We got up at 6.00 today to watch the sail in to Rio and I'm so glad we did - it was incredible. We sailed into the bay past the famous Sugar Loaf mountain, and Corcovado mountain where we could just make out the Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance. We watched the sun rise in the bay and saw the 8 mile long Niteroi Bridge stretching off into the distance. We passed the airport which is a small area right by the sea (I would be terrified to land there!) and then headed into our docking area which was close to the city centre.
We had breakfast and then went to the theatre which was the meeting place for our tour that day - The Best of Rio. We boarded our coach at 8.45 and set off for the full day tour. One of the first things our guide said was "the city is a mess at the moment!" - and we could see what he means! There is a lot of building and reconstruction work going on in preparation for the Olympics which are being held in Rio in August 2016. I had heard that there was some concern whether everything would be ready in time, and I can see why! The guide described the plans for developing the waterfront and various other parts of the town - it sounds very impressive.
We drove through the downtown area, past old churches and past the new cathedral (which looks incredibly ugly from the outside - a huge grey concrete cone shape - but is incredible inside as the sun shines through the many stained glass windows - sadly we didn't have time to go inside). We passed by a number of attractive parks, and interesting buildings in various stages of reconstruction, before we arrived at our first stop - Sugar Loaf mountain. This is an intriguingly shaped land mass which can be accessed only by cable car. Each cable car carries 65 passengers, and had been renewed 3 years ago (this reassured me somewhat as I know the original cable car was made over 100 years ago!). As we were there early there wasn't much of a queue so we quickly got into the first cable car which takes you up to a lower mountain called Morro da Urca. The views from here were already amazing - over the harbour at Botafogo Bay with its many sailing boats, Flamengo Beach, and Corcovado mountain in the distance. There was also a helipad where you could do helicopter tours over Rio, and some exhibits showing what the old cable cars used to look like (SOOOO glad they have changed them!). We got to see some planes landing and taking off also, and watched one miss his landing and have to do a sharp circle around before trying again - aaaagh! We had 10 minutes to take lots of pictures before joining the second cable car to the top of Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf).
The journey only took a few minutes which I was grateful for as it made lots of weird squeaky sounds... And the views from the top were absolutely breathtaking. We could see for miles in every direction. We got our first view of the famous Copacabana Beach with its multitude of hotels, and another quaint little bay nearby. We saw the long Niteroi bridge in the distance, and the many hills and islets and skyscrapers everywhere. We watched some men doing some maintenance to some of the cables, which involved transporting ladders and other equipment up and down the mountain via small green wooden cable trucks - at one point I thought one of the workers was going to get in one but thankfully he didn't! There were lots of birds flying around the place (which I think were eagles...), and on the way back to the lower cable car station at the end we saw a family of tiny monkeys - they were unbelievably cute!
Once safely back at sea level, we picked up our coach again to take us on a scenic drive along the beach front - we passed Copacabana, then rounded the corner to see Ipanema [JL: I didn't see "the girl from Ipanema" but I saw her granddaughters on Ipanema beach; big waves, big girls with tiny intriguing bikinis; I would welcome them with open arms on deck 14 as long as Emma was in the gym...] and Leblon beaches and their surrounding areas - some of the most prestigious in the city. The weather was a bit grey so the beaches were not very crowded and the sea looked surprisingly choppy. We eventually stopped at our next destination - lunch!
This was served in a restaurant which clearly caters regularly for large tour groups. We started with a buffet where luckily I found some plain salad and bread for me! They then brought some extra dishes to the table including some chips (woohoo!) and some baked banana. But the main part of the meal was still to come - in this restaurant you could have about 20 different types of meat! And the waiters came to serve it to you at your table on long skewers which they carved in front of you. People were given special tools to pull off their chosen chunks of meat. I spent a lot of time dodging my nose and eyes away from these revolting things but there wasn't really any escape for a vegetarian! Needless to say JL had a wonderful meal! The highlight of the meal for me was when the table next to us wanted some more lamb but the waiter didn't understand them so they all started baaing at him and pretending to be sheep! I think they eventually got what they wanted!
