Christ the Redeemer a well-known entity worldwide has recently become one of the 7 Wonders of the World. I have always wanted to see the Christ who opens his arms to all of Rio. We had attempted to go to Brazil during our World Tour in 2011 but the Visas for Canadians were too onerous and we opted to go to Argentina and Chile instead. This time around we had booked Rio and then the Brazil government re-implemented the Visa in December for any Canadian travelling to Brazil after January 10th. So we were hooped and had to do all of the work in the end for the Visa. It took a full day to get everything together and input into their not-so-great online system. They turned us down because our passport photos were not good enough and then the same day we got an email from the Embassy stating that this new Visa process for Canadians was being delayed until April of 2024. Meanwhile, we had already paid 222.00 CND for the Visas that we never got and did not need. Frustrating would be an understatement. So here we are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and enjoying ourselves in this crazy busy, hot and sweaty overly-populated city.
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| 6.4 Million people call Rio home. |
We decided to just chill and get our bearings, do some laundry and familiarize ourselves with the part of the city that we were staying in. I found a timeshare exchange on the famous Copacabana Beach, the beach that Barry Manilow sings a song about. It is very pretty and we are lucky to have beach views from our tiny balcony.
Rio is an extremely dramatic city in its scenery, people, food, temperature and just about everything. We have turned down so many rude and aggressive scammers that it must be a record. The Portuguese language sounds to my ear like a combination of Russian and Italian. With my limited Spanish background, I can make out a lot of the written but can not pick up anything in their speech. When I use my Spanish to talk to them 90% understand me so that has been helpful. Brazil is completely surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries and Rio is a tourist city so it does make sense that they know their Spanish
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Our hotel had its own Carnival Store. The whole city was preparing for the World-famous Carnival.
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| Here was a creation for Carnival meant to wear with your bikini underneath or not? |
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| Carnival Costume Kiosks were everywhere. |
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| I did not know that there was a homeless dude under the tree until after I took the photo, Darren told me later. I thought the tree was cool and it was right outside our Hotel. |
Our outing that day was a quest to find a grocery store for food and water and a Laundromat for a long overdue load of laundry from the 14-day cruise. We succeeded in both of the above but were unable to take out Brazilian Real from any ATM. Thank goodness the Laundromat took only credit cards and most of Rio does including Taxis. We had zero Brazilian money and they don't take USD.
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| Taken off of our back balcony where there are ridiculous amounts of Apartment buildings. |
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| Rio streets are tree-lined which makes them prettier, but the roots have uplifted all of the cobblestoned streets making walking trickier. |
We arrived on a Saturday and the beach was packed for the weekend. We found a restaurant about one block away and they had some traditional Brazilian rice and meat dishes which Lisa and I ordered and really enjoyed.
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| In the round dish was garlic crumbed deliciousness meant to spread on the rice dish to the left. |
Today we visited Christ the Redeemer. We took an Uber up to the Corcovado which is the Train that takes you up to the Christ. The Uber was 29 Brazilian Real which was a bargain for a 20-minute Taxi ride. The drive from Cococabana up to the statue's base is quite pretty, driving past the Lagoon with its skyscraper buildings and towering odd-shaped mountains.
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| A gentleman selling his wares outside the Uber vehicle. |
The taxi driver pulled up to the Corcovado Train Station and said quote 'get out'. I don't think he meant to be that harsh but with his limited English and my zero Portuguese, it was a bit of a laugh to hear him say it. We misunderstood and thought that he was taking us up the mountain but apparently, Ubers are not allowed to do this. We got out and said 'Obrigado' which means thank you in Portuguese and went and bought return train tickets which cost about 57 Canadian for the two of us. The line-up was not too bad because it was a Monday in Brazil's summer. The weekend would have been a gong-show. We followed 4 very tall, muscular, athletic Portuguese men through the line-up. People parted like the Red-Sea and we rode in on their coat-tales. This undoubtedly sped things up for us. They may have been Brazilian Super Liga Volleyball players as they had Mizuno runners on, I guess we will never know?
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| Outside the train station |
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| Inside the train station. |
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In the Funicular going backwards up the hill towards Christ the Redeemer.
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We boarded the train or funicular to take us up the mountain through the thick Brazilian jungle. The ride took about 15 minutes. Darren and I were going to attempt to hike up to the Christ which takes about 2 hours and it is straight up, kind of glad we didn't. At the end of the train ride, there were approximately another 7 flights of granite stairs to climb after that but you hardly noticed because the views were INCREDIBLE.
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| Not sure why but the photos all look like they have a blue filter. |
After taking an ample amount of photos, we continued up the stairs to the top level and there he was... Christ the Redeemer in all of his Glory.
I would love to say that we were alone but it felt like 45,000 other people also wanted a piece of him. If you could put all of the rudest people into a fairly small space with you in it, then you would understand the feeling. I am very polite when I take a selfy or set a shot up but apparently, I am the only one who is. Holy Cow people are rude. They don't feel any compunction about holding 100 people hostage so they can get their perfect shot, OIH. Once we got our semi-acceptable photos with the Big Guy, we got the hell out of Dodge. It was hotter than Hades and even more humid. We got in line to take the train back down. We were in the jungle and in the sun. It was super uncomfortable with sweat rolling down my spine and I don't sweat!
I have always wanted to see Christ the Redeemer and now that I did I am super happy that I have been blessed enough to have seen him.
We came back to our hotel after hailing a Taxi and caught some Air Con and water to revive us. We set out for some exercise and walked the length of Copacabana Beach Boardwalk. People-watching in Rio is superb by the way!!! We had set out to visit the Fort at the south end of Cococabana but it was closed due to we think dignitaries flying in by two helicopters and there were armoured vehicles and profuse amounts of police cars in the area. Maybe the President was in town???
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| Sand Castles were being prepared for Carnival. |
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| The Cobblestone Boardwalk with its famous design. |
Instead of visiting the Fort, we continued to Ipanema, another famous beach, and roamed around for a bit.
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| Rio has 99 beaches and the longest is 16 kms. |
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| Another picturesque beach. |
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| Beautiful tree blossoms were scattered around this tree in Ipanema Park. |
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| Street Art is prolific. |
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| I loved this guy. |
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| Beach views are the norm for Rio. |
We returned the way we came and sat at one of the many Beach Bars to order a drink. We walked back and we met Lisa and her sister Virginia for supper.
I discovered the National Brazilian drink called Caipirinha which is made with sugar cane alcohol called Cachaca and lots of limes and sugar. I asked them to put very little sugar in because overly sweet cocktails are not my thing. Guess what, I flippin' loved it!!!! So I ordered another and I discovered that they pack a punch.
Today was a great day!!
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| Cococabana beach view from our hotel Rooftop Bar. |
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