December 2004
So Maia says, "We're in Brasil...living in Rio. Come visit before we leave on January 11th!" How could I pass up that invitation?
For those of you that don't know who Maia is, she and I worked together at my first job out of college and have stayed in touch ever since. She's a native Brazilian and lived quite awhile in Rio. Her three sisters live there still. She and her husband Larry have five children, three grown boys and two teenage daughters. The latter, Svyeta and Olya, were in Rio with them when I visited.
Thanks to the efforts of Maia and Larry and other family members, I had an absolutely incredible adventure in Brazil. In addition to seeing all the sights in Rio and Buzios, just eating and drinking became an adventure. I ate and drank for the first time such things as sting ray, sugar cane juice, acai, fruta do conde, feijoada and caipirinha. I also had the most wonderful mussels I've ever had!
Below are some of the photos I took on the trip. I wish I had taken more now, but there's a balance to be drawn between wanting to have photos and being obnoxious with the camera. I wish I had been a little more obnoxious now.
Before going to the photos, let me explain some of the sights I'm going to be referring to.
First, one of the most famous landmarks of Rio is the Statue of Christ the Redeemer. It's 125 feet tall and sits atop Corcovado Mountain overlooking Rio. It can be seen all over the city. Click on this link to see it close up. Secondly, there will be some photos of "favelas." These are the famous shantytowns that climb the hillsides around Rio.
Place your cursor on the photos below to read the caption and click on the photo to enlarge it.
Maia and Larry live in a nice area of Rio known as Laranjeiras which is within walking distance of Flamengo Beach. They are renting a very nice fifth floor, four bedroom condo in a 20 floor building on a dead-end street. Across the street from their building are three sister buildings all containing condos also. The buildings are all connected on the second floor and share a swimming pool and other facilities. Because of safety issues, nice apartment/condo buildings in Rio will provide swimming pools and play areas for kids on the second floor of the buildings. Access to the building is only possible through the front ground level where there is a security guard 24 x 7. Below are some pictures of the Maia and Larry's condo and its surroundings.
These are just some shots I took while driving around Rio. Larry or Maia's sister Aglai did all the driving. You couldn't have paid me to drive there. Besides there being no concept of lanes on city streets, there's also no such thing as stopping at stoplights at night as it's considered too dangerous. Despite what seemed to be an absolute free-for-all on the roads, I never saw a single accident.
I was fortunate enough to be in Rio when they ran the "Samba Trains." This is a once a year event that is quite a spectacle. What they do is run trains from the Central Station to an area some 40 minutes away in the city where they have samba bands playing and hundreds of street vendors selling every kind of food you can imagine. There are a limited number of trains that run and tens of thousands of people show up, so you pack onto the trains like sardines. Every car on the train has a small samba band on board, so you dance (as best you can in a crowded train car) and sing the entire 40 minutes. Once you get to where they take you, everyone just piles off the train and mills around. In addition to the one main samba band they had on a stage, there were other impromptu bands that sprung up. You are shoulder-to-shoulder the entire time with an utter mass of humanity. One of the most amazing things to me is that this took place on Thursday night. Brazilians obviously recognize that there are seven nights a week to party, not just two.
On Sunday, we had lunch at a restaurant right across from Ipanema Beach. Lunch consisted of a delicious seafood stew with crayfish, octopus, shrimp and fish. Below are shots of the world-famous Ipanema Beach. I didn't put any captions on these pictures.
One of the must-do touristy activities in Rio is riding the cable cars to the top of Sugarloaf. The cable car ride is done in two segments. The first takes you 720 ft above sea level and the second to 2460 ft. We went up towards sunset and got to see the lights of the city come on.
Maia had a wonderful surprise for me. Her sister Aglai has a good friend Vera whose niece owns a beach house in the resort city of Buzios which is east of Rio. Vera's niece very kindly agreed to allow us to stay there one night, so on Monday six of us made the 2 1/2 hour trek to Buzois. The six of us were Maia, Larry, Svyeta, Aglai, Vera and myself. (Olya had finals the week I was there and couldn't go.)
The beach house is in a new development on the outskirts of Buzios. It's very roomy with lots of sleeping space and even has its own pool with a spa.
Even though there was ample room for all of us in the bedrooms, I decided to do something I had never done before...I slept outside in a hammock. I learned that Northern Brazilians often sleep in hammocks and even have such things as "sleeping hammocks." They are wider than most so you can sleep diagonally and spare your back. Vera's sister had a sleeping hammock at the beach house, so that's what I used. Now THAT was another adventure. I was very comfortable outside, but I heard noises and sounds from creatures that I still can't identify. There was something that woke me out of a dead sleep that sounded like the The Wicked Witch of the West cackling, and something else that sounded like sticks being knocked together. I think the latter were little frogs believe it or not. I have no clue what the former was and was happy to not find out.
On Monday when we arrived in early afternoon, we headed to a small secluded beach off the beaten path. The water was very rough there and we couldn't swim, but the other amenities there more than made up for it. There was a hut there that sold very cold beer and some of the best mussels I've ever had. You'll see photos of both. That night we went in Buzios for dinner and walked through the very trendy shopping and eating areas in the resort.
The next day we went to Horseshoe Beach in Buzios which is a much more commercial beach, but one with much calmer water. We were able to spend time in the water which is cool thanks to Antarctic currents, and I also took a kayak out so I could see the surroundings. When we had had enough of the crowd and the higher prices, we went back to the other beach for more mussels. After that, we went back to the beach house to soak in the pool and play some cards, and then it was back to Rio in a driving rainstorm. Many, many thanks to Aglai, Vera, and Maia & Larry who made those great two days possible!
So that is a snapshot of my great Brazilian adventure. I'd go back in a heartbeat, and would love to see more of Brazil. I found the people warm and wonderful with their highest priorities seeming to be family, friends and having fun. And unlike the Caribbean which I'm most used to for travel, Brazil is very inexpensive once you get there. Food and drink is especially cheap. All in all, it was a terrific week and I'm forever grateful to Maia, Larry, Aglai and everyone else I met down there for such a wonderful time!
