Hi there!  I woke up to yet another beautiful day in Rio! After another fabulous breakfast (this restaurant really knows how to do brekfast!), our tour group gathered together for our drive to Sugar Loaf Mountain, which sits at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. To get to the top, one must take two cable cars. The first leg of the trip is from Avenida Pasteur in Praia Vermelha, the Red beach District, which takes you to the top of Urca Mountain. Once there, you get the first aerial view of Copacabana and the Christ statue.

The second cable car takes you from Urca to the top of Sugarloaf with an amazing 360-degree view of the region. These are just a few of the many amazing pictures…

And then, off in the distance, you can see Copacabana Beach..

After we descended, we took a drive around the financial district, saw the US Embassy, which, according to our tour guide, is the most secure and guarded place in all of Rio. He did not explain why but I am guessing that the United States has its reasons.  We then drove through the vast areas of parks throughout the city finally stopping at the Cathedral of St. Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro which, as you can see, has a rather unusual look for a Roman Catholic church. But, the interior glows with spectacular stained glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we drove through St Teresa,  a quirky little neighborhood to Escadaria Selaron, also known as the Selaron Steps. Chilean-born artist, Jorge Selaron, originally started tiling the dilapidated steps in front of his residence using tile scraps from construction sites. He became obsessed and sold some of his paintings just to fund the project, eventually asking visitors to send him tiles from their home countries. The tiles cover 215 steps and include over 2,000 tiles from 60 countries. Many were hand painted by Selaron who was found dead on the steps January 10, 2013. The steps were even featured on Amazing Race 18 where teams were tasked with finding a tile resembling a route sign. I didn’t find that one but I did find Florida and New Orleans!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is a short one as we have to be at the airport by 5:00 AM for our 7:00 AM flight to Iguazu Falls.  So that means getting onto the transport at 4:15.  The hotel is providing us with a limited breakfast so at least there will be coffee.

Rio has been fabulous, quirky, and friendly.  There is great coffee, beautiful beaches, awesome scenery, and very tasty food.  It doesn’t seem to me that very many people speak English and Portuguese seems a little tougher with pronunciations than Spanish.  Of course, now that I’m almost ready to leave, I have finally mastered obrigado (thank you), tchau (good-bye),  banheiro (bathroom), vinho branco (white wine), and socorro (help).

I have noticed that a lot of hotels outside of the United States have this energy-saving mode whereby lights come on the the hallways based upon your motion and, in the room, the electricity does not come on until you insert your room card.  Seems like a good idea to me.

I am finding that I am very definitely enjoying this being with a group.  It is flexible in that you have plenty of free time yet the included and optional tours thus far have been remarkable.  One thing I am loving is that we do not have to stand in line for anything.  The tour people got our tickets ahead of time and basically attend to our every need.  It is nice to have other people to talk to.  Also, for the included meals, we are not eating at “group” buffets but rather in actual four and five star restaurants.  I am finding he tour leaders to be extremely knowledgeable with plenty of little “fun fact” anecdotes.  Speaking of tour leaders, I have attached a picture:  Carlos is our Rio guide and Carol is our complete tour guide as well as our Buenos Aires guide as she lives there. I need to try and get some sleep so TCHAU!

Long, but not a bad ride. I was actually able to sleep for several hours so I wasn’t terribly tired upon our on-time arrival at 8:00 AM today. Customs and immigration were a breeze and my driver was picking up seven other people who are on my tour. And, as it turns out, that group is from Philadelphia, two graduated from Temple, two from Drexel, and they have a house in Sea Isle at the Jersey shore!

Rio de Janeiro is a study in contrasts. The drive from the airport took us through several favelas (that is what Brazilians call their slums or shantytowns). They look like houses built on top of other houses, open to the air with few outer walls. Some do not have running water or electricity.  The picture manages to look somewhat charming but it is not.  Also, these favelas take up a wide swatch of Rio.  Many, many people live there.

