First Stop, Brazil!

After a year of planning and many years of dreaming, we finally left for our 1 month vacation exploring 4 different countries in South America.

24 hours after leaving Vancouver, we arrived at our first stop, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The view from the plane as we descended into Rio gave me butterflies in my stomach!







The first day we went out to explore, we learned a very good lesson



When it rains, it pours! We knew we were going during the rainy season in Brazil, but we weren't expecting this type of down pour! We waited undercover for about 20 minutes, then caved and ran in the rain to buy an umbrella. We kept this umbrella at our side for the rest of our time in Brazil. Luckily for us, the rain would only be like this for a max of 30 minutes and the day would continue to be warm and beautiful.

We got to ring in the new year (2011) in Rio and decided to spend it with the many locals and tourist on Copacabana beach.

The beach on a normal day.



New Years Eve



There was a few things we didn't read about before we arrived to Rio in regards to New Years. The day before New Years Eve, we found out that the subway system required pre-purchased tickets slotted for a specific hour for you to ride from 6pm-11:59pm. We went to purchase tickets and they were sold out. We were about a 40 minute taxi ride from the beach and were told we would be ripped off if we got a taxi. So, we took the subway when we were still allowed at 5:00pm and headed out for dinner. We'll we finished dinner by 6pm and had nothing else to do (a lot of stores in the area were closed because of the celebrations) but to go and sit on the beach.
When we got to the beach, there were already a lot of people set up for the nights celebrations



We were told it is a tradition of the locals to dress in white for New Years Eve. The people in Brazil believe in customs of bringing good luck and fortune on New Year. White is the color that brings good luck. People in Brazil on New Year wear white clothes, as it is believed that it would bring them good luck and peace for the rest of the year to come.
So, the day before, we went out shopping and found new outfits in ring in the New Year and bring us good luck!




People in Brazil follow a custom of visiting beaches, jump seven waves and throwing flowers in the sea and making a wish. The Brazilians believe this to be a New Year custom that would bring them good luck and fortune as you can see in the background of this photo



I was watching this reporter on t.v covering the festivities on the beach earlier in the day, so i was excited when i saw him and wanted to take a photo. Obviously he wasn't very impressed as you see him glaring at me in that photo :)


There was 2 huge stages set up on the beach. They were far quite far from each other, so we picked this one, it was closer :


They had performers on here from 6pm till 4am! The closer it got to midnight, the more excited the locals got so i'm assuming the performers just kept getting more famous because by 11:30pm, everyone was singing along to all of the songs.

Just before midnight, they released the logo for the 2016 Summer Olympics!! So we were one of the first to see it!!

Look at the crazy amounts of people. It took us 30 minutes to walk across the beach through all these people to get to the washroom (during the day it would take us 2 minutes)

At midnight, there was a huge firework display. Probably the best i've ever seen. It went on for about 30 minutes!



A few days later, I completed #40- go Hang Gliding on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days
Thanks so much to Rio-Hang-Gliding for a great time! I had never been before, and i was a little nervous but they made me feel so safe.
My ride was so exhilarating! Such an amazing feeling to be calmly gliding around with the amazing views of the city and ocean!!











I dragged my leg on the landing and ended up with a little road burn on my shin.


Happy i did it!



Bitu was after me:














We only have a few other photos of our time in Brazil. Unfortunately, we were using Bitu's camera a majority of our time in Brazil, but it was stolen out of his checked bag when we were travelling from Buenos Aires to Lima with TAM airlines.
Here are a few others i liked:

Christmas display in the mall. Glad to see they love Christmas as much as i do :)



This cool building had a good restaurant we ate at a few times.


Skinny path way to our hotel. There is about 4 or 5 restaurants in this little alleyway. We ate at one of the restaurants and when i asked for chicken i got a whole chicken! It was crazy!



Bitu in front of the theater.
I loved the sidewalks & plaza areas in Brazil. Designed with black and white stones of basalt and limestone.





Guarana!! Brazil's National Pop. So delicious!!


