Day one in Rio - Survived ✅

---

We got up this morning about 8am and went for breakfast in the hotel. Hoping to have something healthy I was disappointed! The only fruit they had was melon which I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to so I stay away from. There was so many sugary biscuits, cakes and other carb heavy items plus meatballs and quiche! So after some toast and a couple of the biscuits plus some nice passion fruit juice we went to the reception to ask for help on the best way to go visit the Maracana stadium which was something I really wanted to do. Steph wasn't so keen not being as interested in football but hey ho we couldn't come to Rio and not visit the most famous football stadium in the world! The day on reception was pretty useless and said get a taxi but when I asked how we get one back she said get the metro. So we decided to be brave and to get there and back via the metro which is like the tube. We had to walk for about 10mins to the nearest a metro stop and were relieved when we got there safe and sound. We bought metro cards and topped them up with enough cash for the journey there and back. We had a bit of a scare when the credit card I was using to buy the tickets bought the first one ok then failed on the second so I thought my card was blocked which was great for the second day! We managed to navigate the metro ok changing from line 1 to 2 to get to the Maracana. It was pretty dead when we got there and we couldn't find our way in at first until we saw a sign for the tour and had to buy tickets from someone in a shipping container through a tiny jail cell type window. We opte for the guided tour but got to wander around for 40mins first before our tour started at 11am.



The tour was pretty good and the tour guide did well translating in three languages which I think we're Portuguese, Spanish and English, me and Steph were the only English speakers so we basically got our own guided tour! It was extremely hot and humid even though it was cloudy. We got to go into the dressing rooms, press room, warmup room and through the tunnel out to the pitch and the stands where we could film and take photos.The stadium and pitch itself seemed really small and a lot smaller than on the TV. By this point the air was really humid and Steph's hair seemed to be getting bigger and bigger resembling someone from the Jackson Five! The maximum capacity it had was 230,000 for a concert for Frank Sinatra years ago but it's around 78,000 now as it's an all seater stadium. After the tour we caught the metro back to the hotel area. We then tried to get some cash out at a bank and to test my card after the issues earlier. We were practically kicked out of a bank by a security guard who tried to send us to a 'cambio' to change money, but we barely had any and just needed to get some out of an ATM. We joked that if we got robbed at this point and they asked for money we would have said we needed money too! I was in a bit of a grump by this point and I think the travelling had caught up with me plus the fact we were walking around on edge after all the warnings about the crime. We decided to get lunch in a cafe that like decent and try to use the wifi to plan our next move. Which worked great apart from the fact we couldn't get onto the wifi! The lunch was nice though and Steph had her first proper meal in a couple of days!



After the bank issue and the fact we couldn't find another bank anywhere we went back to the hotel to use the wifi and try to figure out the closest bank and also how to get to Christ The Redeemer. We found out that luckily there was a ticket office for a bus to Christ The Redeemer from Copacabana Beach just about 300m away so we headed down there to get some tickets. Luckily we still had enough cash on us to pay for these and got tickets for 61 Brazilian Real each. The minibus took about 40ins through heavy traffic to get most of the way up the mountain. We then had to get off then go though a tourist shop and toilet stop before getting back onto a bus up to the very top where the statue is. I wasn't feeling great in the hot and stuffy minibus where was going higher and higher up switchbacks and was starting to stress a bit as I could see how high we were going to go. Add in the stress from the bank issue and being on edge in general and I knew I needed to calm down so listened to a couple of recordings on the way up and they finished just in time to get out of the minibus. I couldn't believe how high we were and was excited to get right to the very top. We had to get a lift up to the top and the drop was pretty steep out of the glass window bit I felt OK. Once we got out of the lift, the statue was there in front of us up a couple of flights of steps. It was again chucking it down by this point but we made our way up the slippery steps and took some photos. I couldn't even wait to get to the edge to look out over the city of Rio. The view was amazing and we could see all the hotels and beaches and the sea. I purposefully went to the edges to see the view and test myself and wasn't nervous do at all. It feels weird to not feel scared in those positions where as before I'm sure I would have been. I can't even work out before whether I would have been scared and have to keep asking Steph what she thinks I would have been like before my hypnotherapy. She said I would not have gone to the edge and I was even leaning over taking photos at one point which I would never have done before. We could see Sugarloaf mountain from the viewpoint and the cable cars and I think we're doing this tomorrow but it will be a different test. It's one thing standing on firm ground looking down from a great height but I know I've been petrified before from cable cars and the thought of it dangling. This will be something more than I've ever done before so we shall see how I handle it.



Once we took all the pictures we wanted and got footage it started raining more heavy so we headed back to get the bus back down to Copacabana. We then managed to find another bank and get some cash out using my card so turns out it's not blocked at all. After all this we we feeling good and felt like we'd had a good day so headed back towards the hotel t have a drink in one of the beach bars opposite, We ordered some Caprinihinas (sp?) , After the relief of surviving day one in Rio we then proceeded to order more drinks and got very merry before having dinner in a restaurant right next to our hotel. We've now come back to the room to have more drinks before heading to the roof top pool area where we are planning to create our own Copacabana music video! Haha! Results may or may not be on my Instagram (k8e37) orand fb page later!



Tomorrow we plan to have some time on the beach as the weather is supposed to be better and then go on to the cable car up to Sugarloaf! Wish me luck!



Ps wifi is a bit rubbish so photos will be added as soon as I can

---