This travelogue is continued from the previous post
Rio is definitely one of the most popular travel destinations these days. So we would not go all the way to South America and not spend time in Rio! I especially wanted to visit this city after I watched the animated movie "Rio" where it was shown so beautifully! Little did we know that it would turn out to be insanely expensive and not live up to our expectations.. Heck.. I didn't even know that it is pronouced as 'Rio de haneiro' and not 'Janeiro' till I went there! That's some intro to Portuguese for you :)
After spending 3 days in rainy Santiago de Chile, we were happy to catch the flight to Rio. It was a long flight (considering the countries are adjacent) to Rio...about 8 hours with a short stop over in Sao Paulo. I was already getting claustrophobic getting anywhere close to an airplane, with flying almost once every 3 days...South America is one gigantic continent! It will probably take you 3 full months to visit just the main cities all over the continent..
We spent 4 nights in Rio and I felt that was good enough to see the main attractions. There isn't much to do there if you go in the non-carnival season. If you are there for the carnival then its a different story!
Where to stay?
I had heard and read about Rio being a very high crime rate city and that it isn't very safe for tourists and locals equally. So we were very apprehensive of booking just any hotel. We were warned of staying in Copacabana as its supposed to be not too safe in the nights. So we restricted our stay in the upmarket areas like Ipanema/Leblon/Lagoa though they are friggin expensive. The cheapest hotel you may find in non peak season will cost 200USD for a Double bedroom. Anyway we chose the Ipanema Inn which was a block away from the Ipanema beach. Was happy with the service but the hotel was too old and rustic with very basic amenities and we were paying through our nose!
Things to do
Of course you would not miss 'Christ the Redeemer' whether or not it is worth seeing! It is definitely over-hyped and when I went all the way up and stood near the statue, I was dumbstruck as I was trying to figure out one reason why it was chosen as a new wonder of the world!! Personally, I feel there is nothing great about the statue (no offense meant, to anyone!). The view from the top of the Corcovado mountain (which is where the Redeemer statue is) is absolutely breathtaking. You reach there in a cogwheel train through the Tijuaca Rainforest, where you can choose to trek as well. You definitely have to go there for the view and not to see the statue. So have your expectations set right else you will be disappointed like I was..
Sugar Loaf mountain is another thing you might want to see. Take a cable car to reach on top of the mountain from where you get a lovely view of the copacabana beach and the city of Rio. You can also see the Christ on top of Corcovado, from this mountain top.
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| Sugar Loaf Mountain |
We booked a day tour through Viator and did Sugar Loaf + Corcovada on the same day as we did not want to venture out alone for safety sake. At the end of the day we realized that the total time spent at the venue was just about 1.5 to 2 hours and remaining 5hrs was wasted in picking up & dropping people and having lunch and what not! So I highly recommend doing it by yourself, and not wasting time & money on any travel companies...Wish someone was there to tell us that 'before' we went! Lessons learnt through experience!
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| View of Copacabana beach from top of sugar loaf |
We also did the Sepatipa Bay cruise for another full day to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary! It was a nice chilled out, lazy day on the cruise with not much activity. It's good if you love the waters and wanna lie down at the beach and get some sun. Well, we did that at the Ipanema beach as well, the next day :)
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| Sunset from top of Corcovado mountain |
Samba Dance is another attraction. The most popular one is the Plataforma Samba show which happens in the night 9pm to midnight and is combined with dinner. It's crazy but you should definitely watch it for entertainment!
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| Plataforma Samba Show |
Food
Be prepared to spend a lot on food as restaurants are very expensive too. If you are a non-vegetarian then you have no problems in finding some amazing cuisines out there but if you are a veggie, like me then your options are *very* limited. Survive on pizzas/pastas/salads as long as you are there! But we did find a lovely Thai Restaurant called "Nam Thai" in Leblon, which surprisingly was EXTREMELY GOOD! I highly recommend it.
Drink
And while you are in Brazil, try their national alcoholic drink Cachaca (pronounced as Ka-sha-sa), which is a cocktail made from fresh sugarcane juice (not molasses) distilled & fermented. Contains about 38% to 48% alcohol. And Brazil's national cocktail is Caipirinha which is made from Cachaca and Lime. Extremely strong and it goes straight into your head with the first sip! You cannot go there and not try this :) And make sure you buy some at the duty free as well to carry back home ;-)
Shopping:
I cannot complete this travelogue without talking about shopping! Rio is a shopper's paradise, especially for a woman, as you will find amazing jewellery, accessories, clothes etc at throw away prices...and very unique designs! It's also a crystal lover's paradise. Huge raw crystal clusters, geodes, caves are available on the road side market for dead cheap prices! Just carrying it back home is a problem due to the weight. Else I would have bought lots more. You should definitely visit the Sunday Hippie Fair at Ipanema and also the daily night market at Copacabana if you love to shop...
And last but not the least, learn some basic portuguese or carry a dictionary or a phrase book to translate the basic words so that you can get around, if you are on your own. Even airports do not announce any instructions in English. So best advice - follow the crowd ;)
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