Next post, Buenos Aires, Argentina :)

#5 Climb Machu Picchu

#5 Climb Machu Picchu

The title of this goal is wrong. It should have been take the Inca trail to Machu Picchu then explore Machu Picchu

I am so glad we don't let the start of our day determine the rest of it, because if we did, it would have been a disaster!
We were being picked up in Cusco at 4am for an hour and a half drive to our train. We had set the alarm for 3:30am to get ready, but we forgot to turn it on. At 4am, we were awoken by the hostel staff saying our ride was waiting for us. In the dark (to not wake the other people on our room) we rushed to get dressed and rushed out the door.

Luckily, we arrived to the train on time.

After an hour and a half train ride, it stopped at 104km where everyone doing the 2 day, 1 night got off to start their hike. Here is where we started the hike at 7:30am.
The first part of the hike was very up and down. We were walking at a nice pace, so i managed to not get too tired. I was also using a walking pole which helped a lot.
Here i am maybe 2 hours into the hike:



Here i am exploring one of the temple along the trail Winay Wayna.

The guide told us after this, we will stop for lunch. Little did i know, we had to first climb 332 stairs first!! It actually wasn't that bad. After lunch we continued hiking. Our guide had a great eye and showed us different flowers & bugs along the trail. This was my favorite, a rhino beetle bug! (that is the guides hand)
And then we came across this. They have large amounts of rain this time of year (January) which results in land slides. This landslide happened 3 days before we were there but it took the rangers 2 days to clean it up and make another path so the trail was just re-opened the morning we started.

Finally at approximately 2:15, after a day without rain we get to the Sun Temple, where we know there will be full panoramic view of the ruin, and it started pouring! This was our first look:
Despite the rain, it was an amazing feeling finally reaching our goal! It took us about 6.5 hours to make the 16km hike. (Our guide said he thinks the trail is about 22km. The rangers took a guess and they went with that. He is hoping that they will get better technology soon so they accurately measure the distance)
After we rested for a few minutes, we started the trek down to Machu Picchu site. We ran into some llama's along the way! There are 15 llamas (now more since a few had babies) that are tagged, but roam freely in the mountains.



Luckily for us, the rain didn't last very long and the fog disappeared so we got this beautiful view.



Here i am with one of the baby llamas. I was too afraid to actually pet it.

We spent the night in Agua Caliente and took a bus back up to Machu Picchu for a wonderful in depth tour of the sites.



Our time in Machu Picchu and Cusco came to an end too quickly and we had to pack our bag, and head home.

This hike and our visit to the ruin was the highlight of our month trip around South America.
It was so amazing to be able to hike the same trail that the Inca people built and used 600 years ago and to visit the ruins that took them 50 years to build (and there probably would have been more) The hard work, dedication and craftsmanship that they had so long ago is just astounding to me. i am so grateful that i was able to experience it. (The trail was actually closed the next day due to a huge rainfall they received the night before causing more landslides)
These will definitely be photos and stories i will be telling my kids and grand kids.

#64 - 365 day project started!!

#64 on my 101 things to do in 1000 days

Ah the 365 day project.

The challenge: take one photo everyday to try and improve your photo skills. I have my Canon 50D which is the reason i want to do this project. To get to know the in's and out's of it.

This is also a great way to remember what you did each day.

I tried this project a few years ago and only made it 2 months. I feel by putting it out there, (to the internet) it will make me more accountable and i will actually finish a full year.

Wish me luck!!

Day 1 - Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I gave myself the start day and what happens? I don't remember till 10:30pm that i need to take my first picture. I had just got home from getting my shots for our upcoming trip. Two in each arm!!

Day 2 - Thursday, December 2, 2010

My brother turns 11th birthday!!

Day 3 - Friday, December 3, 2010

Preparations for a baby shower i attended and made a cake for. These are the little booties i made for the cake topper. A total of 5 hours went into these bad boys! They turned out great though!!

Day 4 - Saturday, December 4, 2010

A day to be remembered! My first (and definitely not my last!) eggnog milkshake from McDonalds! These haven't been around for probably 8 years and i've been talking non-stop about wanting another one for probably...8 years :)

Day 5 - Sunday, December 5, 2010

My brothers birthday party for his friends.

He asked me to do a soccer ball cake, and here it is! It was super fun to make, and super delicious to eat.

Day 6 - Monday, December 6, 2010

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!"