After we'd finished eating, JL and I took a walk outside to look at the nearby hills as on the way in I had spotted that there were a number of people hang gliding from the top! And sure enough we saw quite a number of them take off from the hill, circle round they sky for a while, fly over the busy road (eek!) and then land on the beach - amazing! There were also some beautiful orchids to look at in the restaurant's gardens and it was nice and warm after the freezing air conditioning inside. (Luckily the 42 degree temperatures we'd been warned about hadn't materialised, it was down to 37!)
The coach then collected us and we set off for our next destination. Before we had gone too far we stopped for a few minutes so we could take a few pictures at the local beach - the sand was just as white and the sea was just as turquoise and warm as you would expect in Brazil! We also got to admire the hand-laid black and white marbled paving which lines the beaches here. It was then back in the coach for the main journey. I had heard people say that the traffic in Rio is bad and that is an understatement. I have never sat in so many traffic jams! We were 20 minutes late getting to our destination, but that gave me time for a little snooze on the way!
Our destination was of course Corcovado (which means hunchback) mountain, the home of the enormous Christ the Redeemer statue. To access the mountain you can either walk up the 2310 feet, or do what most sane people do which is to take the 20 minute cogwheel train to the top. The trains are very sweet with seats facing both forward and backwards, and the journey is pleasant up the wooded hill, with various stops for local people which mainly seem to be used as stalls for bottled water for tourists! Some of the track was quite steep which made for a fun ride!
At the top of the track we could choose between a lift or stairs to get to the main platform - miraculously JL chose to come up the stairs with me! At the top we looked round in confusion as we couldn't see Jesus anywhere, and then we realised that was because it was so cloudy that he was completely hidden! We looked out over the view point and all we could see was cloud as well! We then heard a cry of amazement from the hundreds of people up there with us and suddenly Christ emerged out of the clouds as the wind cleared them away - it was quite an entrance! Everyone started snapping away for about 30 seconds before the clouds re concealed the statue. This became the pattern of the time we were up there - it was mainly cloudy but as it was also quite windy the cloud would clear in patches and we would take these opportunities to view the enormous statue (125 feet high) and the incredible views all around the city. It made it a very exciting experience! And thanks to the cloud it was actually quite cool so none of my fears of getting sunstroke were justified.
After about 45 minutes enjoying the views, it was time to catch the next train back down the mountain for a bit of souvenir shopping (the shop was just closing but decided to reopen when it saw the bus load of eager shoppers!), and then get the coach back to the ship. We took a different route back, and this time passed a huge favela (slum town) on a hill, with houses made from brick with satellite dishes and electricity! We also drove past the Sambodrome which is a tiered seating area for 140,000 people at Rio Carnival time (in February) - it stretched along the entire length of the long road! The area is used for schooling and other events the rest of the year. We also drove past the huge warehouse where they make the costumes and floats, and had a sneak peek at a couple through the window.
We eventually got back to the ship about 6.15pm, absolutely exhausted! I did a bit of postcard writing (don't forget to send your requests if you'd like one!), then we went to dinner. We headed to the theatre for the evening's show which was a very special one - as the ship didn't leave Rio until 11.00pm, they had got a local folkloric group to come on board to do the show - Brasillissimo. JL was a bit reluctant to come along expecting lots of handmade percussion instruments and not much else... This is indeed how it started (although I even enjoyed this bit as the drummers were very talented). But he soon perked up (as did all the men in the room) when the female Brazilian dancers came on! Let's just say their costumes did not require a lot of material to make!!! They took a break while some incredible male dancers/ acrobats came on the stage, and then came the finale where a number of dancers came on wearing the most incredible feathered and sequinned costumes I have ever seen! They did some dancing on stage, then the scantily dressed ladies came to join them and then started getting people from the audience to go up and dance with them. The elderly gentlemen who went up had a really good boogie! They then came and grabbed lots more people from the audience, did the conga up the aisles with them, led them all on to the stage where they all danced for a good 10 minutes - it was such great fun! (Luckily we were sat in the middle of a row so did NOT go up on stage!) A fantastic end to a fantastic day in Rio!
We had planned to stay up and watch the ship sail away at 11pm, but by this point it had started raining (first rain in Rio in 3 weeks!) and had got very windy, plus we were shattered, so after watching the lightning for a bit we decided to go to bed, and were woken briefly later as the ship sailed off into what was becoming a rather rocky stormy sea...
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