Monday, 28 March 2016

The road to Rio

Parati Wednesday 16th March
Bought some postcards from the kiosk in the square for about 10 Reals then looked round for breakfast. Not many options since most places were still closed at 9.00 am. One place in the main street close to where I am staying promotes its "Acai" Looked it up on the web and found several articles about it such as http://www.frombraziltoyou.org/acai-bowl-acai-na-tigela/

It sounded good: “quick, energy-boosting, satiating, and very refreshing Açaí Bowl… a typical Brazilian dish ….made from frozen açaí pulp that is blended and sweetened with guaraná syrup until obtaining a smoothie-like consistency. Then, it is topped with banana slices (and/or other fruits) and granola. It is often consumed either at breakfast time”

The pictures looked pretty so I ordered an acai and coffee, 26 Reals. What flavour acai did I want? I hadn’t realised it came in different flavours but chocolate sounded good so went for that. The coffee arrived in a couple of minutes and was fine. The Acai took a long while to arrive and when it did it was enormous.  OK you should try everything once. The Acai I got was incredibly sweet, with chocolate ice cream, loads of fresh cream, chocolate flavoured "dust", multi-coloured "smarties" and lots of sweet purple gooey stuff. I’m sure it provided enough calories for the day but I couldn’t finish it. It didn’t bear any resemblance to the glowing reports on the web. Headed  back to Jo's, picked up my stuff, checked out  and off to the bus station for the 1050 Costa Verde bus  which left at 1055.

The bus is only half full but think it must pick up more people later because there weren't many window seats available when I booked it. The coastline continues to be spectacular. On one side sandy coves offshore islands and rocky promontories where the mountains reach down to the sea, on the other side thickly forested slopes reaching up into the clouds. And then rather incongruously a Nuclear Power Plant (Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto) which has a dormitory town of   Praia Brava close by where we drive round but pick up no passengers.  Praia Brava is a bleak settlement of several hundred identical concrete terraced houses but it does have a pretty beach.
At a larger town, Angra Dos Reis, which seems to be Costa Verde’s base, we switch to another, virtually identical, Mercedes bus at the Costa Verde garage, before stopping to pick up people at the bus station.  Mercedes seem to have sewn up the Brazilian long distance bus market; every one I have been on has been a Mercedes Marco Polo. Apparently it is a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Brazilian coach builder Marcopolo. We continue along the coast but the weather turns wet and the cloud comes down to cover all but the bottom of the forest slopes; there is a reason it's called rain forest. Stop at some services for 20 minutes.

Later we enter the outskirts of Rio which look pretty grim, two and three story residential buildings thrown up and crammed in as tight as possible, industrial premises and overhead freeways. The image isn't helped by the heavy rain. Reminds me a bit of Manila. When you see a Subway or McDonalds they stand out by looking so much better than their surroundings. I was rather surprised to see ships on our left shortly before we pulled into the bus station, since the coast has been on our right for almost the whole journey but later when I look at the map I can see that the bus station is on the north facing shore of Rio. At the bus station there are four taxi counters but none of them wants to take me to Copacabana. Each of them is pointing to what I think is one of the others. There is an information desk where the guy recommends one particular taxi desk but the guy there points me out the door. One helpful young woman shows me to the taxi queue outside. I think Rio is like Singapore, taxis dissolve in the rain. There is a long queue, luckily under cover, and few taxis. It's a long boring wait for a taxi, over half an hour. Looking at the map on my phone I can see there is a metro station about a km away and if it wasn't pouring with rain I'd probably head for it. Strange that the Rio metro connects with neither the airport nor the main bus station. Waiting in the taxi queue couldn’t help noticing dozens of weird, almost sinister, birds with very angular wings soaring overhead. Found out later that they are Frigate birds and an icon of Rio.


