Disclaimer: This will be long, so what I did for you, oh short attention span sufferer but faithful reader, is put words in bold in order to form summaries that highlight what I have done and maybe peak your interest in the rest of the paragraph.

My trip to S. America began pretty terribly, Natadrew (combination of roomate and his gf's name who are a part of the group I am traveling with) and I were all ready to go when we find out that our flight has been cancelled due to the blizzards in DC. Apparently Obama was able to land so I don't get why I couldn't. So I'm obviously upset and decide to just head over and meet some friends at the Highball for some drinks and dinner. DJ Car Stereo (Wars) was there so I figured it would make me me feel better to hear him mix lil mama, modest mouse and sound bytes from the dukes of hazzard...and it worked, about two songs in and I totally forgot about the trip and was doin some very purposeful head rocks...the tasty martinis and Big Lebowski bowling alley look-alike of a place didn't hurt either. Also DJCS(W) sounds like he's been working hard in Brooklyn because he had a ton of new stuff that were all badass.

So next day, take 2, we have to embark on a 2 layover flight that headed to Dallas, then Sao Paulo, then Rio... I check our flights before we left and there in bold red letters next to the flight to Rio from Sao Paulo were the words CANCELLED I call, and they assure me it hasn't and there must be a glitch, so Natadrew and I head to the aiport. The flights from Austin to Dallas and Dallas to Sao Paulo were pretty uneventful but of course, like the computer had said, our flight to Rio was cancelled...thanks American Airlines, you truly are the McDonalds of airlines. The receptionists tells us that we need to get our bags, get in a cab and head to a different airport in the center of Sao Paulo to catch a different flight they had over there. So we head through their fairly lax security and make it to a cab that basically takes us on a tour of the slums of Sao Paulo on our way to the domestic airport.

Finally about an hour later we succefully land in Rio after getting complimentary butterscotch candy, shampoo sampler and cheese sandwich...interesting. I can't wait to see what swag I'll get on my flight to Buenos Aires.

We head over to our apartment located in the trendy and upscale Ipanema district and meet up with Tracy, who had just gotten there that morning after dealing with her own traveling nightmare involving an overnight stay in Panama, and Anthony, who has been in Rio for a week and looked darker than Wesley Snipes in a snow storm from his week on the beach. He, being the lucky son of a bitch that he is, had no troubles with his travels and actually was treated to a Rio celebration during his layover and met a hot Brazilian who offered to show him around when they made it to Rio.

So we set our stuff down, grab a caipirinha drink that Anthony and Tracy had perpared and start our night. After a few drinks we head over to Porcao Churrascaria (sorry no Yelp link) to eat wayyy to much delicious meat (including a chicken heart and qupin which is meat from the neck of the cow). Unfortunatlley I was starting to suffer from no sleep and what seemed like a sinus infection that made this incredible pressure on my face, so I had to head home while others went on a boat party.

Day 2 in Rio, I'm feeling a little better so we head out to the beach for some sunbathing and people watching. The beach here is great; the sand is nice, the water is perfect and there are people who come up to you and sell you things that you need, like cervejas.

I somehow managed to lose my debit card in the sea after not thinking straight (see aforementioned easily accessible cervejas) so that was a hassle to take care of, but no money got stolen and I should be getting a new one in Argentina. After a few hours at the beach, we head in and get ready for our trip up to Sugar Loaf at sunset which is basically a really incredible peak that you can see all parts of the city. The views were spectacular and instantly made all of the fears and hesitations I had about the city melt away.

We head back down and then head over to a section of the central city to go to some pubs and dance clubs which were also all really spectacular and unique. The club we went to was a three story building that looked like an old hotel but instead of a reception desk, there was a bar, and instead of a lobby, there was a samba band and dance floor. I did a little dancing with some friends and then headed back home sometime in the wee hours of the night.

Day 3, I go for a nice jog down the beach promenade with Nat to Copacabana and see the famous beach which at that time was failry unhabitated but usually is packed with Brazillians and tourists. We then meet up with the others at a nice, but failry westernized restaraunt called market fresh. I tried out a pepper, ginger latte...which is exactly how it sounds but better than you'd think . We head back to the apartment and meet up with three friends who are joining us for the remainder of our stay in Rio and it's about then that I also start to realize that I am most definitely being visited by another old friend of mine: a sinus infection. For those of you who have never had a sinus infection, imagine blowing your nose to the point that you want to just lay around with a machine that could just constantly suck out the mucus coming out of you. Imagine insane pressure constantly building in your head so that by the end of the day you are left with a massive headache where all you can do is sleep so that you can wake up and do it again the next day...oh and did I mention that these things don't have a tendenacy to just go away? Four weeks is a common duration for these biotches...almost the exact timeframe of my vacation. Perfect.

No matter, I'll just try to pretend it's something else, even though I've had it four times before and know exactly what the symptoms are (and these were most definitely them). We all decide to head out to a club called zero zero (00) in the Gavea district, which when we got there turned out to be an empty, expensive, deuche-bag attracting bar. Austinites, think Latitude but bigger and with food. So, not wanting to stay there and get charged a ton, we head out to the streets in search for food which we find more than a few blocks away. We ended the night at a few more bars where I was entranced by one style of bar which was basically a tiny 25 square foot interior where they prepared the drinks and a just-as-small exterior that could seat about 25 people on basically the sidewalk. It was packed and seemed like the type of place I would frequent if I lived here.

