February 7 - 11, 2015, and briefly Feb 15 for flight to Lima
"At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Havana"....not written about the beach by the way, but some flea-bitten New York bah. North should have been the clue.
Rio de Janeiro
When we arrived at the airport we were met by our guide Bruno. When I turned away to check something and turned back, he and Rainer were deep in conversation, in German! I swear, we have switched from so many languages, back and forth wihout hesitation. We even impress ourselves sometimes. One of the greatest gifts we are fortunate to have. We've even impressed some Swedes!
The first thing we noticed was the absolutely crazy motorcycle drivers, most with a death wish. We asked about the mortality rate but supposedly it isn't a huge isssue, save for those who didn't make it. Lanes are just a suggestion, along with stop signs, signals, no passing lanes, etc. So bizarre. We repeat often how glad we are that we're not driving anywhere in South America (with one exception). See Buzios.
Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, Rio has a population of 6.5 million. We are slowly overcoming the shock of having to order cerveja in Portuguese instead of cerveza or say obrigado instead of gracias when we order gelo instead of hielo to keep drinks cold. We will adjust.
What we've seen (besides our favourite markets):
Copacabana, Ipanema (Like the famous Sinatra tune, The Girl From Ipanema)
A beautiful 4 kilometer expanse of sand and waves, unfortunately the downside is touristas, like us. There are nicer beaches, not so over populated but we had to see this one of course, our hotel one block off the beach. The place was filled with all shapes and sizes, various versions of swimwear, some pretty, some not so. The promenade, a geometric Portuguese mosaic wave design, runs the full length of the beach, a great spot to people watch. Some fun nights with friends at restaurants, one in the warm, pouring rain, and an evening of dance at a Samba show (no audience participation required - best kind).
Catedral São Sebastião, the seat of the Metropolitan Archbishops of the city of Rio de Janeiro is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro. As I snapped a few shots with my tablet I noticed I had wifi. Sure enough, it was the cathedral, with a good strong signal, Lord knows where from, a miracle, and so handy to tweet your thoughts during the sermon or post a fb selfie from the confessional. Oh brother.
Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer (Corcovado Mountain), tours were early morning as the fog burned off the mountain peaks and the heat was almost bearable. Major tourist attractions as one can imagine, so overrun with lovely folks pushing and shoving for the best shot, many lying on their backs to get the optimum memories of CTR, either picking his nose (OK I admit I did that), making him squish between two fingers or making a cross in front of the ginormous symbol. It really is mammoth and impressive standing 30 metres tall, not including its 8-metre pedestal, and its arms stretch 28 metres wide. Christ, that's big! I can say that right, it's all in the comma placement. Beautiful panoramic views from both.
I even offered to take a photo for two nuns, pretty sure I cut some heads off in the execution. I prefer shots without people but threw one in to show the hilarity of it all.
Oh yeah, Carnaval, almost forgot. We took in some of the sights and sounds, mainly sounds, as one of the block parties swept by in throngs and merry-makers donned in funny hats and dressed up like at Hallowe'en partied in the streets. We grabbed a few cervejas and followed along for a bit until it got too loud for our old ears and we wandered a few blocks away.
Upon our return from the beautiful Buzios we bused from the Rio airport into downtown Rio hoping to catch some of the action but were (only somewhat) disappointed that it was relatively quiet. Traffic snarls made it a 2 hour jaunt in and a lesser 30 minutes back to await our 6:40 am flight to Lima, Peru...a long night.
Photo credit to Steve and Val for Copacabana day and night shots from their hotel room.
OK, you have to wonder what the gun wielding statue designer was thinking...obviously never looked at it from behind.
Those pesky OTTAWA 2017 stickers are turning up everywhere!!!
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