Rio, Day 6

March 5

Ash Wednesday

My final, full day in Rio de Janeiro began with a brief run along the canal and a work-out in the exercise room of the apartment complex. For breakfast, I tried a flavor of yogurt new to me: orange, honey, and carrot. It may sound like a strange combination, but it worked! It was pretty tasty. On Wednesday's agenda was a trip to Copacabana beach and Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain).

Copacabana Beach

Ida and I took an ônibus to Copacabana. Along the way,  one of the biggest coincidences occured. As we neared the beach, a familiar-looking passenger boarded the bus. Ida and I realized that the girl was the same girl who had been sitting in front of us during Monday night's Samba parade! Out of all the people in Rio, what were the chances that we would meet again? Let alone on a bus!? Probably one out of several million- is my guess. So that was cool seeing her again. Ida said hey and I believe she recognized us to. Ida explained that it was her behind that mask she wore during the parade, haha.

Shortly after our chance meeting, we arrived at our destination. The beach was fairly crowded, and I noticed that this beach had shells- unlike the beach closer to Ida's place. Ida rented two beach chairs, and then we found a place to sit. To our right, I saw a several people out on the water standing-up on boards and using a paddle. I asked Ida about this, and she pointed me in the direction of people along the beach that had brightly colored shirts.

 

"Like this?"

They were instructors and personnel of different stand-up paddle companies whom were providing instruction and renting-out boards. I was interested in trying it out, and asked one of the groups there how much it would cost for half-an-hour out on the water. When the lady responded 30 reais, it was a done deal! I signed up and was assinged an instructor quickly. On the beach there, he showed me the basics and how to start-off and then stand-up on the board. It seemed easy enough. So we carried the board out on to the water, I hopped on, and I began to paddle out towards the sea.

 

Stand-up paddling was a neat experience. I had never done it before, and am glad I got to try it out. 

Afterwards, we headed to a point of the cove where there was a museum. Ida had planned for us to eat lunch there, but unfortunately it was closed. So then we needed to find a plan B. There were numerous restaurants and stands across the street from the beach, so we did not lack in options of places to go. We stopped at one of the first restaurants we came to. The Brazilian Men's National Soccer Team was playing a friendly versus South Africa, and the restaurant had a patio section outside with a television for its customers to watch. We found a table with a good view of the match and ordered our beverages.






I had read previously in my Brazil Travel Guide and other travel sites about a cocktail that people like to have on the beach. The drink is called caipirinha, and I wanted to give it a try. Boy was it too strong for me. Ida ordered salmon and I ordered a different type of fish from the menu [Ash Wednesday], along with mashed potatoes, a shrimp sauce, and rice with broccoli. My fish arrived wet and undercooked, so I opted for a filet of salmon like Ida had. It was good!

After lunch and Brazil's thumping of South Africa, we found a taxi to take us to Sugarloaf Mountain. Walking up to purchase our tickets, I had to take a picture of the cool mural painted on the wall there. Ida was too nice and paid for my ticket too. At least I had my student ID with me so that I received a discount. Our trip up to Sugarloaf Mountain consisted of a total of four cable-car trips, two up and two down. The first car took us to Morro da Urca (the smaller of the two mounds).

View from one side of Morro da Urca. Pão de Açúcar is to the right --->

There was a helicopter pad there and tourists could pay for a ride. After some photos, we proceeded to the next cable car station to ascend to Sugarloaf Mountain.

The views from the various look-out spots were really nice and provided for some good angles of the city.  Just outside of the gift shop on top of the highest part of Sugarloaf Mountain, there were some monkeys!

Also, there were a number of trails that slightly descended one side of the mount, with tables for relaxing or having a picnic. We purposefully arrived during late afternoon for a chance to view the city at night when the city would be lit-up. As the sun set, the lights along the beach began to appear and in the distance, up high, the Christ the Redeemer statue was illuminated. This made for some great pictures and cool views of Rio de Janeiro.

It was an adventure in itself finding our way back to Ida's apartment, but we finally managed to find the right type of taxi. We were on the other side of the city, in Botafogo I think, and apparently taxi drivers have jurisdictions. Haha. I didn't realize that until one driver stopped, asked where we were going, and then continued without us. After waiting for a long time, we eventually made it back. What a day!