The Tao of Me

Nothing like a tropical breakfast buffet, complete with Brazilian coffee to lure you out of bed on a Saturday morning. With a hired driver waiting for us, I finished my tasty fruit and a second cup of coffee before we left the hotel for the day. And what a day it was for all of us. This was our one big tourist day, to see the most famous sights in Rio before heading up the coast for more domestic and rural activities.
Secure the cameras and comfortable walking shoes, here we go.

First we headed up to Christo Redentor.  Last time I was here we were on the crazy bus and came in from who knows where.  This time we had a car and driver who took us directly to the bottom of the mountain.  It was fun for me to see the kids and my Mom with their heads on a swivel, trying to take in the city as we drove through the tunnel, near the favelas, and past the nicer part of town.

The train that took us up the mountain has its tiny station between a city park and an apartment building.  I’m glad we took the train this time, which goes slowly up the mountain on a really steep incline.  My Mom loved riding through the forest and couldn’t believe the size of the tropical plants.  Plants that, at home, struggle to survive as 18″ tall house plants but here are twice as tall as the train itself.
Because of the low clouds, we thought we might not have a view of Rio from the statue, but by the time we made it to the top and took all the obligatory pictures the sun was coming out to play with us.  It ended up being a beautiful day to spend on the two highest points in the city.  Christo Redentor was an impressive sight again, just like the first time for me.  The Boy has wanted to see this statue for as long as he can remember, and I’m so glad I was there with him when he got there.  My Mom’s face was the best thing for me.  She waited a very long time to take her first international, and intercontinental trip.  Being up on that mountain and seeing the statue up close made her bucket list just a little shorter.  It made all our bucket lists a little shorter.

As we sat in the shade of an umbrella on the cafe patio just below the statue, we heard a noise coming closer.  Corcovado mountain has a long, shear drop on 3 sides, and up from one of those sides came a very fast rising helicopter, with a few very lucky tourists inside.  The Boy was hooked instantly and spent the next 4 hours alternately pestering and moping because Dang!  A helicopter!  That would be SO COOL!  Once it made a loop around the statue, the pilot did the most amazing nose dive nearly straight down the south wall of the mountain towards the lagoa!  I’m pretty sure he had no old people on that ride.  Yikes.  I hope they tipped him extra, that took some skill to pull off.
While riding the train back down (backwards!) we sat next to a man from the UK who has our dream job.  He travels the world, all expenses paid, as a tour guide.  He goes all over, pays for nothing, and makes a small salary to boot.  Sign us up!  Seriously, when can we start?
My Girl was excited to see a Rio de Janeiro Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt in the gift shop when we got off the train.  I helped her buy it, with me breaking in my slightly improved Portuguese, and her using her very strange Brazilian money for the first time, she is now the proud owner of a new favorite shirt, complete with cool memories attached.
Our driver took us straight to the bay, where we boarded a tram to get to the top of Pão de Açúcar. Once the Boy saw how tall it was, and how tiny the cables looked from way down below, he got a little nervous.  Once he was inside the tram, and up to the first stop, he was fine.  Especially when he realized that Urca Mountain, the half way point, is also home to the helicopter pad for the tourist rides.  Cue begging and pleading, and moping when he didn’t get to ride one this time.  Poor kid, he’s so deprived.  He’ll just have to wait until next time.  He did cheer up though, when he caught a glimpse of both monkeys, and rock climbers.  The rock climbers looked like ants stuck to the side of the sheer rock and he was suitably impressed.  The Girl took it all in stride, and seems to quietly absorb everything going on around her.  She held my hand and smiled at me several hundred times that day.  It was a good day, I can’t argue with that.

Time for the second tram to the top of a really big rock.  We’re going where?  On what?

We survived the trip, and quickly celebrated with lunch at the mountain top cafe.  The kids came 5500 miles for a cheeseburger.  A gross cheeseburger, which may or may not have contained any actual burger.  Oh, well, they were happy.

He decided it wasn’t enough food for him, so I sent him off to buy another snack.  Fear of ordering his own food with strange money in a strange language by himself was overridden by his need for Doritos.

With bellies full, we set off down the trails we didn’t know about last time, looking for more monkeys.  We took our time, and explored the whole maze of trails below the gift shop and were just about to give up when we finally saw them.  3 or 4 little marmosets, chewing the bark off the trees.  I don’t know what it is about seeing monkeys in the wild, but so cool!

The rest of the afternoon, after a very welcome nap in the hotel, was spent walking around the beachfront of Copacabana.  We quickly realized that if you would like to sit in peace and watch the teeny bikinis and speedos go by, don’t sit at the tables on the beach side of the street.  Every 2 minutes we had street performers, pan handlers, and people selling everything you can imagine come up to our table and stay until you just want to pay them to go away.  The other side of the street is much more peaceful, but we still had fun.  The boy was particularly impressed with the Tambourine Man.

We were back in the hotel just past sunset, before full dark, the Boy practically herding us like an Australian Shepherd.  He really didn’t want to be out there past dark, and honestly, I agreed with him.

As always, more photos here.