Rio de Janeiro

  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Thursday, July 12, 2007

On our way? NOT SO FAST. After struggling to get insurance for the remainder of the trip, getting last minute blood tests, having great difficulty changing our flight times, then getting charged repeatedly on our credit card by American Airlines for the changes we managed to make - well, we thought not much else could go wrong. HUH! We got to Heathrow in plenty of time, at the crack of dawn on the day of departure and first headed to the American Airlines desk at Terminal 3 to ask why I had been issued paper tickets, while Tim had been issued electronic tickets. "Don't worry about it" says the woman "It's too much paper work to change it". Hmmmm, not the ideal response, but what can you do?

So we embark on the epic hike to Terminal 2, where the flight (to Madrid, with a connection to Rio) is open for check in and there is already a slow moving queue. We finally get to the desk and find it hard to miss the woman's look of puzzlement as she tries to enter Tim's tickets. "None of these round the world tickets are showing on the system. You'll have to go the help desk." OK, not good. We're thinking at this point that we now won't have time to grab some food for breakfast and change money as we had intended. However, things get worse.... The guy at the Iberia help desk rings the American Airlines help desk and what results is an argument between the two which becomes quite heated. Iberia guy wants the American Airlines guy to deal with this. American Airlines guy doesn't want to touch it as the flight is already boarding. Iberia guy takes that American Airlines guy's name and tells him he isn't officially allowed to reissued these tickets and that if we miss our flight (NOOOOOOOO!), American Airlines guy will be held responsible for the accommodation costs etc.

By now we've forgotten about breakfast and changing money and are facing the prospect of a Heathrow Hotel. This is not an appealing option. Iberia guy rings the gate and is told there is only 10 minutes for us to get on the plane. Another Iberia guy steps in, and together these two worthy types go against the odds in an attempt to manually enter our 15 or so flights, including all codes, taxes and whatever the hell else they put on those tickets. It's a painful process and Tim and I are just about wetting ourselves by this point, as the deadline for boarding has passed. They send off our bags anyway and we are poised to run for the gate. However, each time they try and print the tickets the machine seizes and they have to cancel them all again. They open up the machine and spray some kind of oil on the complicated bits and pieces inside. Finally, on the fourth attempt, it spits out all our tickets. The guys hurriedly sort the tickets into two piles and hand over our wad. We grab them and sprint for the gate (or limp in Tim's case, as his knee is paining him), passing through the 'enhanced' security procedures as quickly as possible. Of course, I get singled out for a close look at my passport. I stand there hopping from one foot to the other - probably looking like a crazy woman and making the official even more suspicious. She notices I don't have a visa in my Australian passport, so we are soon fumbling around for my British passport. We make the gate - the plane hasn't even started boarding!! It's running 20 minutes late!! We never would have made it if it was on time! Here's to inefficiency - sometimes it goes your way....

We made our connecting flight in Rio, but had no euros to buy breakfast, so we were ravenous on the flight to Rio until they finally fed us, such as it was. Anyway, we made it to Rio in the evening and the affable Viktor picked us up at the airport and drove us into town. This guy is classic Copacabana and lives right on the beach. He puts a lot of faith in star signs and was pleased that our birthdays were only a day apart, so he could tell me all about myself (and tell Tim what to watch out for!!). He took us for a little beachfront drive to Copacabana, then on to our apartment which is in a great spot just behind the Arpoador headland between Ipanema and Copacabana. Most impressive is the vinyl padded toilet seat which manages to make me cringe every time I board the throne!! No money had changed hands for the apartment and Viktor tells us we must go and visit his neighbour, Mrs Norma de Castro the next day to pay our dues - but only between 10 and 4, as she is an old lady and likes her sleep!!!

Here is a link to the appartment we stayed in ($45USD a night), considering a hostel will cost the same or more, itīs a good price!!

The next day, after finally clearing security at Norma's beachfront Copacabana apartments (every block here has gates and security men), we take the lift up to the 8th floor and are let in by the maid. Norma is conducting business with someone else, so we are left to admire the stunning view of the sweeping beach from her huge windows.

Copacabana

  We are soon summoned, and this is no little old lady! Norma may be well into her 70's, but what a stunner! We suspect that she may be the original Ipanema girl. She sits down with us and manages to make the transaction very pleasant, advising us on all things Rio in such a charming way. She offers us a spare key for the apartment.We say one is fine and she replies "Yes, it is better you stay with him. There are many women here that are turning heads"!! She's not wrong - there's no shortage of beautiful people here...

 Wow! Rio is quite a town - and we happen to be here for the opening of the Pan American games, so there is an extra buzz in the air (and it's not just the helicopters circling above).

Our first day in Rio, Ipanema beach

 I'm trying to imagine an Australian surfer saying his 'Hail Mary's' and crossing himself before a surf (without getting crucified by his mates), but here it's just the everyday. Standing at a bus stop the other day an old local fella approached us with a bemused look on his face and offered us some condoms. Promo people had been handing them out as part of the games and he had obviously thought he'd got a useful freebie. He obviously didn't want them to go to waste!! Anything free here must be good - certainly nothing comes cheap. We've been making use of our kitchen and cooking meals, but have sampled the 'per kilo' restaurants where you choose what you want and pay by weight - it makes it easy to go overboard when the plates are about half a metre wide! It's hard to work out prices here - basic things in the supermarket are astronomically expensive, while you can buy a packet of steaks for next to nothing. And yes, Tim has been taking advantage of this and has gone on a meat only diet so we can save money...

View from Sugar Loaf mountain

Geographically the place is stunning - the water beautifully blue and the rocky outcrops make a stunning backdrop.

The cable car up to Sugar Loaf

The ride up to Sugar Loaf Mountain

Sugar Loaf

in the cable cars was breathtaking- the views spectacular.

Video from top looking to Copacabana

We also had a pretty interesting ride in the tram car up to Santa Theresa. I got a seat, but Tim joined the locals hanging off the side - not realising how extreme the ride would be. He found himself hanging off the edge of the narrow bridge as we crossed a major highway and flattening himself against the side of the tram car to dodge trees and walls on the narrow lane as we ascended the mountain in bumps and crashes (the thing was so overloaded that the wheels were spinning)! A Brazilian woman had her camera stolen on the way back down, snatched by a young boy who was hanging off the edge - he disappeared in a flash. Our trip up to Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), perched atop Corcovado mountain was amazing.

Clouds rolling in

We took the 'cog' train up to the top, replete with a festive Samba band.

Music everywhere!

It was suprising to see an older woman on her feet and gyrating to the music with the band's main man, despite the 45 degree incline of the carriage!! The views, again, were to die for, 360 degrees with Jesus looming large above you.

One of the New 7 wonders

Tim and Jesus?

On one of walks along Ipanema Beach a shoe shiner sneakily squirts some hideous looking substance onto Tim's sandal, then offers his services to clean it off. This is similar to the Indian classic of putting an object in the foreigner's ear, then offering to remove it (ie. create a problem, then solving it for a small fee). Very enterprising, and you'd have  to be as a Brazilian shoe shiner as 99% of the population is wearing Haviana flip flops!! Suffice to say Tim was not impressed. Once we lost the guy by ignoring his emphatic gesturing at the shitty substance, we went down onto the sand to get it off. It was, in fact, some kind of grease, not poo - which made us feel slightly better!! Rio has an edgy feel, and you get a certain shifty look from a lot of people (a far cry from the curious looks we have been used to on the Indian subcontinent).

Us