Rio de Janeiro

(23 – 26 Feb)

It was with a sense of reluctance that we boarded the boat leaving Ilha Grande heading to Rio. Reality was starting to set in a bit as we realized that we were heading to the final stop of our trip. And we had so quickly gotten accustomed to the laid back pace of island life. We knew Rio wouldn’t be the same, but it would be good nonetheless.

Luckily there were only four of us in the group that were heading to Rio, so we were assigned a smaller car (as opposed to the bus that had taken us to Ilha Grande that had to make numerous stops to pick up people), which meant a faster trip back.

We decided to spend our last 3 nights of the trip in Yoo2 Hotel, in the Botafogo area of Rio, which guaranteed some decent facilities like a pool and bar. And we could use the remainder of our wedding gift from Alika’s work.

Check in was fairly smooth (i.e. they spoke fluent English), and as a ‘gift’ we were each given a 330ml bottle of water – how generous. What a valuable gift considering that the small bottle we were given cost 4 times as much in the hotel compared to a 1.5l bottle of water from the shops down the road!

Yoo2 is a part of a group of hotels classified as ‘lifestyle’ brands, which essentially means that they appeal to the millennial travelers and instagram fanatics. This particular one had trendy elements, although the building appeared to have been converted from an office block. The room size is the more standard 23m.sq, not nearly as big as the one at Mama Shelter, but with all the basic necessities. The floor has cool encaustic tiles, which is unusual for a bedroom area, and the ceiling features an eye-catching wallpaper which makes you feel as if you’re looking up at palm trees when you’re lying on the bed. The bed was big and comfortable so essentially we had everything we needed, but at a 40% higher rate than Mama Shelter. The only real advantage was that this room had a mini bar and Mama Shelter did not.

The hotel is just across the road (albeit a highway) from the beach and the rooftop bar has incredible views of the iconic Sugar Loaf mountain and also the Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance, which is illuminated at night.

Because our final flight was only at 2am on the 28th Feb, we pretty much had 3 full days to explore Rio de Janeiro. We decided that we’d try to capture most of the ‘must see’ highlights on our first day, in order to allow us more time to explore and experience some of the other things the city has to offer, such as lazing on Copacabana beach.

Our tour included visiting the Corcovado mountain (with the Christ the Redeemer statue), a walk and some lunch around Santa Teresa (the cool area where we had stayed previously), the Selaron Steps and finally sunset on Pao d’Azucar (the famous Sugar Loaf mountain).

We started at the Copacabana Palace, across the road from Copacabana Beach, so at least we got a glimpse of the famous beach almost immediately. It was boiling hot that day so the beach was packed – just as you’d expect for a beach with such a reputation. We arrived early so we had some time to wander around. We noticed that they have laid some small irrigation pipes along the sand, running from the road side to the water, and have pierced them with small holes to turn them into little sprinklers. This is to wet the sand in order to cool it down and create walkways to try and save your feet from the boiling hot sand. We thought was quite an ingenious idea.

Apart from being quite hot, Rio is also very humid. We had even considered walking to the meeting point (about an hours walk) but quickly changed our minds when we felt the conditions outside. Thankfully, we were being transported around by bus to the various sights. There were a few stops and they were quite spread out, so walking was not really an option. We were part of a group of 14 people from Spain, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Germany, USA and of course, us, from South Africa.

First stop was the Corcovado mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue. The mountain is situated within a national park so the drive up was very lush and green. Once we finally made it all the way to the top, we saw that the viewing deck at the foot of the statue was packed with tourists. Apparently we were lucky though, as there had been nearly double the amount the day before, which must have been unbearable. Our host was great at getting some nice photos of each of us, which was quite a challenge considering the number of people jostling for the best position and trying to get the best shot. You struggle to move because no matter where you go it feels as if you disturb someones photo.

