RIO STATE OF MIND

Experience the Airbus window view that awaits you upon landing in Rio: https://youtu.be/e2wvLNZIsPQ

Here are some of the iconic sites of the beautiful Rio mixed up with an overview of the spectacular Iguaçu Falls : https://youtu.be/Wy-z-NQsTx8 

Managed to change my return flight from 3 stops initially (Belo Horizonte, Sao Paolo & New York) to 1 stop only in Miami at no extra cost. That after spending some painful 30 minutes over the phone with the American Airlines customer service in Sao Paolo – why painful ?

Show at La Plataforma Theater in Rio

Well, had a pretty hard time understanding flavor of English the lady was speaking. My patience had however really paid off so I got my requested changes confirmed in my inbox right after hanging up. What that meant was enjoying another unplanned for almost full sunshiny day in beautiful lively Rio. Sun, emerald ocean and beautiful sightseeing including latest bikini fashion show beachopping between Ipanema, Copacabana and Sao Conrado. 

Copacabana



A couple of the highlights of the 4-day (way too) short stay in Rio. First an incredibly lively tour of the Rocinha and Villa de Canoas favelas on market day which is Sunday. Safety moment the tour guide had took the time to provide prior to the tour included lots of no-no’s among which no photo shooting of armed men. Plus some supposedly reassuring jokes as to it’s not as bad, not everyone ends up kidnapped and getting their internal organs on sale on Ebay subsequently. Ha-ha, that was real fun wasn't it ?

Rocinha Favela

These being said, the livelihood, colours and impressive human experience getting thru the crazy market stands selling all imaginable kind of merchandise, walking thru the local crowd and seamlessly mixing up and feeling like one of them for the tour duration had been absolutely priceless. That had also made for gorgeous photo ops wherever photos were indicated as allowed,

 

Secondly, spending a full evening and even early night at “Bar da Boa” with locals on Rio de Lavradio street in Rio Lapa area close to downtown, had proved to be another great experience. Enjoying great live Brazilian music wihin an incredibly warm atmosphere. I really felt like a true carioca that night, these guys surely know how to party, wouldn’t forget the experience soon. Initially there for just a short walk and dinner I ended up partying up for almost 4 hours to great live Brazilian music and had just a few caipirinhas for dinner, who needs food in Rio after all ?

 

Actually same “power day” (#3) that ended up at the above-mentioned livelyBrazilian music venue actually started with a stroll along Copacabana beach on a picture perfect sunny day really early in the morning. Followed by an extensive taxi ride to Santa Teresa (one of the older neighborhoods perched up one of the many hills around Rio made famous by the recent tram accident that prompted closure of that tram ride at this time).

That extended taxi ride included a nice tour around downtown and a stop on the way to beautiful modern Catedral Metropolitana da Rio de Janeiro, thank you Sidney for that idea. Sidney is the name of the taxi driver that assured me he does speak English before we took off, but we ended up using sign language for most of the way. Since my portuguese didn't prove to be a lot better than his pretty much non-existent English. Only adding to the unforgettable feeling of that absolutely glorious day. 

Then off to Sugarloaf mountain, starting at the base with getting feet wet in the emerald bay waters on a paradise type beach down there. That walk ended up with getting all the way to the waist in the water seen huge waves unexpectedly sweeping the shore out of the blue. Two gorgeous and thoroughly enjoyable cable car trips up Sugarloaf mountain and another 2 down later, I got back to laying on the beach @ Copacabana including struggling with the huge waves.

 If that wasn’t enough, ended up going back to Corcovado close to sunset to do the double-dipping tour – half sunset half on nighttime. Had been there on my first day in Rio, but back then it had been so cloudy that one couldn’t even see the statue while up there, never mind seeing anything looking down, a humungous cloud covered everything around, same landscape as you approach landing thru the thick cloud layer on the way to the tarmac. Temperature up there at Corcovado is way colder than the one down so bring a warm jacket especially in September which happens to be early spring in Brazil.