Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
"When my baby, when my baby smiles at me I go to Rio", "At the Copa, Copacabana", "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking".....
Geeky songs - check
Beautiful beaches - check
Crazy Brazilians - check
This is Rio baby!
We arrived on a stinking hot public holiday Friday. The beach was manic. After a short walk on Copacabana in the hot sun and a dip in the filthy sea, I'd had enough! Initial impressions of Rio were not good…. Happily, things improved over the next two days.
We moved to Ipanema on our second day due to a stuff up in the booking by the original hostel. And what a pleasure it was to be there. Ipanema is smaller than Copacabana and feels more like a little village in a big city. We dropped our bags at the Lighthouse Hostel and had the best welcome meeting/check in ever. Our host Sylvia was very helpful, giving us the lowdown on Ipanema and other sites to see around Rio. Definitely worth staying in this hostel, although the double does not have aircon, so if you like to sleep on a hot and balmy night in Rio, make sure you have a dorm bed.
We headed out on a tour to explore the city. The first stop was Sugarloaf, which has stunning views across the city's beaches, harbours and rainforests. We couldn't help remarking that Rio will definitely give Sydney a run for its money when it comes to the Olympics in 2016.
There are two stages to Sugarloaf so its worth allowing plenty of time. The cable car to the first platform affords glorious views of Christ the Redeemer, several beaches and the harbour. There are viewing platforms in most directions at the first stop. You can also check out the helicopters that make frequent flights out to Christ the Redeemer on about a 6min basis - at about $150 for those 6 minutes, it was a little out of our price range. But it was great fun to watch them come in to the helipad and then take off again.
The second stop has platforms that look across to Copacabana and Ipanema. Standing at the top gave you a completely different perspective on Rio. It really is a stunning setting for a city.
We also checked out the Sambadrome, Christ the Redeemer, Selaron steps, Rio's Cathedral and Maracana Stadium on the tour. The Sambadrome is about a kilometre long and its where the judging takes place for the Samba schools at Carnival. It was pretty empty when we were there, but you could just imagine the craziness of a kilometer of Brazilians, cheering and dancing for their favourite school. Our friends Eduardo and Gisele are going to be in Carnival next year. If you really want a hands on experience, it turns out that you can be in the parade, as long as you buy the right costume and are prepared to dance around in it having fun!
Christ the Redeemer was as expected. Crowded full of people taking pictures of a 40m high man with their arms outstretched. OK, so we may have done a few geeky photos ourselves but it was fun! The views from here were also spectacular, although we were a lot higher than Sugarloaf so some of them were occasionally obscured by clouds. It did give us an eerie perspective of Christ at times.
The man who created Selaron steps is crazy, but the product of his mind is incredible. He has turned some steps from a poorer area in Rio into an artwork, covering them in whimsical tiles from all around the world. The steps are an explosion of colour. There were tiles from most of the places we've traveled, plus our own country, and I really enjoyed wandering around tile spotting.
Maracana Stadium holds about 140,000 people. We were lucky enough to catch a game between Flamingo and Goias. The atmosphere was electric as the stadium was full except for a small section that had been set aside for the Goias fans. Not many turned up to the game (understandable when there are more than 100,000 Flamingo fans screaming abuse at you). At the start of the game when the players ran out onto the field the crowd held up cards that were on their seats. It turned the stadium into a sea of black and red with an inspirational message for the players. It was far crazier than the game we saw in Argentina. The Brazilians really do love their football. Unfortunately the game itself wasn't that exciting with a nil all draw.
Our last day in Ipanema we spent on an almost empty beach enjoying a very relaxing swim (what a difference it makes when it's a work day in Rio!). A pleasant ending to our journey through South America! Next stop Miami!
- comments