Cidade Marvilhosa
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2004
1
7
88
Trip End
Feb 01, 2005
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Friday, February 6, 2004
Cabo Frio and Buzíos
I signed up for a tour to the north of Rio where all the cariocas (Rio citizens) go for the weekend. The day started ridiculously early with the bus leaving at 6am and not returning until 9pm.
We drove across the long bridge to Niteroi on the other side of Guanabara Bay to Rio and arrived in Cabo Frio a couple of hours later. We spent an hour on a beach called Praia do Anjos, Angel Beach
01 Cabo Frio
. It is supposedly one of the most beautiful beaches, but it was just okay to me. There were so many umbrellas, tables and lounge chairs set up on the beach and it was pretty packed. A drive along the main beach in Cabo Frio, which is like Copacabana with highrise condos lining the beach, was next before going on a cruise on the canal. The canal is lined with expensive beach houses and even more expensive yachts. Two Brazilian girls at the front of the boat were doing millionairess poses for their cameras. Every photo they took had them lounging in their bikini on the front of the boat, flashing a dazzling smile.
The cruise took us out into the harbour where we passed lots of granite islands with cacti growing on the top of them. We dropped anchor just off one of the islands and had the opportunity to dive off the boat and swim around - I felt like a rich superstar with the paparazzi chasing!! Poor Eduardo was the first person in, thrown in by a couple of the other guys, and then I did a big swan dive off the front of the boat, almost loosing my bathers in the process. The water was amazingly clear and I could see my toes through the water. I climbed out and dived in a few times before it was time to go back.
02 Christo Redentor
Buzėos was the next stop. It was made famous when Brigitte Bardot bought a house there with her Brazilian boyfriend. Itīs now a resort town, with no beach in the actual town, but pretty paved streets and shops. After lunch at a kilo restaurant, which was included in the price of the tour, I wandered the streets with Kylie, Dave, Sergio and Eduardo.
After such a big day where I got windburnt on the boat and had started early, I slept most of the way back to the hostel.
Kylie and I went in search of something to eat, and while eating our salgundos and drinking our sucos at a walk up cafe, we laughed at a pit bull terrier tearing strips off a coconut in the street. The sight was so funny that a Brazilian guy edged his way into our conversation. His name was Enrique and he taught us some Portuguese words and then right at the end of the conversation when we were about to leave, he asked me to take my glasses off! It was a strange request and we left soon after, leaving Enrique behind.
Corcovado, Christo Redentor and Pâo de Açùcar
Kylie (an Aussie girl) and I decided to make a day of visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugar Loaf
03 Cidade Marvilhosa
. We visited the Christo Redentor on Corcovado mountain first as the Sugar Loaf was open longer. We bought our tickets on the cog train for R$30 and the train took about 15 minutes to get to the top. The statue is so massive and humbling. It is truly an amazing piece of work and Kylie and I were both in awe of it. You donīt need to be religious to get a thrill from seeing the statue of Christ, with his arms outstretched overlooking Rio. We each had our picture taken with our arms extended in a similar pose as all tourists do. It is a very strong urge to resist!!
It was mid afternoon before we got to the Sugar Loaf, with itīs two stage cable car ride. We were squashed into the cable car with a whole heap of other tourists and so hung out on the first stage for a bit so that we could avoid the traffic jam at the top. It is a great place to spend some time just hanging out above the hustle and bustle of the city and I could have stayed up there for a whole day with a book.
The views were amazing and it was so much cooler up there out of the heat trapping buildings. You can truly see why Rio is such a marvellous city from high above it.
That night I was hoping to get to know Eduardo from the hostel a bit better, however my plans were foiled when one of the other guys working at the hostel came in and fired questions in Portuguese at me. After awhile I was so confused by trying to speak in a mixture of my minimal Spanish and virtually non existant Portuguese. I looked helplessly at Eduardo who spoke more English. Unfortunately the closest I came to kissing Eduardo was a farewell kiss on each cheek from him.
