Blogs from Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 2

Woke up his morning to find the rain had gone and the sun was blaring yay! Me and Steph also woke up to some bites on our legs which must have been from some bugs last night at the rooftop bar. I was particularly gutted as I hardly ever get bitten but it seems I'm flavoursome to the South American bugs so that doesn't bode well for next week! We had originally planned to go up Sugarloaf Mountain tonight for sunset but as the weather was so good and it was forecast to change to rain again later we decided to go for breakfast then head across to go up it this morning. So we had breakfast then got an Uber across to the ticket area at the bottom. It was still pretty early by this ... read more

Thursday 27 July - Brazil We were awoken early by the taxi drivers strike as they tooted in procession past the hotel apparently accompanied by fireworks. There were on their way to the carnival celebration arena to present a petition to the Mayor, they were complaining about the Uber drivers undercutting their fares. Later we saw them in the arena, there appeared to be thousands of yellow taxis involved. An all day tour of Rio today seeing all the main sights. Up to Christ The Redeemer on the cog train and stop to go inside the huge Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian which was completed in 1979 and can hold 4,000 sitting and 20,000 standing. A photo stop to see the worlds largest mural, by Kobra, painted for the Olympics 2016, in an area of regeneration ... read more

June 13. We emerged from the fog of a 9-hour overnight flight into the Rio airport, which is large and modern, walked about half a mile (literally - I have a pedometer), and entered a long, slow immigration line serviced by only two agents. The joys of travel. Things were looking up, though, when we breezed through customs and emerged into the real world to find our Overseas Adventure Travel guide, Danna, and four other group members waiting for us. From that point on we were well taken care of with comfortable bus transportation and conversation on the way to our Rio Othon Palace Hotel right on the beach in Copacabana. First impressions of the city: huge, spread out over a large area divided by beautiful peaks and bodies of water, requiring bridges and tunnels that ... read more

Brazilan trip 31st March I had to get up along with John before three to get to the Manchester Airport for flight to Amsterdam at 5.55 am. I hardly slept at all so landed in Rio exhausted, having frittered away the time on board watching films. Both flights were uneventful in spite of having a baby aged not much more than a year behind me on the long haul one. I forgot he was there and so apparently did the parents who largely ignored him (and each other) during the flight. From time to time he helped himself to breast milk with very little assistance from his mother and the rest of the time slept. Apparently a successful approach to child-rearing, if the aim is to pretend you don't have a baby! In order to get ... read more

So in love with Rio already! Wish we had brushed up on our Portuguese a bit more but getting by on smiles and sign language which makes for a more adventurous time. Brazilians are happy and amazing. Rio is happy and amazing! :)... read more