Blogs from Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America

Arrived in Rio after an overnight flight courtesy of Delta. Obtained a few winks, but the comfort level of Delta, which I consider the best U.S. airline, did not compare to the Virgin Atlantic flight we took last summer, at least not on their Boeing 767. Nonetheless, we spent much of the day with Marcio, our tour guide, being ferried about the city. And this is a very large town with some thirteen million calling it home. Not infrequently, we find the traffic in Atlanta atrocious. Well, it cannot hold a candle to this place. Driving is a hazardous sport. Motorbikes move about the lanes much as they do in Italy, except more cavalierly, producing curses from Marcio. He labels these folks "organ donors" as an average of two are killed in the city each day. ... read more

For a first time visit we decided a guide and driver were essential and we chose BeFree Tours run by Marcelo who was himself the guide and driver for the day. We set off early about 8.15am to get to Christ the Redeemer statue before the crowds. It was already hot and humid. A tram takes you up to the base of the statue. Good to pre buy the tickets to make sure of a place when you want. We had 9am tickets but got onto the 8.40am tram. There is a lift at the top but unless you are disabled you might as well use the steps and avoid a queue as it is only a short distance. It was already very busy but we managed to get the usual photo of the 38 metre ... read more

We get up and go for breakfast. We deal with yesterday’s dietary deficiencies by consuming a mountain of fruit – mainly mango – the sweetest, juiciest mango I have ever tasted. I also have some sausage and eggs, although there’s a slight delay in proceedings while a women attempts to light her cigarette on the heat source under the breakfast buffet. Then we set forth along Copacabana Beach. It’s 8.30 and the prom is already heaving with walkers, runners and cyclists out for their morning constitutional. It’s like an exotic Bournemouth; we have the Overcliff, they have Sugarloaf mountain. We walk the full 4 km length of the beach, and back again. By the end it is 36 degrees and we’re rather warm and sweaty. After a pit stop at a beach bar, we round off ... read more

Dann war es also soweit, es war Samstag den 29.9 und somit der Start zu meiner 3.5 monatigen Reise durch Süd- und Mittelamerika. Ebenfalls war dies noch der Geburtstag meiner lieben Schwester, an dieser Stelle nochmals alles Gute. Die beiden Flüge Zürich-Frankfurt und Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro liefen trotz kurzer Umsteigezeit in Frankfurt einwandfrei ab und ich kam planmässig sonntags morgen in Rio an. Nach kurzer Erholung im Hostel fing ich an die Stadt zu erkundigen. Zuerst ein kurzer Spaziergang am berühmten Copacabana Strand entlang. Danach ging es weiter auf den Berg Corcovado mit der weltberühmten Christus Statue. Die Aussicht vom Berg war dank dem klaren Wetter absolut fantastisch. Getrübt wurde die Aussicht nur durch die unzähligen Touristen die sich ebenfalls auf der Aussichtsplatform befanden. Trotzdem sah man die beiden Strände, Copacabana und Ipanema und natürlich den ... read more

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 ... read more