Jankers

We are happy to announce that we made is safely to our final destination. We were worried at first because as soon as we crossed the border into Brazil, we realized our Spanish (and English) did not work! We ended up catching a 23 hour bus ride from the Brazilian side of Iquazu Falls to Rio. For some reason, the trip ended up being 25 hours. There was no food on the bus, but the bus made ample stops at service exits like they have on the east coast. The only challenge was understanding how much time the bus driver said we had at each stop.

We found accomodation in Rio to be significantly more expensive but we were fortunate to find a place with a kitchen. We ate out once at a restaurant so we could at least say we tried the local food.

Our schedule in Rio has been fairly easy. Sleep in, hang out at the beach, then sightsee (one thing per day).

We were informed not to bring ANYTHING to the beach except essentials like towel and sunscreen. We listened to the advice so no pics of us relaxing under the sun. The first afternoon we went to Sugar Loaf mountain. This is a place where they installed a tourist cable car to the top of the Sugar Loaf, one of many large rock hills near the coast.

View from the top. If you look closely in this photo you can see Christ the Redeemer, a huge statue on another hill.

This view shows Copacabana beach, where we were staying.

The sun seems to set pretty early here so we stayed until the city lights were visible.

The next day, we headed to Christ the Redeemer after our sunbathing. There is a tourist ŽCog TrainŽ which brings you to the top of the mountain. (You can take a taxi for probably less but who can resist the touristy stuff?) I guess they call it a cog train because the train rides on a gear system in the middle of the tracks.

Unfortunately, the sunset caught us off guard again, and some clouds rolled in. I was able to snatch a few photos of Jesus every few minutes when the clouds cleared.

Waiting for the train at the top. The steep dark tracks look eerie but itŽs better than walking!

This morning, I decided to get up early and see if I could catch the sunrise. I thought it should be safe to take the camera out since it was only 6:00am. Surprisingly, a few folks were hanging out.

And the sun came up as expected

I was about to leave when a couple walked by and tried to say something to me. I ignored them at first since the woman was stumbling with her bottle of booze, but as I looked back, I heard the guy say, Žthose guys are going to rob you!Ž He was pointing the opposite direction as me. I could see some figures but they seemed like random people walking the beach.

I was just heading in when a kid jogged up beside me and pointed to his wrist like he wanted the time. I knew it was 6:20am but I immediately thought of the warnings we received. One kid will say something to you while his buddy will snatch your things. I just said ŽnoŽrather firmly, and kept walking. Immediately after that, I felt about 4-5 kids on top of me! I donŽt remember much except that they seemed young enough that I wasnŽt afraid to struggle. They really were just trying to rip my camera bag off. Fortunately it had a shoulder strap and was velcroed to my waist. I yelled help a few times, since there were other people easily within earshot. I think I was only 20 yards or so from the fishermen.

At some point, I got one of them in a headlock, but shortly after that I tumbled to the ground. Suddenly I saw a rather large, worn-out looking kitchen knife. IŽm not sure where it came from but the kid I had was holding it. Out of instinct, I grabbed the kidŽs hand and easily pointed the knife away from me. I had a quick thought of stabbing the kid but I didnŽt want to escalate the matter.

I think this is the time that I felt a sharp pain on my stomach. I have never been stabbed but IŽm pretty sure I have been bitten before and I could tell thatŽs what it was. The kid I had in a headlock decided to take a chomp at my belly!

Just a moment later, I noticed I was free and I got up and ran without even looking back. I vaguely recall someone yelling at one of the kids so I can only assume someone came to my rescue. Thank God!

Back at the hotel, I assessed the damage. They snatched the hotel key from my pocket. Fortunately, the hotel is secure and they had another key. Small cut on my hand, scrape on my shin, huge scrape across my chest, and one bite mark on my abdomen! I felt kinda funny laying out in the sun this morning with all my wounds. It wasnŽt until I was putting on sunscreen that I realized the kids got my cross necklace.

ThatŽs it for Rio, thankfully. We are heading now to the airport. We fly to Sao Paolo, then Dallas, then Seattle, arriving Saturday at 10am. See you all soon!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 8:42 am and is filed under Brazil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.