Rio is good, very good

This has been a great trip and I´ve seen and done stuff I never have before and probably never will again. But it has been nice to be in such a magnificient city as Rio. Here is some of what we did during our time there:

• Hung out on the beach. I´m not a big beach bum or anything, but the beach here is beautiful - and not just because of the people! The waves are huge, the beach is clean, and all around you is the glistening city and hills. Very nice.
• Went to the Botanical Gardens. This place is like a mini rainforest right in the city. They have hundreds of plants and trees including a stunning collection of hundreds of orchards. There were also dozens of monkeys hanging out, far more than we saw during our jungle and Pantanal tours which was pretty ironic.
• Visited Christ the Redeemer statue. I kind of wondered what the big deal with this was, but up close it is pretty impressive on its own, and the views of Rio below are great. It was a bit cloudy the day we went up, but still a worthwhile trip.
  
• Attended the finals of the Brazil football (soccer) cup. The stadium here seats 140,000! A Rio team (one of four they have just in the city!) was playing a team from Sao Paulo for the country championship and we went with about 40 other hostel-goers as part of a package tour. The crowd was quite animated, singing songs in unison, lighting flickering flares in the stands, and waving huge flags. Kenneth took some great video I will post when I get it. The game ended a 1-1 tie which was a bit disappointing (especially as the Rio team outplayed their competitor the whole game) but probably for the best as this kept the fans under control after it was over.
  

I can definitely see myself coming back to Rio sometime. It is a nice mix of relaxation and fun stuff to see and do. And at no point did we feel unsafe at all, though we also were never out that late and always stuch to the main areas of Ipanema, Copacabana, etc.