Buzios, Brazil

Our last stop was the fishing village of Buzios, 90 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Cobblestone streets, trendy shops, posh nightclubs, very different from the first leg of our trip, which explains why it is termed "The St. Tropez of South America'. It had a very European feel, certainly picturesque!

We rented a rickity buggy to take us around to get a taste of the 26 beaches on this peninsula - and enjoyed speaking English with our new friends traveling from Boston! The weather turned a bit cooler and rainy during our stay, so we spent some quality time indoors watching the only channel in English - 24 hour coverage of the passing of Michael Jackson, we know all of the MJ trivia!


All in all, our honeymoon was a great adventure and experience. Were we to do it over again, we both are tempted rethink the idea of an all inclusive stay in Hawaii! aaahhhh, relaxing!

One last view of the harbor, and these kiddies on the beach enjoying yet another place to catch a game of soccer -

From Ihla Grande to Buzios

Upon the recomendations from the locals, we were told that Ilha Grande would make a great stop along our travels. After the commotion of Rio, we were looking for sun, sand, waves and some local flair - without traveling more than a few hours from Rio. We said 'tchau' to our posada friends and headed out of beautiful Santa Teresa.

We hopped into a cab and for the first time that day, thought, 'hmm, are we being kidnapped?'. Our non-English driver pulled into a dead end junk-car-graveyard type of deal and tried to speak to us. Uh, should we get out now?! Fortunately, he quickly spun around and we were on our way.

We made it to the bus station, and a couple of hours later we were dropped off at another town, keeping our fingers crossed we were in the right place. Pointing to the map with our next posada confirmation - we were escorted to a water taxi, and soon were on our way...or we thought.


Nightfall was approaching, and soon the group of 20 or so people starting pulling out Cachaca, beers and vodka! An hour went by, no land in sight. We were cold, tired and totally confused. Keeping our fingers crossed, we thought for the second time that day, 'hmm, are we being kidnapped?!'. Like two newlywed lovebirds we cuddled together (awww) to keep warm, chalked another one up to our honeymoon adventure - and finally, another hour later we arrived!

Here we were at 9pm, dropped off on a beach, somewhere in Brazil. It was dark, we were cold and tired. We most certainly looked like Americans, pulling our wheely suitcases along the sandy beach searching for our posada...after a few misdirections though, we arrived at our lovely inn on the beach.

Each morning, we awoke to the sounds of the ocean and an amazing breakfast of Brazilian coffee, freshly prepared juices of watermelon, pineapple and oranges, and a tropical fruit spread that we would die for back in Minnesota! Star fruit, passionfruit, mango, papaya, pineapple and bananas!

Ihla Grande is a protected island south of Rio, with lush, tropical rainforest and miles and miles of beautiful beaches. It is largely undeveloped and cars are prohibited, so you walk, hike, swim or water taxi everywhere. The beautiful Lopes Mendes beach is located on the far side of the island, just a 4 hour hike away (much less if you acctually know where you are going - we were told). Mike happily discovered a man renting surfboards (honestly, in the middle of nowhere!) and surfed the Brazilian waves!



One highlight of our stay included the authentic Churasco prepared and served right on the beach, yummy! Soccer, of course, is huge in Brazil - and it was played everywhere. This is a typical street on Ihla Grande - a group of kids having a good old time!



On our last day, Katrina went off to scuba dive and saw an amazing variety of sea turtles, squid, an octopus and mooray eels. Scuba diving is another thing that gets very interesting when noone speaks English! Mike had a difficult time staying back and had to get a beach side massage - poor guy! The scene below is from our table at our favorite restaurant on Ihla Grande, partly because there was great dog watching (good people watching too), but these furry creatures gave us a laugh as they waited outside for their Dad.



We were prepared to continue our journey after our stay in Ihla Grande. Although it was beautiful and relaxing, we were ready to be surrounded by maybe just a little bit of commercialism. We were now ready to head north and off to Buzios we go!

