We were up just after 5am as usual despite being up after midnight for what Guinness has now dubbed the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in the world. The official party count was 2.5million. It was fun to be part of all that. See prior entry if you haven’t read it!

We had coffee in the room then went out for our morning walk.

Street cleaners were out en masse. Brooms, hoses and sometimes even soap, as seen below. It was impressive actually.

It was approaching 7am but MANY people were just now shutting down the party. Sidewalks near bus stops were full because they hadn’t started running yet.

And the traffic getting out of Copacabana was horrendous. Which sort of blocked our ingenious idea which was to get out early while everyone was recovering from a hangover and go up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. It never occurred to us the party would just now be shutting down.

Although that was high on my list for this trip, I may have let it go. We will be back, preferably during the winter here and a non-holiday, which will be an easier time to get up there. When I checked the website, the only remaining tickets for official entry times were when we will be on our way to the airport.

The point of this photo is the trees. I’ve been meaning to mention how many trees have been planted in these neighborhoods in order to help combat the heat. This being the beginning of summer, the heat has been formidable along with the humidity. Even though it’s only been 90° it somehow feels hotter. Maybe it has to do with being closer to the equator. 90° is clearly not the same here as it is at home. 

We walked a different direction this morning, going north into Leme, the beach neighborhood just above Copacabana. These were the steps only a hotel in that neighborhood.

After our walk, we had breakfast in the lounge as usual. Then went back to the room to veg a little. We later went for lunch at the same Chinese place we were at yesterday.

We had arranged for a late check out at 4pm. We had continued reading about going to Christ the Redeemer and came across some entries that suggested you could just drive up there and buy tickets on the spot. We decided since we had a lot of time to kill before our 10:30pm flight that we would go there first before heading to the airport and just see what happens.

We got there a little after 5 PM, and paid a random dude wearing a badge $5 to park just because it was easier and it was a pretty sweet space close to where we needed to enter. There were long waits for either the train or the vans that would take you up to the top. So we decided to walk it.

Ash at the start of our walk. The sign said it was 1.15 km. No way. We think it was at least 2 miles. And most of it uphill. In a rainforest.

One of the beautiful vistas on the way up.

At one point, the trail became mostly stairs that ran parallel to the train tracks

Stops to rest along the way. We got our workout in on this walk. 

The first sighting. Finally.

I was pleased to see that there was a little chapel there when she got close. And that people were using it.

They were kind enough to put in two sets of escalators the closer you got to the top

It was completed in 1931. It is 92 feet high. The arms stretch about the same distance.

I am writing this literally as we are standing in line at passport control in the Rio airport. So I’m gonna let all of the following photos speak for themselves for the most part. 

The hill is Sugarloaf Mountain, which we didn’t get to.

I found this face to be very peaceful

Copacabana

Ipanema

With that checked off our list, we took the train down to where we parked and made our way to the airport. I am very glad that we did it. When Ash first mentioned going to Rio however many months ago, this is the first thing they came to mind. It’s the number one thing to do for good reason.

And that, my friends, is the end of this incredible trip. We have a 10 hour flight to DFW and should get to Sacramento about 10:30am Friday, January 2. We are five hours ahead of home so will pick up those extra hours on the way back.

The earlier photo was the first line we were in. This is the second line we are in on the floor below. At this point, we will be lucky to make it to our flight on time. We board in 90 minutes. We will see.

——

It is now time for my traditional Final Thoughts. In no particular order:

1. I’ve already said to Ash several times: next time we come to someplace equatorial, let’s NOT come during their summer. Enough said.
2. The wildlife portion of the Amazon cruise was incredible. Not quite as interesting or exciting as the safaris in Africa we have done, but no regrets on doing it. It remains to be seen if we would do it again. If so, would probably be from Manaus in Brazil, a city we had never even heard of until one of the documentaries we watched on the boat.
3. I had no idea there were dolphins in the Amazon, much less pink ones! I wish I had captured some with my camera. It will have to be enough that we saw them.
4. We really lucked out on the weather. In 8 days we essentially had no rain. In a rainforest. During the rainy season. The guides were as thrilled as we were because the wildlife are much more active when it’s not raining.
5. The primary purpose of the rubber boots is to protect you from snake bites, some of them potentially fatal.
6. Rio is as beautiful as I imagined it would be. We will be back, but I’d rather not come back during the summer. Participating in the New Year’s Eve event was way out of my comfort zone, but I am glad I did it. For starters, it’s the first time I’ve stayed up past midnight that I can remember. Probably more than 10 years. For as many people as there were, and as loud as it was, there was this other, oddly low-key aspect to it. Everyone was there for a good time, but it wasn’t as chaotic as it could have been for sure. For the most part, the people have all been very kind, and you felt that during the event as well.
7. The predominance of flip-flops on everyone, and shirtless men, was like nothing I had ever seen.
8. Same for out gay couples. I swear 50% of the crowd at the event last night was gay. And even during the day, just walking around you see gay couples holding hands everywhere. It’s refreshing. It might not occur to heterosexuals that that’s actually a thing, but it’s very comforting knowing that you’re in a safe place. (Same sex marriage was legalized in Brazil in 2013.)
9. The primary language of Brazil is Portuguese. And not as many people speak English here as even we experienced in Lima. So there’s been a bit of a language barrier, but we’ve worked through it.
10. We have really enjoyed the relaxing pace that we took on this trip. Choosing not to participate in some of the activities on the boat was absolutely the right decision. And our time here in Rio has been super chill. Much needed and appreciated.

As we were standing in that horrific line, Ash noticed that one of the criteria for being in the priority line was being over the age of 60. I was never so happy to be as old as I am as I was at that moment. So we are sitting comfortably in the lounge and have about 40 minutes before we have to board at this point. Both of us had time for a shower, which was much needed after that walk up to Christ the Redeemer. We had packed a change of clothes in our backpacks to prepare for this very thing. 

Ash has a ridiculous travel schedule this year, with trips to India and Jordan in first quarter. The next trip we do together where I will blog will be in May. That is another National Geographic tour, this time to Bhutan. We will end it with a few days in India, which will be my first time there. We hope to have you along then.

Thanks for coming along this time and we hope you have an amazing year.