Eventually I get to the front of the queue and into a taxi. Just as we leave the bus station I can see about ten, brand new, black and white trams parked in two rows but showing zero activity. Suspect the trams were delivered before the lines were completed. According to the taxi driver, Google estimates the journey will take 40 minutes. Traffic is crawling and however much the driver curses other drivers, pedestrians and possibly God himself, however much he weaves from one lane to another we don't make any faster progress. The journey takes an hour but the last 20 minutes are enlivened by his watching a Barcelona vs Arsenal football match on his other phone and he gives me a running commentary; Arsenal lost. But finally we arrive, Google delivered, and the fare comes to well under the 60 Reals I give him; He earned it. Check in at the Ibis, get a map and remember to get my free beer this time. Find that Churasscuria Palace, which gets a good review on Trip Advisor is just round the corner so head there for dinner. The place is packed but the maître d' tells me he should have a table soon, and after about ten minutes I'm in. It is obviously very tourist oriented; all the waiters speak English and I can here American voices from nearby tables. It's a fixed price with an excellent open buffet but, following Trip Advisor's suggestion, I avoid over indulgence since the real treat comes with the selections of meat served off long skewers by waiters at the table. Various cuts of mostly beef and lamb, all tender, juicy and delicious, a carnivore's delight. It's probably my most expensive dinner at 155 Reals including a beer and service but definitely memorable. Plus the restaurant was founded in 1951, a vintage year; maybe I should have asked for a discount. The restaurant is close to the Copacabana Palace Piano Bar which is recommended in www.theculturetrip.com The hotel looks suitably sumptuous and the bar was elegant, refined and really rather boring; think the pianist got bored too since he went for a rest after about ten minutes. Only two other guys drinking there and discussing some sort of business in English. Went for a walk along Copacabana promenade which is very pleasant, relaxed and cool after the rain. 

Thursday 17th March
Breakfast at the Ibis was pretty good value at 19 Reals and better than most. Walked down to the beach which is long and wide, so although there are lots of people, it doesn't look too crowded. All along the promenade are small beach cafes and there are even subterranean changing rooms and toilets; all very civilised. On the other side of the road are hotels including the Copacabana Palace which looks to be the most prestigious. (US$500 a night according to Trip Advisor) Copacabana is a different world from downtown Sao Paulo or probably Rio. Definitely a place devoted to hedonism. Years ago I would probably have been very sniffy about it but think I've become quite decadent in my old age. Only when I got half way down the beach was I able to make out the distinctive shape of Sugarloaf Mountain behind me. Rio has many of these dramatic outcrops; which I found out are “granite domes” and I found a useful explanation of their formation:

Copacabana Palace

Copacabana Beach

Near the far end of the beach I found the camera repair place I had identified through Google, hidden away upstairs above a clothes shop. The guy didn't speak much English but we made ourselves understood and he agreed to examine it and let me know at 4 pm this afternoon.
From there I continued to Ipanema beach which is fairly similar to Copacabana, a long wide beach of golden sand fronted by big hotels. Think both beaches became world famous through the power of popular songs. From Ipanema I continued on to Lebon, another upmarket area, which has a large shopping mall where I was hoping to buy a pocket sized camera, hopeful that my Nikon can be repaired eventually even if not here. Found the shopping mall but no shops selling cameras apart from one strange shop which sold all sorts of oddities and which had just two cameras for sale at much more than I wanted to pay. Searched the mall from top to bottom; nothing, nada, zilch. Time for a cup of coffee and a chocolate cookie. Walked up to another mall shown on the map, the Lagoon, at the side of the lake behind Ipanema beach. But the Lagoon is mainly restaurants not shops. Headed back towards the camera repair place by which time it was raining quite heavily. I wasn’t too surprised when the guy told me it could only be repaired by a Nikon authorised service centre and gave him the price of a beer for his effort.

In the evening I had a "media" Pizza Margherita at a little restaurant close to the Ibis. The pizza came in only two sizes “media” and “grande”. It was quite good but I could only manage3/4 of it. Thought I would have a glass of wine for a change but the Sao Victoire red wine was disgusting. When I visited the winery near Santiago I was thinking that now wine making is a science rather than an art, downright bad wine is a thing of the past; I was wrong. This stuff was BAD. Not like any wine I have ever tasted before. Was it even wine, or grape juice mixed with industrial alcohol? First time ever I have not been able to finish a glass. Later Googled “bad wine” and found many articles describing the flavours exhibited by wine that has spoilt in various ways but none of them matched this stuff.

Looking at the bill I read that it was described as “suave” literally “smooth”. Googling that brought me to an interesting article which explained everything, in Portuguese but what’s Google for if not to translate?


