This is why we parked the bike in Santinho and took a short fly to the “marvellous town”.
After visiting Rio for 4 days our question is: where is all this danger?
We walked around day and night we jumped on buses and taxies, we ventured outside Copacabana and Ipanema to visit quarters off the beaten track and yet we never felt once slightly uncomfortable nor threatened.
Ok, we didn’t wear our Rolex and diamonds (also because we don’t have any) and walked at night in the middle of the worst favela, but then that would be dangerous in any town on the planet.
We believe that if you behave correctly and take all reasonable precautions Rio is a safe place to visit, certainly safer than other places we have been to.
When we travel abroad, at the end of each visit, we always ask ourselves “would I live here?”
Well, we can safely say that Rio is the only place in South America where we would certainly live (Santiago came close but didn’t have a beach!)
But let’s proceed in the right order.
Since both our Canon and my mobile were officially out of order and since Elena’s mobile has the memory of a goldfish (can barely store 20 pics!) we stepped immediately into a shop centre to buy an emergency camera.
We are glad we did so as in 4 days we took over 500 pictures.
On day one we paid visit immediately to the Pao de Azucar or Sugar loaf.
This steep hill overlooking Copacabana beach is based in the Botafogo quarter and the top can be reached via a cable cart.
Pic 3 Views from Sugar Loaf
Given its location it offers a 360 degrees view of the town.
What we learnt immediately about Rio is that you cannot trust the weather report. This is not the meteorologists fault, but simply because the weather changes so erratically and rapidly that it is impossible to make a meaningful forecast.
During our visit to the loaf the weather changed 3 times, from blue sky to storm to blue sky again.
In the evening we took a stroll on Copacabana beach for a total of 9 kms walk.
Pic 8 and 9 Copacabana by night
For inexperienced tourists like us it has to be said that Copacabana is busy only until 8pm. During the day the beach is filled with people getting tanned, swimming in the rather cold water (in Floripa the water is definitely warmer) and playing team sports like football and volleyball.
As the heath reduces in the evening people come out for a run or a stroll on the bike’s lane or taking the dog for a walk.
If you are looking for some night life however after 9pm you should head towards Ipanema
or even better to the Lapa quarter.
In Lapa you will find tons of restaurants and clubs and most importantly a huge crowd of young Brazilians ready to enjoy the night in the roads of this popular quarter that in the evening are closed to the traffic.
On Saturday, since the sun was out we spent the whole day in the hotel's pool
and on Copacabana beach. It appears that we were not the only ones to have this idea as the whole town joined us on the pristine sand.
Now, brace yourself as we are about to give you an excellent tip: If you think that you can see a carnival parade only during carnival spending a fortune, think again.
During the 2 months prior to the actual Carnival in Rio, the various schools meticulously rehearse for the event.
Every Saturday and Sunday 3 samba schools head to the Sambodrome to test their choreography right in the venue.
Even though they are not fully dressed up like during the actual show and even though the carts are on a much smaller scale this event on some level is probably even better than the Carnival itself.
First the crowd watching from the stalls is made of Brazilians who join in the dances and make the whole experience more real.
Second, as the only “gringos” around, we were given a royal treatment and a green card to walk around freely and choose the best spots to watch the parade (i.e. we were inches away from the dancers)
Last but not least the rehearsal is free.
At midnight the dances were still going on.
We thought we would leave early not to push our luck and in the streets we met some dancers that were still running to the venue to take their place in the parade. What a great opportunity to take a picture.
On Sunday as we were still blessed with good weather we went to the Corcovado to take a closer look at the “redeeming Christ”.
From Copacabana the bus 583 will take you straight to the Corcovado rail and also provide you with an excellent tour of Botafogo, Flamengo and the city centre.
As we got there they only had tickets available for the late afternoon.
Since we had few more hrs to kill we jumped on another bus (N422) and headed to the Maracana stadium.
The Maracana will host the final of the world cup in 2014 and for this reason is currently under refurbishment.
Without being able to access the actual ground we found that the visit to the actual museum alone was a bit of a waste of space.
The only highlight really is to be able to compare your feet with the footprints of the greatest Brazilian footballers of whole time, from Pele’
to Kaka’, without forgetting Falcao, Zico, Romario and Ronaldo.
Back at the Corcovado we jumped on the train with an army of Chinese tourists.
The views from the top are probably even better than the views we enjoyed from the sugar loaf with the plus of being able to touch the big statue of the Redeeming Christ.
Built in the 30’ this is by far one of the Icons of the South American continent.
The following morning the phone of our room suddenly rang.
Since last week Elena had been in touch with Rio Adventure, a company specialised in tandem launches with a hung glider.
During the weekend the wind conditions had been very poor, preventing anyone from launching.
This had been cause for much frustration for Elena, and great relief for me.
However judgement day came, so we catapulted ourselves into a taxi and headed to praia do Pepino.
As the agency had a 3 days backlog and there was a long queue of people
willing to throw themselves into the abyss
I grabbed immediately the excuse presented to me and graciously bailed out.
Brave Elena on the other hand pretty much jumped the queue and was one of the first to hit the sky.
Pic 33: run Elena run
Pic 34: look at the camera
Pic 35: flying with 1 hand
A huge smile of satisfaction didn’t leave her face for the following 12 hrs.
That was pretty much the final highlight of a wonderful long weekend in Rio.
It is safe to say that we will definitely come back as we loved every corner of this amazing town.
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