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Rio is a surprising city - disorganised chaos and poverty that sprawls for endless miles, such that makes you feel uncomfortable.
Many people have very little but generally wear a smile. We experienced incredibly heavy rain or sunshine which was hot, hot hot!!!
We were made fully aware of the need to be careful - there are armed police on every corner and stationed along the beach at regular intervals. It creates a feeling of anticipation , a feeling that under the hazy sky the majority are living on the edge. It was the start of festival season, so all of the main roads along the beach are closed and the party begins in the the morning until sunset. A huge amount of locals and visitors, young and old walking, dancing, dressing up and celebrating. However all armed with large qualities of spirits- more alcohol and drugs consumed the more fragile the situation;however wenever felt as if we were in danger.
Live bands performed along the beach at regular intervals in bars. A blanket of people covered the golden sand. The image of beautiful bodies was not quite what we imagined. The men seemed to look better than the majority of women!!
We planned to do Corcovado and Sugar Loaf in one day - how wrong we were. If you think of Disney ,then think Brazilian tourist attraction and you can imagine the queues. Truly unbelieveable. The queue for the bus that took you to the Corcovador was three hours. Jeff was extremely resigned to the fact that we were in Brazil and had to see this. Fortunately we met Harriett and Juan- we seemed to enjoy talking as much as us. The drive to the top took your breath away - the sights the road was an unforgettable experience. Nothing really prepares you for the sight of this engineering masterpiece.
As part of the adventure we aim to challenge ourselves and our fears and try new things. Anyone who suffers from a fear of heights will appreciate that it is very high, so while Jeff and his new found young friends explored the views. I sat and try to calm the inner desire of panic and the fear. For a while I sat and then I walked around holding on, eventually I seemed to find courage and the feeling slowly disappeared. An amazing feeling. The day was finished with a meal with Juan and Harriet and then back for a night cp on Ipanema Beach. All in all a fabulous day!
A rather ambitious day of more queuing. Sugar Loaf mountain - a major attraction, which meant another major queue. Another 2 hours. The gondola to stage one - Jeff said the views were amazing, I had my eyes firmly shut as I clung to the pole!!
I stayed at stage one while Jeff queued to go to the top. I used the time to people watch and found myself uncomfortable with the behaviour of the 'aged cruise ship' tours who barged and pushed into the queues as if they were 'better' than the others in the queue. As you can imagine protests were made and ignored.
Jeff seem to get up and down quite quickly, he loved the views, the wildlife and the moments of freedom!!
As we went down, I kept my eyes open and in true Brazillian fashion, it was someones birthday and they sung, clapped and danced until we reached the docking station. Another amazing day - although we did have a little too mcuh sun and our feet were sore as we returned to our hotel.
If you are reading the blog please write comments if you want too.
- comments
Gary and Deb Sounds like you're having a great time ! Xx
Kate Heath What fun, great to read keep them coming. X
Rhoda and Dave Sounds amazing. Impressed with you patience to queue so long. Looking forward to more updates. Oh yes it's raining here. X
Anne Mc Hi there from a wild, wet and windy UK. You certainly seem to have been challenging yourselves! Great to hear about your experiences. Xx
Fiona Sounds fantastic JD! I'm not jealous at all!
Dianne Piper Well done Jackie re conquering fear of heights to be able to enjoy the views from on high. What's the driving like on the other side of the world? Dx
Janette Fun, fun, fun all the way. Just got all blogs ftom Mark. Went to his email! Thank you.