| Mar 23, 2006 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (again)
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 | | show all 83 | | Christ statue, from the parking area | | View of Rio's lake, the Ipanema strip, and the sea | | Maracana, the largest stadium in the world, and surroundings | | |
| | The City of God, The Marvelous City, The City Of Sin. These nicknames and more are all used to describe Rio de Janeiro, and none of them do it justice. Rio is just one of those places that you have to see and experience for yourself to understand. Most famous for its Carnaval, Rio bumps to the beats of Samba and bleeds soccer passion all year long. Its landscape is a surreal mix of beautiful beaches and typical bustling cityscapes, all intermixed with soaring green mountains bumping up like large goosebumps on the skin of this coastal tropical metropolis. On top of one of these mountains called Corcovado ("hunchback") stands the 125-ft 1145-ton statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) with arms outstretched. This amazing statue and mountain are best seen from atop Pao da Acucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) which you can take a cable car up.
Thursday afternoon we arrived and checked into our hotel in Copacabana, just a block off the magnificent beach and right next door to the famous Copacabana Palace. However, the entire feel of the area was much different and calmer this time around than it had been in the pre-Carnaval / Rolling Stones era last time I was here. Soon after arriving we got ourselves aquainted with the large waves, blue skies, warm sun, and gorgeous weather of Copacaana beach. At night we went out to dinner at Marius, one of Rio's most famous churrascarias. A churrascaria is a typical Brazilian steakhouse buffet, and a definite must for anyone visiting the country. At Marius we had a massive buffet table with all sorts of delicious salads, fish and seafood, pastas, chicken, etc. Everything you could ever want and more, and as much of it as you can possibly handle. But you have to be careful not to fill up, because these places are all about the meat, and that not part of the buffet. Instead waiters come around to the tables with all different types and cuts of meat on a large skewer, and when you give them the nod they cut a slab of whatever they are carrying onto your plate. I love it, and this specific churrascaria was even more delicious than the others I had tried. Not too mention they had Carnaval-style dancers parade through the restaurant at one point during our meal which added a nice extra spice to the already savory local flavor.
The next day was our big tourist outing. We woke up and took the scenic train ride up Corcovado mountain to the Christ Statue. At more than 2300ft above the city, the stunning views from the base of the statue encompass most of Rio. We stayed for a while snapping photos, reading up on the statue's history, and just soaking up the incredible vistas. There was also a news team up there from one of the local TV stations doing a story about the statue's bid to become one of the new 7 Wonders Of The World. I guess they are making a new list or something. Anyway, I started talking to the cameraman at one point, and next thing I knew I was being interviewed about my opinions on the Cristo's chance to make it. I think they were probably up there for quite a while and not finding too many people that spoke Portugese, since the scene up there was overwhelmingly people from outside of Brazil, so were happy to take anything the could get.
We eventually left Corcovado to go back to the hotel, but not too much later in the evening we went to Sugarloaf to watch the sunset. Sugarloaf Mountain has a cable car to take you up to the top with a stop in the middle. We rode up to the first stop and got out to see some of the views and scenery from that area, and then 30 minutes later when the next car left we continued on to the top. Up there was yet another wonderful 360-degree panorama view of the city of Rio and the Atlantic ocean stretching away towards the horizon. We stayed up there for a long time with the crowd slowly watching the sunset's calm progression of changing colors and the dramatic play of light and shadows throughout Rio's hills and valleys. As the sun reached the horizon the colors deepened and the contrast intensified, which then led to a long and inspired rapid-fire photo session. The results don't fully do the scene justice, but its better than nothing I guess.
With night fully upon us we took the cable car back down and returned to the hotel. That night was a much more simple yet still delicious Italian dinner at a restaurant just across the street. But before heading out we had to watch the Channel 10 news segment to see if that spot was aired and if I was in it. Sure enough, as you can see in the video clip, they decided to use a few seconds sound byte from that wierd gringo with the funny accent. It was pretty amusing. Then after dinner as my parents stayed in the hotel I went out with Ivie and Kelly (2 of the girls I met at the hostel in Salvador) and some friends to Lapa, an area in Rio known for its Friday night nightlife and street party. Hundreds if not thousands of people flock to this one small area for its clustering of bars and clubs, with even more people content to just stand out in the streets chatting away and hanging out. Um, to keep it short, I had a good time.
Saturday morning I slept in while my parents went to check out the neighborhood of Ipanema. In the afternoon we checked out of the hotel, had some food at one of the beachfront restaurants, and then headed to the bus station to go out to Teresopolis. |
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