Rio de Janeiro…………Carnival 2018
33 Degrees
Celsius (92F) Hazy, Humid: Summer in Rio.
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| Coming Into Rio At Dawn |
This is day 18 of
our Cruise and one main reason we took this cruise in the first place: Carnival in Rio.
We booked 2
excursions for Rio. The first tour, an all day tour, started at 7.10 in the
morning and we were ready. We had an air-conditioned bus that took us to all
the highlights Rio had to offer. Our Guide was Michael Gallagher, yes an Irish
name, but he was born in Rio and what was even better, was his perfect English.
You would think he came from L.A. His usage of idioms was perfect.
We had a GREAT
guide.
The temperature,
even at this early hour was hot.
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| Jack Fruit - Very Sweet |
Michael arranged for
us to take the trolley train up the mountain. It’s an open car, cog train that
crawled up the steep mountain. It swayed, too, like being on a ship. The view
from the train was scenic and we rode through mostly woods. The climb was steep
and we could see Jack Fruit hanging on the trees along the tracks, ready for
the picking. This is tropical paradise and yes, yes, it’s hot.
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| Escalator to the Top |
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| An Awe-Inspiring Sight |
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| One of Many 'Silly' Pictures |
Once we stepped off the elevator we had to go higher yet, now we had a series of escalators we had to use before we ended up at the foot of the pedestal on which stood ‘Christ the Redeemer’. My first impressing was: It’s HUGE!
It was almost
impossible to take a picture from the bottom of the statue straight up; so the
good folks who built this attraction, arranged for terraces to be built all around
the statue so people could take photographs. Yes, yes, it’s touristy and there
were hundreds of people around us, and from the languages I heard, they came from
all over the world. It was like we visited the tower of Babel. Everybody
laughed and cheered and had a good time and spoke in??? All I can tell you is it felt very international
to me.
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| Trying to Get the Perfect Shot |
This spot is a
‘must see’ in Rio, even to just take a goofy picture of yourself trying to sit
on the hands of the statue. People were lying on the ground to get a better
perspective for their camera shots. It was so crowded one had to wait to take a
picture. Everybody wanted to stand in the ‘perfect’ spot for a picture but the
behaviour of most people was civilized.
People had patience and yes, some bumping into each other was inevitable
but in hindsight… it was OK.
Just so you
know…. watch your wallet. It’s a great place for pick-pockets.
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| Amazing Views |
I had a strange
feeling while at the terrace in front of the statue… I felt like being on
unsteady ground. Even Carol kind of shared this feeling. It’s not that the
terrace swayed, but it felt unsteady, felt weird, might even be that the whole
terrace was a bit slanted? I just don’t
know it’s just a feeling I had.
The statue stood
at 2300 feet right on top of a knob of a hill and it was (100 feet) 30 meters
high.
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| Sugar Loaf Mountain On the Right |
In the distance,
across the valley, near the shore line, near the ocean, I saw Sugar Loaf
Mountain. It seems like Sugarloaf is near the Statue of the Redeemer when one
looks at postcards, but it’s a good distance across Rio to Sugarloaf. But
totally visible, from the Redeemer you can see Sugarloaf……and you can see the
Redeemer from almost anywhere when you are in Rio.
We have many
photos but will post only a few…
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| Many Kinds of Meat Served |
The way down was
anti-climactic. So it was a good time to have lunch.
Michael picked a
Brazilian bar, all part of the tour, where we feasted on meat roasted on a spit.
You might know these places… there is a buffet bar with salads and other
things, but the main attraction is skewers of meat of all kinds that are
brought around to your table. They slice off as much meat as you like, as often
as you like. You just east… the servers know you can only eat so much… just
eat….no, no, I mean it, eat some more…. Ah, how about this steak? … I have some
more…. EAT. It was a feast…it certainly
was your fault if you walked away hungry.
Carol had a fizzy
Brazilian drink which she said tasted somewhat like Ginger Ale… the meal was
good.
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| Who's Happy? |
Now we had to go
from here, after this meal, to the Sugarloaf Mountain. OK we will go by bus,
and yes, it is air-conditioned but it is Carnival in Rio. There are people
everywhere, some roads are blocked off. Traffic is normally slow but now it
just crawled….
OK, we got to
Sugarloaf, another ‘just have to see it’ kind of location.
Again Michael had
the tickets prearranged and we could just walk in. This time our whole group,
easily fit into just one cable car……and off we went.