The statue is about 38m tall and is covered in soap stone. In order to achieve this and maintain the round appearance of the edges and corners the stone had to be cut into tiny triangles and mounted onto mesh, similar to a mosaic. This is only really noticeable from up close. As the statue is so large and is located in such an exposed location, numerous measures were considered in the design to ensure it could withstand all the elements. It took 9 years to be constructed. The face and hands were constructed elsewhere and fitted to the statue.

While the Christ the Redeemer statue is the main attraction here, the views of the city from the top of the mountain are almost worth the trip on their own.

Next on our agenda was Santa Teresa. This area has become more popular over the years as it’s one of the more creative districts of Rio, featuring many cool restaurants and bars, old houses and a fair amount of graffiti. Here we were officially introduced to one Brazil’s signature snacks, the pao de queijo. Pao de queijo means bread of cheese and is made with manioc flour and served as small, round buns. We were taken to a tiny, hole in the wall bakery who only serve Pao de Queijo, tapioca & acai. The host gave us the Pao de Queijo, which were absolutely delicious. We decided to also try the acai, as it is served like ice cream and went down extremely well in the hot weather. After lunch we walked around a little bit, admiring the old houses and street art. Santa Teresa has the only functioning tram left in the city, so we made a mental note to return.

The bus picked us up to take us to the Selaron stairs, but on the way we made a quick stop at Catedral de São Sebastião. The architecture of the cathedral was totally unexpected, unlike any of the cathedrals we have seen in Europe. We had actually noticed the building previously when driving past, but had no idea that it was a cathedral. It is quite brutal, constructed primarily from concrete in a tapering, almost pyramidal structure which is broken by incredible stained glass windows for the full height of the building.

Last stop before Sugarloaf mountain was the Selaron steps. This famous installation by Chilean artist Jorge Selaron, became his lifelong obsession and tribute to Brazil. These steps have been decorated with tiles that Selaron collected from all over the world. As carnival was only days away, the streets were full of people dressed up in crazy carnival gear in anticipation of the festivities that were to come. The stairs, which are usually quite busy, were packed with people playing music, dancing and drinking. It really gave us a feeling of the party spirit that the Brazilian people are known for.

Caipirinha stands had been set up on the pavements and were selling drinks for only R/s 5, which was about a third of what we had been paying at other places. The caipirinhas were huge and delicious! But having learnt our lesson in Ilha Grande, we didn’t go overboard. After having a drink and watching the people party at the stairs it was time to visit the highlight of our day, Pao d’Azucar, or Sugarloaf mountain.

As we had expected, it was also very busy, but with multiple viewing decks and restaurants, the people were a bit more spread out and it was possible to get a few amazing photos of the view.

From Sugarloaf you have an amazing view of the sun going down behind the Christ the Redeemer statue that we had visited earlier.

When we got the top viewing deck there was a bit of a haze hanging over the city below, which is apparently quite unusual. The guide told us that the weather was actually some of the best she’d had in a while and that we were quite lucky. The haze soon lifted before the sunset and we were able to get some amazing photos.

We could have spent hours at the top, appreciating the sunset and the views of the city from all angles.

Our biggest disappointment about Rio (and possibly the whole trip), was that we would be missing Rio Carnival by only 2 days.

Luckily, we found out that there was to be a final rehearsal that night, at the Sambadrome in town. And there was no entry fee and no need to have tickets.

The Sambadrome is a long straight road in the center of town with grandstands on either side for the length of the road – similar to what you’d see in F1 Grand Prix home straight. The whole carnival procession passes through it with the grandstand packed with people cheering and partying along.

We arrived just before 9pm and made our way into the grandstands.

It didn’t seem to be a full dress rehearsal, so we didn’t get to see the famous costumes or floats, but it was awesome to at least get a taste of what was to come after we left and the scale of the event.

There were lots of spectators, and vendors selling beer and ice-creams, so we were quite content. It’s still a bucket list item to go back and see one day.

By some strange coincidence (more commonly known as Google stalkage) we had both seen sponsored posts on our Instagram accounts of a place called the Portuguese Reading Room, which is in Rio.

