My Adventures in Rio de Janeiro - Day 9, 10 & 11

Sunday, I didn't take a lot of photos (have to get some from Lezlea) because outside of church and the Hippie Fair, Julia had a surprise birthday party for Marcia. Our instructions were to get Marcia out of the apartment and occupy her for about an hour or so to allow folks to arrive.

Julia had invited over 20 guests. She had quiches and salads (my favorite was cous cous which I have since gottent the recipe for) and then there was this wonderful dressing made out of peanut butter. The birthday cake was certainly the one of the best I have ever eaten. It had an apricot filling.

Marcia's friends were very warm and friendly. I had many pleasant conversations with several people. They were very generous with the many lovely gifts that they showered upon Marcia.

Uncle Guy and I just before church.

On Monday, (supposed to be our last day), we went to Barra and ate at a local restaurant called The Nativo. The food was pretty good but the view of the beach was the best. Here is Julia.

Here is another photo of Julia with her dog, Brisa.

Guy and Julia dropped us off at the airport about 8 PM. We got on board our plane (scheduled to leave at 10:10 PM). After three hours of waiting, our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. They put us up in the Intercontinental Hotel in Barra. The hotel was very nice but the cab ride was very scary. It's like the driver was in a Nascar race. He drove excessively fast. Lezlea was in the back with praying hands telling me to be praying as well. We finally got checked in around 5 AM.

Uncle Guy had given me three vintage bamboo fly rods to carry home to Ted (a very thoughtful gift). Unfortunately, I couldn't carry them on the plane so I had to tape them to the side of my large suitcase and then have the case wrapped in plastic to protect it and keep it all together. This would not have been a problem except that my clothes and toiletries were in that wrapped suitcase. I was not anticipating another night's stay. Thankfully, I had packed my toothbrush in my carry on. I had to borrow items from Lezlea to get me through the next day.

Here is a view of the beach from our hotel.

This is a view from our hotel room on the 11th floor.

This is a view of the hotel pool from our room.

The airline arranged for buses to pick us up and take us back to the airport around 3:30 PM. As soon as we reached the Delta desks, we learned that we were to fly Continental and our flight was leaving in an hour. This flight left Rio, flew to Sao Paulo and then on to Houston. From Houston I got a flight straight to Charlotte.

The hardest part of the entire trip was my lack of communication with family. It was very expensive, so I limited my communication to emails everyday and I called from my uncle's Skype account three times. By the time I finally got home, my poor husband was so frazzled from not knowing exactly my predicament that he had a dozen roses in hand when he picked me up at the airport. He said it felt like we had been apart for months.

Rio is beautiful. I plan to go back with Ted at our earliest opportunity.