The highs and lows of Rio
I am afraid Rio is struggling to rise up my list of cool
places to go, but then I have never been a city person or a massive party goer.
Yes it is fairly stunning but I think I have spoilt myself
before this with my travels and therefore
it doesn’t rise to the top there either! I am not sure I really get Rio-
even the guide Patricia I was with today said everything is breaking down and happens
very slowly in Rio
The people are clearly very passionate and the samba and
music is all pretty cool When the sun came out yesterday people appeared on the
famous Copacabana beach. The different
Poste as they call them are all quite amusing and a stroll along the beach can
be quite enlightening.
Having got over my initial disappointment in Rio I set about
seeing a fair bit of it yesterday and today. First up I may have had another 12
hours sleep through the joys of ear plugs and a blind fold. Seems to be fairly
dangerous for me as I sometimes think I could just stay asleep.
So by the time I rose it was 1200 and I probably commited
another little crime and hunted out a Starbucks so that I could do work! Which
I achieved and ended up in a large Shopping Mall called Rio Sol, it seemed to be mainly closed…..but
when I left 4 hours later the shops were all open and very busy.
I then went by bus, yes I braved the bus again, to the
Lago and then to the Botanical Gardens
before hitting Ipaneama for a caprini
My bus expeience was not without it flaws again. First up
the bus I had been told that would take me there never came, so I got a
different one. I then clearly got off it too early but despite my new
haiviannas doing nothing for my feet I followed the road signs and made it
there!
Low and behold they have turtles!!! I was actually quite
impressed with the garden and strolled around for a couple of hours. It seemed
to be fairly popular with people getting there potraits done. There were young girls and fully pregnant women posing for cameras. There was an orchid garden
with no orchids, a rose garden with one rose, a monkey river with no monkeys
and some really cool really tall trees!
Following this I deceided to try and catch a bus again and
this time joined a group of people at the side of the road that were trying to
flag down buses. When the majority of them failed and started to catch taxis I
joined the taxi brigade!
Finally I got to Ipanema and watched the un go down with a
caprini which gave me a hell of headache today!
Today I set off minus my wallet on an organised tour. First
up we saw all the people landing having been hang-gliding which was awesome. They coe in super quick and
everyone who did it walked up from the beach with a massive smile on their face
(either that or it was a scared grimace!). I think that is something I will
have to do that I am sure is work related!!!
Following this we went to Part of the Nationl Park that
Christ the Redeemer is in.Tijuca and walked to some waterfalls….think you might
recognise them Mum/Dad
We then went on the Pilgrimage t the 38 metre high statue that
sits on top of 710 M hill overlooking the city. I didn’t expect t be blown away
by it but when you get there it is pretty impressive and watching everyones
faces as they first see it is pretty interesting. There were hoardes of people
all doing the classic photo posing and
the views over the city are incredible- though I wonder if the hazy look ever
really disappears
Following this we went for lunch where I managed to convince
some on my tour to shout me a drink as I was slowly perspiring in the 36 degree
heat and no longer have a penny to my name! We ate in a quirky little café just
near the famous tiled steps. Some artist dude ( who is sadly now dead- some say
murdered some say suicide) made it his life long job to tile the steps outside
his home (215 steps to be precise). As he started peole soone heard and started
sending tiles from all around the globe….so the name of the game is find your
country that and there is apparently a tile worth $1000!!! The artist
continually changed the tiles and there is a bit of blurb saying send him one
and he will put it up.
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