amazing vibes. And the granite peaks around the city are so unique. It was gorgeous. I would absolutely stay at Ipanema Beach again. 

Lovely Maca!

You can't go to the beach without digging a really big hole!

And then get buried in it, of course!

On Sunday, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain, and this sightseeing experience was exactly what we hoped the previous day would be like. There were no lines to wait in. It wasn't too crowded. We had great weather again, and the views of the city were stunning. 

In the picture below, the long beach in the upper left is Copacabana Beach. 

And we saw monkeys! They were so little and cute! Same kind we saw waiting in line at Christ the Redeemer. 

After our morning at Sugarloaf Mountain, we went and had lunch at a 1970's hole-in-the-wall diner known for rotisserie spring chicken. It was amazingly delicious and looked like it hadn't changed a day in 50 years. 

Another highlight of the Ipanema neighborhood was this bakery that was just down the street from our Airbnb. It was open 24 hours a day and was delicious. Chocolate croissants for days!!