Day 28; Obrigada Rio de Janeiro!

I feel extremely blessed right now.. I still can't believe I was able to visit the city I wanted to meet since I was 6.. 20 years ago I fell in love with football, USA 1994's fault.. Brazil 2014 is the responsible for making me fall even more deeply in love with this beautiful sport! 

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most beautiful cities I've been able to visit. I'm grateful that I was able to fullfill my promise to a 6 yr old girl and I took her to meet Rio. As soon as we were minutes away from landing in Rio, I became that girl again.. You can ask Fhara, she even told me to behave and relax! I just couldn't control my excitement and I still can't believe I was able to spend 12 days exploring every corner of the city..

We visited all the typical tourist places but we also went to places the locals recommended us. Everyone in Rio was very friendly, helpful and I was able to meet people from all over the world. 

Today, we went to breakfast to a place named "Confeitaria Colombo". It's 120 years old, the place is beautiful and the food was delicious! I was able to eat the waffles I've been craving for the past 2 weeks! :)

The hot chocolate was one of the best I've drank in my life! 

After breakfast we went to the market to buy the last souvenirs we needed. I couldn't ignore the resemblance of the town with San Juan, Puerto Rico.. 

I guess you can say, "you're always thinking about home!"

We enjoyed every single minute of our last day in Rio and I can't believe I have to say goodbye in just a couple of hours..

Rio, I can guarantee you we're going to see each other again!! 

Love,

Mayte

Day 27; Adeus World Cup 2014!

The day everyone was waiting for since South Africa 2010, was finally here! The stage for the World Cup final was set..

We woke up early and decided to walk around Copacabana to visit the official store of the FIFA. The store had no merchandise but I was able to find a book that recaps the 100 years of my Seleção! I haven't read it but I can't wait to start! 

After the shopping spree it was time to find a place to watch the game. Rio de Janeiro was infested with Argentinians but you can easily spot the Germans. We went to the same restaurant we watched Germany vs Brasil and I was hoping for a German win.

Next to us was a table of Argentinians who wanted us to bet to a German win. We didn't but now I wished I had! The game was mostly dominated by the Germans and Gonzalo Higuain missed the chances for Argentina. I love the guy but it makes me extremely mad that the guy is always offside!! 

The guy with the hat didn't believed me when I told him that about Higuain, after the game he came over to tell me I was completely right.. He's my favorite player, you can't argue with me about him! :)

We met a couple from London and she was one of the sweetest/nicest girls we've met during our trip. We're definitely going to keep in touch with them..

Germany made history with the win, they became the first European team to win the World Cup in the Americas. And if you ask me, they totally deserve their 4th Championship. They've been working hard for the past World Cups and they played amazingly.

If you think what Mexicans did after the penalty was called in the round of 16 match was disriapectful, I don't have words to explain Argentinians actions today. After Germany scored, they started to get into fights. When the game ended, they went to the streets and started stoping traffic by sitting in front of cars/busses, and since they didn't wanted to move, the police had to close the street and call reinforcements. Also, they were insulting Brazilians like always.. You shouldn't disrespect the country that gave you a place to stay/food for free and welcomed you with their arms open. Learn how to lose and some sportsmanship and I think people might change the image they have of you.. 

In our way home we met some Germans and we had to take a picture with them.. 

So far, this has been the best experience of my life. I can't wait to experience the ambiance in Russia 2018! 

Tomorrow we're going in the hunt for the last souvenirs we need.. 

Congratulations Germany!

Love,

Mayte

Day 26; Dinner date in Rio!

The weather improved significantly so we decided to go to the beach! If you really know me you know that I don't get in the water at the beach. I made Fhara a "bet/promise" that I was going to finally do it in Rio.. I tried, I really did, but the water was extremely cold and the tide was super high! 

Near the beach we found the present for my brother. Honestly, he's the most difficult person to buy him something! I know he's going to like what I got him! :) In the meantime, Noelia decided to buy a sarong and luckily for us a really good looking German decided to start exercising.. And of course we told her to take her time!! lol 

During our beach excursion we met Argentinians, Germans, Mexicans and Colombians.. See, you don't have to go "hunting" to meet someone! ;)

Brazil was scheduled to play at 5pm and of course I was going to se my Seleção play! I'll always have faith in my team and I'll support them even though they're going through a rough path! I still remember 2006-2010 like it was yesterday and I still belive in them like I did when I was 6! I'm not going to go into detail about the match but the referee had a lot of influence in the score.. Watch out with the Seleção in Russia!!!

