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Published: April 2nd 2016
Museu de Amanhã
The one I didn't get into because of the teachers' strikeBrazilan 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 to my airbnb lodgings I ordered a taxi, or more accurately, a radio car from an airport booth. You pay for this in advance at a fixed price and with a credit card before you exit arrivals. A guy standing 50 yards at arrivals then escorts you 50 yards to your car. I was horrified by the cost - about £25, which is about
Confeitaria Colombo - a famous and historic ' dessert restaurant in Rio.
No idea what the cakes are like but can definitely recommend the shrimp pastries. twice what an ordinary yellow taxi would have cost but the guidebooks warn against the latter on safety grounds and I felt I was too tired to start arguing with a taxidriver intent on ripping me off. This way you agree to be ripped off from the start! The traffic on the way to the airbnt was very bad. They drive very fast when not stuck in queues. The taxi driver made a joke in Portuguese which turned out to be about Rio trying to get into the Guiness Book of records for its traffic jams. His English turned out to be better than my Portuguese. I tell myself that i was too exhausted to understand but we shall see.
The driver dropped me off at this gated multistorey bulding , all the buildings are gated here and this one had two 'porteiros'. I would have described them as security guards since you hardly need two of them on duty at the same time if they are only doormen or caretakers. As I approached the grill I realised that if they were to ask me the name of the person I was staying with I would have to switch my tablet on and look it up in my email. It seems very strange rolling up to the private flat of a complete stranger! Expect I will get used to this as am staying for over two thirds of the time in airbnb. Fortunately, my host's first name, Sheila and the flat number was sufficent for the doormen. Am a bit worried about how I am ever going to get back in on my own but Sheila assures me that they keep a record of non-residents who o enters and exit the building.
When I asked if there was somewhere I could go for a snack Sheila offered to drop me off and pick me up whilst she did some shopping. Her car was parked round the corner and she couldn't get the handbrake off. She went to ask two men standing around for help. They turned out to be security guards because he next door building was holding some sort of event. Guess that the difference between them and the porteiros is that the former carry guns! Got used to this in Bogotá, and, just like there, a good proportion of the male population must make their living here from the security industry.
When she came back to the cafe to pick me up she apologised for the delay. I thought she said her daughter (filha) worked in the supermarket but in fact she was explaining about the queue (fila) which I only understood because it's the word for 'line' in Spanish. The first of many misunderstandings, no doubt.
1st April
I wasn't expecting breakfast today but my host provided it along with a lot of advice about what to see in 'o centro'_ of which I only understood about a half and subsequently remembered a quarter. I also received strict instructions not to take out my tablet in the street although it was OK to use my mobile to take photos - as long as I was very careful. I decided to take my guidebook instead which turned out to be a very bad idea as it weighed a ton and wasn't nearly as comprehensive as Lonely Planet and I ended up leaving it in a church at the top of a steep hill and certainly wasn't going back for it. I found the metro easily as she had pointed it out to me the previous night and managed to get on the right train and off at the right stop which was quite an achievement since the flashing arrow on the plan in the train seemed to be suggesting that I was going in the wrong direction.
After walking for about 20 minutes I realised that it had been a very bad idea not to hop on a bus tour as contrary to LP's suggestion of a walking tour the centre seemed to go on for ever. Decided instead to make for the Tourist Information centre marked in my book which with any luck would have information re bus tours - unfortunately this consisted of a kiosk which was closed down. I did manage to find a number of churches but missed the monastery which was closed on a Friday - the guy at the entrance told me this, the one at the bottom of the hill didn't.
Had lunch in a cultural centre which of course didn't have any cultural events actually running today. the food was mediocre, the first waiter gave me completely wrong instructions about the wifi code but did eventually ask whether i had got connected and summoned the 'head waiter', I think,who told me the right code and also came to my rescue when his colleague said they didn't accept credit cards. Granted I may have said the word in Spanish, but I was waving one at him at the time, so I didn't believe he misunderstood me. Using a credit card is the most cost effective way of paying, especially if you try to take cash out of the wrong autobank. The first one I tried was charging 24 Reais ( more than 4 pounds) on top of any UK bank charges. However at the second this was free. LP etc also warn not to take money out of an autobank based in the street - for security reasons you need to do this inside a bank, and definitely not outside metros or at airports where there is a high risk that machines have been tampered with. However am very used to all of this from Bogotá so not likely to forget.
Of my host's many instructions about what to see I did grasp the one about the 'museo de amanhã, (Museum of Tomorrow). I thought she was asking what i was going to do that morning (manha)! However when I got there it was closed for a demonstration by teachers and the police were not letting anybody in although they had let the demonstrators in. This one was small but there are big demonstrations in the big cities here almost every week for and against the government, which is mired in corruption scandals. They are in the process of trying to impeach the president and the ex president was recently forcibly taken to the police station for questioning though was subsequently released. My host told me that the taxi drivers have been striking today against Uber but there certainly seemed to be a lot on the streets.
A bit unfortunate therefore that the main impression that the centre of Rio left on me today was traffic and roadworks and too many people. I undoubtedly missed some of the better attractions like an 18th century street. Having lost my guidebook, and hence my map was well, I was well and truly lost so bought a folding one in a kiosk as suggested by my host at a 'banco de jornais' (newspaper kiosk, not a bank as I initially thought) and at the same time got instructions on how to how to arrive at the nearest metro. By this time I was so exhausted with the heat and humidity that I just went all the way back to my 'home' metro stop! It rained during the day and I really enjoyed getting wet and was sorry it stopped. The humidity does terrible things to your hair if this isn't ramrod straight. I had a shower but swear it was going curly and frizzy again 5 minutes after I had dried it - and that was inside the flat!
The flat is in an area called Lagoa and,as there was nowhere obvious nearby to eat, I asked Sheila for recommendations. She lives near both Ipanema and Copacabana which are both expensive areas - apparently prices have already doubled in preparation for the Olympics being held in
Rioo in August. She was kind enough to take me to a pizzeria in her car and drop me off so that I could walk back, which, she assured me , was safe to do. It was a very upmarket pizzeria and of course the pizza, which was very good though I have only a hazy idea of the ingredients, was far too big. I took the remaining half home, planning to give it to Sheila but she turned out to eat only gluten-free.
Walking the 20 minutes back turned out to be hazardous not because of the muggers but because of the traffic and the lack of pedestrian crossings - this city was not built for walkers . I spent so long trying to cross at one point that a guy wearing a vest saying 'apoio de transito' (traffic support,) asked if he could help - surely they don't employ traffic wardens instead of putting down more pedestrian crossings? Perhaps it's a safety issue as on the one crossing I did find a bus ignored a red light and shot over this at about 40 miles an hour, fortunately in front of us. This caused quite a stir so perhaps it is an unusual occurrence.
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Helen Davies
non-member comment
Airport parking
Hi Judy, enjoyed reading your blog. I sat down at the computer ready to book airport parking for our "highly organised" trip to Barcelona next month. Your trip makes ours sound very tame!! Look forward to your next entry. Helen