Mugged in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Copacabana Beach

So we're back... and for those of you I haven't spoken to on the phone you have yet to hear our crazy story. I want to start by saying the first four days of our trip were fantastic. The weather was beautiful and our hotel room had a great view of Copacabana Beach and Christ the Redeemer.

It seemed like the honeymoon that we hadn't had. Great food... we got to sample the local dish called feijoada (pronounced feh-jwa-da), and local drink called caipirinha (pronounced chee-ah-pee-dee-nee).

We visited Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pao da Acucar) and rode the cable cars. We also made it to the Roda Gigante (giant ferris wheel over the fort between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches).

Unfortunately however, our fun ended and we became a statistic. On Wednesday night we were mugged at knife-point by three Cariocas (locals) on Copacabana beach. We had started the evening on Ipanema Beach and had a great dinner in an open air restaurant, perhaps a little too much Sangria joined with foot-tapping live street music. We were completely caught up in the romance of the evening and quickly kicked off our shoes to pursue an evening stroll on the beach.

Deep in conversation, and less than acutely aware of our surroundings, we scarcely noticed walking past a local family playing in the water. Soon after we passed the family, we saw a Carioca practicing Capoeira. I made a comment to Peter about how cool Capoeira is, and how much muscle it takes. Unfortunately, this was one of our attackers. He and two others quickly came from behind Peter and surrounded us, making sure we saw their knives. For me it was a blur, and I wouldn't be able to tell you what their faces looked like, though I clearly remember the ice pick in my attacker’s hand. The two men on Peter quickly emptied his pockets of the $100 or so Reales he had on him ($50US), one credit card and our hotel room key. My camera was ripped off my shoulder, along with the 300 or so photos I'd taken of our adventure thus far.

The attackers quickly cut Peter’s tennis shoes from his belt loop along with my flip-flops, and not convinced that we'd handed over everything we had, their hands intensely groped our open pockets. Unfortunately, they noticed our wedding rings, as well as the diamond ring I wear on my right hand. They focused on my right hand and were desperately yanking on the ring as hard as they could. I still have a big red bruise under the skin. Fortunately our fingers were too chubby and they couldn't get our rings off. Before they had time to consider their options and the knives in their hands, an Argentinean family ran towards us and scared them away. As quickly as it had begun, it was over.

We ran back up the beach as fast as we could, conversing curtly with the Argentinean family. They were appalled that no one had attempted to help us and you could see that they were almost as afraid as we were. Looking back, I realize that this family saved our fingers, and maybe even our lives. I wish I could go back and thank them, but as Shannon mentioned over the phone today, this debt will have to be paid forward.

The uneasiness never really went away. We found the next day that we were paranoid, constantly looking over our shoulders and decided to end our trip two days early. I’m most sad that we canceled our reservations for Samba City and we never did get to make the hike up to the Christ. Of course being an active blogger and facebook user, I’m also very sad I don’t have my pictures to share with you all.

However, as I've said to those of you I've spoken with, I travel for new experiences and to learn, and though this wasn't an experience I would have chosen, I have to be thankful for what we learned from this incident... we are so lucky we weren't hurt or killed! Even monetarily speaking, they didn't get much from us... mostly my recorded memories and a few bucks... we really were so lucky. I can't say I have a desire to revisit Brazil, but this experience has taught us to be more cautious and savvier travelers.

Thank you God for answering my prayers. Thank you Yiv Nhem and Gramma and Grampa Bishop and Bops and all our guardian angels. We're so blessed. I will never again take my safety and that of my husbands for granted!