"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- Lao Tzu

Lapa. Conquered.

We finally did it. We finally conquered Lapa.

Everyone has always suggested to us that we should go out in Lapa. I've never been a "going out" sort of person, I've always been more of a "staying in" sort of person. But this weekend we were going out sort of people and headed straight to Lapa.

Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth came over to Botafogo and then we all hopped on the 410 to Lapa. We were supposed to meet John and Vania at Rio Scenarium which was voted one of the Top Ten Bars In The World. We didn't see them, and we were a little earlier than we had expected, so we sat outside at the restaurant next door.

At the restaurant.

We spent the all of dinner just hanging out and finally being with other people who were our age and spoke English as their primary language. We introduced Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth to pastels-- which ended up being a raging success. Around 10:30pm we decided to head on into Rio Scenarium even though we hadn't seen John or Vania yet.

Our signature dance move.

Man alive, we tore up that dance floor. Elbows thrown, fish caught, might have even done the limbo. We made a TON of new friends, even if it was only for a night. I was shocked at how many people spoke English there.

Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth must've brought out the best in Claire and I because we did more in the last week than we had the entire trip. Thank goodness for getting on the wrong bus, that's all I have to say.

Escadrias da Lapa.

When Ellen was here last semester, she met a girl named Marcia who is about our age, Brazilian, and speaks fluent English. We became friends with her (on Facebook, of course, this is the 21st century) and then finally got to meet her in person yesterday. She came over to our villa and then we hopped on a bus to Lapa. In one trip we were able to see the Arcos da Lapa (the Arches of Lapa) and the Escadarias da Lapa (stairs of Lapa). I wanted to see the arches so badly and kind of freaked out a little when we saw them. I think they are gorgeous, I could have taken pictures of them all day.

Acros da Lapa.

We walked down a couple of back streets that were so lively and filled with so many people and little bars before coming to the stairs. Which are also gorgeous. I don't know what I was expecting, but these steps just appeared. We were just wandering along down the street and then all of a sudden, there they were!

Me hanging out on the stairs.

This man, Selaron, is from Chile and decided to design these stairs. People from all over the world sent him different tiles with all sorts of pictures on them and then he placed them together in a giant mosaic staircase. They were breath-taking. I could not even believe how amazing and intricate they were.



This was literally twenty feet off the ground. Amazing.

At the stairs in Lapaaa!

All of us with the man who designed the stairs!

Marcia and I acting Brazilian.

Reppin' our home state.

Oh yeah, Flat Stanley came too.