Brazil 2013 - Day 3 - Super Tourist

It is mandatory, in my opinion, to do the whole tourist thing.  This I have discovered to be especially important because one is not 100% when you'll have a similar opportunity to visit a particular place again.  In our instance - we had an amazing opportunity to go to Brazil and more impressively (yes, I said impressively) we were in Rio de Janeiro... whoop whoop!!!!

And so after our self directed stint in Ipanema yesterday, upon the suggestion of our hotel, we went with their preferred tour company and saw the sites.  This was really one of those "click 'n go" experiences.  Questions weren't really encouraged because our guide had only been on the job for two weeks.  At one point, Lyle asked her a question and her response was - "I can Google that quick"  - much to the annoyance of my love.

At least we got some good pics... and that was all worth it - I suppose. We were the only English dominant clients on the 15 person tour bus so that was a bit frustrating.  But in general... we got to see the sites... and that is after all the aim of being a SUPER TOURIST!

Lyle's morning Portuguese lesson... courtesy of his iPhone

A cathedral built in 1976 which is dome shaped.  Beautiful stain glass windows all around.

This was our driver lady and the 2 week old tour guide.

This is at the starting site for the famous Carnival ... notice the g-string bottom thingy at the back... very provocative.  We got a chance to try on the hats and pose :-)

This is Sugar Loaf Mountain.  There's two cable cars to get to the top... and it was hot!!!!  Very beautiful view of the north and south of Rio... We stayed on the right hand side of the mountain.  Where the town is and the fancy beaches on the left.

View from the top of Sugar Loaf... apparently the sunsets are stunning from up here.  There's even a helipad where people can do tours of the peninsula.

Graffiti was a popular art form... in some instances (like this one) it's artistic and in other instances the typical gang tagging.

Christ the Redeemer.  Large and in charge.  As Lyle's mate, Damon, said that despite the physical presence of Christ he experiences Rio as being far removed from Him.

Early Friday night and the start of the evening bustle in Lapa, the area that we stayed in... it's actually a queue to go into a club.  Notice the graffiti on the wall and the yellow cabs... on the wrong side of the road.