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| Cable Car to the Top |
The view while
going up was stunning. We rode straight up to the tippy top; below us was
greenery, woods-like or bushes…hard to tell from up there. The panorama of the
harbor, the ship yards, the boat basins, the beaches and the tiny houses was
breath-taking. We forgot for a moment that we were suspended by just a small
cable and were hanging by a thread, literally.
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| View From the Cable Car |
The view over the
city was not as high as from the Redeemer but it had its own charm. On the top were
shops, restaurants, and benches, smallish terraces to visit and just gawk down
over the world below. It was not a small place on top. I wandered around a bit,
looking here, looking there. This was a unique venue; a different point of
view. It’s not every day that I look at the world from way on high, yet remain
grounded with my feet on the ground.
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| Favela |
I understand that
each valley, each mountain, heck each side of the mountain is its own town so-to-speak;
its own neighborhood. Brazil could not keep up with the influx of people to Rio
and new people made their own housing, decided on their own walkways, roads,
streets, etc. People, especially at first soldiers, formed their own
neighborhoods. Yes, it could be considered a slum, or a shanty town, but where
do you put all these people. Housing was and is in short supply for Rio.
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| Another Favela |
There is not much
flat land around. And…. how do you put sanitation services up those steep
hills, like water, electric, phone lines, etc.?
From way up here
Rio looks pretty. The favelas look quaint, colorful. I know my view is skewed from up here. Rio
has crime; some favelas are even too dangerous for the police to go into. But I
don’t see this from up here. I have a privileged view of the city. I arrived in
an air-conditioned bus too. I had Michael who arranged for me to not even stay
in line…. Life for me in Rio is good…. I had a tremendous lunch….
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| Copacabana Beach From Sugar Loaf |
Not so for most
of the people who live here……. there are millions who live in those favelas.
We spent about an
hour just on top of Sugar Loaf and then took the cable car back down to the
waiting bus.
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| Street Scenes During Carnival |
Carnival is not
in just one location in Rio, its spread out, each neighborhood has their spot
to celebrate, to dance, sing, be silly and forget real life for some moments.
Yes, people
congregate to big public spaces, like the beaches and part of our tour was to
see that. Michael and his bus driver tried to show us Copacabana Beach, they
really tried, but it being Carnival, there was just no way to get near to the
beach via bus. Even on foot it would have been too crowded.
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| Amazing Beaches, Lots of People |
Ah, the famous
beaches of Rio.
They all kind of
run into each other, forming a very long beach and certain sections have their
own name, depending in what Borough they are in. The beaches of
Rio are along a very, very large lagoon like bay.
The most famous
would be Copacabana Beach and we tried to see this but, like I said, it was
impossible during Carnival, especially via bus.
We even tried to
get near Ipanema Beach but again, it was too crowded. Traffic was at a
standstill. I heard so much
about this beach, I even loved the song: ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ and the bosa
nova was first danced here. And being a
male, I know the micro bikini was developed here.
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| That Looks Fun |
We tried and
tried but could only get to Leblon Beach, a part of Ipanema, and then only
because the driver parked the bus illegally. We could not stay long; we just
had to get a whiff of what it was like to be on a Rio beach.
Carol and I found
a shady spot and just watched.
We watched hang
gliders that came off the tip of a mountain nearby land on the beach. It was
surreal.
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| Another Hang Glider Coming In to Land |
People were just
loafing; families sat on a blanket, kids ran around, older people sipped their
coffee or drank their sodas, there were some convenience type stores there, but
not really a very commercial atmosphere.
The fire brigade
had a trailer parked under the palm trees, I think they worked here as
lifeguards, but I don’t know for sure. Life or the style of living seemed the
easy life.
Some people
played volley ball and somehow the heat did not seem so bad. The wind off the
water seemed to make it pleasant.
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| Just Hangin' Out |
I could have spent a day here, just watching,
doing nothing, sitting in a hammock.
But, we were just
passing through… we were just getting a whiff of it all………I liked Rio; my
privileged Rio.
Our way back to
the ship was an ordeal for the bus driver, he used every short cut he knew, and
still it took us some time to get back to the ship. We saw, from the bus, where
the Sambadrome was, but that is the blog for tomorrow.
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| So Much Energy |
For today I want to end it, but not before I praise the folks that came on board the ship and danced the Samba in the Ship’s Theatre for all of us ‘old’ folks. Dancing the Samba is the Carnival custom.
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| The Mini Bikini |
What a hoot………… a great show, great day, well worth the money we spent on this excursion.
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