beach vollyball Brasil style

These are firemen playing soccer volleyball on the beach right behind the fire station. They build up a little mound of sand, place the ball on top of it and kick it over the net with their foot. The net is a little lower than normal volleyball but the players kick the ball with their feet, hit it with their heads or chests but no hands are allowed in trying to get the ball over the netThis is the fire station with a helicopter pad we could see it from our hotel room in Rio. Our room was on the tenth floor We really enjoyed our time in Rio and especially hearing the waves brake against the shore all through the night. The best "white" sound in the world. Breakfast was provided by the Hotel and for lunch we enjoyed going to the local market and buying fresh baked whole wheat rolls, avocados as big as cantaloupes, oranges, mangoes and bananas. We especially enjoyed eating on the balcony. Watching the wind surfers from our apartment was also great. We decided that the Windsurfing boards must be somewhat like snowboarding boards. Sometimes the surfers are air born when they jump over the waves headed out to sea but the board stays with them. This is a view from the beach with the colorful kites lined up along the shore. The beaches are beautiful here. The general public usually fill the beaches on Saturday and Sunday but Thursday and Friday they are almost empty. This is some of the wedding party on the beach the morning before the wedding This man is fishing with a net. He never caught anything while we were watching and his friends on the pier kept telling him to throw the net out further.

The days we spent in Rio were perfect. We enjoyed every minute of our brief R&R (rest and recuperation) from our missionary work. We were grateful that we were allowed to take the trip. We road the bus rather than fly. I was so impressed with the buses. They have three levels of buses. We took the second level which was very comfortable. The seats stretch out like a lazy boy recliner, leg rests and all. The company provide all the passengers with a very nice blanket and pillow and a box of treats and a bottle of "Guarana", the most popular soft drink in Brazil. They also show a movie. I can't quite imagine what the first class bus offers.