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Published: February 15th 2014
Rio de Janeiro
Christ the Redeemer statueWednesday 8
th January (Odyssey Day 61)
We were collected from the hotel by an air-conditioned coach this morning and everyone was thrilled with the alternative transport that we had for the trip to Rio.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful on the drive, with stunning views of the mountains out one window and the sea on the other side. It was a really winding drive along the coast.
We arrived in to Rio de Janeiro at lunch time, about 1300 and checked in to our 4 star hotel just down the road from Copacabana beach. What more could we possibly want? A walk down the street to the beach was definitely in order.
We did hear about Simon’s interesting drive to get here though. Apparently he got caught in a bit of a riot after a peaceful demonstration turned a bit violent. A new windscreen and a few new windows in the back were in order, along with everything else he had wanted to get done here. On the plus side, he was happy that he finally managed to get the speed limiter upped a bit and will now be
Rio de Janeiro
The standard tourist pic able to drive about 10km/h faster than before (considering we were limited to 84km/h before, that’s a very good thing).
The hotel is a very nice one. I’m sharing a room for our three nights here with Hannah and Joanna. We even have a little lounge at the entrance of our rooms, divided from the bedroom with a door. The only problem is that we keep seeing the bedroom door open when sitting on our beds and asking each other who left the door open, forgetting that it’s not the actual door…
The hotel also has a pool on the roof, from where you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue. Considering it is still very hot and humid, the pool will certainly receive a lot of use in the evenings.
Thursday 9
th January (Odyssey Day 62)
Breakfast at the hotel was vast. There was a huge selection of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, pastries, toast, cheese, egg, sausage, and cake. Well worth getting out of bed for.
We met in the lobby at 0800 for an organised city tour, which
Rio de Janeiro
AJ, sitting on Selaron's steps is rather expensive at 320 real, but at least lets us see all the main sights in one day. Most of the group joined us for this tour and we split into two mini buses for the day though the two groups stayed together despite this. Small buses are much easier to drive around the city than one that is big enough for us all.
Our first stop was at the Christ the Redeemer statue. Our guides said it was the busiest place in the city and they wanted us to get there early so as to avoid the major crowds. And crowded it was. By the time we left an hour later you could barely move around the statue or the stairs. Very glad we went early!
It was quite a sight though. The drive up to the statue was beautiful with lovely views down over the city. The statue itself was worth seeing. You can’t possibly visit Rio and not go up to visit the statue. It’s one of the most recognised sights in the whole of South America. So of course everyone got their expected picture standing in front of it,
Rio de Janeiro
Metropolitan Cathedral despite the crowds.
Our next stop was Selaron’s steps. These are a stairway that has been tiled all the way up by a locally living artist, Jorge Selaron. There are about 250 steps and a couple thousand tiles from around the world, including a couple I spotted that were clearly from Australia. He died last year but until that time, he could often be seen at the steps working on his art.
Our guide told us that while it was nice to have the artist there to see him work, he was a right grumpy little bastard who didn’t like people at all and was really rude to anyone who spoke to him while he was working. No idea if this is true or not, but either way the stairs were quite a sight.
Hannah has decided that she wants to collect tiles now though, so I don’t envy anyone who has to move her bag around in the future…
Next we headed to the Metropolitan Cathedral. This is a very unusual church in that it is round at the base, and slopes inward at the top like
Rio de Janeiro)
AJ, with a view of Sugar Loaf in the background a cone. Very unusual but also beautiful with lovely stained glass on four sides.
Time for some lunch now as we were all getting a bit peckish. We stopped at a pay by weight restaurant, with some lovely food. It was nice to have a break from the heat of the day outside.
After lunch, we headed up hill to the favelas. These are old neighbourhoods within the city, almost shanty towns. A lot of immigrants moved into these and basically squatted in the areas. Some of the favelas have walls around them in an attempt to stop them growing further into other neighbourhoods of the city.
Recently (within the last few years) an effort has been made to introduce official law and security to the favelas, rather than leaving them to the local gangs to govern. This was likely a measure taken due to the 2014 world cup and 2016 Olympics to be held in Brazil.
We visited the Santa Marta favela and took a walk down the hill. It was certainly an interesting look at the area. It was relatively clean, but there were building materials
Rio de Janeiro
Santa Marta favela dumped in a lot of areas. The houses had satellite TV but were often missing doors and had open window areas with no curtains or privacy. This favela was on the side of a hill and had some stunning views out over the city, but the people have not had to pay any taxes in the past as they have not previously owned the properties they live in.
This is the favela Michael Jackson filmed his music video in, and they have put up a statue of him in one of the little squares. Built into the hill, there were stairs everywhere and if you want to go anywhere, you have to walk through all the narrow alleys to get there. An easy place for a stranger to get lost.
Our last stop for the day was at Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is accessible by cable cars and offers an amazing view over the whole of the city. We caught a couple of cable cars to get to the very top and the views were well worth the tight squeeze of so many people into the cars.
After this, it was
Rio de Janeiro
View from Sugar Loaf. getting late and we headed back to the hotel. There were a couple of small food places around the hotel where we could buy pastries for dinner, so this is what we did. And then half the group went up to the pool on the roof to swim and relax after a very long, hot day.
Friday 10
th January (Odyssey Day 63)
Today was a free day to do whatever we wanted in Rio. I chose to relax and go for a wander along the street between the hotel and Copacabana Beach. A beach that is very popular and small wonder there is so much hype about it.
At 2100, Hannah, Joanna, Ellie, Ann and I were picked up in a bus for our show. We were going to see the Rio Plataforma Samba show. We had asked the hotel to help us book a show here as it is something we all really wanted to see before leaving the city. It was a very vibrant and energetic show and well worth the price to see.
The flamboyant and colourful
Rio de Janeiro - Show
An amazing show for the evening's entertainment costumes as well as the dancers, both male and female, were certainly worth seeing. Their energy and fitness levels must be phenomenal to put on a performance like that. The photos just don’t do it justice!
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