Day 4, yep, it's a sinus infection all right, and I'm feeling it hard on top of my hangover from the night before. No time to deal with it now though, I need to head over to San Conrado to get my hang gliding on. Those of us that decided to go, get picked up by a couple of locals who take us out to the spot where we meet our tandems. I get paired up with Klaus, a young, quiet guy, whose instructions consisted of "we're going to run really fast and then everything's automatic"...trully a zen master of hang gliding. As I was rehersing these two instructions in my head, making sure to get the order right, I find that Klaus has already begun running and we were heading straight for a groundless area just past this ramp we were heading down. I took my last step on the ramp and then began my "automatic" phase where I basically just hung on to Klaus while he steered us over a set of peaks and forests, over the ocean and then finally landed back on the beach. It was in every way, the exact opposite of our Flugtag experience.

That was about all I could do that day, the sinus infection could no longer be ignored and so I spent the rest of the day either in the apartment or going for small walks around the area. Towards the end of the day, we noticed that basically every single place has closed, it being Chirstmas Eve and all and this being a predominately Catholic society, so we panicked a bit not knowing if this would happen again on Christmas or not. Fearing going foodless for a day, we ran into whatever shop we could see that was open. "Grab the bread! We need it to survive!! Oh shit they're locking the door! Run to the next place!"

Day 5, turns out a lot of things are open on actual Christmas day so our panicking was unnecesary however I did get some delicious cinnamon bread to make on Christmas morn, a tradition of the Goodriches dating back to whenever those Pilsbury guys first sold them in those carboard tubes.

After a few calls to the family back home, myself and half of the group head over to Corcavdo to see Christ the Redeemer statue on his birfday (the giant statue of JC that everyone associates with Rio). The other half decided to hike to the top which sounded like fun, but not with a neverending supply of snot in my head...I'll take the uber-touristy electric train, thank you very much. The views were incredible, although it was hazy and the statue itself was really tall which is about the best description I think an agnostic person can give to it since the artwork itself isn't very inspiring (oh, wait, that's another description: uninspiring).

We head back down and back to Ipanema where we chill on the beach a bit before heading over to a delicious Italian restaraunt by the lake. I ordered something on the Portugese menu called "something something charizo something something pastates". Turns out chorizo here isn't shredded beef that can be found sliced up in delicious tacos at Maria's Taco Express, but instead a giant slab of beef akin to a thick, juciy porterhouse and pastates are actually potato based cheese balls. I can't say that I was dissapointed with my Christmas meal, but it defintiely was unexpected.

After a quick stop on the way home to pick up some Acaci ( best - fruit - ever ) ice cream, and a small local bar called Rex's, I head in to lay down my over pressured head.

Day 6, sinus infection report - still in full swing, but I head over to Baja anyway to try to make the most of my last day by taking in a little surfing at what is supposed to be Rio's prime surfing location. Myself and a couple get to the pristine beach which outshines Ipanema's beach by a mile in terms of sand and water quality as well as people watching ability. We sniff out a small place that looked to have surf boards so we head up there to see if we could get a few for an hour or so. The guy helping me says "how much would you usually pay for this" to which I respond "I don't know what are you're rates?" to which he questions "twenty reals for an hour??" That's about $12 so of course I said, "ya sure!" He then takes us to where the surf boards are and it's right about this moment that I realize that this isn't a surfing school, it's a locker where people keep there boards on the beach and we were about to get some unlucky strangers' boards. This wasn't a big problem for me since it was cheaper than going to a real establishment.

So I head out with my board that was way shorter than the one I first used in Hawaii and tried my luck with the waves. Turns out I'm not as badass as I thought I was and was only able to ride a couple of the slightly dissapointing waves whilst standing up. I was however able to paddle around a lot and get a massive sunburn on my back, which I categorize as slightly less than badass. Noticing our total lack of skill, some of the teens that helped us secure surf boards joined us in the water to help us out. I managed to get someone who actually speaks English really well (due to his studies in Perth) named Fabian who was able to help me find a nice balance on the board and gave me a ton of helpful tips and even more helpful pushes when the waves were too small. Though I only got up completely one more time, I did feel that I was getting the hang of it, and I think I'll give it another shot in El Salvador.

Feeling defeated, we all head back to the beach to hang out a bit more on this beautiful beach and complete the sunburn on the front of the body and face..I'd hate to feel and look ridiculous just on my back. After a few hours there, we head back to the apartment, and then head to the lake for a quick walk with Tracy, so I can capture some of the incredible graffiti that this city has to offer. When we get back, we split with the others who decided to head to a different Churrascaria, while Tracy and I decide to hit up the classy and funky looking establishment right next to our place called Zaza Bistro. The food here was advertized as Brazillian fusion which really could have been anything in my opinion but ended up being a tasty mix of seafood, Thai inspired sauces and banana purees. We also decide to split an incredible dessert that fused mint, cinnamon, guava, pears and ice cream.

Drunk on good eats (since drinking with a sinus infection is never a good experience) we head back to the apartment where I head for bed dreaming of the possibilty that the good wind of Buenos Aires will carry magical powers to rid my nasal cavities of this unwelcomed, demonic visitor.

Goodbye Rio, you far surpassed everything I ever thought you would be...not only did I avoid getting stabbed, I was able to go on some pretty incredible adventures that left me wanting to come back in the future. Next time I'll come prepared with a Neti Pot and a better immune system so I can enjoy more of your nightlife.

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