RIO DE JANEIRO – DAY ONE

Today, we arrived in Rio De Janeiro, our final port stop in Brazil, where we will spend two days, remaining berthed overnight.

We didn’t arrive until nearly 4pm, however, almost two hours after our expected time of arrival. There seemed to be some mystery as to the reason for the delay, although Tracey overheard the Captain telling someone that it was because the water in the harbour was too low… so there you have it…

Whatever the reason, the sail into Rio was as spectacular as I had hoped it would be. The icon statue of Christ the Redeemer stood atop its lofty perch, backed by the equally impressive Corcovado Mountain. Nearer to the ship was the recogniseable Sugar Loaf Mountain, with its cable cars going back and forth; below it, the city itself, stretched far out into the tree-covered hills that surround it, and a particularly long road bridge joins one of the several outlying islands to the mainland. The equally iconic beaches of Copacobana and Ipanema complete the scene. Speaking as someone who has never been here before, but know of its fame, I have to confess that I was thrilled to finally see Rio De Janeiro.

Tomorrow, Tracey and I will be escorting an all-day tour, so with the last few hours of daylight we had, as soon as the ship had been cleared, we headed ashore for a wander.

The first thing that we noticed was the traffic. It being around 5:30pm, as we walked through the centre of the city, it probably meant this was their daily rush hour – and what a rush hour it was! Buses… loads of them – far more than we generally see all at once, loped through many of the roads in ferral packs, tearing around corners like I don’t think I’ve ever seen buses thrown around corners in a city. The architecture was quite diverse, with old buildings juxtaposed with newer, modern high-rises. We both noticed the spaghetti-like cables strung across the roads, attached to chunky telegraph poles and the corners of buildings.

We used Maps.Me to navigate our way around the city for a couple of hours, initially heading for a large green patch, a large park that would have been interesting to walk around, if it wasn’t closed by the time we got there – sadly, it was empty of strolling people but populated by lots of grazing palm rats, a handful of fowl and huge numbers of cute-looking cats. Undeterred, we worked our way through the throngs of people, and across busy roads, taking in whatever we saw along the way. A small church here, a statue in a large square there, people rushing to get home, or rushing to get somewhere, we know not where. Some were queueing for the theatre while others milled around down small side streets, full of market stalls, reminiscent of Manaus further North.

I think we were quietly impressed and more than a little bit seduced by what we saw. Rio is a city, when all is said and done, and neither Tracey nor myself are really city people – but some just leave their mark on you whether you like it or not.

Our couple of hours walk, in the stifling heat of the afternoon (32 degrees no less) gave us a very satisfying taster of the city, and by the time we got back to the ship, we were quite footsore. Tomorrow, we will be escorting a tour billed as ‘Best of Rio’, which will feature many of the major icons of the city, including that statue and Sugar Loaf mountain. Needless to say, we have to be up early in the morning, so no wild night-life for us…