Day 4; January 5th
Hellllloooooo Rio! After a four hour flight from Manaus to Sao Paolo and a layover, we finally arrived in the famous city of Rio de Janiero. Since our flight was in the middle of the night, we were allowed some time to rest after reaching the hotel before we were to meet for lunch. We also finally had great WiFi reception, where in Manaus there was practically none. My roommate and I planned to nap for about two hours, but I woke up to a buzz from the group message saying people were planning on going to the beach soon. Although I was exhausted, the beach is one of my favorite places to be and since I had not been to one in months, I was not going to waste my time sleeping. I quickly scrounged up some belongings and joined three other students in the lobby.
We stopped by a pharmacy on our way there, and this was one of the first times that the language barrier proved to be an issue on the trip. One of the students wanted buy ear drops or at least hydrogen peroxide, but none of the cashiers spoke English, and our very interpretive hand gestures didn't seem to get our message across either. Finally, we found an English speaking customer that was able to translate for us, and we found what we needed. This kind of interaction would end up repeating itself many times throughout the trip, but we would always figure out a way to make it work. We finally began our walk to the Copacabana Beach, which was conveniently right down the street from our hotel. The closer we got, the more excited I became. The beach was lively and full of people. I had been debating swimming in the water ever since I learned about the pollution and water quality of this area, but as soon as I saw the crystal clear blue water, my mind had made its decision. There were hundreds of people swimming along the coastline and considering how clean it looked, I found it hard to believe that this water was anything other than acceptable to swim in. After we put down our belongings, we went into the water. It was the perfect temperature. The waves were decently large, so I made the mistake of accidentally swallowing a gulp of water. I believe this is what started my case of diarrhea that would last most of the rest of the trip.... but it was definitely worth it. We had to meet up as a group at three pm to take a ride on the subway station, so we left the beach a short while after. The subway station was right across from our hotel, and it was certainly an experience. Since our group was so large and we didn't realize how quick the doors would close at the station, four of us got stranded at the stop while the rest of the group rode off to the next station. I was part of the group of four, so we immediately began to panic. We started asking around if anyone had a phone we could use to call our professor, but we could not find anyone that spoke English. We decided to just get on the next subway and see if we could find the rest of our group. At the next stop, one of the students saw us and started banging on the subway window, urging us to get out at that stop. And just like that, we were all together again. We continued our subway ride to our destination, which involved walking around the city and a few outdoor markets. We got lost a few times, but our city tour was short and we went back on the subway about half an hour later. We were on our own for dinner, so a group of us walked to a restaurant around the corner from our hotel where I ordered chicken fried rice and of course, some kind of new fruit juice that I had not tried yet on the trip. After we all ate, we walked back to the beach to see what the nightlife there was like. Not-surprisingly, the scene was just as lively as it had been during the day. The beach bars were full, live music was playing from all directions, and multiple volleyballs nets had been set up on the sand. All the nets were full, so we asked to join in on one of the games already going on. The people were friendly and allowed us to switch in one at a time in their game. We stayed for about an hour before heading back to the hotel for presentations. This was by far my favorite day of the trip. I was ecstatic about being in this beautiful city and could not wait to see what the rest of our time in Rio had in store for us. |
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janiero.
Nicole and I enjoying a day on the Copacabana Beach.
View from the rooftop of our hotel.
Walking around the city after our subway ride.
|
Morning view looking towards the horizon from where the statue of Cristo stood.
A selfie of Cristo and me.
Sugarloaf Mountain is seen to the right.
Our group's picture with the Carnival impersonators.
Me, drinking from a coconut.
|
Day 5; January 6th
Today I got to check off another one of the Wonders of the World off my list. Even though you could see the statue of Christ the Redeemer from practically every point in the city, we actually visited the statue itself. We left the hotel early to beat the usual rush of tourism traffic, and arrived at the perfect time. A bus took us up most of the way, but there were still a decent amount of steps that we had to climb to reach the base of the statue. It was way larger than it seemed to me from down below. The foundation on which the statue stood was meters above my head, and no matter what angle or location I attempted to take a picture of the statue from, I could not fit its entirety in the whole frame. It was magnificent, but the view of the city from that height was even more spectacular. You could look out into the distance from all directions; we saw mountains, hills, oceans, and beaches. The lighting due to the time of the day made everything look even more vibrant. After spending less than an hour up there, more and more people started filling in and so our group decided to leave for the next location.