Apparently in Brazil you can describe just about anything as “wine”

Some excerpts:
  
“The annoying is that most of the time, when the label of Brazilian wine says "soft" in fact you mean "sweet" with grape juice smell - there, my friend, is not wine” ...

“My father lives in Louveira and repeatedly took me to visit "wineries" that produce wines that most have in your mix alcohol and sugar.”

“Much of what is produced in Brazil with the generic title of Mild Wine is only deception: wine is made from grapes no grapes. His trademark is that unmistakable aroma of grape juice - nothing farther of a wine,… “

Decided to stick to beer, which was a good decision, since close to the Churasscuria Palace was a bar “Mud Bug” celebrating St Patrick’s day. There was a lively crowd in there and an energetic band.

Rio Friday 18th March
There is a shopping mall near Botafogo metro station, which is only one stop, but there is a granite dome in the way and I don't know if it is possible, or safe, to walk through the road tunnel. The Metro works well with a flat fare of 3.70. Almost immediately inside the mall there is a shop selling all manner of things, various electronic items, toys and curiosities but they do have three cameras, a DSLR and two compact cameras a Nikon and a Sony. Looked all around the rest of the mall but couldn’t find anything else. But there was a great view from the top of the Mall. There are shops selling home electronics, appliances, computers, home entertainment etc. but no cameras, except for GoPros. 

Not many shoping malls have a view like this

According to the map there is a shopping mall called Rio Plaza but it seems to have transformed itself into a home furnishings centre. Further south I find Rio Sul but no cameras there either. Head back to Botafogo and the first shop I saw. Sales guy doesn't speak English but I get to play with both the Nikon and Sony. The Nikon is cheaper at about 550 Reals compared with the Sony at 800 but the Sony has an 8x optical zoom compared with 5x on the Nikon. Both have the same nominal 20 M pixel resolution. But the Sony seems to have more flexibility, menu options very similar to my old one and feels more solid and substantial. Confirm that it takes standard SD cards. The sales guy's colleague joins us and confirms that very few shops in Rio sell cameras these days, except for the Go Pro. If this is a worldwide trend I wonder how long it will be before Nikon, Cannon Leica go the way of Kodak, at least as far as their camera operations go. Yes, there are professionals and serious amateurs but are there enough of them to sustain the business? I am sure there must be serious photographic shops in Rio but I haven't seen them. Had a coffee and a cake at one of the cafes at the mall. Feeling quite tired by now, I headed back to the metro spending another 25 Reals on a tee shirt. In the evening had dinner and a drink at one of the beach side bars. The hamburger was just OK but it was worth it to enjoy a drink on Copacabana beach. 40?

Saturday 19th March
After breakfast, down to the beach where I hired a chair and umbrella for 25 Reals. The sea isn't quite as warm as SE Asia but once I’m in it feels comfortable. There are big waves breaking on the beach which can easily knock you over so I didn't go far out. Walking along the beach are vendors selling drinks, food, sunglasses and, among other things, bikinis. One guy was carrying a big umbrella shaped frame loaded with hundreds of them. OK the typical Brazilian bikini can't weigh much but multiply by hundreds and I could see it was a heavy load to carry. And do any women buy bikinis on the beach? Well one did. Not surprisingly, she was already wearing one but then she started trying on ones over her existing bikini. The vendor was very patient as she tried one after another. I could imagine the conversation with her conservatively covered up husband or boyfriend. "But you’ve got a bikini. Why do you want another one? Yes that suits you. And the black one looks good too. So does the dark blue one. Yes I'm sure it's a good price...”.Eventually, she did buy one much, I'm sure, to the vendor's relief.  I stayed on the beach until about 11 when it was getting very hot and rather crowded. Back to the hotel to shower and change and then got a taxi to the cable car station to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. There was a long queue to get tickets and realised I could have got half price if I'd brought my passport along to prove I am over 60. I can see some people climbing up the shear granite cliff but think I'll settle for the cable car. The first cable car takes you to the top of a smaller granite dome from where there is a great view of the city. Before joining the queue to buy the ticket, the top of Sugarloaf had been clear but now it was covered in cloud and invisible, the cable car disappearing completely from view as it ascended, so I was rather pessimistic about whether there would be anything to see once I reached the top. But I needn't have worried; once at the top there were amazing views through gaps in the clouds below, and the forest, on the slope that isn't shear rock, reminded me of enchanted forests in fairy tales. Not only is it green and luxuriant with brightly coloured, mostly red, flowers but you can see wisps of cloud passing through it and condensing as little droplets on the leaves. The views over the city, beaches, sea and islands are constantly changing as fluffy white clouds form and change shape, moving windows of visibility; one minute you can see Copacabana beach through a window, next minute it is gone. From one viewpoint I can see lots of big black birds wheeling around and occasionally one would land on a nearby branch. Found out later that they are Black vultures Had a cup of coffee at a terrace where I could watch the scenery and the people at leisure before going for another walk along the forest paths. On the way down stopped off to visit a small exhibition on the history of the cable car.