After the game, it was date night! (That's what we call it when we go to dinner at a fancy restaurant.) We went to "Churrascaria Palace" and it was extremely amazing! The restaurant is by far one of the best restaurants I've eaten at! Texas de Brasil is nothing compared to it.. We ate until we couldn't even breathe! lol

We walked around a little bit and we met some Germans that hate Argentinians too and invited us to join them for some drinks.. We said we couldn't because we were supposed to spend time with our friends.. We wished him luck for tomorrow and told him that he'll need a new shirt after tomorrow with Germany's 4th star!

Tomorrow is the end of the World Cup and I can't believe I was blessed enough to experience most of it in Brasil. I still can't belive I actually met the country I always wanted to visit. Maybe when I get back to Miami I'll start to believe it! 

It's no secret I can't stand Argentina even though my favorite player is Gonzalo Higuain. Yes, I'll be happy if he finally gets to experience the joy of being a World Cup Champion but I don't want them to win. Germany always is one step short of the trophy and they've been playing amazingly. They play like a team regardless of who's on the pitch and they totally deserve to win their 4th World Cup. I'm rooting for you Germany!

We're planning to watch the game with our Argentinian friend (the one we met in Fortaleza) and we're hoping for a great match! I'll be extremely disappointed if the referee plays a huge part during the game and ends up influencing the score.. 

I expect Rio to be a huge party tomorrow! Go Germany!!

Love,

Mayte

Day 25; Our first night out in Rio!!

The weather is still reflecting the feelings of all Brazilians but, I hate not being able to go out as planed! 

Today we went to a "mercado" that reminded us so much of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.. There, we were able to buy a couple of souvenirs and Gaby probably bought half the market! 

After we got back to the apartment, we decided to go eat lunch. Fhara, Eddie and I went to a restaurant where you buy your food by "kilo". We ate everything we wanted and the food was really good.

We still had some final souvenirs to buy so we walked around the block to see if we could find them. Luckily we found them and we don't have to buy anything else! lol

Tonight, we decided to finaly go out. The guys wanted to go to Lapa because apparently it was the place to be..

Let me tell you something, it was one of the worst nights ever! lol First, the guys told us they wanted to meet girls and every woman knows that if the guy is hanging out with two girls, it's not going to happen! ;)

We didn't even tried and we met at least 5 guys in less than an hour!! God bless Peruvians!!! lol Finally they decided to leave and apparently they wanted to go to another place where girls aren't allowed.. We knew what the guys were trying to do but it wasn't going to work with us.. we know more than all of them together! :) 

The taxi driver told us that "we had the worst friends ever and that they weren't going to have any fun without us because the place was closed!" You can't imagine how much we laughed!! 

It was almost 11:30pm so we decided to go to "dinner". We walked around Copacabana until we found a restaurant that was still open. The weather started to act up again so it was time to head back to the apartment..

The guys arrived only 5 minutes after we did and they didn't even mentioned how it went! lol We didn't even planned to meet guys and we even met a couple in our way to dinner!! lol The "jangueo" was one of the worst of our lives but we laughed the whole time!! 

Tomorrow we're going to the beach and I can't wait to see Brasil play again!!

Love,

Mayte

PS; I learned a new word and I can't stop saying it! (Barraquinhas; small stand, food stand)

Day 24; Rainy day in Rio!

Our plans included going to the beach but when we woke up it was raining sonwe had to change our plans..

First, we went to Leblon to buy some authentich cachaça (for making caipirinhas) and they found the perfect place for ir! Everyone bought one (as a gift or souvenir) and we decided to eat lunch there.. 

The food was really good and we also found something peculiar.. 

We tried to convince Gaby ("Gallo") to take it with him but he didn't wanted to.. lol

After lunch, we tried to find pancake batter but apparently they don't believe in pancakes in Brazil.. I'm going to have to go to Denny's first thing when I get to Miami! :)

Gaby found us a taxi which took him a really long time and it was extremely funny! Our taxi driver was the funniest ever!! He made fun of Gaby endlessly and even threaten him to make him walk since he's supporting Argentina!! He also told us to visit a Market called Saara where we can find most of the things the guys are looking for. We're planning in going tomorrow! :)

Love,

Mayte

Day 23; Souvenir day!

Today was the lazy day in Rio ...

Eddie woke us up at 7am to go eat breakfast in a restaurant, but apparently the owner was too sad and didn't open the restaurant! Half asleep, we came back to the apartment.. Gaby and Eddie decided they were eating in a little cafe near the apartment but not even Mayte liked the place.. We started to walk around the apartment and found a little bakery where Mayte finally found her "mousse de maracujá" after we bought some goddies we walked back to the aptartment. On our way, we also stoped in an organic supermarket where we finally bought "empanadas"..

When we came back to the aptartment our friend Victor arrived from Puerto Rico. Gaby decided to take him to "Escadaria Selaron" and since we already went there we decided to stay. After a while, we went out for a walk to see if we vould find something for Anibal which is a pretty hard task! We saw a couple of stores with nothing special. We also found a store of the "Club de Regata Flamingo" and we thought it was a good place to find a patch that my brother Miguelito asked me for.

