Vacation Part 3 - Buzios

And finally, Part 3! After saying our good-byes to the group, Colin and I hopped in a taxi and made our way to the Rio de Janeiro airport. The next leg of our journey was to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We definitely had an amazing time with the group and fun with all the activities we'd done in the first 5 days, but at this point we were ready for some downtime, and what better way to wind down than at a beautiful resort on the beach. We're both fans of all-inclusive resorts, having visited a few different ones before, so that's what we found in the resort town of Buzios. Buzios is located about 100 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro (Point E on my map). It's home to only ~25,000 year-round residents, but quadruples in population during the summer and holidays. It is a vacation destination for Brazilians and visitors from around the globe. With us being there in the Winter though, it was super calm! Our goal was a tropical vacation get-away, and get-away we did!

The trip to the airport was an interesting one though so I'll start with that! Our taxi driver was an older gentleman who didn't speak a bit of English. After a long conversation with Dani (she made very well sure that he knew what to do with us!), the driver took our bags and we were on our way. We had arranged a car service to pick us up at the airport baggage claim area, but didn't know until we got to Rio that there were 2 terminals at the airport. So were we getting picked up at Terminal 1 or Terminal 2, we didn't know? We had a phone number for the car service though, so the taxi driver had it and was trying to call to find out for sure where we needed to go. Well, the number was busy, and he did not get through after many tries. So we're kind of thinking, he's going to drop us off and we'll just figure it out. So as we're coming into the airport, he stops to speak to a couple different airport personnel. You could tell he was asking a question a bit out of the norm by the responses he was getting, and after a few minutes we realized why. He was taking us into the parking garage. He wasn't dropping us off...he parked his taxi, and then out we went with him escorting us into the airport. He was pulling my bag, and we were just following along. We hadn't paid him anything yet so we weren't too worried about him ditching us! We went into Terminal 2, and he asked a number of people questions. There were several car services there, but none with our name on it. So after a little while, off we went, treking through the airport with the taxi driver still pulling my bag. He brought us all the way to Terminal 1 where we then looked around some more, he asked more questions of more people, and ran all over the place trying to figure out where we needed to go. We were getting picked up at noon, and it was right around noon at this point. And as we were walking along, we saw our name and our driver (Carlos) and we were all set to go! I am convinced that we found the nicest taxi driver in the WORLD in Rio de Janeiro - seriously who does that?! He wasn't even going to charge us any extra, but we gave him a very generous tip anyway, and I wanted to give him a hug!

So after all that, we got into another car and were off to our resort in Buzios. I thought that one of the coolest parts of the drive was right as we were leaving Rio. We drove through this industrial area, and there oil rigs and huge ships all around.





We arrived at our resort after about 2 hours. Our driver spoke 'so-so' English so we conversed with him most of the trip and enjoyed more of the Brazilian country-side. Colin slept; I read my book, relaxing vacation had started! We stayed at a Breezes resort that felt pretty new as the trees weren't fully grown. The resort had 3 nice restaurants along with pool-side dining, and an awesome breakfast and lunch buffet. We definitely did our share of eating on this trip! The pool was also huge! Our first night there we walked around and got acquainted, had a nice Italian meal, and turned in early. After barely sleeping the night before, we were tired.

Our schedule over the next 3 days went something like this...

Wake up around 8:00-8:30 and go to breakfast. After breakfast, get our swim suits on and walk the beach. After our beach walk, hang out at the beach some more or go to the pool. We read, played cribbage, talked, had some drinks, basically just relaxed. After a while, we'd go to lunch, and then after lunch spend more time at the pool or beach. One afternoon we went to the spa. I seriously didn't even know what time it was, we had no schedule. It was GREAT! Eventually we'd make our way back to shower up and head out for dinner. These last 3 days were the perfect way to end vacation!

Here are some pictures of the resort.

View from our balcony



Ginormous pool...there were several pools on this resort!











And the beach...



Our footsteps one morning



You can see the resort in the middle



We thought these rocks at the end of the beach were cool. We might frame this one in our house.



The waves were huge here. We didn't swim in the ocean at all, but enjoyed walking along the waves. It was just so peaceful.

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Holmquist Feedmill in Buzios =)



Colin and I before dinner one night



And our last night there! =) Having some caipirinhas on our balcony before dinner =)







Our stay in Buzios ended at 4:30 Friday when Carlos picked us up to head back to Rio for our flight home. After 9 days away, as awesome as this trip was, we were ready to be home, and missing the kids a lot. Our flight home was a bit more of a process, Rio -> Atlanta -> Detroit -> Green Bay. We didn't have any flight issues beyond the fact that when we arrived at Atlanta, 8 other international flights were arriving at the same time, so it took 2 hours to get through customs. We had just enough time to go to the bathroom and get on our next flight. Our trip home was about 23 hours, so when we finally got home it felt great!!!! Of course we have to extend huge thanks to my parents, sisters, and Kim for keeping the kids thoroughly entertained when were gone. The whole Pomeroy family had a wonderful vacation!