Honeymooning in Rio de Janeiro

Selecting a honeymoon destination involved a few non-negotiable criteria: somewhere we could have an adventure, somewhere warm and someplace we should go now before children would prevent us from going to this place....Brazil was the only place on our wish list that fit all three!

After nearly 10 hours of flying, we arrived in Rio and settled into the Santa Teresa district which was described to us as the 'artistic', 'quaint' and 'bohemian' neighborhood. Among the cobblestone streets,we stayed at a 'pousada', or guesthouse, situated up in the jungley mountains, overlooking the city. Our hosts Bill and Susan, expats from London, had a refreshing bottle of bubbly waiting for us to enjoy on our balcony.















There are no squirrels in Rio, so we had a treat awakening to the resident marmosets waiting for us on the balcony, hungry for little bananas. This guy, in particular, was one greedy little fella!




Rio is a city of hustle and bustle, Portuguese flying around, out of control taxis whizzing by and lots, lots, LOTS of 'Meat and Cheese' to be consumed. The Caipirinha is the Brazilian Mojito of sorts, made with lime, sugar and the potent Cachaca - or sugar cane liquor. They sure make your mouth pucker, but proved to be a reliable treat at the end of a honeymooning day!

If we were to do it over again, maybe we would consider more a tranquil honeymoon destination, but we are still happy to have experienced Brazil. The scenery was magnificent, a bustling yet beautiful combination of beaches, skyscrapers and mountains.












One of the highlights of our stay in Rio was hang-gliding from 1,700 feet off the Pedra Bonita Ridge. Although our guides spoke little English (mostly 'um, dois, tres...JUMP!'), we were able to decipher the fact that we would be strapped on with 2 caribeaners and simply had to run down the platform and jump off the mountain edge. It was well worth the nerves, flying with a bird's-eye view over Rio, Copacabana and the ocean - dramatically landing on Pepino Beach.












If you have seen the movie City of God, you know what a favela is. Our innkeeper Bob brought us into a favela to visit the home of his scruffy expat friend Bill, another memorable experience. Widely recognized as the Brazilian 'slums', favelas occupy a large portion of the city. Rooms are built upon rooms, higher and higher, nestled in among the sides of the mountains and landscape. In years past, the favelas were dangerous, seedy places well accustomed to violent crime. Although they have a long way to go, slowly, there has been improvement as the 'Boppy' or 'Good Police' are cleaning up the areas.

Bill welcomed us into his home, fed us Cervejas (beers!) and all kinds of crazy stories. Being an artist, his favela style apartment took on a look of nothing we had ever seen. We kept climbing up and up past little nooks and crannies until we reached to roof, where we enjoyed a breathtaking view of the city. The advantage of living in this particular favela include no rent, free utilites hi-jacked from the few people that actually pay for them, and of course, the beautiful views of Sugarloaf moutain.









Our visit in Rio would not have been complete without a jaunt up to Mount Corcovado to see the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. The statue overlooks Rio, with open stretched arms to take care of the city. High on the peak of Corcovado, you will see from these photos that He can be seen from just about any point in Rio, at any time of day.

The funicular tram brings you to straight up, to the best view of the city. Can you believe we were the first ones to pose in such a creative stance?






After spending the first leg of our journey in hectic Rio, we were ready to head to the islands for some slow beach time. Before we left for Ihla Grande though, we pulled ourselves our for one last night of dancing under the (slightly seedy) Arcos de Lapa to the best samba beats in Rio. We didn't really know what we were doing, but after a few Caipirinhas, nothing could hold us back!

At the Copacabana!

We're going to Rio!

After contemplating several wonderful destinations, we have finally decided upon Brazil as our honeymoon destination! We'll be spending two weeks traveling around Brazil, flying into Rio de Jeneiro and ending up in Buzios, a romantic fishing village up the coast (as the Lonely Planet tells us).

Now that we have our honeymoon booked, we can hopefully refocus on the important wedding details, such as renting some nice bathrooms and figuring out the marriage license, but honeymoon details are so much fun!