Visiting Rio and my big brother Lucio

Okay, so he's not really my big brother, but he lived with us for a while when I was a teenager and I LOVE him like a big brother. After somewhat of a grueling night on the bus to Rio, we arrived at the bus station where Lucio picked us up. He took us an his family to breakfast at a nice little place on Copacabana. Thales, his son, kept us laughing. He was definitely NOT shy. It's too bad we didn't bring our boys with us because they would have had a great time together. After breakfast, we headed up the mountains, supposedly the world's largest urban forest. I LOVE the beauty of the Brazilian forests. They are soooo green and things grow EVERYWHERE in this kind of humidity. As we drove up, we saw some people rapelling and Lucio and I remembered when I visited years ago and ended up rock climbing with some random strangers. I would have done it again had we not been on a bit of a schedule. We went to a place near the top that people go to for the outlook, but also to hang glide. Now that's something I should have done before having kids! I wanted to do when I came before, but it was too expensive for my backpacking budget. Now, I wish I would have made the sacrifice because, as a mom, I'm not sure I want to take that kind of a risk now. Maybe someday... After some photo stops (Lucio and Barbara are possibly even more a of photo nerds than me!), we were off to our next destination, Parque Lage. This is such a gorgeous park! An old mansion has been transformed in a fantastic cultural center with art classes and exhibitions, making the café an awesome gathering place for all the "hipsters". I loved it. It made me remember my younger, freer days of lounging and philosophizing in amazing settings. At the park, we also liked the little aquarium with all kinds of fish in a man-made cave maze. Thales kept me laughing. He's a funny, smart kid. I ended up chatting with Barbara at a playground where Thales joined a little soccer game with other kids while Lucio took Ryan to a pharmacy to get repellant. I've never been so free from mosquito bites as next to Ryan in Brazil. Poor guy. For a late lunch, we headed to Ipanema to Fronteira, a popular por kilo restaurant. The décor was totally what Ryan and I would love for our house, a bunch of vintage travel posters. The food was delicious! The salads, veggies, pastas, sides and desserts were dreamy, and I take it that the meat lovers loved their meat too. So yummy! After eating, we strolled around the feira hippie (artisan street market) that I miss so much about Brazil. I loved all the jewelry made from natural or recycled material and all the paintings of Rio and the favelas (slums) were cool too. We debated buying some art, but in the end, I just stuck to jewelry. By the time we were ready to go to Sugar Loaf, parts of Ipanema and Corcovado were already shaded so we postponed that outing and ended up having Lucio drop us off at the hotel on Copacabana to recover from the long night and day. After resting, Ryan and I went out for a late dinner at a hip bar with open terrace seating. It was a fun way to end a great day.