Rio De Janeiro

Hi All,

Today we are at sea heading for our next port of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.  On Friday and Saturday we were in Rio.  This picture as we approached the city.  On the left of the picture is Corcovado with Christ the Redeemer statue, and on the right of the picture is Sugarloaf mountain.

Sugarloaf with Corcovado in the middle of the picture.

We took the ship’s shuttle into town and were dropped off at the famous Copacabana Palace hotel.

On the way into town we passed this very unusual Catholic cathedral.

Our plan for the day was to walk along Rio’s beaches.  This is Copacabana beach, it was much more crowded on Saturday.

The beach is over four miles long and we walked the length of it.  It was a very hot day!  All along the beach are these condos.

After walking for a couple hours we returned to the ship.  The evening entertainment was a local group that performed Brazilian song and dance.  They were quite colorful and the performance was very high energy.

Towards the end of the show they pulled people from the audience to come to the stage to dance.  This guy came for Helen, couldn’t say no to him!

Dancing Helen!

On Saturday we took a ship’s tour to Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue.  The trip up to Corcovado is done in this cog rail train and takes about 20 minutes.  It is a very steep ride up the mountain.

Here is a hazy view of Rio from the train.

Christ the Redeemer.  The statue is made of concrete and soapstone and was built in nine years from 1922 to 1931.  It is 98 feet tall and the arms stretch 92 feet wide.

We were not alone on Corcovado.

Another hazy view of Rio.

This view from the street below Corcovado.

On the way back to the ship we passed beautiful Ipanema beach.

Lots of these places along the beach for food and drink.

Another shot of Sugarloaf.  Look closely and you can see the cable cars that take people to the top.  We didn’t have time for the cable car.  Helen has done it before when she flew to Rio while working for Pan Am.

So that is a look at our two days in Rio.  We enjoyed our time there, but it isn’t the easiest city to be a tourist.  The traffic is horrendous and many areas are unsafe for tourists to walk.  The ship advised us not to go ashore with any jewelry or valuables.  Much of the city is under construction for the Olympics, but they have a long way to go to be ready.  Hard to imagine how people are going to get around during the games.

We had a very pretty sail away at 5pm with a deck party serving Brazil’s national cocktail, the Caipirinha  (or as I call it, the Brazilian truth serum).  Bye for now, we have two sea days after Salvador de Bahia and will post again on one of those days.  Tomorrow marks two weeks to go in the cruise.

Jer and Helen