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Published: August 6th 2007
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Christ the Redeemer
(with toes and everything!) Friday, March 2nd, it was finally time to leave La Paz and say hello to the hot Rio beaches, or so I thought... Unfortunately, I (Jen) was still not feeling right, so it was a very long travel day. What was supposed to have been 2 flights, turned into 4 when our first flight to Santiago stopped in Iquique, Chile where we had to get off the plane to immigrate into Chile (even though we were just connecting to Rio!). Then, our flight to Rio had a stop over in Sao Paulo! Given the late hour of our arrival (I think it was sometime around 1 am), we had made a reservation at a hostel in Copacabana, however, on arrival we were informed that our reservation was for the next night and the hostel was fully booked! Luckily, there was a hotel next door which had a nice room available. Having come from Bolivia, where a nicer hostel room cost $15, it was a bit of a shock to pay over $70 for basically the same thing! But at that point, we didn't care!
The next day, whatever exotic Bolivian jungle bug that I had been exposed to, finally caught
Heavenly Light
The devil on Andrew's other shoulder took the day off Heavenly Light
The devil on Andrew's other shoulder took the day offup with Andrew who spent the entire day shivering under the covers in the hotel room. I was able to go out and explore Copacabana for about an hour at a time between "bathroom calls", and that night we both admitted defeat and started taking the Cipro pills (ie. antibiotics) that we had brought with us for just such an event. Instant relief! I will never wait and hope that my body can fight it off again! Unfortunately, this was not the end of our suffering... if you have ever taken Cipro, you'll know that the label cleary says in big letters, "avoid prologed and excessive exposure to sunlight while taking this drug". So there we were, in Rio de Janeiro and only one block from Copacabana beach, the weather is absolutely beautiful (sunny and 30 degrees), and we can't stay out in the sun! After being so cold in Bolivia and then getting "tourista", it was cruel and unusual torture!!!
During our 3 days in Copacabana we did manage one short swim on the famous beach, and a walk from end to end just before sunset (with
hats and long sleeves), so all was not lost. On the
View from Corcovado of Sugar Loaf Mountain
weekend, the beach, which is massive, was just packed with people, and while I can understand why it is considered one of the best beaches in the world, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Not that the beach wasn't fantastic, but I think it's famous more for the atmosphere than the beach itself... but that is just me being picky and I've obviously been tainted by the beautiful beaches in Galapagos!
We then moved to a hostel in Ipanema (the neighbouring beach/village), which was also one block from the beach... unfortunately, we still had a day to go on Cipro! Oh well... we did get a couple of swims in on Ipanema beach, and some late day strolling. While not as famous as Copacabana beach, it was beautiful and a little quieter than Copacabana. I also really liked the Ipanema neighbourhood and only wished I had lots of spending money to do some shopping in the fantastic boutiques! While we didn't stay for dinner, we did have a drink at "Garota de Ipanema" where Tom Jobim and Vinicius
View of Copacapbana
(Copacabana is the section right on the coast) de Moraes composed the song "Girl from Ipanema".
Our time in Rio also included a gondola ride
View of Copacapbana
(Copacabana is the section right on the coast)up Sugar Loaf mountain, where the view of Rio is spectacular. I have to say that from my experiences so far, it truley is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We also made the pilgramage to the peak of Corcovado to see the statue of Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer - you know, the one in ALL the pictures of Rio!). We didn't take many pictures in Rio given our state of health and not wanting to take the camera to the beach with us the few times we went swimming (Rio beaches are not safe for personal belongings), so most of our pictures are from the top of Corcovado.
Our last night in Rio was the most memorable - we went to see a "futebol" game (ie. soccer) at the famous Maracana stadium! We heard that matches at Maracana rate among the most exciting in the world, and we were not disappointed. The match we saw was between Flamengo (a Rio team and one of Brazil's 4
View of Ipanema
(Ipanema is on the coast - the lagoon is Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas) "important teams") and Madureira (a less important team, also from Rio) and the match was a city final. We were happy to be with a group from our
View of Ipanema
(Ipanema is on the coast - the lagoon is Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas)hostel with a guide to lead us, as the fans were absolutely insane! We were on our feet the entire game, and at times it looked like the stadium had a pulse with everyone jumping up and down. It was an unforgettable experience! (Sorry, no photos as we didn't want to risk bringing the camera to the stadium).
From Rio, we took a bus a couple of hours south to Parati. We were expecting a small beach town, and were a little disappointed to find a very tourisy fishing town with no beach at all! Luckily, we found a great B&B owned and run by a Brit who recommended a day trip to the beach in the nearby town of Trindade, where we found paradise! The beach was pristine, the water warm (much warmer than Copacabana and Ipanema), and the beer cold. If only we had left expensive Rio a few days earlier and had time
View with Maracana
You can just make it out left of centre to camp right on this perfect beach - next time! We also have to mention a special friend that we made in the waters of Trindade - a little fish who swam around Andrew's armpit almost the entire time we were in the
View with Maracana
You can just make it out left of centrewater. It didn't matter how big the wave was, or where we swam, the "little fishy" was our faithful companion! It was hard to say goodbye, but after a couple of hours in the water, the cold beer was calling and it was time to get out... we'll go back to visit some day.
From Parati, we took a scenic bus ride down the Brazilian coast to Sao Paulo (the beaches are spectacular!), where we immediately caught yet another overnight bus to Foz do Iguacu to see the famous waterfalls.
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