Not too far away was Sugarloaf Mountain. It did look literally like a loaf due to its shape. We had to take two separate lifts to reach the top of it. The lifts could hold around 30-40 people, and had glass panes on all sides so that you could see your ascent upwards, with beautiful views all around you. The first lift took us to a park-type area, where we had to walk about half a mile to the next lift. On our way there, we saw little marmoset monkeys in the trees; they seemed cute, but their faces looked somewhat demonic. Taking the second lift up to the mountain had an even more amazing view than the first one. The photo opportunities were bomb, and we all spent a good hour up here snapping pictures from all different angles and poses. It was getting close to lunchtime, so we started making our way back down to the bottom of the mountain. We ate at a buffet-style, outdoor restaurant, which was included in the cost of the trip. From there, we began our "city bus tour". It was informal and the stops were all quick, but that is exactly what made me love it so much. It was like getting to see the highlights of the city without focusing too much time on any of them. Our first stop was at the stadium where they held the 2016 Summer Olympics. I noticed a man outside of the stadium selling jerseys with Brazilian soccer players' names on them, so I quickly flagged him down once we got off the bus. After rifling through his bag of various multi-colored shirts, about half of our group ended up buying a jersey. There was another man sitting down with a soccer ball, which he offered to us to play with. We spent about another 15 minutes running around in front of the stadium and taking pictures. Continuing on our way back to the hotel, we made a stop on the street where they held Carnival, and coincidentally, met a group of friends dressed in authentic Carnival attire - the feathers, beads, everything. We weren't sure who they were at first, or if they were also just touring the city and taking pictures around various places, but they were friendly and let us take pictures with them. We then got back on the bus, which took us to the cathedral (that looked like an armory) that we had passed by on our walking tour the day before. This time, we actually went inside. This was certainly like no church I had ever seen before; the walls were created with hundreds of tiny square windows with sections of long, tile glass windows in between. The most interesting part, was that with as many windows as there were, they were organized in a way that made the center room dim, and not bright. Our final stop of the day was in a small alleyway that showcased a case of red and yellow stairs with hundreds of artistically decorated tiles bordering the sides. As simple as this location was, it seemed to attract many people with its photo-worthy landscape. Funny enough, we met the same people we saw on the Carnival street at the stairs, except they were dressed normally. Tait even treated us to some fresh coconuts from a stand, which we had been waiting for to find the entire trip (because drinking coconut water from a cup was just not the same). We even asked the vendor if we could take a few of his used coconuts to crack them open and eat the actual coconut on the inside - he said yes, and so we spent the next ten minutes throwing down the coconuts on the ground, trying to break them open. The sun began to set, and so we started making our way back to the hotel. We were on our own for dinner, but after that hefty buffet lunch and a few snacks here and there, I was too full to buy an entire dinner. A few others felt the same way, so we agreed to meet at the pool on the roof after dropping our belongings off in our rooms. More and more of our group joined us on the roof as the night went on, until we practically filled the entire pool. There were other hotel guests lounging around, but that did not stop us from being loud and obnoxious, but hey, we were there to have fun. All 11 of us ended up playing games in the pool for over an hour, splashing each other, and laughing until we had to get out and get ready for presentations. The past two days had been incredible, but today was even better than the one before it. The overall vibe of the day was great and I did not want it to end. Crazily enough, we weren't even halfway through the trip yet, and it was already going better than I could have ever imagined it. |
Day 6; January 7th
Day 6 was our last day in Rio :( However, we ended off on a good note because of the long and moderate hike we did in Tijuca Forest. This was the only real hike we did on the trip, and me being an enthusiastic hiker, I was excited to get on the trails. Before starting, we stopped by the visitor's center to learn a bit about the forest's history. Although Tijuca is not the first rainforest people guess when they think of Brazil, it is classified as one due to the amount of rain it receives each year. Years ago, problems with deforestation were so significant that rivers started to dry up, which had negative consequences for the coffee and sugar plantations that existed along the rivers.
After more reading about the geology and wildlife within the park, we began our three hour hike. We saw interesting landscapes along the way, abandoned houses, waterfalls, and parts of our group even got lost a few times. Two other students and I kept running ahead of the main group, and so got yelled at a couple of times to slow down - but how can one slow down when there is so much ahead of us to explore! However, no matter how fast or slow we walked, I was completely drenched in both sweat and the humidity. It didn't feel that hot, but somehow it felt like I was swimming in the air; I couldn't wait to get back and take a shower. By the end of the hike, I was feeling it in my legs and was also starving. On our ride back to the hotel, we were given an option of either visiting the beach at Ipanema with one group, or going on our own back to Copacabana. This was our last day to be anywhere near a beach for the next few months, and I wanted all the time I could get on it, so I decided to be a part of the group that went straight to Copacabana after we got back. Even with all the problems going in the water caused our group, I still went in for a swim one last time. My roommate, Ana, also joined me, but the consequences hit her a little harder than the rest of us. She ended up getting a severe eye infection within the next day that would last three painful days. Other than that, the beach was a great place to spend the last few hours of sunlight. After getting back to the hotel, we were informed that one of the students that went to Ipanema got bit by a shark and had to have her leg wrapped up. It all ended up being a lie, but somehow everyone figured that out sooner, whereas only one other girl and I still believed that story until the last few days of the trip. I was thoroughly convinced that Heather got bit by a small hammerhead, and was slightly disappointed when I found out that the story was false. When everyone was back to the hotel, safe and sound, we began to get ready for presentations. Afterwards, Tait ordered pizza for all of us since it was too late to go out for dinner. It was a fun and interesting end to our time in Rio, and sadly we had to get ready to leave the next morning to our next city - Curitiba. Oh, and my diarrhea finally stopped, which just made the day even better. |
One of the posters about Tijuca Forest hanging up in the visitor's center.
Erika and I in front of the many waterfalls we came across on our hike.
|