Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ~ 里約熱內盧，巴西

Here is a recap of my week in Rio de Janeiro! I have never been to South America so I was looking forward to the trip. I must admit that I know nothing about Brazil except that it houses one of the world’s seven wonders and is the hosting city for the 2016 Olympic summer game. Lucky that I have families there so I wasn’t worry at all. However, I did some research days before I board my flight so I sort of know about attractions to see, things to do, must-eat foods, and where to shop (very important). Though I found out that I missed their fashion week by just days! Awwww~~~what a bummer :/
















I am very grateful that my cousins took a timeout from work and took me all over Rio! Without them I wouldn’t have survived since I had difficulties communicating using English. Portuguese is the official language though you maybe able to get around by speaking Japanese, which helped me on several occasions! Other than that, people were very friendly!

I went to see what people consider musts – the statue of Christ The Redeemer, Pão De Açúcar, Sugar Loaf Cable Car, Jardim Botanico, the world famous beaches Copacabana, Leblon (I didn’t make it to Ipanema) and etc. However, spending my whole vacation by visiting attractions is never my thing so I asked my cousins to mix it up a bit. So they took me to ferias – markets/flea markets and etc. I love it! I had a great time hunting for antiques at the Feira do Rio Antigo – I bought many silver wares here. Their wholesale markets for leather handbags and crystals were awesome! I also bought some lovely jewelry from local jewelers. I also score some imported cookbooks from Livraria Cultura – a pooch friendly chain bookstore.








As for the food, churrasco – Brazilian barbeque beef was fantastic!! Now, I am on a hunt for a good churrascaria within the San Francisco Bay Area. I did notice that sushi was abundance but the selections were very limited. Seafood was super and cheap. I love picking up a água-de-coco (young coconut juice) off street vendors, cheap and good. I also came to like the matte leão tea, a very popular sweet herbal tea.

Over all, it was uneventful except that I couldn’t stand the heat and that I got sick from food poisoning. Best of all, I got to catch up with families that I haven’t seen in years.




阿Vi不久前從里約熱內盧回來﹐在這之前南美及這個城市對我來說是陌生的﹐縱然我有親人定居在那裡多年。往里約熱內盧前﹐我只知道它將是2016年夏天Olympic的主辦城市和擁有世界七大奇觀的地方。不免俗的飛之前上網做了一些調查好讓自己知道有那些是必須要去看的﹐玩的﹐吃的和最重要是往那裡血拼。

葡文是巴西的主要語言﹐而大部份的人英文不靈光。不得不說一件有趣的事情﹐我碰到不少會說日文的巴西人﹐因為這樣打救了日文還可以的我多次呢﹗當然有葡文很溜的表妹陪我趴趴走﹐作我的導游是我玩得盡興的主要原因。表妹﹐謝謝你呀﹗








里約熱內盧的葡萄牙文是Rio de Janeiro(簡稱Rio ~ 里約)，即一月的河。是巴西第二大的都市，也是它的前首都。林蔭茂密﹐依山傍海，風景非常的優美，是世界級的著名的旅遊觀光勝地。不過它也是一個貧富差距對比鮮明的城市。上流社會主要是分佈在近海灘的地方主要在Copacabana ﹐ Ipanema ﹐及Leblon等。而貧民區- favela多位在擁擠的山坡上。它的海灘舉世聞名，其海岸線長達數公里，其中最有名的兩個海灘是Copacabana海灘和Ipanema海灘﹐可惜因為時間的關係﹐我只去了前者。海灘很美﹐沙又細又白﹐咖啡雅座翩布整個海灘﹐不玩水的可以邊喝椰汁邊坐著吹海風。

除了沙灘我還往科爾科瓦多山及麵包山朝聖。科爾科瓦多山又稱耶穌山﹐2007年入選為世界新七大奇觀，山頂塑有一座兩臂展開、形同十字架的耶穌像，他的基地同時也是個能容納百人的天主教堂。山上有個平台可以俯瞰整個里約城，也可以看到對山的麵包山，海灣景色一覽無遺十分美麗壯觀。而另一個里約的象徵就是麵包山囉。山的形狀似法式麵包而得名，登上山頂可將里約全景盡收眼底。要上山非搭纜車才行﹐有畏高症的你可能就不行了。除了這些聞名天下的名勝﹐我還往國家熱帶植物園跑呢﹗不過我不願只當個觀光客﹐所以請求親戚帶我上市場感受一下當地的地方特色、風土人情。也往以販賣古董為主的市集逛﹐我買到很多好東西喔! 手袋飾品批發市場也很讚。啊。。還有家連鎖書店 - Livraria Cultura -可以帶狗去外﹐外文書很多﹐我抬了好幾本法文烹飪書回來﹐當然也有葡文的﹐整個買的很盡興的說 =)






















這趟巴西之旅吃到好好吃的烤肉 - 巴西窯烤。用巨大的烤劍串著不同部位的牛肉﹐再架在火上直接烤熟﹐想吃什麼就叫侍應切給你﹐也有的店是侍應拿著肉串走到客人眼前。整個香到不行(這刻我是很努力的在克制口水淌下)﹗ 聽說灣區也有巴西窯烤﹐找天得拉朋友去吃。我也常吃海鮮﹐便宜又鮮美。壽司好像很普偏﹐不過是fusion的﹐還可以而已。

當然最開心的是看到好久不見的阿姨一家﹐真的很謝謝他們的款待﹐讓我這個南美之旅很難忘﹗2016巴西見﹗




國家熱帶植物園












Some of the things I bought on my trip~