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Day 1: Friday, March 1, 2002

We checked into our hotel, Hotel Praia Ipanema, a beachside palace strategically placed at the split between Leblon and Ipanema Beaches.  The hotel had been graciously selected by our friends Scott and Luciana, and it was a great selection.  As our good fortune would have it, we were blessed with a room upgrade at the hotel; they decided to give us a deluxe, ocean facing room on the twelfth floor.  Our sense of luck was seemingly insatiable.  We were escorted to our room, and eased our way out to the balcony.  It was time for a little relaxation, after a hard nights flight.  We pulled a couple chairs together and gazed down the beaches and the surf, while gently propping our feet up.  To our surprise there was a national woman's sand volleyball tournament being held directly in front of the hotel.  They had music, sponsors, television, they even had constructed a mini-stadium to house the countless people wanting to attend the matches.  We enjoyed our view from the balcony and watched some volleyball, and ended catching some ZZZs in the sun.

We woke up and determined it was time to explore Rio.  For a quick refresher we went to the rooftop bar and pool for lunch and a swim.  We swam a few laps in the pool, scanning the beach afterwards to sun dry ourselves.  From the roof top you could see Corcovado, the statue of Christ the Redeemer on the hill.  There was also mount Pedra da Gavea, a mountain nearly as impressive as Pao de Acucar (i.e. Sugar Loaf).  We then grabbed a bite to eat and headed for the beach.  

We walked slowly along Ipanema beach, blessed with all the beautiful people.  Surely, I was admiring the beach attire in Brazil.  Swim suits that leave little to the imagination – they simply must be seen to be believed.  There are also countless other activities on the beach, soccer games, volleyball, smash ball, a hackey sack game with a soccer ball, and the ultimate the soccer volley game – volleyball played with a soccer ball and rules preventing the use of your arms.  This game is another must be seen to be believed.

After walking the beach, we went back to the hotel to shower and prepare for a Friday night out.  We started with a few Caipirinha’s (Ki-pea-ree-nya) from Bossa Nova, our hotel bar.  There was a live Brazilian act playing acoustic bossa nova tunes.  This was relaxing.  The hotel bar was surprisingly filled with mainly Brazilian patrons.  So, we soaked in the Portuguese, the music, and the caipirinha's and prepared for dinner.

Our first night we went to a restaurant highly recommended by our not-Fodor's but book,   The restaurant was called Porcao Rio and was a Brazilian Churaisco (a Brazilian BBQ, more on that in a bit).  First our adventures in getting there... we came out of the hotel and told our bellman where we were heading, he promptly hailed us a cab.   We got in the cab, and the cabbie told us it would cost about 23 Reals to get to the restaurant.  We said that’s cool, let’s go jack.  Anyway, he starts looping through the city hitting nearly every intersection in town.   We politely ask, what is taking so long, we thought the restaurant was just in Copacabana.  Yeah, yeah, hold on folks (I believe that is suckers in Portuguese).  After a few more twists and turns, he pulls into a gas station and starts filling up, naturally while the meter continues to run.  Now, I am more than a little pissed.  Not even Chicago’s finest would dare pull this one off.  Dana and I begin bitching, we try explaining we are in hurry and he should get gas on his on time.  He says meter does not matter, it costs 23 Reals, and he shuts off the meter.  We are now somewhere in Rio at random gas station with a slimy cab driver.  Anyway, after the tanks full, he drives another 10 minutes and drops off at the restaurant.  I hand him a twenty, and tell him sorry that is all I got and we get out of the cab.  I guess we were due for bit of the bad luck.

Dinner was interesting.  A Brazilian churascia is like organized chaos.  There is seemingly an unstoppable amount of random skewed meets being walked around tables.  Each skewer comes to the table, and they carve you off a taste.  Before you can finish, more and more meat is piled onto your plate.  I feel I tried nearly everything they had, but left with a plate full of food at the end of the meal.  I also forgot to mention the 8 plates of side dishes that come standard with every meal.  This was enough food to feed an army.  Dana and I continually joked how much are friend Jon Summers would love this place.  He at least could do some damage to this overflow of beef, pork, and chicken; he could show the Brazilians who is boss.  Anyway, we checked out $50 dollars later.  That’s right 50 bones for all you can eat quality food, and 3-4 Caipirinha's each.  This was nice.  Unfortunately, all the food and sun left us a little tired.  So, we packed it in around 1 AM and called it a night.