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Published: August 14th 2008
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Tuesday 15th July
I haven’t been able to get that song out of my head since we arrived in Rio. We were staying at a hotel only about two blocks from Copacabana beach and I couldn’t believe I was actually here.
We headed off to see the Corcovada - Christ the Redeemer - the iconic statue and landmark of Rio. It's a bit of a trip to get there. We got taxis to the bottom and then a different taxi took us to one view point of the statue and of Rio. After admiring the view and taking photos etc, the taxi took us to another spot where we then got a bus that took us to the point where we could actually gain entry to Corcovada and see Christ up close and personal.
The statue was pretty impressive, standing at about 35 metres high with his arms almost reaching out to embrace the fantastic views of the city and beaches below. It was breathtaking and it was one of the most spectacular city views I’d ever seen. What an amazing place to live.
There were hundreds of people there though and it was definitely such a
change from the chilled out and relaxing atmosphere of Ilha Grande. We managed to get a few good group shots with the statue after taking over the steps and getting in peoples' way.
We went out for our last meal with some of the group to an all you can eat place. They’re great but I find them pretty stressful - not sure why but I can never seem to eat very much. They keep on bringing round more meat and you’re never sure if you want it but you feel you should say yes because it’s ‘all you can eat’ but you’ve already got a plateful of food and have no room. Plus you keep on getting distracted by what else you can eat and not what’s on your plate - VERY stressful!
We then went to sit at a beach cafe for a quick drink. We were on Copacabana beach! We were warned by the waitress not to walk on the beach at night because people are hiding by the shore where there’s no light and will either try to rob or rape you, or you might bump into people having sex - nice! We decided
to avoid it and watched a few people play volleyball before heading to bed.
Wednesday 16th July
My last full day in South America. We went to see the infamous Sugar Loaf Mountain or Pão de Açúcar. We decided to walk there in time for the sunset, so had spent the day exploring the shops and streets of Rio. We walked along Copacabana beach for the majority of the way and then decided that it was taking too long and we might miss sunset so hailed a taxi.
Getting to the mountain involved getting a cable car up to Urca hill (Morro da Urca) and then getting another cable car across to Sugar Loaf. We spent ages looking at the amazing views of the city and of Sugar Loaf from Urca Hill and then decided it was time to queue up for the second cable car to get to Sugar Loaf. We were queuing for about an hour, if not more, before we realised that something was wrong. One of the cable cars had broken down and was stuck about half way between the two mountains. It had been stuck for about 20 minutes, with people inside
it and was swaying gently to the breeze. It can’t have been a nice experience being stuck there. We amused ourselves by laughing at a guy with very strange hair - yes, sadly we even surreptitiously took photos of him!! Eventually we were told that the cable car wouldn’t be reopened that night so we had missed going to Sugar Loaf and had also missed the sunset because we’d been queuing! Instead we took in the view of Rio by night - which was pretty spectacular and then headed back down the first cable car to queue again to get our refunds (only 50%!)(MISSING) but it was something I suppose.
Hopefully you'll get an idea of what an impressive city it is from the photos.
My last night out in Rio wasn’t very eventful. We went to a nice restaurant and then headed back. I think I was just completely exhausted and had no energy for a big night - definitely a sign of age!
Thursday 17th July
I did my final exploration of the streets of Rio and chilled out on Copacabana beach for a couple of hours before grabbing a last lunch with a
few people and then getting my taxi to the airport.
It was sad to say goodbye to everyone and to the amazing continent that is South America, but it was also slightly exciting to be heading home. I was obviously a bit nervous about heading back home with no job to go to and no permanent address, but the trip was definitely worth every minute.
I would go back tomorrow if I could...
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