View from First Station on the Way Up Sugarloaf Mountain


View over Copacabana Beach from the Top of  Sugarloaf Mountain

Another View from the Top of  Sugarloaf Mountain

Cable Car to  the Top of  Sugarloaf Mountain

Walked back to Copacabana trying to follow the "Walk Rio" signs. The cynic in me can't help thinking that having dedicated pedestrian routes through the city suggests that pedestrian were previously overlooked in designing the city roads. The pedestrian route takes me through one of the shorter road tunnels under a dome but there are plenty of people using the pathway and the tunnel seems fairly well ventilated so I don't get poisoned by fumes.

In the evening went out for dinner at La Fabrique, an ostensibly French restaurant, that offered something other than pizza, sandwiches and burgers at reasonable prices. I settled for a "traditional Brazilian" dish of steak, black beans, rice, farofa and fries. Amazed at how many menu items here, and in other places, contain both fries and rice. The plate came with three tenderloin steaks, any one of which would be a good portion anywhere but South America. Not the best steak I have had but not bad. Two “chopps” of Brahma beer to go with it.

Sunday 20th March
Took taxi to the station for Corcovado. (28) Quite long queue for tickets and they specify a timed train so mine was for 1040 which meant I had over an hour to kill. Didn't want to buy anything in the tacky shops at the station so walked 50m up the road to the Museum of Naive Art but found it didn't open until 1000 which I can't help feeling is missing out on a lot of people like me. So spent the time just wandering around, and watching a Palm Sunday Procession, until about 1020 when I joined the queue to board. They started boarding the little red rack and pinion train about 1030. It only has two carriages so it didn’t take long to fill them up. Then we were off, faster than I expected, up the steep and winding track through the forest with occasional tantalising and fleeting views through the trees.

Once at the top there were some more stairs to climb to get to the foot of the statue. There isn't a lot of space on the terrace and it's very crowded with people taking selfies and photos of each other, often with arms outstretched in imitation of the statue. There is a small chapel inside the base of the statue where some worshippers gathered, many with palms, but palms were massively outnumbered by selfie sticks. As expected, there are fantastic views over the city and surrounding mountains although it is a bit hazy. Sugarloaf mountain looks quite diminutive from here. But the terrace is very crowded so it isn't a pleasant place to hang around so after taking some photos along, with thousands of others, I went down to a lower terrace for a Magnum and a beer. The Magnum cost considerably  more than the beer, 12 Reals compared with 7.7.
Corcovado Train


The Photo Everyone Takes
But some people go to more extreme lengths

Even practicing ballet steps

View from the Top
It was a fairly short wait for the train down the hill and then paid a visit to the Museum of Naive Art which was 1/2 price with a train ticket, 6 instead of 12. Quite interesting; the collection was built up my one man Lucien Finkelstein, although I wouldn't have made a special journey.  One long mural tells the history of Brazil and there is a section devoted  to Rio.

Museum of Naive Art
Naive Depiction of Corcovado
Looking at the map, I could see that the Santa Theresa tramway runs quite close by. Set off towards it but although it may not be far horizontally, it's a steep climb vertically through an affluent residential area, the winding steep streets lined with mansions behind high walls. Up the hillside I can see less affluent residential areas.  Eventually I found the tram lines but no sign of a tram stop, or any trams. Then realised that while there was no sign of any overhead power line. Could it be battery operated? Eventually asked the only passer-by I saw who told me the tram was "nao mas". I later learnt that this section of the tram routes had been discontinued after someone stole the overhead cables. 

