DJ Zan and I visited Rio De Janeiro for Carnaval 2009 and had an amazing time. It has been Zan's dream to visit Brazil over Carnaval so I tagged along for the ride. I had no idea they offered hangliding but Zan informed me that it was on his 'to do' list once we arrived.

This trip allowed me to fulfill a forgotten dream which was to fly like a bird...



We visited  "Christ the Redeemer" which is the famous statue that stands 120 meters high on top of Corcovado Mountain watching over Brazilians and visitors alike.

Of course, we visited the "Sambadromo" to watch the spectacle of Carnaval 2009 and among the colorful costumes, floats, enormous drum lines and tradition of Brazil, we witnessed a bit of Brazilian culture from America... KISS...

Kiss in Carnaval 2009 video clip

It was ironic because we had tickets for Sunday night but found out that we had been sold the worst section in the stadium at an even worse price so we 'wheeled and dealed' and upgraded to a better section while getting some credit for the previous tickets. The parade starts at 9:00pm and goes until 5:00am so we only stayed for a couple of the schools.

The school "Salgueiro" featured a lot of African style costumes and floats and as I watched I had to do a double-take when I noticed that a group of students were wearing an Africanized "Gene Simmons mask" on their heads!

We are grateful to have booked our trip through Don at Amerioca Tours since he had very clean accommodations, hooked us up with cell phones and had accurate information to keep us from getting swindled.

The beaches of Brazil are beautiful and the diversity of people is truly awesome. If you ever plan a visit, you may want to workout a bit since you will find that Brazilians tend to stay physically fit with looks that kill.