Picking up from the last email we awoke in rio, with a tour lined up for the Christ the Redeemer statue and Mount Sugarloaf. We'd had perfect weather in Santiago (not even smog), but this day was overcast. Little didwe know that this cloudy weather would pay the most amazing dividends two days later.
So, our tour took us up to Sugarloaf, from which we did get am awesome view of the city, though the very peak was clouded in. On the upside though, we saw our first monkeys, marmosets. And in the skies around us vultures and frigate birds wheeled. The game of animal bingo had begun.
Next we drove up to Christ the Redeemer. This is a pretty fantastic drive in itself as you wind through rainforest, right in the middle of the city. The statues is as remarkable as it looks, especially for us as we saw it through great banks of fog. So Christ kept disappearing and remerging. It was really quite eerie, though the view was of total cloud. By the end of the day we'd seen more quality cloud up close than you could have possibly dreamed of.
So, our tour took us up to Sugarloaf, from which we did get am awesome view of the city, though the very peak was clouded in. On the upside though, we saw our first monkeys, marmosets. And in the skies around us vultures and frigate birds wheeled. The game of animal bingo had begun.
Next we drove up to Christ the Redeemer. This is a pretty fantastic drive in itself as you wind through rainforest, right in the middle of the city. The statues is as remarkable as it looks, especially for us as we saw it through great banks of fog. So Christ kept disappearing and remerging. It was really quite eerie, though the view was of total cloud. By the end of the day we'd seen more quality cloud up close than you could have possibly dreamed of.
That night we went the whole tourist hog. We bought tickets to a barbecue and dance show. When in brazil you have to have a barbecue at least once. The amount of quality meat was simply outrageous. They kept bringing some for of meat out on skewers the whole time. I'm pretty sure by the end of the evening we'd had every species that didn't move quickly enough. I would be surprised is jaguar was on the menu. And because we were new to the game we'd filled our plates up at the salad bar before hand. Soooo much food and the knowledge of Brazil's challenging toilet system preying on our minds.
Suitably bloated we were bussed off to a dance spectacular, covering 150 years of Brazilian history. It turns out that for nearly all that 150 years women wore clothes that seem to have shrunk down to nothing. And then they'd shake around a lot. I didn't mind that much. They also had some amazing male dancers but mostly they wore more clothes, and they seriously knew how to dance. There was a cool band playing as well. A top night, plenty of drinking,eating, entertaining and scantily clad women - all in the name of culture!!! Woo hoo.
The following morning we arose for another tour of the old city. Things ran and hour late due to the ludicrously bad traffic but he weather was good and the city was remarkable. I actually enjoyed this tour more than the sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer.
First we saw the classic old buildings and, of course, they were suitably grand and opulent. Nothing like kings, emperors and dictators to make for opulence. The cathedral was an outrageously decorated affair. baroque carvings, high ceilings, stunning pictures, lifesize figures of Christ in glass cabinets. The concept of restraint goes right out the window - which is why Brazil is such a great place to visit.
It is hard to describe rio. It's a riot of buildings, with no apparent building codes, all in different colours and states of decay. And you'll see just about all styles of buildings. We passed native style grass-roofed cottages, palaces, haciendas, a Swiss chalet and what looked like an Indian palace. And through all of this the jungle winds.
Suitably bloated we were bussed off to a dance spectacular, covering 150 years of Brazilian history. It turns out that for nearly all that 150 years women wore clothes that seem to have shrunk down to nothing. And then they'd shake around a lot. I didn't mind that much. They also had some amazing male dancers but mostly they wore more clothes, and they seriously knew how to dance. There was a cool band playing as well. A top night, plenty of drinking,eating, entertaining and scantily clad women - all in the name of culture!!! Woo hoo.
The following morning we arose for another tour of the old city. Things ran and hour late due to the ludicrously bad traffic but he weather was good and the city was remarkable. I actually enjoyed this tour more than the sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer.
First we saw the classic old buildings and, of course, they were suitably grand and opulent. Nothing like kings, emperors and dictators to make for opulence. The cathedral was an outrageously decorated affair. baroque carvings, high ceilings, stunning pictures, lifesize figures of Christ in glass cabinets. The concept of restraint goes right out the window - which is why Brazil is such a great place to visit.
