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From Beaches to Mountains.. Favorite Places



         Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, a picture I took from my trip in 2016)  

I traveled to Rio in the summer of 2016. It was my first time to fly outside of the country, I love learning about different cultures and places, so you can say I was super excited! Ipanema Beach was less than a 10-minute walk from the hostel I was staying in. I always have lived in landlocked states so this was the first time I got to see the ocean and it was AMAZING! As I sat listening to the waves I could also see children playing in the water, families having picnics, ongoing volleyball games, couples on dates, people doing yoga and capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art) classes, people running, jogging and surfing, stands selling coconut water (Delicious), other drinks and types of foods, it was like getting a small glimpse of Rio's citizens' daily lives. One of my favorite parts was looking at the sunrises and sunsets. Ipanema Beach was my favorite place from my whole trip. Every morning I would go for a jog, see the colorful sunrise and of course end my jog with fresh coconut water. I honestly could sit there and look and listen to the calming waves and activities going on around me for hours. 


     Photo of a local mountain in Mexico taken by me on December 2018 

One of my favorite things to do is hiking probably because of my love of nature and being outdoors. I was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and grew up in the countryside. I lived there for the first 5 years of my life. The mountain from the picture is literally a few steps away from my house. I keep saying mountain but it's not a super tall mountain its more on the shorter side, it takes about 25 or so minutes to get to the top. Every time I climb it, it brings me memories from my childhood. When I was little I thought climbing all the way to the top would get me closer to touch the clouds😅 Looking at the scenery and the sky while the fresh wind blows in my face always seems to make my body relax and just forget everything and live in that moment. 

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  1. Laura GibbsJanuary 17, 2020 at 2:05 PM

    Oh wow, what a gorgeous picture of Ipanema Beach, Monica! I know that song (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_from_Ipanema
    ), but I did not even know where Ipanema is, much less how gorgeous the beach is... now I know! And you are lucky to have that beautiful mountain connection; when I was little we lived for a while in Tucson which had beautiful mountains, and of all the places we lived when I was little, that was the place I felt most connected to as a place, as the ground beneath my feet. Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures here!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Laura GibbsJanuary 17, 2020 at 2:06 PM

    Whoops: I messed up that link somehow... trying again :-)
    The Girl from Ipanema

    ReplyDelete
  3. CrystalJanuary 24, 2020 at 7:27 PM

    Wow, Rio looks so beautiful! I think the OU in Rio de Janeiro program always looked really interesting, so I was sad when they had to close the study center there because of budget cuts. :( Hopefully someday that program will get funded once again and there's more students that can get to experience it. I also hope that you get to travel and hike lots more and get to see new places. :)

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