Final days in Brazil

Things have gotten calmer (no more waking up before 5 am and we’ve been able to stay at the Brazilian hotels for longer than one night. (they've each been 2 nights, but hey, it's an upgrade!)

We first visited Iguazú falls, the largest waterfall system in the world. It’s HUUUGE. As a former First Lady said, “Poor Niagara.”
Did you know Iguazú falls has 275 drops?! Niagara only has 3!

Unfortunately, the water level was extremely high so the water was muddy so not clear at all. I was disappointed with the color of the falls and the fog that surrounded it that day. Here are a few pictures... it’s still amazing, but doesn’t look as good as it typically would. 

I edited one to make myself feel better:

Rio de Janeiro:

We arrived in Rio and stopped by the escadaria selaron. This is (in the travel world) instafamous meaning I’ve seen loads of photos on travel instagrams recently with these colorful steps. I was told, originally, we couldn’t see them so I was super happy that we were able to fit them in!

And...It was even better in person! Apparently a gentleman that lived on the street wanted to make it more beautiful...so now there are tiles from all over the world! I even found one from Ohio! 

Unfortunately, our next (and last) day in Rio wasn't great. We used Rio Line so instead of having a private tour (which we've been getting most of our trip) we went with a group and had an open air bus tour. Just to clear the air- I don't have a problem with group tours, we've done a couple other group tours and they were fine however we couldn't really hear anything our guide was saying, she left a couple of people in our group behind, the bus went many places we could care less about, and to top it off the sites and views we were most interested in were too foggy to see anything! (Which is weather related, not tour related) She also gave ZERO information on the Christ the Redeemer Statue whereas another guide (from a different group) told his group the history and background. (so we heard a little bit from him)

I don't know if I have ever written anything negative about a tour company on my blog, and maybe other experiences/guides with this company would be different, but overall we weren't impressed with our guide or the tour. (We even left early from it... in part, due to the weather and low visibility)

This is what the Christ the Redeemer Statue looked liked most of the time we were there:

After waiting a 20-30 minutes, we got a few seconds (literally) of visibility:
 

I found it amusing that so many people were waiting on Jesus to come out from the clouds and then applauded when he appeared. 

Location of Carnival:

We "stepped" on Copacabana beach:

Overall, Brazil was our least favorite part of the trip. In large part due to the weather if nothing else. I think Brazil as a whole has a lot of potential to be a great spot to visit so please don't think I'm not recommending it. Iguazú and Rio are both beautiful - I was excited about Rio, but weather changes things drastically!  I have seen plenty of beautiful photos of the city, sugar loaf mountain, and Christ the Redeemer statue. The city of Rio is absolutely stunning if you google images of it, but that's not the Rio we saw, unfortunately. We saw a lot of rain, fog, and grayness. It was a bummer way to end our trip, but coming back for a re-do is not out of the question, for me anyway. ;)

I think both of us are ready to come home and not worry about flushing toilet paper down the toilet. (LOL!) And hey! We've only had to squat for a hole in the ground once this trip!

It'll be nice to settle back into a routine, minus having to work. (Sigh)  EJ, I know you're reading this and you know I love you!