I learned that Brazil has the largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan. Also, Brazil has the largest number of Catholics in the world with over 60% of its population Catholic. Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country by both population (approximately 210 million) and geographical area (3,287,597 square miles). It borders every other South American nation, barring Ecuador and Chile, and makes up 47 per cent of the continent.

As we drove, we could see Sugar Loaf Mountain which sits at the entry of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic as well as Christ the Redeemer which is at the peak of Corcovado Mountain. Our driver pointed out that there are no skyscrapers in Rio as they would obliterate the natural beauty surrounding the area. I agree. After going through several tunnels, we emerged on the coast to our hotel overlooking Copacabana Beach, right down the street from Ipanema. The hotel has a magnificent rooftop bar from which I took these pictures:

In addition to the bar, the rooftop features a fully-equipped gym, sauna, an endless pool, and many lounges for sunning. I immediately took advantage by ordering a double cappuccino to enjoy while waiting for my room to be ready for check-in. As I waited, I perused the map given me by our tour guide, an Argentinian woman named Carol.

My room is very large, more on the order of American hotels rather than European. Two double beds, a desk, gigantic flat screen television (no Fox news), table and chairs, two large closets and a very well-appointed bathroom, including a telephone in the bathroom.

Later, I strolled along the beaches people watching. I wasn’t really surprised to see both men and women clad in very skimpy bathing suits (and it was not always attractive). Also, there seems to be a vast variety of visitors, hailing from around the world. I have deduced this by listening to the languages being spoken around me. So far, besides Portuguese and Spanish, I’ve heard French, German, Dutch, Russian (well, what do I know—it sounded like Russian), Japanese and other oriental languages.

We went to this most awesome place for dinner–Churriscaria Palace.  This place has a salad and appetizer bar that is so extensive, I cannot even begin to describe it.  I took tiny bits of many of the items and there were still a lot I didn’t even try.  Then, as you are eating your “apps” (by the way, you can go back as many times as you like), one of the chefs comes out and gives you meat off a skewer. We were given filet as wells as about seven different cuts of beef), lamb, pork, different types of fish.  And, this goes on and on until you say ENOUGH!  After all of this, homemade ice cream over fresh fruit bits and a cappuccino.  HEAVEN!

Packing for a trip where the temperatures will vary from 40 degrees up to 80 degrees can be quite challenging. Layers, layers, layers. Luckily, most of my clothing has been purchased with just that flexibility in mind. Warmth together with comfort are paramount. I am all packed and almost ready to go. Chloe is staying with John and is already there at his house making it her own. John will be picking me up shortly to take me for the start of my journey which starts with spending approximately 15 hours either in airports or in the air. I am traveling alone, as I usually do. Some may feel daunted by that but I have been blessed with two favorite pastimes that particularly lend themselves to traveling alone…people watching and a love of reading.

Wandering through an airport gives one an endless opportunity to give free rein to imagining about the lives of others. Sometimes I just observe and guess where and why an individual or group is traveling. Sometimes I make up scenarios based upon perceived body language. Sometimes, I eavesdrop on conversations. Hey, a lot of people don’t pay attention to what they are saying while in public places. That’s not my fault.

Then, part of my joy when going on vacation is the exquisite alone time where I can transport myself into the fantasy world of books. My favorite genre is thrillers, mysteries dark and deep, with twists requiring my complete attention. Hours and hours can go by as I immerse myself into the story. I thank God and Jason Merkoski for inventing the Kindle, although the world’s first automated reader, the precursor to today’s e-readers, was actually invented in Spain in 1949 by a woman named Angela Ruiz Robles. She was a school teacher and her idea was that school children would find it easier to carry this reader rather than a number of different text books. It was not electronic, nor mass produced but what a fascinating innovation, especially for the times.

The invention of the internet gave inspiration to Michael Hart who, in 1971, typed the text of the Declaration of Independence which he then sent out on ARPAnet saying it was available for download. Six people took him up on his offer by downloading the text; thus, the world’s first e-book was born.

How far we have come. My Kindle Oasis holds hundreds of books yet weighs just a tad over 8 ounces. Amazing!