My Wild Weekend in Rio, August 7-8

After four weeks in the relatively sedate Brasilia I was ready for a change of pace and to see a different side of Brazil. So Friday night it was off to Rio de Janeiro for the weekend. Things did not start so auspiciously. I was waiting near the gate for my plane and it was getting later and later and no sign of the Rio flight. Finally I realized that they had switched gates and I don't understand Portuguese. I rushed over to the new gate and made it with just minutes to spare. Yahoo weather said it was going to be clear for the weekend but there was a steady drizzle as I rode in from the airport later that night. I just hoped it would clear by morning.

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The weather did clear up Saturday with some cloudiness but no more rain. With just two days at my disposal I decided to hire a private guide rather being shuttled around in a tour bus. My guide’s name was Lusi and she picked me up at the hotel at 9:30 Saturday morning. I told her I wanted to see the most famous sights, the Christ statue, Sugarloaf and the beaches but I was also interested in visiting a favela. More on that later.
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First up was the Christ statue. Our driver dropped us off at the cog rail train station at the foot of the mountain where the statue is. Lusi proved her value by skipping past the long lines and getting us on board on the train about to leave. Otherwise it would have been a 45 minute wait for the next train.

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The train took about 25 minutes to climb to the foot of the statue making its way through a dense jungle...


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The view was simply spectacular. Rio has to be the most naturally beautiful city I have ever seen with its mountains, jungles, water and beaches.






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To top it all off, there were monkeys up there too. I love monkeys!