Rio de Janiero - goodbye my Intrepid friends

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Copacabana, Rio de Janiero. The name of the place just brings to mind images of scantily clad girls in bikinis and of course Carnivale.... so before anyone else asks, no I didn't go to Carnivale. I was there too late in the year by about 1 month. That means that Carnivale happened whilst I was traipsing around the Antarctic and I know which experience I'd prefer to have. Which is exactly why I organised things in the order that I did.

This was also the end of the line for the Intrepid tour which meant that again I was having to say goodbye to friends. Some of whom I hope to continue my friendship with for years to come. But we still had some life in this tour yet.

On the afternoon that we got there we (well most of us) did a city tour, which was a whirlwind trip through all the highlights that Rio has to offer. It of course included sights just as Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf, but other sights that I didn’t know about included Santa Teresa, a set of incredibly tiled stairs and Rio’s Cathedral. If my retelling of the tour feels rushed, well there are two reasons for that. 1) I’m so far behind in my blogging… and more importantly 2) that was exactly how it felt. We had one afternoon to try and fit in what could have easily filled a day.

We started where all good Rio tours start: at Christ the Redeemer. Up we went. Through crazy Rio traffic with a crazy Rio driver around twisty windy Rio roads to the most well-known statue of Christ in the world. Once we were up there we were instantly disappointed. The cloud had rolled in and we couldn’t see him. NOOOO!!! We came all this way and we couldn’t see him? But just then, the wind picked up and blew the cloud away. And throughout the 30 minutes we spent there it was the same. The mist would roll in and then the curtains would part and we would see him or we would see the city below.

Next stop: Santa Teresa. This is a quaint and traditional area of Rio that boasts quite a few little gift shops. One of which we spent far too long shopping in. We are after all tourists.

After that we were rushed to the Cathedral. From the outside, it really doesn’t look like much. It is a tall conical building with unrendered, undecorated, plain concrete exterior. Definitely not much look at. But inside… well that is a different story. It becomes obvious that the plain concrete has insets of very attractive stained glass. It was designed to specifically not fit in with the standard of what a Catholic cathedral usually looks like. Even to the degree that the cross wasn’t on the top, but had a separate spiral structure to the side. Very different indeed.

The third stop on the tour was something that started out as a little side project for a local artist and has since become somewhat of a tourist attraction. One day he started to tile a massive set of steps and he has just continued to do so for the last 20 years using tiles from all over the world. He now considers it to be his masterpiece and fair enough to. It is a constantly evolving, growing masterpiece. We didn’t get to spend anywhere near as much time as we would have liked there because by this stage of the day we were really keen to get to Sugarloaf and maybe catch sunset up there.

So off we went to Sugarloaf. The ascent up Sugarloaf was done in two stages, via cable car. Unfortunately the cars all ran on the 20 minute mark so we had almost 20 minutes sitting at the middle point waiting for the next car all the way to the top. And again on our way back to the bottom. But the sight from the top was something pretty special. Rio by night with the view of Christ all lit up like that. Well worth the trip.

And we found a gift store up the top and in it we found a cute vintage style photo of Sugarloaf. As we’d run out of time to get one of our own photos printed, we got that as something to sign to let Fernando know just how much he meant to us as a leader. The signing of which was somewhat of a complicated and time consuming process involving everyone coming through my room to get it signed. I was only 10 minutes late for the final briefing! But when we said what we had to say to Fernando, he started tearing up, so I don’t think he minded.

At this point I guess I could describe our last meal together which was definitely up there as one of the tastiest of the whole night and I could discuss the night out afterwards, but as enjoyable as the evening was, it wasn’t anything all that different from any other night. We drank a bit, but not to ridiculous levels and didn’t stay out too late and we were sad to have to say goodbye to Fernando.

But eventually the following morning came and we said goodbye to each other (except for those of us staying on a little longer) and nursed our hangovers whilst enjoying the view from the breakfast room. Then after our parting words and we were picked up for our last little bit of organised tour (well those of us who had booked) – a favela tour. The favelas are the slums in Brazil and as such I wasn’t really in the mood to take my camera (hence the lack of photos).

Although that fear turned out to be unfounded, I was happy to have a day off from taking photos constantly. Ever since it was noted that I had a good camera I was almost relied upon to be the group photographer. As though purchasing my 7D imbued me with magical photo taking skills. Trust me. It didn’t. I still take a heap of bad photos.

The favela we went to was a special favela: Rocina. It is the largest favela in Rio and probably all of Brazil. It is home to approximately 200,000 people and it exists in stark contrast to the neighbouring rich suburbs. In addition it is the only favela in Rio that hasn’t been “pacified” yet. That is the process where they are taken over by the police and the crime is apparently cleaned up. I have my doubts about whether it has worked in most of the favelas, but either way we knew that this one was still run by drug lords. In reality for us, this wasn’t a bad thing. The drug lords impose their own rule. And one of their rules is that they don’t want petty crime. They don’t want anyone touching “their” gringos.

Since the favelas don’t really have roads through them that are easily definable, the tour was a walking tour, starting at the top and finishing at the bottom. The first part though was getting to the top. Only once we got there were we told that we would be taking a local transport to the top of the favela. That local transport involved sitting on the back of a motorbike, without a helmet, through crazy traffic. At one point I think my guy took me between a truck and another car and I was certain we were going to get hit.

That was a genuinely terrifying experience, and didn’t do anything to discourage my growing fear of motorbikes. I was shaking for a good 5 minutes afterwards and the girls said that they were surprised that something had finally gotten through and scared me. That definitely wasn’t covered by insurance.

The first thing I asked our guide when he arrived was whether we needed to do that again because I wasn’t sure I could handle it. His confirmation that we wouldn’t be was possibly the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. For the next few hours we walked down through the favela stopping at several local attractions including a local art studio where we all picked up paintings at very good prices. There were some fantastic ones that were far too large that I really liked. They were mostly political and had some real emotion behind them. Sadly though I didn’t have a) the cash for them b) the suitcase space to treat them the way they deserved or c) the wall space at home for them. So I settled for just getting two smaller more touristy paintings.

Other stops were to watch some local kids do some street performing for us, at a local bakery, at a street seller’s stall and at the local school. That was the point at which we really got to hear our guide’s passion for the work that is done in favelas and how much their lives are being improved even by the simple act of having tourists through. Even without the tourist dollars that follow, the attention that they get means that they can’t be swept under the rug like they previously have. As such he sees a much brighter future for the children at the school than they would have previously been able to make for themselves. It was uplifting and saddening all at the same time to hear him speak.

By the time we got home, a lot more time had passed than we’d expected. It took us a much longer time to get there than expected as well we spent more time walking around than expected. So dinner when it finally came was fantastic. A few people wanted to head out that night, but everyone was tired and since I had a 7:30 flight the following morning we decided to make it an early one and so I just hosted everyone in my room whilst I packed my ridiculously large backpack. Again...

And as such one more chapter of my adventures came to an end to make way for another one....

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Photos

Silly Cloud
Almost can't see him

Cathedral Spire...
Off to the side

Straight up...
Just a small peak at the awesome stained glass

Pretty statue
Looking out one of the four entrances / exits of the Cathedral