Rio de Janerio

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Here we are in Rio, staying at Copacabana Beach with Ipenema around the corner. With its long wide sandy beaches bordered by high rises just separated by the main drag, Copacabana resembles the Gold Coast to some extent. As the weather has been glorious, the girl from Ipenema has been there for the boys to watch go by and the thong appears to be compulsory beachwear for the women no matter the size or shape of the bottom!

After two cable car rides one reaches the top of Sugarloaf where spectacular views of Rio can be seen. It is a city of tall buildings nestled amongst varying sizes of very large rocky outcrops and rimmed in the distance by a semicircle of mountains. The Atlantic Ocean and large natural harbour complete the view. A 25 minute trip in a venicular railway carriage through the Tijuca Tropical forest, once a coffee plantation, takes you up Corcovado Mountain and to the 30m high statue ´Christ the Redeemer' which towers into the heavens above and is a constant sight both day and night from most places in Rio. As you are now 700m above sea level and twice as high as Sugarloaf, the views are even more spectacular. Whether it´s watching the planes land and take off from the airport runway that appears to run into the harbour where the ships are entering or just looking at the tankers far out to sea, you are quite spell-bound at the sights.

An interesting aspect is that Rio has made, what most places try to hide from the tourists, their slums an attraction. Our tour was to one of these favelas, Santa Marta, which was made famous by Michael Jackson. It was here that he made parts of his video for his hit song "They Don´t Care About Us". This slum houses some 10,000 people and was one of the originals built in the 1930´s by construction workers who came to work, but had to find/make their own accommodation. One thousand of these communities now exist, housing up to 10% of Rio's population - nearly 1million people. They are communities which have created all that they need in their slums - barber shop, church, convenience stores etc. Although the government would like to move them on, the people want to stay put.

One cannot forget to mention the San Sebastian Cathedral in the city, as its archicetural style is unique - concial in shape with four stained glass windows rising from the floor to the ceiling high above you. It is a most interesting and impressive Cathedral unlike any we have seen in our travels.

Our afternoons have been spent as they should be in this environment, walking along the waterfront or just sunning ourselves on the beach, watching the waves crash on the shore and entertained by the constant flow of "salesmen" selling jewellery, hats, cold drinks, nuts, ice creams watermelons and even prawns.

To finish our Rio experience, we headed off to a Soccer (Futbol) game. One could not leave Brazil without being part of the ferver of the national sport where the supporters chant, beat drums, cheer and dance throughout the game.

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Comments

[Marion]

are you still on a high?
Hi Hen & Sue Can't imagine how strange it must feel for you to be back home. What a fantastic trip. I'll be in touch mx