Arriving at Rio International Airport at 7.30am having been travelling for 17 hours we did not expect to feel too fresh, but we had actually managed to get a decent amount of sleep on the plane. We dropped our bags off at Hotel Leao and set off walking to Escadaria Selarón.
Very quickly the Carnaval atmosphere became apparent. It was still 10am but the number of people dancing and in fancy dress must have been in the tens of thousands.
The steps themselves were very impressive and by 12pm people were queuing to have their picture taken. This probably wasn’t helped by the fact thousands of party goers were also ascending the steps towards what we assume was Santa Teresa. We followed the Carnaval crowds to a large queue before realising we had no money to pay in even once we did get to the front.
Our day concluded with a trip to the “Museum of tomorrow” which was unfortunately closed for Carnaval. The area surrounding the museum was very pretty (albeit surrounded by cruise ships) with many locals fishing.
That evening a parade took place outside our hotel. A small number of people dressed in fancy dress carried fake plastic guns and pretended to shoot people/us, this made us feel slightly uneasy although the police didn’t seem concerned. I guess if we had been in the UK we would just have passed it off as fancy dress and thought nothing more of it.
Waking early the next day our ambitions of visiting Christ the Redeemer were thwarted by the thunderstorm outside. We decided instead to walk to Copacabana, Ipanema and the Lagoon. By 11am the clouds had parted and the sun was burning hot. We tried our first coconut under the shade at Ipanema beach and headed back to the hotel. All in all we had walked 22km in the sun without sun cream. By the time we went to sleep that night sun stroke was definitely setting in.
We were awoken around 4am by the sound of a large thunderstorm outside. Obviously today was not a good day to visit Christ the Redeemer so we instead tried to recuperate. Late afternoon we headed out to Os Ximenez a highly rated cheap restaurant at the foot of Escadaria Selaron. The portions were huge and we took home enough for dinner the next day too.
Knowing that we only had two more opportunities to visit Christ the Redeemer we woke early the next morning and caught a local bus to the Curcado train station.
A one hour wait for the train gave the skies time to clear. The train itself travels up a steep slope and through a forest. An English speaking tour guide advised that if the forest were not there the temperature in Rio would be about 3 degrees warmer. How is it that Rio can have so much greenery but manchester council are always talking about their inability to maintain Piccadilly gardens?!
Arriving at the summit of Christ the Redeemer the entire platform was covered in cloud. We were quite fortunate not to be in a tour group as this allowed us time to hang around at the summit waiting for a brief glimpse. After around an hour we finally got a minute of blue skies and a chance to get a shot of the Big man and the Maracana.
Later that day we climed Sugarloaf Mountain - technically not true as it is only possible to climb the neighbouring hill (Urca) before you have to get a cable car the final section of the way. This hike provided incredible views of the bay, Rio and neighbouring islands and was topped off with seeing Marmosets playing in the trees not 2 metres away.
We had aimed to reach Sugarloaf in time for sunset, unfortunately the clouds still hadn’t quite cleared but we did see a thunderstorm across the bay. As we got the cable car back down the storm was just passing overhead giving some great views of the lightening.
Our final day in Rio saw us re-visit the Museum of Tomorrow. I imagine this museum would have had more of an impact if we had spoken Portuguese although it was still enjoyable.
Our flight flight from Rio was scheduled for 3.30am. It took us a lot longer than it should have to realise that the clocks in Brazil went back at that time and rather than going from 1am to 12am they go from 12am to 11pm. All very confusing but at least our phone alarms seemed to know what was going on.
Driving to the airport we passed the Sambadrone (more a street with raised seating either side than a stadium) still very alive with parades at 1am. Seemingly these parades continue past 5am during Carnaval. The energy of the locals is incredible.
Joe Dunleavy