The Augustana basketball teams are in Brazil this week and are blogging on the trip. Kevin Schlitter is blogging for the men’s team and you can catch their blog posts on the D3hoops.com Daily Dose. Chaney Tambling is blogging for the women’s team.

The day started overcast, but the views we saw made it seem like a bright day.

Sugar Loaf Mountains in two words is “simply breathtaking.” We started off zipping up the world famous cable cars that can be seen in James Bond’s movie Moonraker. The ride up was a little unsettling for most of us seeing how the cars swayed so much on a windy day.

Once we made it to the first mountain we were amazed with the views of the city of Rio de Janeiro and more importantly, the several beaches and mountains in the background.

But we weren’t done just yet.

Another cable car ride brought us even higher into the sky where it seemed like we could see for hundreds of miles. A great team picture at the top and then it was straight down on solid ground.

After the mountains we did a little shopping at the international market where they were selling everything from t-shirts to earrings to even ‘love sacks’. Hundreds of vendors flock the square right off Ipanema Beach every Sunday. A brisk windy walk back to our hotel and it was right back to the beach where there were the biggest waves I have ever seen in person. These waves had to be at least 15 feet high.

At first only a few brave souls wondered out to take on the beasts but as time passed more and more came in. Coach Giovanine’s wife was talking to us about how someone’s bathing suit was bound to come off with how strong the waves were. Sure enough, the words were barely out of her mouth and Ben Ryan’s bathing suit showed up right in front of me!!!

Dinner tonight was at a Churrascaria or Brazilian steak house which is famous down here. We ate and ate and kept on eating until we physically could not fit anymore. Later tonight we plan on heading down the beach to another local night market in search for souvenirs.

Tomorrow will be my favorite day when we visit Cristo Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer statue. We finish the night by playing a very tough C.R. Flamango team which beat Kansas State last summer.