Leblon

Today Toni had to work in Leblon and since I have never gone I decided to tag along. Marcelo showed up for breakfast. We had the normal. Eggs with a traditional Portuguese roll. Marcelo had bought a bread with ham and a soft cheese inside. We had coffee and peach juice. We took the taxi to Leblon. It isn't two far from our house. It is just south of Ipanema. It is on the far side of the lake that we drive around when we leave the tunnel. If you look at a map Ipaneman and Leblon both stretch along the beach from two different rock cropping. Behind them is the lake. The neighborhood surrounding the lake is called Lagoa ( which means lake ) On the the southwest side of the lake you can see the mountains of Cordova with the Christ statue on top. On the northwest is two more mountains. To get to Rio Compride you have to take two tunnels through two mountains.
Lagoa is a small neighborhood but very cute. It is very much like Ipanema. It is much smaller then Copacabana and cleaner too. It is a lot more residential and less touristy. The beach is the same though. I went two Lagoa Shopping which was a pretty modern mall. It was four stories. It had a movie theater. It had a pretty good food court. I walked around the neighborhood. I felt safe even though like every part of Rio you have to keep alert. I mailed my Christmas cards.
I met Toni and Marcelo after four hours. We did some errands ( went to the bank and went to the Loteria, or lottery, where strangely enough you can pay your bills ) We went to a restaurant and had a very Brazilian lunch. Fried pork, french fries and rice and beans with Chope ( draft beer ). We took another taxi home. Toni was tired. I watched TV and had a caparinha.