Arriving in Rio, Finally!

Made it to Sofitel Rio de Janeiro and the hotel has an awesome view over-looking the Copacabana beach and the majestic Sugar Loaf Mountain. Yet as it is situated at the end of the Copacabana beach, it is also right next to Ipanema beach ... yes, the best of both worlds.
We are beat, decided to just unpack, chill, take it easy and catch up on some zzz.
7pm, heard some rumbling noise, oooppps, its the tummy, time for dinner. Heard it really isn't too safe to venture out of the beach strip at night, so we pop into one of the 24-hour restaurants nearby to grab a bite. Feeling ravenous, can't wait to order some grubs only to face a foreign looking menu, lucky for pictures. We are in Brazil, so can't go wrong with some beer, churrasco (BBQ meat) and a shrimp dish. Finally, a decent meal in 24 hours ...
Churrasco consist of chicken, pork, beef, sausages and chicken HEART! Frank made me eat one half of a heart after much resistance, rubbery and livery-tasting, not bad, but not my favorite dish ... sausage is great with the fats all packed in, pork is tender, beef has that great charcoal flavor, not complaining ... life is good ... and my first real authentic flan (dessert) is pretty amazing ... albeit a little too sweet ...











12am ... feeling thirsty, hmm ... safe to go downstairs? Well, we traveled 5,000 miles not to stay in the hotel, so we ventured out in the wee hours to find ... COCONUT JUICE : ) They are not only fresh, but cold as well from the freezer, worth every penny of the USD 1.50 price! After that, we walked around the beach for a little bit before retiring for the night. Honestly, we did not feel unsafe at any point in time ... things are looking up.