Rio de Janeiro

Hi all!

So this morning the power was still off everywhere - even at our hotel! I slept terribly because it was too hot and there were more mozzies. 

We had some rolls and a banana for breakfast and ran into Martin from yesterday's hike who gave Daryl the GoPro video he took, I'll upload in April once I have my laptop!

We caught our 1.5 hour boat again and then a 4 hour bus. I slept most of the way!

Then we arrived in Rio de Janeiro. I'm so excited to be here! I've always wanted to come but at the same time it always seemed so far away and inaccessible that I was never sure I would get here. Rio has 6 million inhabitants and was host for the FIFA World Cup last year, and is also hosting the Olympics next year! The Portuguese sailed here and arrived on 1 January 1502 and named it so because they believed the ocean here to be a river. Hence Rio de Janeiro - River of Janeiro. 

We got straight onto a city tour to knock out three of the biggest tourist attractions here - Sugarloaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer and the Selaron Steps. Rio is very spread out so I've had friends who have done this tour recommend it to me. 

Our first stop was Sugarloaf Mountain. We caught two cable cars up the 396m high mountain. The view was beautiful! Quite cloudy and a little dark but apparently this is a common occurrence here. Contrary to popular belief (and TV shows, postcards etc) it's actually cloudy and rainy a lot here! Took some lovely photos, enjoyed the view and came back down. 

Our next stop was Christ the Redeemer. When I was in Lisbon, Portugal two years ago I saw the Christ there which faces the one here, so it was funny remembering that! At that time I never dreamed I would be in Brazil in two years time. On the way up we drove through the neighbourhood of Santa Teresa up the Corcovado mountain, and our guide told us Rio is one of the biggest urban forests in the world. More than 100,000 trees were planted here in the 1960s to counteract deforestation. As well, there are tram tracks in this neighbourhood but the tram was shut down in 2011 after an accident caused 5 deaths. They're hoping to have it up and running again before the Olympics, but don't hold your breath because originally it was set to reopen before the World Cup (now 7-8 months ago!). The Brazilians proclaimed independence in 1821 and in 1921 decided to create the Christ monument to commemorate 100 years. Building commenced in 1926 and was completed in 1932. The Christ has his arms wide open to embrace the city and is 38m high (30m Christ and 8m base). Our guide kept joking that when Brazil lost to Germany in last year's World Cup 7-1 the Christ put his face in his hands and cried! Haha. 

The view up the top was even better than the Sugarloaf! Absolutely stunning. I had one of those strange moments where you can't believe you're in a place. I'm hoping it'll hit me in a few days that I've been here, because up the hill it was so surreal!

We were lucky as well. It was a bit cloudy but so beautiful. There were about 10 other people apart from us (usually it's packed!) and we even were up there when the Christ lit up in pink. 

Our final stop was the Selaron Steps. Mum - you've probably seen Harry O in the Collingwood magazine sitting on these. They're steps decorated by an artist (Selaron) from 1990-2012 when he mysteriously doused himself at the bottom and died. The steps themselves have green, blue and yellow tiles for Brazil's colours, and the sides are red due to it being his favourite colour. Scattered throughout are tiles from 148 countries. It was hard to see properly because it was dark so I'm going back on Friday during the day. I found heaps of cities I have been to though!

Now we are about to go out for dinner and a night out. It's our last night on tour so I'm flying solo again as of tomorrow! Can't believe it's all beginning to draw to a close. 

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox