VARSITY ATHLETICS

August 23, 2007

LAST DAY IN BRAZIL, FIRST TRIP TO RIO...

By Rob Skuski – Senior Center – Russell, OH (West Geauga)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Our last day in Brazil was spent mostly traveling. After waking up at the early hour of 7:00 a.m., we ate our usual Brazilian breakfast and took the hour long boat ride from our fantastic private island back to civilization. From there we hopped on our bus and rode it three hours to Rio de Janeiro.

Upon entering Rio, we saw most of the sights that make it known as the most beautiful city in the world. Many old and beautiful churches, endless coastline, and cliffs throughout the city were just some of the sights we saw. Unfortunately, the world famous Jesus statue was covered by clouds.

Since the view of the statue was disrupted by clouds, we went to the second most famous sight in the city, the Sugarloaf. It is not as high as the Jesus statue, but it still gave a nice view from the 390 meters we were off the ground. In order to get up there, we had to take two separate gondolas. I won’t mention any names, but there were some among us that were scared of the rides up and down. The view was absolutely amazing. Among the great view, we also saw a pseudo-celebrity from MTV’s Real World fame. Of course some of us had to get pictures with her. With getting pictures of all the sights completed, we descended back to the ground and headed to lunch.

After lunch, we made a brief appearance to the famous Copacabana Beach. This was one great beach, even though it was kind of cold and not sunny at all. The waves were about 15-feet high and just wrecking all the people trying to surf. Had we not been on a tight schedule for the day, I’m sure some us would have been out there with our boogie boards trying to catch a huge wave. I know I wanted to.

After that, we spent a half hour or so at a mall and made our final purchases before heading to the airport. Even now, Steve Young is modeling the jacket he purchased to everyone on the bus and telling the story of how he haggled the price down. So here we are on the way to the airport about to embark on yet another 10-hour plane flight back to America. I really wish we could have spent more time in Rio, but I know that my mom is happy that we didn’t. The past 12 days have been a blast for all of us here in Brazil. Not only did we get to play basketball with really weird rules, but we got to have fun with our team. I know that this was a great experience for everyone that went and I can’t wait for another chance to travel to another foreign country.

Posted by: Creg Jantz August 23, 2007 12:31 PM | Category: Brazil

Posted by: cnj4 (Creg Jantz) August 23, 2007 12:31 PM | Comments (0) | Trackback