Rio de Janeiro

Pre-blog and pre-interest in photography I lived in Rio de Janeiro for two years.  I regret I didn't take more photos or keep a journal during that period.  It was an amazing experience, my first time living outside of my home country and my first (failed) attempt at learning a second language.

What an amazing place, full of wonderful people and incredibly beautiful.  If you look closely in the middle of this photo, on the peak of the mountain you can see the Christ statue that overlooks the city (which is featured in the first photo.)

This week I was digging through old files trying to find some decent photos for a report I was writing on our work there, I surprised myself by finding a few gems, and thought I'd share one of the most beautiful places on earth.  

This was the beach near my apartment (how lucky was I?)  All of these are SOOC and taken with an old Canon PowerShot.  Proof that beauty like Rio's will always shine through.

Did you catch my post at Inspiration Studio yesterday?  If not, hop on over, I shared one of my favorite playlists - Songs for a Rainy Day.  I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

My favorite Brazilian musical group is Tribalistas, a "super group" made up of three Brazilian singers who got together to record an album: Arnaldo Antunes, Carlinhos Brown and the amazing Marisa Monte, here's their: Velha Infancia (2004 Digital Remaster)
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World Cup

The street outside my Rio apartment decorated for World Cup 2006

Four years ago, during the last World Cup, I was living in Brazil and got to experience World Cup in a football mad country.  All the offices closed several hours before the matches to give people time to get wherever they were going to watch the match.  There were parties EVERYWHERE.  You could open your window and feel like you were watching with millions of your neighbors - because you were.

A World Cup party with some of my co-workers - we took over Hard Rock Cafe

When the English team played I'd got with my English friends to the local pub, which would be filled to overflowing with mad fans who sang, cheered and cried.  I fell in love with football (soccer.)  I've been so excited to watch this year, and am thrilled the Americans are surviving so far.  But I miss the social interactions I enjoyed in Brazil last time.

Some of the women in my department at the World Cup party at Hard Rock

Until Sunday, that is.  Sunday afternoon I rushed settled in to watch the Brazil v. Cote d'Ivoire match and decided to check Facebook while doing so.  I soon realized that I wasn't watching alone.  I watched posts from friends in Brazil and South Africa as we all watched the same match.  We cheered Brazil's 3 goals and moaned the bad call that resulted in a red card for Kaka.  I couldn't help but think how incredible our world is - we can be scattered around the globe and still experience the same things and communicate about it without ever leaving our living room.

All this talk of Brazil makes me think of my one of my favorite Brazilian groups, Tribalistas - here's their: Velha Infancia

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