The photo looked amazing, so we decided to spend our second day sight seeing and started with this one. This old library is not necessarily a building that you would walk past, so we were so glad to have seen the post.

And it was amazing! While you’re not allowed to touch the books, there are desks setup that are available to anyone who needs a quite space to read or study. The interior architecture is rich with details, and we enjoyed admiring them.

We then decided to walk to the tram station and take the old tram through Santa Teresa to the top of the hill.

The weather was amazing, clear skies and hot sun (in hindsight, perhaps this should have been our beach day).

The old tram is cute and there is one running about every 15 minutes. It is not the most comfortable ride with the tram jolting a bit as it goes around corners, but it certainly is a novel way to get around.

We decided to climb off at the last stop which is at the top of the hill and walk back down. It was nice to have the chance to admire the old buildings and graffiti at a leisurely pace.

We ended up in the road we had visited on the tour the day before so we enjoyed drinks at one of the bars and then headed back to the place with Pao de Queijo (cheesy bread) and acai for a snack.

We decided that we would make use of the rooftop pool for our last afternoon in the hotel and take in some of the amazing views before heading out for dinner. It was so nice to relax, read, and sip cocktails in the pool for a bit!

That night we went to Carretao Ipanema, for a classic Brazilian rodízio, which is an all-you-can-eat steakhouse.

The servers walk around with large skewers with whatever meat has just come off the grill. There was also a buffet salad bar with sushi and various cold meats and other salads. As a customer you get given a disk with a red side and a green side. While you are eating and want the servers to keep bringing meat, you keep the green side showing. If you’ve had enough to eat you show the red side and the servers will just walk past.

The meat was amazing and they just kept it coming! They definitely give Brazil Lounge in Bahrain a run for their money (slightly tongue in cheek).

And just like that, out of the blue, the last day of our trip had arrived. It felt so strange to be packing for the last time and it had definitely not sunk in that we would be leaving South America.

We had a full day ahead of us, so after checking out of the hotel around midday we headed to the botanical gardens to try and spot a toucan.

The gardens are magnificent and we spent about two hours wandering around in search of the pretty bird. Unfortunately, they did not make themselves known and we will just have to go back one day. They have beautiful trees and plants though and the biggest lily pads we’d ever seen.

We spotted an interesting looking restaurant across the road and decided to have lunch there before heading to the beach. The restaurant also brews their own beer so Dylan got to sample some homebrew.

True to form, the day that we had ear marked for our day at Copacabana beach was overcast and a bit rainy. We arrived at the beach and it was not too pleasant, but we decided to take a walk and feel the water anyway – we couldn’t spend time in Rio and not visit this most famous spot!

As a compromise, we decided to treat ourselves to cocktails at the Copacabana Palace across the road. They have a beautiful pool bar and it was fun to be fancy for a little while.

After 2 drinks, because we had time to kill, we decided to walk all the way back to Botafogo. The map said it would take about an hour and it looked like the route was fairly safe. The map did not show the elevation however and we ended up traversing an amazingly steep hill!

Once we were about 15min away from our hotel, we noticed an interesting looking bar and decided it was time for a pit stop. No sooner had we sat down and the heavens opened and it poured with rain (perhaps this sentence sounds familiar…because it is, this seems to be a trend in our traveling lives). How lucky that we stumbled across this cool place!

Once we had successfully used up our time, we walked the last bit to the hotel before catching an Uber to the airport.

We were lucky enough to arrange emergency exit seats for the 14hr flight to Dubai, and the airport lounge had showers so that we could freshen up.

It felt as if the 2 months had gone by so quickly, but in the same breath thinking back to some memories from the beginning of our trip – Mexico or Costa Rica – felt like ages ago because of the amount of things we managed to see and do since then. We really do feel fortunate that we have been able to go on such an amazing adventure and see so many incredible sights and countries.

But, the time had finally come to head back home to celebrate good friends’ getting married, squeeze in a few bonus hugs from the family and then head back to Dubai to get this show called ‘married life’ on the road.