Rio de Janiero: 2023

What’s a better way to spend the holidays than with family? Cam’s gang came down to meet us in Rio de Janiero for over a week of sun, sand and adventure.

It was a simple flight from the jungle to the coast for us, and an easy airport transfer to the hotel. We were staying in Baja, a neighbourhood consisting of a long strip of sand and massive hotels and apartment buildings. Baja is a fair way’s away from the airport, so we got a good view of Rio before we got there.

The landscape of Rio is massive. It certainly isn’t the ideal location for a city of 7 million people. Ancient hills (560 million years old) covered in rainforest take up the majority of land around the city centre. The worlds two largest urban parks are both located in Rio, which has now wrapped itself around, under and between these mountains. Favela’s (unregulated neighborhoods) work their way up the hills, disappearing into the humid flora.

We met the gang for a short time the first night, but they were exhausted after 40 (alleged) hours of travel from Calgary to get here. The true Rio adventure’s would start bright and early at 7 the next morning. The gang had limited time travelling, and they were going to use it.

Our first full day also consisted of a major milestone! Cam’s mom, Lori, was turning 50! So this began her big birthday bash with her least favorite activity, hiking. Our guide Renata picked us up from the hotel, and we took a drive to the Mirador do Carte trailhead.

The trail was somewhat simple. A rainforest path snaked up a hillside for 1.5km. It was very well maintained with lots of put in place stairs for easy ascents and descents on the somewhat steep trail. After 45 minutes or so, we all made it to the top, and got to enjoy the view. We could finally see how hilly and beachy the whole landscape was. We also discovered here how much Lori liked taking pictures of everything. She’s made some sort of photo album for the whole trip.

We departed from the lookout and walked back down to the trailhead. Across the road was Lori’s most favorite activity, beaching. We all set up under some beach bars tent, and then I got to enjoy my most favorite activity, waving.

Rio beaches have very strong waves. Its no wonder why there’s such a strong surfing culture in the city. Throughout our entire trip every beach had the red “do not swim,” lifeguard flags up. That didn’t stop some adventurous souls, like me, from wading out to waist-chest deep water. The waves were very rough and tumble, and it only takes 20 minutes or so before you get too tired and have to come in.

Cam gave her best attempted at playing a popular paddle ball game with the guide. We saw many people plying this in Portugal. The rackets are very heavy and the ball is very bouncy so it I quite the tricky game.

Everyone got burnt to a crisp on the beach, much to the horror of Renata.

For dinner, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse. Cam was the only one who knew what that meant. For the uneducated, lets walk through this like the rest of us did. We got out of our taxi’s, and checked into our reservation like normal. We all sat down, and they gave us a couple menu’s. Great! Lets figure out some drinks and what not. Then a dude shows up behind me, asking if I want some Pao do queijo (cheesebread, except there’s melty cheese inside. Just delightful). Ok, free bread, pretty standard, thanks dude! Not even 30 seconds late, another shows up, this time with sausage. Sure I’ll have that too! Pretty sweet complimentary stuff. Another came with drumsticks. And another with a meat skewer…

So apparently, Brazilian steakhouses work by the waiters coming around with all sorts of treats and you just say yes to what you want. We figured that out when Cam told us. 20 minutes and one full plate of all sorts of cuts later, the restaurant had settled down and we were able to converse with each other.

The dinner was great, and went late into the night. Drinks had overflowed on the table. We got cabs back to the hotel, and we had to be ready for the morning, cause there was another long day ahead of us.

When people think of Rio, they think of one thing. Carnival. Then when they’re asked to think harder cause we’re not here for that, they think of Christ the Redeemer, one of the seven modern wonders of the world (Controversially. The list that everyone cites that includes the Colosseum, Maccu Picchu & Petra among others, was an internet poll in 2007 that went on to gain a lot of unsubstantiated notoriety. The nation of Brazil launched a national campaign to ensure that Christ the Redeemer would make the list. The Easter Island Head’s ended up 8th in the voting, and the organizers of the contest wrote a formal apology letter to Chile, saying that the heads should have been the final spot instead of Christ the Redeemer). Diogo was our guide for the day. He was great.

To get to the statue, its a long bumpy winding cobbled road up Corcovado hill. It left half the group with some sort of motion sickness, though that was aided by the morning hangovers from the birthday night. We made it to the entrance, and proceeded to get in a different van up to go up another long bumpy winding cobbled road.

The top is heavily commercialized. There are restaurants and souvenir shops everywhere. We approached from the back, the morning light creating a silhouette of the statue against the bold blue morning sky. The area was very crowded, especially for the quiet morning timeslot that we had booked. Then we rounded the corner, and could see the front of the statue. And one more thing.

We could see all of Rio de Janiero harbour. A large bay surrounded by high rises, ancient mountain and beaches. Harbours of the personal and commercial variety were every couple kilometers or so. The longest bridge in South America lay across the harbour, tall enough so massive cargo ships can pass underneath. It was a fantastic sight to see.

After Carnival and Christ the Redeemer, the next international quality of Rio is sugarloaf mountain. We were headed there, but made one stop first in the neighbourhood of Santa Theresa. In the 5-10 range of icons is the Selaron steps, a set of tiled stairs that connect two streets to each other. Vendors lined either side of the staircase, and many a line of tourists were waiting to take their picture alone with the nameplate of the steps. We decided to opt out of that, instead looking at the tiled art in the midst of everyone.