Vacation Part 2 - Rio

After our 3 days in Lorena, we loaded up on a shuttle bus and made the trek 2 1/2 hours northeast to Rio de Janeiro (point D on my map in Part 1). We saw some amazing Brazilian country-side on this drive - beautiful green mountainous terrain. We arrived around 3:00 in the afternoon to our hotel right on Copacabana Beach. Copacabana Beach is about 2.5 miles long, and is one of the most famous beaches in the world. It's a hot spot for celebrities and musicians with several music festivals on the beach in the summertime. With us being there in the winter, it was relatively mild, but still beautiful.





Our room was tiny! We were definitely paying for the location.



After our check-in adventures (all 9 of us with Dani being translator extraordinaire!) we were off for a traditional Brazilian barbeque dinner. We ate a late breakfast in Lorena and didn't stop for lunch on our drive, so we were starving!

Taxis in Rio are not big, so getting anywhere with a group of 9 was quite the process. It took 2-3 taxis to get us anywhere. Dinner choice was easy though - flat fee all you can eat! All we had to say was 'go' and the "meat ninjas" were at our table. I wish I would have gotten my camera out earlier, because this whole experience was pretty funny. There were 9 of us, and there were equally at many waiters standing around our table with huge meat skewers waiting to serve us. Everything was very tasty, including the sides, and the salad/sushi bar. I had been to a Brazilian BBQ in the states before, but this was authentic and SO good! We capped off dinner with an assortment of desserts and left extremely full!







The fabulous BBQ restaurant



Our whole crew!



After dinner we headed back and had some caipirinhas on the beach to cap the night off.

The next morning Colin and I got up to take a long walk on the beach. I was wishing I had my camera with me as we ran and walked the almost entire 2 1/2 miles. Everywhere you looked it was just gorgeous. After heading back, we grabbed some breakfast and met up with the group for our day's outings. Our first stop - HANG GLIDING!

We taxi'd once again to another beautiful beach just a few miles away. Rio de Janeiro was pretty much one beautiful beach after another, mixed with modern, urban landscapes, mountains, and authentic Latin charm; it is probably one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen.

Scenery from Sao Conrado beach













All the guys went hang gliding. Caroline and I were planning to go to, but once we realized how long it was going to take (4 hours in total!), we decided it could be a guy thing afterall. The girls hung out on the beach, had a few drinks and just enjoyed the beautiful view while the guys came down the mountain, one-by-one.

This is the mountain they jumped from.



Herb was first!



Hang gliders parked on the grass



Colin was last! Colin sat on top of the mountain for 3 hours before finally coming down!



I brought him a beer when he finally made it - figured he could use one!



And here is his video! I am amazed this actually uploaded. It's about 10 minutes long! Eduardo, the hang gliding 'pilot', was a pretty funny guy. Check out the view just after his run off the ramp! Wow!



After everyone made it back down the mountain, we were once again starving. We made our way to a lake in the middle of the city where there were parks and bunch of different restaurants. We picked one and chowed down once again.









With fully bellies we then headed back to the hotel for a bit of downtime (good thing for the night that was ahead!) But then after a few drinks in our hotel, we made our way to the beach once again. This is one night where I am very curious to see what pictures others captured. The cameras were out this night! It was all good, clean fun (of course!), but if my headache the next morning was an indicator, I'm sure there are some good pictures to be seen. I got a few good ones myself! =)

Group shot!



I believe this is Caroline's 'model look'.



Colin got his payback for karaoke night. He and Dani had a dance on the beach =)





Our beach bar



Skol buckets of beer...went down a little too good this particular night! I don't have pictures of the end of our night (I KNOW others do), but we walked back to our hotel to the tune of Michael Jackson Thriller (playing on iPod)...ahh yeah...fun times!



A local peddler playing a drum joined our party at one point. Oh, this was a funny moment! Caroline, Dani, and Chielli (Caroline's childhood friend who met up with us) knew all the songs he was singing; the rest of us just danced and played the tambourine =)









The next morning we were up early to head to the Christ the Redeemer statue. We contemplated not sleeping at all the night before, but managed to get a few hours in. Who needs sleep when you're on vacation?! This was mine and Colin's last day in Rio (the rest of our trip will be Part 3), but we could not leave without seeing the most famous landmark in Brazil, and one of the most famous in the world. The monument was awesome, but the view was magnificent!







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After about an hour we made our way back to our taxis, and Colin and I said our good-byes to the group. It was an emotional good-bye seeing it'll probably be at least a year before we see Ashley and Caroline again...we will miss them! I am trying to convince Colin that our next BIG vacation can be to Hungary to visit them, and I think we should take the kids. Probably not for 3 years or so, but I think it's a possibility! Colin is not so convinced. Up next, Part 3 (I will try to add it this weekend!)