November 23, 2007

Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:45:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: A far cry from Buenos Aires...

Bom dia,

Rio de Janeiro is BEAUTIFUL!!

thats all I'm going to write in this email... bye bye,
-me.





haha ... just kidding!

My flight from San Francisco to Miami was delayed by an hour, so I had to wait
an extra 3600 seconds in my "countdown to departure". No biggie, it just meant
I didn't have that extra hour in miami between flights. Hmmm, so 4 movies later
I was in BEAUTIFUL Rio!

I'm going to use this space to say a word about Brazilian customs. They're
GREAT! I didn't get the same treatment that Brazilian citizens do when entering
the U.S., in fact this has been one of my most hassle-free border crossings in
years! No delays, no questions by the guards asking me "why did you fly all the
way here for just two days?" or "Where does your family live and what do they
do for a living?" or "Are you SURE you're not meeting anybody here?" or "Why
did you go to Frankfurt in May 2006 for 1 day?" NONE OF THAT usual stuff! They
scanned my passport, took my landing card, stamped the passport and let me go
without a word! No fingerprints, no photographs, no being detained for 1/2 hour
while being grilled with questions, NOTHING....

It was terrific!

Of course the bus from the airport to my hotel could've less crowded, but I was
too thrilled about being in a new country to notice. I did notice a few other
things -- the traffic (at noon on friday) is almost as bad as India and the
slums visible from the freeway are about the worst I've seen since Romania! I
cant even imagine how those people live!

Well, I had a couple of naps on the bus while it was parked in the middle of
Avenida Rio Branco for 1/2 hour. After getting sick of waiting in traffic I got
out of the bus and walked to a metro station to take the metro rest of the way
to my hotel.

My hotel. Its 3 blocks from Copacabana beach and I've got a room on the 11th
floor, and if there weren't any other buildings around I would have a great of
the famous beach, but that's not to be! oh well.... I dont intend on spending
too much time in my room anyway.

RIGHT NOW I'm thinking about what to write next, and reminded of Washington DC
and Paris. The first time I visited both of those cities, I was so overwhelmed
by them that I didn't know what I wanted to see on any given day. Same thing
with Rio... but thats a little strange because there are only a few things in
this town I want to see! After much deliberation I decided to go to "either
Ipanema and Copacabana beaches or Sugar Loaf Mountain". I repacked my backpack
with my daytrip essentials and started walking.

I think I must have made a U-turn 3 or 4 times walking nowhere in particular. A
bus came by -- #511, and on a whim I just flagged it down and hopped on it.
(Yes you have "flag down" buses otherwise they dont stop even if they see you
waiting at a bus stop). This bus goes to Sugar Loaf Mountain -- "Pao de
Acucar".

I reached there roughly around 3pm. I got back to the hotel roughly around
10pm. It was the kind of place that makes you want to linger and enjoy the
scenery quietly, away from the hectic streets down below. There's a cable car
to the top of the first mountain - Morro da Urca. From here are the "lower"
views of Rio (as opposed to the "higher" views later from Pao de Acucar).
They've got lounge chairs at all the viewing platforms!!! NICE!

I lounged.

For over 2 hours.

The views are great, compare this to the "first level" views from the Eiffel
Tower! Rio up close, but still far enough that you feel you're secluded from
the rest of the city, and in a good way. I can't think of any major city in the
world that has a reputation of being CLEAN or well-kept -- yet they all look
fantastic from far away! Same with Rio. This first hill had views of the
northern coastline, away from Copacabana. And of course the sheer cliffs of
Corcovado mountain (home of Cristo Redentor -- Christ the Redeemer) is also
clearly visible -- my first sight of this newest wonder of the world!

So after 2+ hours of lounging I decided I had had enough and better make my way
to the higher Pau de Acucar -- Sugar Loaf Mountain. There's another cable car
from Morro de Urca to there, and on the way up (from the cable car), I noticed
there was one man climbing the mountain!

Yes my tourbook mentions that people do climb that mountain on their own. But
this is a straight cliff, not a gentle upward slope! Wow... that was a sight to
see!

On top of this mountain they didn't exactly have lounge chairs, but they had
enough normal seats and I staked out my place facing Cristo Redentor and
waiting for the sun to set behind it. From this vantage point, I also got my
first view of Copacabana beach -- a 4 1/2 mile long arch of white sand and blue
water. I'll go there tomorrow.

But the main attraction was the statue of Christ, and the sun setting behind
him as a few clouds hovered at his feet, then all around him! I got some
fantastic pictures over there! I met two people from Washington DC (they had
staked out their spot next to my chair, waiting for the same sunset I was
waiting for). They spoke english. They were in Rio since yesterday, and
tomorrow they're driving up the coast to some town that starts with B. They
took a lot of my pictures, and I took a lot of theirs.

But most importantly, they spoke english!

Language has been a problem here. I still get my spanish and portuguese mixed
up, and I still say "gracias" when I'm supposed to say "obrigado", which by the
way, is pronounced with the first "o" silent and with emphasis on the "a", not
the "i" -- a fact I just found out today to my embarrassment.

Enough about that.

All three of us were on top of that mountain until 9, well past sunset, and
also the time that the last cable cars head back down both the mountains.

This place isn't far from my hotel. Only about 1/2 hour walk had I walked
instead of taking the bus in the afternoon. By bus it's less than 15 minutes
(good traffic direction)..

Hmmm, it was 9 when I took the cable car down, and 10 when I reached my hotel.

I took the wrong bus on the way back.

Ok, I refuse to accept this as my fault. I crossed the street, so I could take
the "returning" bus #511 back to my hotel... Right? Wrong.

Hmm, it took me north instead of south, and by the time I realized "this
doesn't look familiar", I was already really off-course.

Fortunately I have an excellent map of the city, showing every small road and
every name... I got off the bus, walked to the metro, and took the metro back
to the hotel, picking up my dinner "to-go" along the way.

Tomorrow, its off to Cristo Redentor on Cavalcado mountain. As of this second I
have no idea how I'm going to get to reach the tram station over there, but I'm
thankful there IS a tram to the top of the mountain! There is no way I could
climb that thing! After that, Copacabana and Ipanema beaches...

btw, my website is down until at least Monday night San Jose time. The photos
from this trip wont be there either until at least Tuesday night San Jose time.

[o]brigAdo for reading past the "bye bye" above,
-me.

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