The bus from Rio to Sao Paulo
Can anyone say, "are we there yet?" Luckily there was plenty of room on the bus for us to stretch out and get some much needed rest. Travel pillows and iPods were the theme of the day.
Brazilian Meat!!!
That night several of us went to Copa Cabana, to eat at a Brazilian BBQ place. A huge appetizer bar with every possible kind of seafood, sushi, salads, etc. followed by round after round of meat. Beef ribs. Pork ribs. T-Bone. Sirloin. Filet Mignon. Grilled chicken (not as good as the "chicken place"). Frog legs (actually quite tasty... kinda like a mix between chicken & crab). Rib eye steak. Lamb. Oh my!
Business Visit: StarOne
Monday morning we hopped on our bus and rode out to StarOne, satellite Telecommunications Company. Due to an unplanned trip, we were unable to meet with the marketing representatives, but operations group filled in and explained their satellite monitoring operations.
Jeeps through the forest, Christ Redeemer and hang gliding
The group hopped into two jeeps and rode through the city and into the Tijuca Forest. After 344 switch-backs and crazy mountain roads, we arrived at the Christ Redeemer statue. Absolutely amazing!
After traveling back down the scary mountain roads, a few of us (Laura, Wes, Tim, Richard & myself) decided to go hang gliding. After about five minutes of training (which included synchronized running with our pilot), we each ran off the side of a cliff. The pictures don't do it justice. We hovered over the city and beach for about 30 minutes and then landed. The experience was well worth the sketchy truck ride up the mountain. No deaths, no injuries - the trip's hang gliding record is in tact. After that, we hit joined the rest of the group at Ipanema beach.
First day in Rio de Janeiro
After arriving early in the morning, we hopped on our tour buss for a quick tour of the city. I think a few of us may have slept through part of it... After that we arrived at our hotel & walked down the street to the chicken place, Galitos Grill. The "chicken place" became the new landmark for everything. "It's around the corner from the chicken place." "It's a block past the chicken place." "Go to the chicken place and turn right." Oh, and the chicken was good too...
Later that afternoon we went to Sugar Loaf to ride the famous cable cars from the James Bond movie. Some enjoyed that experience more than others...The view was pretty amazing although it was a little hazy at first. Once it started to clear up, the Christ Redeemer statue emerged from the haze.
