Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Following our unforgettable experiences at Iguaçu Falls and the bird sanctuary we boarded a 2-hour flight to Rio de Janerio, Brazil. Our decision to fly was partially on account of not wanting to take any more overnight bus rides and because it shaved off 20 hours of travel time. Originally we were planning on working our way north through Brazil and ending the trip in Rio where we have the start of our multi-day return flight home on the 23^rd. But we thought it would be best to get our city visits done early and then lay on the beaches of Ilha Grande and Paraty for the last week of the trip. That way the trip would end on a relaxing and sunny note and we would just have to head back to the airport in Rio on the day of the flight.

The flight itself went well as we traveled over forested areas and the Atlantic Ocean, and which inlcuded a breif view of the Iguaçu Falls from the air. The best part was the price at $160 US each, which was unfortunately quickly gobbled up by the rather expensive 50 minute taxi ride from the Rio de Janeiro airport to our pre-booked hostel in the southern zone of the city. Rio is a notoriously dangerous city with tales of purse-snatching and muggings and given some of our experiences on the trip we didn’t want to push our luck. So while still in Iguaçu Falls we did a lot of online research about the cities different neighbourhoods and settled on the more affluent southern Botafugo neighbourhood which turned out to be a perfect choice for our two night stay. We felt safe in the area and were a short subway ride or walk to some of the Rio’s most famous attractions. While we planned on spending a few days in Rio at the beginning of our trip by the time we arrived one full day was more than sufficient especially with beaches nearby. Our favourite places have all been smaller cities or towns where we can explore the area fully and not feel lost in the complexity and chaos of cities numbering over a million people. Even though we initially planned on visiting Curitiba and Sao Paulo (the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere with a metropolitan population of over 20 million people) those plans were trumped in favour of visiting smaller Brazilian beach towns.

To start our day in Rio de Janeiro we walked about 30 minutes to the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain where we rode the gondola to one of Rio’s most famous summits. The view from the top was spectacular as the city is framed by green mountains, white sand beaches, the blue Atlantic Ocean and Baia de Guanabara, and thousands of white skyscrapers; no offence to Vancouver but Rio occupies the prettiest piece of real estate (at least seen from afar). Up close however it is dark and graffiti-covered with the ever-present favelas (shantytowns typically controlled by drug-lords and with the majority of the population living at the extreme poverty level) lurking nearby.

We enjoyed the view from Sugar Loaf taking in the famous landmarks – Christ the Redeemer statue, Copacabana beach and the downtown Centro area. We contemplated making the trip up to the Redeemer statue but it was covered in clouds and had we reached its summit we wouldn’t have seen anything. So after snapping countless photos we headed back down to enjoy lunch.

Our lunchtime experience can best be described as strange and morbid. The meal itself was a tasty helping of roasted chicken, rice, beans and French fries but as we were enjoying it there was a considerable amount of activity outside of the restaurant. There were ambulances and police and numerous people standing around looking up. We were curious so we peeked outside only to see a bunch of tree branches littering the sidewalk. The sky had just turned threatening with heavy winds and rain so we thought some branches must have broken off or maybe a car had clipped the trunk. We thought no more of it and went back inside to finish our delicious meal. When we left the restaurant about 20 minutes later boy did we ever get a shock. As we passed by the tree we noticed a white blanket at its base and then upon closer examination a pale white leg sticking out of it at an awkward angle. We both thought it looked like a mannequin and the full realization of what we were looking at had yet to sink in. Then we noticed the bloodied hand and put the entire picture together. Someone had fallen to their death either accidently or intentionally from the tall skyscraper and clipped the tree branches on the way down and the police and paramedics were waiting for the coroner’s office to deal with the scene. We were mortified that a dead body was just lying there (fortunately with the face covered) and saddened that someone had died as we were eating our lunch only metres away. We were also thankful we hadn’t been walking under that particular spot when the person fell. We left the area immediately shaken and headed back to the hostel.

After fully processing the morning’s events we then headed by subway to the Santa Teresa neighbourhood where we checked out the famous Selaron steps. A Chilean artist has been covering the 215 city steps in tiles from all over the world since 1990. The result is a rich mosaic of colour and pattern with curious images and inlaid artwork.

Following a hike to the top of the stairs and then back down to the bottom we made our way by subway to Copacabana beach. Had the weather been nicer and not threatening of imminent rain we would have strolled the length of the 4.5km curving white sand beach. Alas it was not to be so we headed back to the subway and our hostel but not before seeing two tourist girls accidently get too close to the shoreline trying to take a picture and one of them get pulled into the water by the current. She was fine but absolutely soaked and embarrassed.

The next morning we checked out of the hostel while wearing our headlights (there was a sudden loss of power) and then headed to the main bus terminal. The taxi ride took us through some parts of the city we had not seen and gave us a glimpse into the poverty-stricken areas that over 1/5 of Rio’s citizens live in outside of the southern tourist zones. It definitely painted a picture of two different cities. We left without incident and headed south along the Green Coast to Brazil’s largest island Ilha Grande for four days of beaches, sun and surf.