What a wonderful day! RIO...A city that I have always wanted to visit...denotes the exotic Latin American culture that we read about. We went to the top of the ship at 6:45am to watch the approach into the port. It was a sight to behold!
The sun had risen an hour earlier and it shown down on Rio's sky scrapers and tumbling wooded mountains, stark expanses of bare rock and deep blue sea studded with rocky islands, Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach and Sugar Loaf Mountain.
Brazilians say God made the world in six days, the seventh day he devoted to Rio.
We passed the palace occupied by earlier emperors. We enjoyed watching the jets take off and land on the short air strip that ran right along the ocean front waterway. It was an awesome hour of wonder...for me!
The Ship docked at 9:00am and by that time we had showered and had breakfast in our room. We set out through the marine terminal looking for the local bus to the Christ The Redeemer Statue. On the way we walked smack dab into some of the fabulous floats in the Carnival parade. What a sight! The floats were so large that they could hardly turn the corners...even with a guide on the road to give extra directions. It was a sight to watch.
We tried several times to get a taxi...so many people pulling suitcases along the street had disembarked from another ship that was anchored next to ours... it was just impossible...so on we walked. We could see great swarms of people ahead, watching the parade that was passing. Many in crazy costumes...men in skirts, big headresses, masks, feathers, tiger tails, tall ears...it reminded us of Halloween only with grownups... 2 million visitors had come to the city for the five days of Carnival Celebration. And the smells as we walked the streets...good, bad, and UGLY!
Public telephone booths appear on all the streets.
After stopping to ask directions to the Christ the Redeemer Statue a few times (not much English spoken here), we came across a young lady, Luciana, that really liked Americans...through facebook friends she had never met and movies with subtitles, she was learning English....her English was excellent. She led us through a crowed shopping area, taking us to the correct bus stop and speaking Portuguese to the bus driver. She sent us on our way with our own private full size city bus ride for the cost of 3 Brazilian Reals ($1.50) each. Only one other person got on the bus for the 20 minute ride. She really did like Americans!!!
We saw some great sights from this bus...like many city parks, the Pyramid shaped Metropolitan Cathedral,
and lots of Carnival people having a good time.
From there we bought tickets for the National Park Shuttle Van to the top of Corcovado Mountain for 51 Brazilian Reals each ($25.00). Over the bumpy cobble stone road, round and round and up and up the mountain we went with ears a popping and cars/vans a coming at us from the opposite direction. It was steep...like going to Pike's Peak in Colorado.
At the top of the mountain we went up an elevator and two flights of escalators to see one marvelous view. The city of Rio lay before us with a layer of smog floating all around, and Christ The Redeemer Statue, one of the seven wonders of the new world, stood towering above us. It was a tremendous sight!.We couldn't believe how fortunate we were to have found our way in time to have lunch on top of this fantastic landscape. It was down right AWESOME!
The Christ the Redeemer Statue Foundation was laid in 1922 marking the independence of Brazil. The statue was completed in 1931. In 2003 a better road was constructed making it more open for public visitation.
We spent about an hour just enjoying it all and then walked down the mountain, got right into a van, and headed back to the park service hut. Here they gave us directions to catch bus 180 back to the port where we did a little shopping and then went on board the Crown Princess!
During the evening we had a roast beef, mashed potatoes dinner on the back deck, watching the lights of Rio twinkle...a few fireworks went off in the distance and then we went to a Brazilian Show that had local musicians and entertainers perform local style. It just doesn't get any better than today!
2nd day visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
After breakfast in our room, Larry and I headed out to find bus 127 to Copacabana Beach. The day was overcast, a blessing because the sun would heat up the city. We walked toward the city center and stopped to ask for directions a few time, using our best Portugese sign language. We reached a road that had eight lanes buzzing by us and an additional three lanes on each side of the eight...one BIG Avenue. Everyone we stopped to talk with today did not speak English but they sure tried to help us figure out how to get to the bus....between their Portuguese and our English and a lot of finger pointing....we found the right place to catch the bus.
But on the way, we couldn't believe the shape this area was in...trash was everywhere...piles of it, in the gullies, on the curbs, and everywhere you looked. It was unbelievable how people had trashed the area after saturday night carnival celebrations. The city appeared to be very dirty and the large mounds made it seem so out of control. You can imagine the smells.
Anyway, we boarded the bus and enjoyed the views of the the public sailboat marina, the huge Ruins Park with Carnival Festivities going on, lots of tall apartment buildings and small businesses. The bus took us by Sugar Loaf Mountain where you could catch a tram across one high mountain top to another. The views at the top are supposed to be tremendous there too. We passed through two mountain tunnels before arriving at Copacabana Beach! WOW! What a beach with thousands of people. The waves were fantastic enough to boogie board and surf. Although there were warnings out to not swim due to the swift current, the waters were loaded with people. The ocean was cool...refreshing because just as we had arrived the sun decided to shine. We spread our towels out among the crowds and had a nice picnic lunch and took in the sights.
There was plenty to see. Men wearing the European bathing suit...and oolala...many, many of the "Brazilian Bare Butt" suits...OH MY!
Everyone was enjoying a great day in the sun. A man was selling swimsuits hanging off an umbrella...very practical...shade and ease in accessing the merchandise. He just picked it up and moved along the beach front.
Vendors selling popcorn, drinks, etc out walking among the folks sunning in the sand. To the south we had a fantastic view of the Copacabana Fort and to the north was the fabulous Sugar Loaf Mountain and between was a street lined with tall high rise apartments and hotels.
Sugar Loaf
We walked up the beach about a mile and around 2:00pm started heading back toward the city bus loading area. It wasn't too far to find. We had a little bit of a wait, but the ride back to the ship was interesting. The bus took us through the city where wild partying of the carnival was going on. The bus slowly crept through the crowds and we enjoyed seeing all the happy people from the bus windows. Very fun to observe from the safety of the bus.
Made it back to the boat about 3:00pm and did a little shopping and internet surfing. WIFI in Brazil is a joke! Very, Very SLOW!
Rio was a fun city to visit. We enjoyed our two days of walking the streets and riding the city buses to see all of the sights.
