Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Maravilhosa–December 2, 2023

Yesterday we were in Rio de Janeiro, or the “Marvelous City,” as it is known. I have to say the label fits—Rio is quite spectacular. The name Rio de Janeiro was given to the original site by Portuguese navigators who arrived at Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502 (“rio” is the Portuguese word for river and “janeiro” is the word for January). The best explanation for the misnomer Rio is that the Portuguese mistook the entrance of the bay for the mouth of a river and the name stuck.

Yesterday was yet another long tour day on buses, trains and cable cars. Anderson was our tour guide, and although he started out a bit monotone he ended being a good guide. After a bus ride through the city, we took the Corcovado train up to see the iconic “Christ the Redeemer” statue, which is located at the top of the Corcovado Mountain, in the Tijuca National Park. It was built between 1922 and 1931, stands 98 feet tall, and is visible everywhere in Rio. There were so, so many people up there!

Next we road the bus to Sugarloaf Mountain and took two separate cable cars up to the top. Sugarloaf is a peak situated at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic. Rising 1,299 feet above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to the traditional shape of the concentrated refined loaf sugar that was shipped from Brazil to Europe in the 16th century. The cable car runs along a 4,600 ft route between the peaks of Sugarloaf and Morro da Urca. The first car stops in Morro da Urca, and then a second one continues on up to Sugarloaf. If you don’t like heights the cable cars are a bit intimidating. I’m okay as long as I don’t look down. The stunning views up there were well worth the trip.

Finally, we boarded the bus again and went to lunch at Assador Rio’s, billed as “an upscale Brazilian all-you-can-eat grilled meat buffet, plus a salad bar and dramatic bay views.” And this was not just hype. It was huge place packed full of people on a Friday afternoon at 2 PM, with amazing food and stunning panoramic views of the bay. Our room held about 60 people or so. The rest of the restaurant held at least 200 more people. The only drawback is that we were sat by some people I would have preferred to avoid. More on that in a bit.

The most annoying fellow traveler award today goes to a lady with a bright pink outfit who had a propensity to wander off and get lost. She was 20 minutes late getting on the bus to begin with, thus causing us to stand around in the heat and wait for her. Then on our first stop, she was 20 minutes late getting to the train, which meant we had to wait for a second train in a hot, hellish line. At our third stop, Anderson told her in no uncertain terms that she had to stick right by him for the duration, because she was unable to avoid getting lost and we didn’t have time for that. I liked Anderson a lot after that.

Second place for the most annoying fellow traveler of the day award goes to a lady with long blond hair who unfortunately sat by us at lunch. She somehow hurt her knee getting off the bus and then created major drama for the rest of the day by pestering Anderson for ice packs, talking ad nauseam about her injury, filling out a form that looked to be some kind of accident report, etc. At lunch Anderson brought her yet another icepack, and she made a big deal about having him pull up an extra chair (in an extremely crowded restaurant) so she could put her leg up on it. I refused to either ask her about it or give her any eye contact. No bruises, scrapes or bleeding. When she got off the bus at the end of the tour, she wasn’t even limping and seemed to be in excellent condition. What a drama queen.