It is hard to describe rio. It's a riot of buildings, with no apparent building codes, all in different colours and states of decay. And you'll see just about all styles of buildings. We passed native style grass-roofed cottages, palaces, haciendas, a Swiss chalet and what looked like an Indian palace. And through all of this the jungle winds.
Now all the guide books tell you that rio can be a dangerous place and to stick to main roads and don't wander off on your own. Today was the day we would buggerup this completely. In a moment of madness we hopped off our tour and headed off through the streets of the old town. It only took long enou for the tour bus to disappear before we had re-evaluated our decision but by then it was too late. There followed an amusingly stressful period (though we kept smiling those grimaces of pleasure so the other person didn't know how nervous we felt). Ten minutes later having wound our way down the hill and wound our nerves uptight as a drum we reached a street corner where on old man asked us if we'd like a taxi ride.
This seemed like a good idea, though a minute later we were re-evaluating our decision but it was too late. He had no English and we had no Portuguese of any note. On top of this we had no idea where we going. Remember also, that rip is the kidnap capital of the world.
We tried naming a few places and pointing on maps and the old fellow said a place name with confidence. We shrugged and nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later we were re-evaluating our decision. We now found ourselves in a totally new area. Couple this with the fact that we had limited money on us (the guidebooks had said we shouldn't carry much money and we hadn't, but then we hadn't counted on a random taxi ride either) and we were a little concerned. Kate said to the driver "Bank de Brazil", meaning somewhere we could get cash out. At this point we think the taxi driver got concerned that maybe we didn't have enough money so I pulled out my wallet to show that I probably had enough to cover the fare. He stared at me a very politely pushed the. Wallet back in my pocket and though I couldn't understand a word he said the meaning was clear - put the money away you goose,you're in rio and you don't flash money around. Aaaauuuggghhhh. I'd been hiding money for days and carrying it around in small lots and just once, under extreme circumstances, I'd shown off a pittance, really to satisfy his concerns, and been told off.
Anyway, there followed a further lengthy taxi ride, deeper into the unknown before we arrived at a bank. We paid the driver, withdrew some money and tried to remember why on earth we'd got off the tour drive in the first place. We gave up, wandered around until we found a subway, figured out how to use it and staggered home. If we'd stayed on he tour we'd have been there already.
And that will do for now. Tomorrow would hold Iguassu Falls and we simply didn't realise what an experience this would be.
This seemed like a good idea, though a minute later we were re-evaluating our decision but it was too late. He had no English and we had no Portuguese of any note. On top of this we had no idea where we going. Remember also, that rip is the kidnap capital of the world.
We tried naming a few places and pointing on maps and the old fellow said a place name with confidence. We shrugged and nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later we were re-evaluating our decision. We now found ourselves in a totally new area. Couple this with the fact that we had limited money on us (the guidebooks had said we shouldn't carry much money and we hadn't, but then we hadn't counted on a random taxi ride either) and we were a little concerned. Kate said to the driver "Bank de Brazil", meaning somewhere we could get cash out. At this point we think the taxi driver got concerned that maybe we didn't have enough money so I pulled out my wallet to show that I probably had enough to cover the fare. He stared at me a very politely pushed the. Wallet back in my pocket and though I couldn't understand a word he said the meaning was clear - put the money away you goose,you're in rio and you don't flash money around. Aaaauuuggghhhh. I'd been hiding money for days and carrying it around in small lots and just once, under extreme circumstances, I'd shown off a pittance, really to satisfy his concerns, and been told off.
Anyway, there followed a further lengthy taxi ride, deeper into the unknown before we arrived at a bank. We paid the driver, withdrew some money and tried to remember why on earth we'd got off the tour drive in the first place. We gave up, wandered around until we found a subway, figured out how to use it and staggered home. If we'd stayed on he tour we'd have been there already.
And that will do for now. Tomorrow would hold Iguassu Falls and we simply didn't realise what an experience this would be.
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