Tuesday - Thursday 23-25 July 2002
We arrived to Rio de Janeiro at 6am very tired after a long bus drive during the night. The bus was excellent with seats adjustable for sleeping, but you'll never really sleep that way. Fortunately we got our hotel room right away and were able to take a nap until late in the morning.
Gui had booked the hotel for us. He negotiated a very fair price considered that the hotel was located one block from the Copacabana beach. He had actually tried to book Hotel Gloria, where we stayed a month ago, but it was fully booked. We found this hotel much more convenient as we would like to explore more of this part of the city - and the beaches of course.
We had a great advance by visiting Rio once before. We planned our staying carefully in the bus and could not wait to go exploring the city. We found a nice restaurant and got an early lunch. The plan for day one was to visit the Sugar Loaf at sunset and enjoy the view over the beautiful Rio. This meant that we had plenty of time to go to the beach and visit the shops in the streets behind. I got my pants stolen on the beach and it took us hours to get a report at the tourist police.
The Sugar Loaf was magnificent! We were amazed of the altitude. We still had bright weather and sunshine when we got on the top, but after half an hour the colors of the sky started to change. It was amazing to see how the city was lit during sunset and changed completely. My camera was continuously in action up here.
After enjoying a nice glass of Caipirihna, we had dinner at a restaurant by the Copacabana beach.
To sit here by one of the most beautiful beaches in the world with a cool long drink is just my way of living.
Wednesday, the plan was to visit the Christ statue and actually reach it this time. We got on a local bus, which was a thrill. It is always exciting to see the small streets that are mostly for the locals. With some help from the bus driver we got off the right place. The way up to the statue was by a rack railway as the statue is located 700 meters above sea level. Of course the view is formidable and the statue itself is huge. It says on the statue, that the French donated it. I guess the French just have something about giving away huge statues. We didn't stay that long as we already enjoyed the look over Rio yesterday. We had still plenty of beach time to catch up with.
We did not reach the beach before sunset as we came across a souvenir shop with lots of funny items. We also got into a small supermarket where we looked for the best possible Brazilian coffee. It was a bit difficult as we didn't speak Portuguese or Spanish very well and the staff didn't speak English. Using finger language and common sense we managed to find some kilos of very nice coffee.
Once again we could enjoy a nice dinner outside at the beach. Brazilians and good food goes very well together.
Almost unbearably, the last day of our holiday was approaching. We had to be at the airport at 3pm and decided to use most of the day at the beach. The weather was lovely and the water as well. The waves were quite high and tricky. Just to pass them was a challenge and suddenly everything was upside down and you think - what happened? Ane made some tries as well, but after almost loosing her bikini she stopped trying.
Time flies when in fun. We had to return to the hotel in order to change clothes, to pack and to get some lunch before going to the airport by bus.
In the plane we could feel the effect of being too long in the sun this morning. We're just stupid Danes. We got one long view of the beautiful Rio de Janeiro through the small windows and left the American continent with a deep sight. What a holiday!