Rio de Janeiro

What a great city! There is just a party vibe in the air here. We drove here along the coast from Paraty, it was a beautiful drive.

We got here and after checking into our hotel, our hotel is in Copacabana, we headed right for the beach! It was so much fun to walk along the beach. It was really busy and it was hot. The walkway is a crazy sort of black and white zig-zag pattern cobblestone. So many people out walking, running, biking. There was just so much to see and there was so many things to do on the beach. I don’t consider myself a beach person but it was so much fun. I loved that there were workout stations every so often along the beach, people selling things, the sand art, cafes everywhere, it was great. So many beach volleyball stations set up, huge numbers of people playing beach volleyball. Our hotel was in a great spot, we were in Copacabana about 2 blocks from the beach and on the corner of two great shopping streets ! How great is that?!

We only walked along Copacabana beach the first afternoon but I ran every morning on the beach and I loved it. I ran along Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon the first morning and along Copacabana and Leme the next morning. I was surprised at how many people were out running, walking, biking, or just workingout so early in the morning. The beach was full of active people. I have to say that they enjoy their beaches in Brazil! And the skimpy bikinis?! Not going to talk about that.

We went out for a nice dinner that evening. It was really the last evening of our tour with GAdventures and even though most people were staying longer a few were leaving the next day. We went to a restaurant where you had a choice of weighing your food, ordering a meal or a pizza rodezio! Fun.

The following day I went on a couple of tours, a favela tour and a city tour. Both were great! I will write separately about the favela tour though. Both tours picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at the hotel which was convenient.

The city tour started at the top of Corcovado, the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer. The view was unbelievable. The statue was great, it’s huge. They had recently done some restorations to it. I was glad that we took a tour as there were long line ups to get in and lines at the elevator that we just avoided. We also took a little shuttle to the top so we didn’t have to walk up – it was hot & walking up would have taken a long time.

After that we went to the oldest part of the city and walked around. It was an artsy community that still had the tracks from the tram cars. It is above the city on a hill. The houses were huge. You could tell some people couldn’t keep the homes up, some were now apartments and some were just falling apart and for sale. It was nice to see the different architecture and the different colours of the homes. Some artists had their work displayed outside so you could see it just walking down the street.

We had a brief stop at Sao Sebastiao Cathedral that is shaped a little like a pyramid. We walked around it quickly and took a few photos.

We went to see the tile stairs in Santa Teresa after that. They were amazing. So much work and talent has gone into that! Escadaria Selarón is a set of famous steps in Rio. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claims it as “my tribute to the Brazilian people”. We got to actually go into the artists’ home and meet him. He was just hanging out on the stairs with us for a while. There are tiles there from all around the world. If you bring him a tile he will use it. He has covered more than 250 stairs and they have been featured on many television shows (The Amazing Race – do you remember the one where they had to find a certain tile?) and videos. They are considered an iconic tourist attraction of Rio De Janeiro. It was pretty amazing to see.

After the stairs we went to the top of the Pao do Acucar, Sugar Loaf Mountain. The panoramic view from the top of the mountain is unbelievable!! So amazing! It is an awe-inspiring sight. The cable-car runs in two sections and for those afraid of heights, it can be a little scary. Someone in our group was just standing, almost frozen in fear. We were fortunate to have such a beautiful day. The cable car ride was great – I have never been in a cable car before.

That evening we met up as a group again, some people had already moved on to other hotels. We walked along the beach and had a nice dinner as a group one last time before we went our separate ways. We had a great time!

I’m off to Campinas now!