Houses Clinging to the Hillside
I was tempted to follow the tramlines back to the city but they disappeared into a deserted forest so decided that might not be a very good idea and I might find something more sinister than a  teddy bear's party so I returned the way I came, past the naive art museum and on to Largo do Marchado, a city square with a Metro station and several weird looking trees with massive brown spherical fruits or nuts that seem to grow straight out of the trunk. Found out that they are "cannonball trees. Got the metro a few stops to Copacabana.

Cannonball Tree

In the evening I spent a lot of time trying to book a flight to Manaus. Amazed that there is only one direct 4 hour flight a day that leaves at an ungodly 0714. Indirect flights take 6 hours or more and are also more expensive. The flight is operated by TAM and I can get a price of about 500 Reals on their website and everything goes fine until I try to enter the address for my credit card when the website won't accept anywhere outside Brazil. If I click on “other country” at the top of the page, the price increases by about 50%. Sky scanner gives me a good price but takes me back to the TAM website. This time it's in English which I think is a good start but it still can't accept a non-Brazilian credit card address. Several other sites don't show the direct flight at all. Eventually I manage to book it through the Brazilian Expedia site, all in Portuguese,  for about 650 Reals.
It’s after 9pm by the time I'm done so decide to try Cervantes, one of "Copacabana's best bars" that serves food only a few blocks away. It's a very popular restaurant which suits me fine but not a "bar" by any stretch of the imagination. It’s obviously popular with families. Due to a miscommunication with the waiter I end up with two substantial steaks with huge piles of vegetables. Not what I thought I'd ordered but I was hungry and the waiters were very busy so decided to accept it. The steaks were good and the vegetables, broccoli, carrots, artichoke peas and potato were OK even if they  weren't going to win any awards.
Then looked into one of the suggested beach bars, Skol 360, nearby,  but it, and all the others along the beach, were fairly deserted. 

Monday 21st March
Had my standard Ibis breakfast, checked that the Santa Theresa  tram is running today and got the Metro to Cinelandia, close to the tram terminus. There is a typical city square, Praca Alagoas, with several, very ornate 19th century buildings and I can see, and hear, some walking tours starting in the square. I would be quite keen to join them but I don't hear any in English. 


Theatre in Praca Alagoas
Old and new in Praca Alagoas

Re-purposed Phone Kiosk in Praca Alagoas
Found an amazing flight of steps decorated with tiles from all over the world. Obviously every other tourist in Rio has found them too, so they are quite crowded but they are very pretty. The downtown area is very mixed with lots of modern high rises next to some beautiful, nicely renovated 19th century buildings and across the street others that are dilapidated, crumbling, covered in graffiti or all three.  I found the famous Roman style viaduct, which I learnt was built in the 18th century as an aqueduct and which now  carries the Santa Theresa tram. 

Pretty Tiled Steps in Rio

Carioca Aque/Via duct

And then there's the cathedral, possibly the ugliest cathedral ever built. Maybe in the architect’s sketches the concrete was white and shining but now it is dung brown and glowering. In Liverpool the Catholic church built "Paddy's Wigwam" which was conical so maybe conical was in vogue at  the time. Seems strange since I always associate cones and pyramids with pagan cultures, Egyptian,  Mayan, Khmer and others. Apparently it was inspired by Mayan architectural style of pyramids, which might make some sense if the Mayans had ever been anywhere close to Rio. The cathedral looks very much as I imagined the Tower of Babel to be, or at least how it would be if it's builders had access to reinforced concrete. Not often I feel any empathy with Charles Windsor but the word "carbuncle" does come to mind. Inside, to be fair, is better since it is dark and dominated by four huge stained glass windows running from top to almost bottom. And inside is one place in Rio where the outside is completely invisible. I find it difficult to get inside the minds of people who thought building such a massive, ugly, monstrous  and almost certainly expensive structure was a good idea in a city which has no shortage of large, extravagantly decorated churches and no shortage of poor, homeless people sleeping on the streets. Inside and up close I can see the concrete is crumbling to reveal the reinforcement so have my doubts whether it will outlive the great Gothic cathedrals

