Rio, Day 3

March 2

Praia Barra. Left to Right: Ida's cousin, her husband (a surfer), Ida, Me 

Around late morning we headed to the beach. I got a good run in, worked on my tan, and ate a pineapple popsicle---> that had actual bits of pineapple in it! For those relaxing on the beach, there were different types of vendors walking by all the time. Some were selling hats, others had jewelry, but most carried some type of refreshment or snack in a bag or cooler. As we relaxed there, I saw a few guys walk by carrying some type of metallic container. Later I realized that it was some type of mini oven or warmer for the food they were selling. Ida's daughter, Carina, joined us a later in the afternoon.

A couple hours of sun and our group retreated to the apartment. Igor and I went to the pool before we had a late lunch. Then came the siesta. Ha.


That evening, Ida and I attended Mass in a nearby church. I enjoy visiting different churches and lucky for me, their are a lot of Catholic churches here in Brazil. What impressed me about this parish was the large mural fixed behind the altar.

The artist's rendition of the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves, (Luke 23:32-43). A powerful painting.





Following Mass, Ida took Igor and me to CineMark Cinemas! I always enjoy going to the movies in different countries:

1. beacuase the tickets are much more reasonable than back home
2. beacuase it's a good way to improve my language skills
3. because you can get the sweet-caramel corn and salty-butter corn mixed together! 

As we stood in the ticket queue, Igor noticed that the movie he had found for us earlier was actually starting an hour later than we thought. So we had to change our movie, and decided on seeing Sem Escalas ("Nonstop"), the new Liam Neeson movie. This theater, like others I have been to before, assigned a seat number to your ticket. So unlike back home where it's first-come, first-served seating, customers have to select where they would like to sit before entering the theater. There is digital map on the screen that shows which seats are still available and which are already occupied. All of this occurs before purchasing your ticket. Unlucky for us, the show was starting in just 20 minutes from when we made it to the front of the line...which means our seating options were slim to none. Second row! Oh yeah. Nice and close. Not worrying about the neck cramps. Haha. The movie was in English with Portuguese subtitles. However, the movie had several scenes that displayed text messages that Liam Neeson's character  read from his phone. These messages were shown on the screen in Portuguese. I assume that the producers of the movie also edited these parts for other languages: Spanish, French, German, etc.

Just to reiterate again why foreign cinemas are so much better for your wallet/pocketbook, you know how concessions are ridiculous back in Georgia- like $3.00 for a bottle of water, or $20.00 for a combo!? I paid R$ 20,00 = ~$8.49 USD for a large popcorn and drink. Boo-yah!