Bundar, Buzios, and a big-ass mall in Rio
hmm… it was tough not being able to write in my blog while I was in Buzios! The gist of the trip there was on a bus (air conditioned) from Rio to Buzios. The whole trip took about 2.5 hours, and it was actually a lot of fun. I was able to get a front row seat, so I was able to unroll my legs a bit, and stretch out. 
The hotel that everyone decided on was very nice. The rooms were great, and the first hotel in god-knows how long to have fitted sheets! Supposedly, it was near a awesome beach that was rated pretty highly by a bunch of the locals. Anyway, we dropped off our luggage, and hit the beach. The odd thing was that it wasn’t that nice of a place. We looked around, and their were kiosks selling all kinds of stuff, but the beach wasn’t very deep, and was pretty drab over all. We all decided to walk around and find something to eat, well, it was about 3:00pm, and there weren’t any places open! Everyone kept on saying that the only place to eat any food was at the kiosks, so we went back, and sat down. We asked for the menu after being sat down, and the waiter in Portuguese said not to worry about the menu, as he could make whatever we wanted (big warning signal), we insisted, and we picked out some grilled steak (everything here in Brazil is well-done by default- cooked just shy of shoe leather, but still good). Well, they didn’t have it, but for an extra R$ 40, we could get something NOT on the menu. Heh. Well, there was a big argument, and we walked out, I had ordered a carperinia, but the waiter yelled to the kiosk to cancel that, and we walked off…
The thing that sucked, is it just felt like we were out in the boonies, and I had to think we were missing something. So, looking at the map of the region, I said to everyone that we should try the northeastern part of the penninsula as it is closer to some smaller beaches, and walking distance to downtown. Everyone agreed, and Dani had said that there was a hotel that was a good pick (her original first choice to stay at), and we went there to find it. Anyway, we found the hotel, and it is like a 5 minute walk from the water, and a 700m walk to downtown. We checked in, and let me tell you- it was such a sweet hotel. For those that want to see what it was, the URL to the hotel is www.lachimere.com.br. For the next 3 days, we walked around downtown, or went to the beaches. Downtown was amazing- blows the doors off of downtown Los Gatos for ambiance and just the laid-back rustic beauty of being near the ocean. Everyone was so friendly, and despite it feeling very upscale, the prices were dirt-cheap- shirts for $4 (nice ones too), and lunch/dinner for $10 a person, and that includes drinks! The weather was hot, but staying in the shade was enough- I had no clothes left that were clean, so I paid R$ 20 to have this guy wash and dry my clothes. I picked them up at the end of the day, and everything was all nice and clean (so nice to have clean clothes, lemme tell ya). This beach we went to was about…. 100 yards wide, and had only one entrance point to it. We rented some umbrellas, and opened a tab with the boat-top merchant there (you could get water, coconut water, carperinias, etc). Even with spf 30 sunblock, AND a umbrella, I still got quite a bit of color… This beach was just so nice…. nice and cozy, and a place I would for sure go back to. As far as any risk of problems (theft or whatever), there shouldn’t be- people were all dressed up, and had their purses out, and no one was looking over their shoulder. Very very nice place… *sigh* kinda sucks having to leave.
So, we eventually leave Buzios, and get back to Rio, everyone wanted to hit the big mall here to eat dinner. So we walked around and checked out the shops. I know I concluded my bootie research when I first got to Rio, but I have to say that going through the mall, I got some additional info- it seems that the butts of Brazillian women aren’t so much the size, but more of the shape- not that it sticks out so much, but they seem to have more hips (yes, Mia, you said this also! HA!) So there you have it- there seems to be a greater frequency of poppin’ fresh booties here in Brazil, but I have yet to meet a bootie I didn’t like.
So tomorrow, the group is heading to the mountains to a cabin up there- it is the aunt and uncle of one of the people in the group, and we are spending the weekend up there. I have heard that this is a nice nice place- the aunt and uncle are both doctors, so they probably have a pretty sweet pad. Should be fun. I went to the english section of a bookstore here to pick up another book, as I am sure I will finish the one I am reading by tomorrow.
Over all, this has been an experience beyond my expectations. Nothing crazy happened as I had hoped, but still being given the chance to experience the culture the way I did is a very rare, and I thank my lucky stars for being given this opportunity.