Friday
7th August
Rio
De Janeiro
BLOODY
HELL – it's winter in Rio. The flight from Miami was painless to
say the least. Jim had lots of leg room and the flight went like a
dream. We arrived to overcast weather and when we left the plane we
were hit with 21 degrees. This as a shock after the steamy weather
of Key West. Key points that hit one on arrival here: unmatched
natural beauty (from stunning mountains to gorgeous men and women –
wearing very little),
and in-you-face poverty. People in the middle of the freeways,
selling biscuits and whatever, failing infrastructure, general
organised madness everywhere. Not sure what to think.
We
checked into the hotel (very nice, right on the beach) and had to
have a bit of a nap before venturing onto the streets of Rio. We
have been warned by everyone of the dangers of Rio so our first
venture onto the streets was to cross the road and enjoy the sites of
Copacabana beach. By the time we got there the sun was shining and it
was a beautiful day. The very worst meat sandwich on the beach with
trinket sellers spoiling any sense of the Aussie concept of beach =
relaxation. The beach however, puts Manly Beach to shame. Long, clean
and FAB -U-LOUS. You know you have arrived on a famous icon. Later
we had dinner in Ipanema at a Japanese restaurant – great food.
Saturday
8th August
Copacabana.
Today
we did the full day tour of the sites of Rio. We started early with a
pick up from the hotel and tour to the 'Big Jesus' also known in the
local gay vernacular as 'Christina' but generally known as Christ the
Redeemer. The trip up Corcovador is via a train from the base and
it's very steep. Packed, stunning, with added atmosphere provided by
local musician setting the scene with banjos, drums and metals
cabasa's. Once you arrive at the top the view is spectacular –
across the whole of the city. Here we met up with Favio from Italy
who was also on our tour and traveling in Brazil by himself. Lovely
lad. We headed down the mountain and, we thought, back to our hotel but
to our surprise we were told that we were booked for lunch and the
full day tour – we chose not to argue and off to lunch we went.
There we met up with two Irish lasses who were traveling in Brazil
for 3 weeks. Irish travelers are very much like Australians –
adventurous and traveling often. In the afternoon we toured through
the downtown district including the amazing Saint Sebastian
Cathedral, which was built in the '70s. This amazing structure
looked like a giant inverted shuttlecock.
Then
it was to Sugarloaf Mountain. To reach this we traveled via two
cable cars and the view, again, was remarkable. We were lucky enough
to be there to see the sun go down and it was the end of a wonderful
day. Off to bed, happy but exhausted.