At the bottom, we could see more of the neighbourhood. Street art murals covered any large bare space with art. A little fair of knockoff cheap bikini’s and clothing was at the bottom, distracting half the group. I had spotted the cathedral and old aqueduct down the block, and went for a quick jaunt to check them out. They looked cool.

Back in the van we went, this time to sugarloaf.

An iconic location and viewpoint of the city, Sugarloaf mountain stands guard at the entrance of the Rio harbour. Its two gondola’s to get up to the top. We got VIP service here, as Diogo had recently worked at this location, so all of his friends let him, and by proxy us, through the fast lines.

Like Christ the Redeemer and Iguazu, this landmark was very crowded. But unlike the others, you could look out 360 degrees and ignore most of the crowd. The harbour again looked wonderful from here. But now we also had a view of Copacabana beach stretching out into the ocean. It was very beautiful, but very hot.

I disappeared into a little forest walk adjacent to the lookouts. And it appeared I was the only one. These paths were almost desolate. They all had their own viewpoints of all the locations you could see from the top. You could also see wildlife. Like a little monkey! These dudes are about the size of your hand, and just kinda hang out.

Disaster struck as we were getting ready to go. During a poor handoff of the waterbottle, it slipped between Cam and I’s fingers, and then rolled off the edge of the platform, to shatter on the ground below. Luckily for us, it was in a physically retrievable place, and our guide was friends with all the workers here. With some below the table asking and emotional begging, we were able to retrieve the bottle, and all of the stickers that came with it. The bottom’s all gone. Maybe it turns into a planter now.

We had another Brazilian steakhouse lunch downtown. This time we all knew what we were doing, so it was much less chaotic. We are also full from the night before still, so we didn’t go as crazy. Still delicious though.

One final activity on the itinerary for the day, and that was a harbour sunset sail across the harbour. The tour group on our boat was about 15 people or so. We puttered around the shoreline for a bit first, looking at all of the fancy beachfront private schools, and old military forts. It was then a wavy run across the harbour to the adjacent city of Niteroi. I guess this is where all the local tourists go for a beach vacation. I had fun with the waves moving the boat, but those not comfortable with the ups and downs got nervous.

Right before the sunset, we anchored, and Cam and her brother Ty went in the ocean for a dip! They had some fun. Then the view. A perfect yellow orange sunset disappearing behind the rainforest hills of Rio de Janiero.

Ok, now its time for Day 3. We are really jamming it in here. This day was all about food.

We met up in the historical centre for a walking tour with our new guide Kelly. She took us to the cathedral first, which had an abandoned post apocalyptic feel to it. We then walked to a café where we got to try tapioca crepes. Tapioca flour is fried up, and inside is either a savory ham and cheese or a sweet fruit mixture. We all generally preferred the savory ones.

We then went to another café, where we loaded up on matte, a sweet Brazilian iced tea, and more cheesebread, which we now affectionately call cheeseballs. Everyone was polite only having one or two of the cheeseballs, so I ended up crushing at least 20 or so. It was fantastic. We then had some yummy coconut candies, and some pastries, the Pastel de Nata’s from Portugal, and a quindim, a yellow coconutty thing. All of it was really sweet. Brazil grows a lot of sugarcane, and as a result they put loads of sugar in everything.

The final stop of this tour was at a fancy coffee joint, where we learned about the cachaça, a Brazilian sugarcane liquor. There’s all sorts of different types and varieties of it. The only common thread is that if its made from sugar cane, it is cachaça. We had some different coffee roasts there too. Brazil also grows a lot of coffee. I find their beans a little more bitter and richer than the rest of the world. Lori also discovered her love for Brazilian cappuccinos, which include chocolate sauce and cinnamon on top.

We got on the metro, and swapped guides to Gabriel. He took us to a little shop where we had acai bowls. The acai in Brazil is in a cream form, almost like frozen yogurt. You can top it with granola, tapioca, and all sorts of dried fruits. We really liked it.

Lunch was had at a small restaurant that served us some broccoli rice and a lamb stew, which is apparently a semi-common dish. The meat was decent, but the rice was great. We were all really full at this point, but kept going on the food. We needed to burst our bellies.

Now totally pigged out, we headed to Ipanema beach for some sun and relaxing. Here the waves were calmer, and a lot easier to play in. We had a great time in the waves, but burnt again. Curse the sun.

One more activity, and it was a cooking class in the evening. What started as the chef and seven quickly dwindled to the chef, Cam and I as we prepared an array of dishes for dinner. Monkfish stew, farofa, a veggie salad, fried cassava, and a chocolate ball dessert. It was great fun, and we learned a lot. Palm oil is a major ingredient in Brazilian food. Cassava has so many great uses. Good times were had.

The next couple days were free days, and the weather was somewhat dreary, so we played cards. Cambio was the game of choice, after having learned it all the way back in Portugal. There was some fun in the ocean around here, where the waves were extra powerful, and there were some serious undercurrents from the waves. I got in trouble from a lifeguard.

Then, it was NYE. We decided to stay at the hotel for the celebration. The holiday is huge in Rio, where millions of people head to the beaches. But that and the rest of Rio is a story for another blog. We will see you next year!