After a couple more stops, and lots of goodies and snacks we decided to come back to the aptartment. We also found a bag for my nephew and before heading up to the apartment, we made our final stop in "Bob's Burgers". We bought some açai ice cream and shakes. We came to the apt and it was almost time for the game, today was Argentina's and Netherland's turn to win a spot in the final. I'm not going to say play by play but honestly, Argentina didn't deserved that spot!

Finally, we cooked, did our lundry and also had our drunk drama... Because your vacations with friends aren't vacations, without at least one drunk drama that includes broken dishes !!!! Lol

Nite nite

Love;

Fhara Diva

Day 22; A day to forget..

I don't have the heart to write anything today so Fhara will do the writing.. but the only thing I'm going to say is that I'm extremely PROUD of my Seleção and I'll support them no matter what!! The HEXA will be earned in Russia! 

Today was the kind of day that the  weather was connected with the feelings of the people around his entourage....

Let me start by telling that we woke up at 11am when we were supposed to wake up at 8am because we planned to eat breakfast at some place we saw yesterday. Guess what? It didn't happen, so because everyone was lazy, I woke up and started making breakfast for everyone...

We started discussing about where we wanted to go watch the game because Eddie wanted to go to a place near the "Escadarias Selaron" but it was far an it wasn't a secure place to watch this game. And let me tell you, thanks God we decided not to go!

We decide to stay near the apartment and Gaby made us go to a restaurant call MAB'S that is just one block away from the apartment to reserve a table. When we arrived to the place they told us they weren't reserving tables and to get one before the game we had to go at 2pm!!!! (The game was schedule to start at 5 and it was only 1pm!). We hurry up to the apartment to dress properly because we were in pijamas. Yesss in pijamas lol...

Because Mayte and I took a long time to get ready, Gaby decided to go first to get a good table. After we finish, Mayte put her game face on and we went to MAB'S to watch the game 3 hrs before it started lol...

By the time we got there, Gaby was already drinking so I joined him with a beer and Mayte with a "suco de Maracuja".. The time was passing so slow that we decided to tell the boys that we were going to the bathroom and went to a lil "mercado" near the restaurant. There, we bougth some stuff for our apartment, for our family and obviously  for us and we came back to the restaurant just in time to watch the game. Once again brazilian people were singing there anthem proudly out loud!

The game started and Mayte was already eating her nails, she was so nervous that a camara guy from the brazilian channel SBT recorded her! lol Minute by minute  Germany was getting closer and closer to score.. Im not going to tell you play by play because you probably saw the game, but just let me tell you that Germay scored 5 goals in the first 45 min of the game!! At half time, based on the score, we decided to come back to the apartment because of security purposes.. And unpredictedly, the Germans crashed the Brazilian team 7-1. Mayte was really sad, this was her dream, watch Brazil win the "Hexa" in their country. Later at night we went back to the "mercado" but it was raining too much and decided to get back to the apartment and prepare everything for tomorow. 

As I said in the begining, the weather was like the feelings of the the people.. A sad day but still a glorious day for the sport!!!! Congrats Germany, Good luck on the final..

Love,

Fhara Diva 

Day 20; Touring Rio de Janeiro!

We started our day extemely early for our liking.. lol Today was the day we were going to see most of Rio. Our tour started at 9 in the morning and I can't remember if we were excited or half asleep! Eddie and our Mexican friends joined us for the tour, that guaranteed us a really great time. 

Our first stop was "Cristo Redentor", which I've been wanting to see since I was a little girl. The road to get there reminded me so much of Puerto Rico's country. Once we got there, our adventure really began!

Can you believe this beauty? I can't belive someone created this amazing monument..

It wasn't that crowded but it was extremely hard to take good pictures but we figured it out anyways! 

The view was spectacular and you could see Maracana, Sugarloaf, Copacabana.. practically all Rio!

Our next stop was Maracana!!! I was extremely excited but I knew we couldn't go in.. 

At this point we started to get really tired and we were only half way through our tour! 

Our next stop was the "Sambodromo" (where the Carnaval is held) and Rio's Cathedral..

The inside was beautiful but my favorite part was the cross on the roof uniting all the sides of the Church.. 

We got really happy when it was time to eat! The restaurant was a buffet so we eat everything we wanted! :)

The last stop in our tour was Sugarloaf! This time the sky was super clear and we were able to see everything!

Before leaving Sugarloaf, we signed the book to make our visit official! :) 

  

We had a great time spending time with everyone on the tour. Let me tell you, our tour guide was the best ever! She answered every question we had and even found us things we were looking for..

Tomorrow we're going to "Arcos da Lapa" and "Escadaria Selaron".. 

Love,

Mayte