Day 81 - Rio de Janeiro

Even before arriving in Rio, things were different.  Only ship crew had the proper work permits to continue working, and getting caught would mean a R$2000 fine and deportation, so the faculty and staff began a three-day long vacation.

Waking up and having breakfast while docked in Rio was exciting in itself.  I was stuffing myself full of carbs for the day, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.  Then the clouds parted and the sun scorched right through our skin.  It was HOT.

When the ship was cleared, we fled to the Sunday Fair at Ipanema.  If you’ve ever heard of Ipanema and Copacabana (likely from the songs The Girl from Ipanema and At the Copa), but never knew what or where they were, I can now tell you they are lavish beach districts adjacent to each other in Rio de Janeiro.  The drive through the city gave us our first impression of Rio, which was that it was an amazing creation of nature and urbanization.  At some point, we drove through a long, long tunnel, and I had enough time to think about and realize that we were driving through a mountain.  We exited the other end into the most beautiful region you could ever hope to see.

We checked out the Ipanema fair, then we checked out Ipanema beach.  And what a beach it was!  The ocean was flanked by large rock structures or mountains, and the boardwalk was lined with cafés and stands selling coconuts you can drink out of with a straw.  Yes, we may have bought one or two.  The women are all in thongs, which we affectionately call butt floss, and the men all wear speedos, which, as a rule, are one size two small and always show crack.

We took it all it, then ran off to Corcovado, the mountain on which Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) stands.  We had to take two different vans and climb hills and stairs to get to the top, but we were well rewarded.  The statue was immense, but the crowd was more so.  I couldn’t take a step in any direction without getting in the way of someone’s photo.  The best photo to take was standing up on the ledge in front of the statue, and Abby and I managed to get a couple shots before a safety officer started blowing the whistle on people.  The view was, without saying, spectacular, and we could clearly see the mountains of Sugarloaf, though I didn’t know at the time what they were or that we would soon be on top of them.

Sugarloaf was our next stop, and we patiently withstood the sun’s heat while waiting in line to buy tickets for the cable car.  Before we knew it, we were on the first of the two mountains, overlooking the city below and Corcovado in the distance.  There was a large platform set up atop the mountain, complete with café, gift shop, and a helipad where helicopters were continuously coming and going.  We moved on to the second mountain via another cable car, and from there the first mountain looked tiny!  There were more cafés and gift shops, and a small building dedicated to 100 years of Sugarloaf tourism.  We got our pictures taken with a personal message, so look for us on the website!

We returned to the ship to regroup and finished the night off with a hotel party in Copacabana.  From the windows we could see Cristo Redentor all lit up on top of the blackness of the mountain, so he looked like he was floating in midair.