Rio

2.17.2015

Rio.  Carnival.  Fun.  Tired.  Four words that might always be connected in our minds.

We got off the ship around 8:30 with the four friends from England that we play trivia with.  They split the cost of the tour with us and that was great.  The ship did not have an excursion for Carnival, just the one they use any old day that they are in Rio.  Tomorrow we will take one of those.

This excursion was with a local guide from a company that we had found online.  A world-wide company that has good reviews.  The guide spoke English well and knew the city.  But, we were in a van she hired that did not have a speaker system, so few could hear what commentary she gave.  That was a bad part of the trip. 

She started us off by going on foot to a side street quite near the ship and we watched floats go by that had already been in a parade.  Huge, ornate and wonderful.  Now they are destroyed and work starts tomorrow on next year's entry for each group.  A fine waste.

Then she and the driver tried to find a way to the Sambadrome where the parades starts and the entrants are judged.  No luck getting in, so we went up to a neighborhood on a hill, Santa Teresa, and participated in a parade with the locals.  They march behind a band, dancing and singing in their costumes.  The costumes ran the gamut from folks like us with a colored hat or wig, to men dressed as women.  Maybe half the men were dressed like women.  There was a Carmelite nunnery in this neighborhood and many costumes were of nuns.  Nuns with bare tummies and, well, exposed collarbones.  Lots of exposed collarbones in lots of costumes.  The story goes, that the nuns wanted to party too, so the locals dressed as nuns, so they would all fit in. Of course, it is hot here.  Too hot for us, too humid for us.  Dehydration.

Back to the van and some driving and then we stopped at a park where a crowd was getting themselves wound up to go marching in one of the local parades.  The theme was ET, the extra-terrestrial.  Boom, boom, boom went the drums and everyone was dancing.  Present company excluded.  Simone, the guide, was really getting into it and we suspect that she would have stayed all day, but it was too hot and too crowded for us.

So we tried again to find a way in the Sambadrome to see the best floats but it was impossible.  We had a final walk through the historical area and then went back to the ship.  Most fun we have had on an excursion and we are totally exhausted.  Tomorrow will be our second day in Rio and we have an ship's excursion to Christ the Redeemer statue on top of the hill.  Said to be one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

2.18.2015

Rio, day two.  Our excursion up to Christ the Redeemer and famous beaches left early, 7:15 in the morning and we returned about 12:30, before the heat of the day.  It was cloudy and breezy, very nice.

To get to the statue takes a bus ride to the tram which travels upward at a very steep angle.  Through a rain forest with weird fruits and monkeys.  After the tram, we went up an elevator, two escalators and then steps to the base of the statue.  Impressive statue and amazing views of the city.  360 degrees of views.

Then we went by three beautiful white sand beaches, Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana.  Amazingly long and deep beaches.  We didn't see much of Ipanema as the hotels were between the road and beach.  The others we saw, miles of white sand.  Sunbathers, skateboarders, bicyclists, volleyball players.  It seems that volleyball can be played with the feet as well as the hands.

A quick note about the water in the bay where we are docked.  The tides do not move the water enough to clean it.  It is a cesspool.  Styrofoam, plastic, metal, if it floats, it is below us.  The joke is that no one drowns here, they dissolve.

Colleen and John