Rio's Tower of Babel aka Cathedral
Looks Better from Inside

The nearby Petrobas Building is quite Elegant
After looking round a bit more of the area, I found the tram station and a queue of people waiting for it. The tram is free and is supposed to run every 20 minutes. From what I have read the, city authorities invested in new tram cars, replicas of the original ones, which were withdrawn and the service halted after an accident causing several deaths. Having spent the money one might think they would be keen to recoup some of it by charging for tickets and running a service which met demand. As far as I can see they have four new tramcars, sitting idle and according to Wikipedia they spent over 100 million Reals (about £20 million) on upgrading the system and ordered 14 new trams. So far only 1.7km has been reopened.

It was nearly an hour before I finally got onto the tram since the first one to arrive after 20 minutes filled up before I reached the front of the line. More frustratingly after filling it with people it waited 15 minutes before leaving. But when I did finally get on a tram it was quite fun rattling over the viaduct and up the hilly winding cobbled streets. It stopped outside a conveniently situated bar, which was sadly lacking in cold beer so I had to make do with a Coke. I then had a wander round the area which has many “arty” shops and cosy restaurants and bars. I started trying to walk back but the maze of winding hilly streets, which double back on themselves had me walking round in circles. I was just about to start walking back along the tramlines when the bright yellow tram came rattling along and offered a lazier return option. Then found the pleasant Campo de Santana park which is home to hundreds of agoutis, rabbit sized rodents, and feral cats. Sadly it is also home to many vagrants. Quite close by is the railway station which serves commuter lines and was getting busy when I looked around. From there I got the metro back to Copacabana.

Santa Theresa  Tram
Agouti in the Park
In the evening went out to Pavao Azul, another of the ten best bars in Copacabana, according to www.theculturetrip.com and which again is a restaurant rather than a bar. It may well be wonderful but the tables were packed solid so no chance of getting anything to eat. Next door was another very similar place, Bar Bunda de Fora which obviously benefited from the overspill and where I had an excellent dish of liver, onions, trice and chips accompanied by black beans and a beer at a very reasonable price of under 30 Reals. Another evening walk along the promenade.

Tuesday 22nd March
My last day in Rio so spent much of the morning enjoying the beach at Copacabana. After a shower took the metro to Carioca and walked the short distance down to Praca XV which is dominated by the ornate Tiradentes Palace, apparently built in 1926 to be the home of the Brazilian Parliament and now the Legislative Assembly of the Rio State. By comparison the Royal or Imperial Palace next to it is quite austere and workaday. It is supposed to be a cultural centre but by the time I got to explore it sometime after 4pm all the exhibitions were closed. In the middle of the main courtyard is a weird concrete “sculpture” comprising three massive solid “walls”. Despite Google I haven’t found out what they are supposed to symbolise. But the cafe was open so enjoyed a coffee and brownie while contemplating the concrete.


Tiradentes Palace

Statuary on Tiradentes Palace

Concrete "Sculpture" in Royal Palace Courtyard

Close by are two ornate baroque churches the “old” cathedral which makes me wonder why they wanted a new one and next door another church which, if I understand correctly, was built because to be a second church for the Carmelite convent. It has a quite theatrical look about it with curtained “boxes” for the nobility.
Old Cathedral against Modern Backdrop


Baroque Interior of Old Cathedral
Theatrical Style "Box" in the Church Next Door 



Quaint Old Letterbox to Post my Cards

Narrow Street near Praca XV
In the evening went back to the Skol 360 bar, which was busier than most of the other bars, for my last dinner on Copacabana beach but the expensive, 30 Real, cod fish cakes proved to be mostly potato and  a great anti-climax. Luckily the evening cheered up when I found “Bottles Bar” tucked away down a side street where there was a band and a great singer who I learnt was Daíra Saboia. https://www.facebook.com/DairaSaboiaOficial   The small bar was packed and the crowd clearly loved her, almost physically preventing her from leaving the stage. The bar had a cover charge of 30 Reals, which was far better value than the “cod” cakes!


Daíra Saboia at Bottles Bar
Of the South American cities, I have visited Rio stands out as by far my favourite and the one where I feel I could happily spend another week.     

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