February 24-26, 2024
“People don't really go to museums in Rio. I shouldn't say it's not sophisticated, but, you know, they go to the beach.”
-Francisco Costa
I was wrong about Rio. I suppose it would be more accurate to say I did not know enough about the famous city so my expectations were completely askew. Like many Americans my limited knowledge of the city came from popular media. Famous movies showing the exotic sky line, James Bond films, World Cop matches, and the 2016 Olympics coverage all combined to paint for me a fairy tale image of an exotic land of unrivaled beauty. So when we planned our final stop for this episode I eagerly wanted our departure point to be Rio instead of Santiago, Chili.
Rio de Janeiro was nothing like I imagined.
This is a huge, often gritty metropolis of more than 13 million people pressed into neighborhoods next to mountains and foothills covered in dense green jungle. There are a lot of souls crammed into the concrete canyons that crisscross the metropolis. There are no straight lines to get anywhere.
The great city is divided into 4 zones of control with the South Zone, where the famous beaches are located, where greater than 90% of people only visit. The rest of Rio is largely unexplored by travelers and there is good reason for this which I will come to shortly.
Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city draws it’s importance due to the strategic harbor of Guanabara Bay. Gold and diamonds were discovered nearby and the city also became a center of the sugar industry during the colonial times. The area became wealthy. Very wealthy. Today, it is the center of Brazilian oil, mining , and telecommunications companies along with its other main business - tourism.
Don’t get me wrong, from a distance this city is stunning with surely one of the most iconic landscapes in the world. Beautiful dense green jungle covers hills that arise arise near the shore of the blue, warm Atlantic ocean. The iconic Sugar Loaf mountain frames one end of the legendary Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches whose white sands are pristine and inviting.
Crowning everything is the Christ the Redeemer statue. Built between 1922 and 1935 by a Polish/French Sculptor, the art deco statue measures 98 feet tall with an arm span of 92 feet. Today it ranks as one of the seven “New” Wonders of the World.
On a side note, in my own stupidity I thought the stature would be much larger. I guess all the many helicopter shots of the famous visage overlooking the city led me to think in my dim mind that it was much larger than 98 feet - say something along the lines of the Statue of Liberty. Here on the ground it sits atop a very high hill quite a distance from the city so it appears quite small.
This morning we successfully made it to the feet of the statue. Christ was socked in by clouds. So, the famous views were denied us. We sat for a few hours at the feet of giant Jesus hoping it would clear.
It did not clear. But, we were entertained by Capuchin monkeys and Black Tufted marmosets.
The whole area around the feet of the great monument is an instagram influencer zone. Young people posing endlessly for shots and taking up a lot of space, I rather enjoyed it when a monkey raced into the fray and stole one of their snacks.
Rio is the home of the Samba, Bossa Nova, and Carnival. The beaches are inhabited by beautiful people and the nightlife, something we do not know much about, is reputed to be the stuff of legends.
Yes, Rio is beautiful from a distance.
It is up close where you see the cracks in the facade.
Admittedly, we came to this city pretty fatigued from long and successful trip through Argentina. Our patience and ability to tolerate stress was greatly diminished so our impressions are compromised.
Still, there are some things that hit us hard and made our visit here challenging.
The heat was a big issue. The temperature here neared 100 degrees with high humidity. You immediately develop a sheen of sweat moments after leaving your room. It is a sapping dehydrating assault that does not let up.
The heat made simple traveling from point A to B very difficult. Added to that there was no large public transport system that was safe except near the beach. Uber drivers were intermittently unreliable and our BnB was in a location that made walking to sites too far and occasionally unsafe. It was real work to get around the town. Traffic here is very aggressive with lane changes acting as a competitive sport and every destination involving multiple high speed twists and turns. Motorcycles would race in the small spaces between cars on either sides and pedestrians take real risks in crossing the street.
As uncomfortable as all of that sounds, that is not the real problem with exploring this city. Of the 13 million people that live here, over 40% live in slums or Favelas. Not since India, have we encountered such desperate people in appalling living conditions. We passed miles of cinder block tenements stacked atop each other like a frightening game of human Jenga.
Here are a few pictures taken from the highway as we headed into town.
Streets are filled with refuse with cows grazing in garbage. There is no clean water, adequate sewers, and little to no solutions from the government. These poor souls migrate from the North and West of the country desperate for work. Finding none with no hope of return, they settle in these slums trying to survive.
They offer “Favela Tours” here so you can travel through these blighted and dystopian streets in your air-conditioned van taking pictures of abject poverty. This is not something we wanted to do or felt right contemplating.
And all of this terrible income disparity creates two cities living next to each other, each trying to pretend the other one does not exist. It fosters a breeding ground for crime. As such, Rio de Janeiro is one of the least safe cites in the world. If you stay in certain protected neighborhoods, the rich ones, it is not a problem. But if you stray off the beaten path….Well the risk is not imaginary. We were constantly advised about safety when ever we left our BnB.
At first the whole situation made us nervous. But after we relaxed, and practiced some common sense precautions, we felt better and did our best to enjoy the sites.
It’s just part of Rio. There are no straight lines here.
The above images are from two of the most famous beaches in the world - Copacabana and Ipanema beach. We spent several hours at both beaches taking in the local people and watching the sunset. The beaches are crowded with sun worshipers often wearing very little and plenty of ordinary folks like us just enjoying the sun and water.
The “touts” (people selling things) were endless. The variety of things they offered was equally impressive. Hot meats, cold drinks, swimsuits, hair braiding, massages, beer, and much more. Most were friendly and not aggressive.
After lunch we decided to try to get tickets for the tram up Sugar Loaf Mountain. This trip was one of the highlights of the visit to Rio. The views were spectacular and from this vantage point you really appreciate how beautiful this city can be.
It’s time to come home. Tomorrow we start the long 5,137 mile trip. For those that followed these episodes with us, we thank you for coming along.
But, I have one more person to thank.
Oh, my beloved, sharing these adventures with you has been the most exciting thing I have ever experienced in my life. After all this time, I still can’t believe we are here. I am so grateful. I am so damn lucky.
There is no one I would want to be with on these journeys than you. It has always been you.
Only you.
Forever you.
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