South America 2009 - Day 2 (8/8/2009) - Rio - Sugar Loaf, Central

We were up a little after 9:00, in time to get some of the free breakfast offered by the hostel. I had some toast and an apple. After eating, we readied ourselves and headed out for the day. We walked to Urca, where we took the cable car up to the tops of Morro da Urca and Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar), looked around for a while, and then took the cable car back down. During the journey up the mountain I realized that my camera battery was dying and I did not have the back-up, so I had to revert to my cell phone - which actually has a higher megapixel, but less capable, camera. After getting back down, we took a quick stroll by the beach nearby.

Next, we walked back up to the road to a churrascaria that we had seen on the way, and had a late (for us, but not for Brazilians) lunch there. The experience there was about comparable to what I had at the churrascaria in St. Louis (Bacana Brazil). Considering that we walked in and sat down without knowing how much they were charging, I was pleasantly surprised when the bill came out. I predicted R$240 for the both of us (including 3 drinks and a dessert), while Greg said R$170 - the total was $115, or about US$60.

After lunch we caught a bus to Centro, where we wandered around for a while. We went by a few places, including Praça XV, but only briefly stopped in one building (because it had a "Be Kind, Rewind" exhibit). After a while we headed to the hostel, and were back before dark (around 6:30). It's about 8:15 now, and I'm about ready to crash.

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