With the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics on the horizon, we were excited to visit the city dubbed “Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvelous City).” We entered the city early in the morning, on a bus of course. Our arrival was complete with about an hour and a half of sitting or crawling morning traffic on the way into town. But, this pace gave us plenty of time to soak in the neighborhoods on the outskirts of town.
Although our stay here was much too short to see it all, we made the most of our time between the bouts of torrential downpours (deaths were reported in nearby towns). Our first few nights were spent on the edge of the historic Santa Teresa neighborhood, which sits on a hill overlooking the city center – views were great. As we went to sleep the noise from the planes climbing out of the city reverberated off the mountainous landscape like clockwork every few minutes.
Our last few nights were spent in a different hostel in the Lapa neighborhood, which is famous for Samba. We spent a weekend night out walking one of the streets that is blocked off to automobile traffic (think Bourbon Street). Music emanated from the bars and restaurants and street vendors were selling everything from adult beverages to feijoada, a Brazilian staple of black beans and pork (there are many varieties, however). We had an obligatory capairinha (Brazil’s national cocktail) on the street.
Wow, Rio really knows how to do it! 
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