But, I did get some administrative things done.
Like confirmed my flight to Japan on the 20th. And cleared up my visa issue.
As you may recall, when I applied for my Brazil tourist visa in Argentina, I made the mistake of only applying for a 30-day entry, even though I'd be in the country for 31 days. It's only 1 day, but I didn't want to risk being banned from traveling to Brazil forever. On my city tour the other day, I met a UK guy who was also having visa issues and needed an extension. So, we decided to take the bus and head to the Federal Police office at the Rio airport one morning to figure things out.
Strange how I had to go to the police for this.
Anyways, no one spoke much English there, but somehow I got my point across. The woman checked my visa/stamps and her PC data and quickly smiled to tell me "no problem". I didn't even need an extension.
Huh??? But my visa says 30 days.
"No problem, no problem, no problem. It's OK!!!"
Really???
Apparently, my visa says 30 days, but the immigration official who stamped me in gave me 40 days.
How can he do that???
To calm me down (and to get rid of me), she showed me the entry stamp in which the guy wrote down 40 diaz.
Still, how can he do that???
Whatever. I'll just have to trust this woman… Issue resolved.
My buddy, on the other hand, definitely needed an extension. While his application was being processed, we headed over to the terminals and had some airport food. Steak w/ fries - wasn't all that bad!
Other than that, I did a loooooooooot of shopping : ) Both in Ipanema and some malls in the suburbs that I went to via bus. I love riding these local-route buses, watching the scenery and the people, the prettiness and the dirtiness.
Shopping here was great!!! Although I'd have to carry around my purchases for the next few days, I ended up buying some clothes (even a jacket!) and a pair of shoes. Only because I found out that some brands wouldn't be available in Sao Paolo. Strange, but true. One of the brands I fell in love with, Redley, doesn't have a store there. Boooooo. Hence the massive jacket purchase.
I also did some gift shopping at Gilson Martins, which has a bunch of accessories with Brazilian motifs. Very cool. Thanks, Sawako, for recommending this store to me back in Recife!
One thing I didn't bother with in Rio (perhaps shocking to some of you?!) was the beach.
In all honestly, it didn't really look like pleasant waters, dirty with massive waves. Totally overrated, me thinks.
But, it was enjoyable to walk around and people-watch. Especially the Brazilian men in their tiny, tight speedos, playing volleyball, soccer, or jogging.
(Darn - I didn't get any photos!)
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