RTW: Exchange in Chile

City of God

.. was a movie that did paint a quite different picture of Rio de Janeiro than the one we as tourists were introduced to. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, incredible sights (and this is not just on the beach..) and the most famous beaches in the world are far (not geographically) from the misery of the favelas (slums). Still, I can not help to be maybe a little too cautious here, like taking a taxi always when moving around during nighttime, but it is probably just a good thing in the end.

Upon arrival we headed for a samba bar. My two courses of portuguese in 2004 still left a language barrier high enough that the communication of getting to a samba show with dance (meaning we wanted to see samba dancing) led us to a seemingly popular samba bar with some hot new group playing samba and the people dancing there themselves. No near-naked dancers there, but the music was actually really good as was the ambience.

The next day was the sights day. This started off at Corcovado and Cristo el Redentor. Like so many movie stars in nature, this stubby 30-meter fellow was a lot smaller than the pictures lead you to understand. Now I give tribute to the photographers, as I had imaged it to be like 70 meters tall at the very least. You CAN see it almost everywhere even at night, but it's not dominating the city by any means despite its high position at 710 meters above everything. Sights from the statue are breathtaking, however as well as the statue seen at close:











I recommend you check Johanna's blog as she gets home and updates it, she has usually better pictures of the same spots.


Different kind of sights are offered on the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. Here's a normal sunday afternoon at Ipanema:





And to all you guys, yes, the Brazilian chicks are really fine. However, in this case too I am afraid their beauty was put on too high a pedestal, as I was not left in awe despite it all. I was more amazed of the fact that I was actually standing there on that beach. Being there with the girlfriend did not have any effect on my observing capacity, as there seemed to be enough volleyball players and surfers to distract her as well..

We continued with some shopping to find (and fill) the extra piece of luggage that was to be sent to Finland with Johanna and finalized the day with a romantic post-sunset visit to the Pão de Açúcar, the Sugar Loaf. It features Rio (or its lights) in all its beauty and is reached by a cable car (and curiously, the mid-stop on the way features a popular early-evening hang out that plays the loudest disco music I have heard in a long time). The perfect way to spend the last night together.



Before heading for the airport we dropped in for a morning swim at the nearby Copacabana beach. Most likely the greatest month of my life.

posted by Kassu @ 4:46 PM