Monday - January 28, 2008

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio is a city of over 6 million people that surely has something for everyone. If you want to dance the night away, you have an overwhelming choice of nightclubs offering the samba beat. If you like sleek bodies and golden sands, you can choose from numerous beaches, with Copacabana and Ipanema being the most famous and the most popular. If you like jewelry, the city is packed with stores selling gorgeous pieces and loose stones. If you like flora and fauna, the botanical garden and the adjoining Parque Nacional Tijuca offer over 6,000 acres in the center of the city. Heck, if you are a fan of Carman Miranda, there is a museum devoted to her memory! As I said, something for everyone. 

Unfortunately for us, the weather as we approached Rio was cloudy and threatening rain, so our sail in was less than spectacular. We had booked an afternoon tour of the Botanical Gardens and park, so we were quite glad we had not signed up to go the top of Mt. Corcovado or Sugarloaf Mountain. When we looked out our cabin window, we could see the Redeemer statue with a cloud hanging over it. But we crossed our fingers that things would clear before they got worse, and set off after breakfast for a visit to Ipanema Beach, courtesy of the infamous jeweler, H. Stern. Their headquarters were 2 blocks from the beach and they were offering shuttles from the ship to the building and back. Now you are probably thinking that this ride was going to end up costing us a small fortune, just like our bathroom break in Salvador, but you are wrong. 

We only had a bit of time to see what we wanted to see, so we took the ride over, did a quick obligatory visit, then headed off to the beach. Even though the weather was less than stellar, there were still a lot of people enjoying the beach, which runs for miles. We stopped to watch a beach volleyball game for a bit and I snapped my photo of the "Girl from Ipanema". There were plenty of people playing games, suntanning, drinking coconut juice, selling tourist junk, and even a crew of sanitation people cleaning the beautifully patterned sidewalks. Imagine our surprise when they suddenly stopped sweeping and started singing and playing a samba beat on their brooms and garbage bins and a few small instruments they pulled from a bag! I told Mike it must be the Brazilian version of Stomp!

After poking around the beach for a bit, we got our ride back to the ship, grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed back to shore for our tour of the gardens and the park. This was a 2-hour guided walking tour in the gardens and we saw some incredible plants, flowers, birds, etc. including some toucans, with their bright orange beaks, and some hummingbirds. 

We also saw a lovely waterfall, which one of our group took her shoes off to wade in. Unfortunately, she dropped one shoe in the water which then carried it under a small footbridge where it got firmly lodged! It was quite amusing to see half the group down on their hands and knees, looking for the shoe, and the other half scratching their heads wondering how to get it out.  Finally one of our guides took a sturdy palm branch and poked the shoe out to the delight of the poor woman who had lost it. 

Just as we were ending our tour of the gardens, the rain, which had been sputtering down off and on, came down more seriously and we headed for the jeeps that would take us high up into the National Park for a view over Rio. From the lookout, called the Chinese Belvedere (yes, there was a Chinese pagoda there, don't ask me why) we could see Christ the Redeemer towering above us on the right, Sugarloaf Mountain almost in the center, and then Ipanema beach on the right. If the weather had been better, it would have been a spectacular view. Even bathed in cloud, it was an incredible sight, but I was disappointed that my pictures weren't better. 

Our last stop in the jeeps was a visit in the park to a rather high waterfall that was quite something considering that it is in the heart of such a busy and large city. Then it was time to head back to the ship, and one more hurdle to cross - the jewelry shops in the ship terminal. We saw our friends, Marty and Lynne, picking up their purchases and stopped to have a look. 

Big mistake number two! Before we left the shop, we had purchased a citrine ring to go with the earrings. Well, give me some credit (please!), at least it was less expensive than the matching bracelet and way less expensive than the necklace. All Mike wants to do at this point is get the heck out of Brazil!

I can't begin to guess the amount of money that H. Stern made from our ship alone. I know four women on the QE2, Marty and Lynne and two Australian women, Jan and Hidegarde, and I think we all made multiple purchases. Ay carrumba!

Our final bit of Rio for the day was a folklore presentation of the music and dance of Brazil. Some folklore show - I've never seen so many feathers and so much skin since the Brazilian girl danced at Paesano's Carnival night a few years ago. Mike said that some of the old boys on the ship would pop their clogs if only they were awake to see the girls! Cheeky boy. And Michael Roddy, I saw a fabulous costume for you for next year's Carnival celebrations (left photo, Michael, not right). Count yourself lucky that I couldn't shove all those feathers into my luggage. You would have looked mahvellous; poofy, but mahvellous!

We stayed out on deck to watch the sail out from Rio around 11:30 pm. As we passed a waterside nightclub packed with people, we could hear the samba music carrying over the night air. What better last memory of Rio than that.