Mind you, I am halfway delirious as I went to bed last night at 1AM thinking going to bed late would make me adjust quicker back to PST, but no, I still woke up at 4:30-5 AM and didn't really go back to sleep. But I just can't not write about Rio - what a wonderful experience it was to visit this special place. The flight, God the flight, I thought we'd never get there. Plus, we stopped off in Sao Paulo for a couple hours before heading to Rio. Sao Paulo has so many tall buildings, skyscrapers, seemingly millions of them all lined up like soldiers. I have never seen anything like it. The Brazilian I met before my trip is from Sao Paulo, and he told me that would be what I'd see, but I still had no idea how amazing it would look. Unbelievable.
When we finally made it to Rio, we met up with our guide and driver Cirilo, an older man who spoke decent English. He drove us from the airport to the Copacabana where our hotel, the Excelsior was. We drove by the favela, which I have only seen on the silver screen, or on my DVD/TV screen rather, which so enthralls me, me being a Sociology undergrad, so interested in human behavior and how their lives got to be that way. Loved it and couldn't take enough pictures of the favela.
We drove through the maze of one-way streets by Ipanema and Copacabana, navigated through the traffic, Ana and I squealed when we saw the ocean because this meant to us that we were officially in Rio, officially on vacation away from everything we know that is familiar. We saw people running, exercising, sporting speedos openly, women wearing tight short skirts with little tops, people drinking fresh coconut juice, others making sandcastles and sand sculptures into shapes of women laying on their stomachs with thong bathingsuits - ha! And then of course, you could always spot the tourists, there's just something about their mannerisms, maybe it was that slightly confused looked on their faces as they made their way down the walkway. Ana and I wanted to blend in as much as possible, so we brought little skirts and little tops to assimilate to the lifestyle of the local women.
We got to the hotel and only had 20 minutes to get slightly settled in before we whisked away to a churrascaria rodizio lunch - a buffet of vegetable dishes and then endless slow-cooked meats, chicken and others served on skewers that the waiter starts to cut and then you pluck your piece off with tongs provided on the table. I had gone to one of these in San Francisco with a friend so I knew just what to do. Loved it, devoured as much as could without exploding. Then Ana and I were ready for a nap before taking Rio in, that long flight zapped us of our energy temporarily.
Our room was relatively small, but if you look out the window to the left, you could see the beach - ahhhhh! I was happy!!! Then if you look out and to the right, you could see the Christo from a distance perched up on the mountain when the clouds cleared - wow!! The Christo was right there looking over us like an old friend. Zzzzz....we took a nap.
When we both woke up, we got ready to go out! We went to Caravella - "The best pizza. Period." according to one of my books, and it was, it was really good. I love heart of palm so I had to get pizza with that as one of the toppings - yum! Oh and with a chopp on the side - the local beer that I also read about. Perfect! Later, we went to the Nuth Lounge to get our groove on - beautiful people everywhere, music, caipirinhas, dancing, dancing, dancing - what a great first night in Rio!!!
2nd day, we got up and ate our Excelsior breakfast before heading out with our guide to experience the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Ahhh...what a great time, going up the cable cars to the top, although we couldn't see much because of the fog, plus it started raining, it was still a great time. Lots of pictures, great memories and some ice cream at the end. After Sugar Loaf, we passed by this area where hang gliding is commonly done, and our guide kiddingly said that hang gliding was another optional activity we could do. Little did he know that he had crazy skydiving/hang gliding/spelunking Maile onboard because I squealed that I wanted to do it so he made a quick turn off in that direction - well, the weather didn't quite cooperate, so we had lunch at the Casa da Feijoada instead and got drunk on caipirinha and shots instead. Later, we took naps and then went to the open air market and spent a whole lot of reals on souvenirs, gifts and things for ourselves. Drank fresh coconut and ate corn, sat in the sauna, checked email, wrote our postcards to our friends and family and called it a night.
3rd day, we got picked up by one of our hang gliding tandem partners Ricardo as we were going to try again. It started raining, but Ricardo said it would probably be a quick, hard shower and it was. We waited for the weather to clear, had lunch, and when it cleared, we made our way up the mountain quickly to catch the window of opportunity to see Rio from the skies. Ana had never hang glided before so I could understand any apprehension she might've had, but it all happened so fast that I don't think she had time to think about fear - they ran off and then were in the air. Now, this was my 2nd time hang gliding so I was comfortable and I had faith in Ricardo that he would take care of me and he did. What a freeing feeling to run off the mountain and let it all go as I had no control anymore, it was all in the hands of Ricardo as he let me enjoy the scenery, exhilaration and told me to smile at the still camera every once in awhile. Smile, look, enjoy, smile, spread your arms like you're flying, DEFYING GRAVITY, smile, look, feeling like a bird - ahhhh....we landed on the beach, and Ana and I hugged after such a wonderful rush of an experience.
We took naps - we are big nappers, and then headed off to find a restaurant dive I read about called O Crack dos Galetos for dinner. We really didn't know what to expect, sat down and studied the hardly-readable menu as you could tell it had been around and around for many years. We ordered chicken and skewered meat and two caipirinhas, and woo, these caipirinhas were of a different brand of mix because we were drunk in two sips! Ha! It didn't seem like the best of areas and it was an open-air restaurant so we did our best to act normal, but giggled and laughed on the side in between each delicious bite of our meal. Yum! We stumbled back over to the open-air market and spent more of our reals on more goods - ah, fun!
On the 4th and final day, we ate our usual Excelsior breakfast - eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit, pastries, smoothies and thicker-than-we're-used-to-coffee - and then caught a ride to see the Christo up-close. Wow!! We had previously seen pictures of the Christo, but to see it in person and its humongousness, it is breath-taking and awe-striking - wow!!! We took tons of pictures along with the hoards of other tourists and then shopped at the little gift shops for more souvenirs and gifts. We saw the Christo during a window of sun, and then it was covered with clouds - great timing, we were so lucky! We came back to the hotel and made our way over the beach. Somehow during the hubbub of the week, we never made it over the beach until now. We dipped our toes into the Rio Atlantic and enjoyed the scenery both of the landscape and of the people, both locals and tourists. We obtained beach chairs and towels and basked in the sun as different street vendors came up to us selling cashews, shrimp, bags, and beach towels - what a great end to a wonderful journey in lovely RIO. Next we were off to see the majestic Iguacu Falls on the border of Brasil and Argentina. Wheeee!!! :)
