Rio de Janeiro In Retrospect

There were are few things that just did not fit in the previous posts about our trip to Rio de Janeiro, which I thought were important. So I have rounded them up in this post.

Rio de Janeiro is a lot larger than Teresina. More people, more cars, more money, more of most things. What surprised me about the culture, though, is that people were more polite. And not just a little.

The Public Transportation System

In Teresina the idea of getting in line for something does not exist (unless there is someone to enforce it). In order to get on the bus here, if there are more than three people at the bus stop, one must fight just to get to the door. No blood no foul.

In Rio de Janeiro people were orderly, and even polite, about getting in line.

I was also impressed that the equipment (the buses and subway trains) was in very good condition, and often had air conditioning. In Teresina the buses are generally pretty old—or at least get to looking that way in a very short time. Air conditioned buses would be a dream.

The bus / Metrô combination worked really well for us. If you don't know Portuguese it might not work as well for you, but a great many people there speak English, so I recommend trying it. Besides, the Metrô website is available in English, so almost anyone could get their route planned easily.

I like riding the bus around to get a feel for a new city. While it isn't always the best form of transportation it does help one familiarize oneself with the basic layout.

Feel

As I mentioned in the second paragraph, as a whole people were a lot more polite than here in Teresina. Many people said "Hi," as we passed on the sidewalk. And almost everyone we asked for help was happy to guide us on our way. It struck me as odd that in such a big city people would do that, while in Teresina people can be a lot more cold. Maybe it is the heat here.

For being so full of people, Rio really felt like a much smaller town most of the time—just sprawled over a lot of area. The geography of the city could have something to do with that. The city is built within the vales of these granite hills that rise from just above sea level to 2000 feet and fall back down to sea level, all within a couple of miles. There is a lot of getting around the mountains to be done.

Our expectation was that we would constantly be hearing "bolas perdidos" (stray bullets) flying around, in some ways. That is the sense of Rio de Janeiro that the national news portrays. I did not hear any. Though, the favelas are different where most of this takes place, and we had no reason or desire to go into any of them.

On a side note, I have found a couple of great blogs by some Americans living and working among the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

I never felt like we were in any immanent danger, but knowing that crime is a huge problem there kept us alert. We also avoided using English at all times, and I avoided speaking at all in buses and on the sidewalks. While my accent might not give me away, a) I don't trust that I don't have an accent, and b) A simple grammatical mistake would be a giveaway that I am a foreigner. Foreigners are often the target of choice for the local banditos, who generally just want to make off with some cash or nice jewelry.

Recommendations

The following are a few things that one might consider while planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro. It is not complete, but I think covers the major things.

• If you are planning a visit to this great city, then do not miss Sugar Loaf, or Christ the Redeemer. Each of these costs R$ 35.00 per person currently, but well worth the trip.


• Know the basic distance (in kilometers) between your various destinations if you are using a taxi, as well as how much it will likely cost. Taxi drivers pick up the little things that give you away as a foreigner very well, and will sometimes "take you for a ride."


• Museums seemed to be plentiful, but we never had time or energy to visit one. When we do return I would like to spend some time seeing the various memorials and museums around the city. Patrick and Nyna visited at least one that looked really interesting from the photos. Maybe Patrick can write a little more about that (hint, hint)?


• Maracanã [*] is one of the largest football stadiums in the world—soccer, if you are in the US. Patrick and Nyna took a tour. From the pictures I saw, I would say this is on the list of must-see things, though maybe toward the bottom.


• Follow basic travel-safety guidelines. Keep your wallet in your front pocket. If you are lost or scared (or both) do not act that way, it is the best way to become prey. Do not carry to much cash with you (and not in your shoe, as you could end up barefoot and broke!).

Closing

Though the primary purpose of our trip was to do Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate, we did get to do some of the fun things there are to do in Rio de Janeiro. We noticed a big difference in the cultures of Rio and Teresina, and really enjoyed ourselves once the stress was over. If you are considering a trip to Rio de Janeiro, stop considering and go. By far, it is one of the most interesting cities I have visited.

I am open to questions or comments if anyone has something you want to know. Hope you enjoyed the series! (And if you did feel free to share it with others.)

This entry is the closing segment of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. If you liked the series, try subscribing to the RSS feed or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro Day Three: The Medical Exam

There really is not much to report about the actual medical exam. We took the same bus as the day before with the same long trip (number 415, if you want to know) from Tijuca to Leblon. Because we got there a bit early the blood test was not ready, but we went ahead with the exam anyway.

Once the exam was over we still had to wait for the blood test to arrive, and because the results must be sealed by the doctor when the interview is done, we did not know anything until the interview. So we did some extensive window shopping on the second level of the building we were in. Things that were really cool but not marked with price tags—which communicates that sense of "this is out of your price-range."

As I said in the last entry, we thought maybe we could hit the beach that day after the appointment. We had a couple of things against us, though: It was raining when we finally got out of there, and Mark and Helen had found a place we could stay, and we needed to get our stuff together to move it. (Besides those things, seeing and smelling the water flowing in the drainage from the city again while on the bus re-enforced the desire not to visit the beach.)

Above is a picture of the outside of the building where we rented the apartment. This particular apartment is used by a missions organization to house short-term mission teams. So, while some of the furnishings were a bit tattered and used, it was well furnished. I think there were something like 12 beds and about 5 couches in the places. It has three large bedrooms plus servant's quarters.

Mark and Helen had plans for the evening, and so we decided it would be best to try to get there as soon after Nádya's appointment as possible. I am not sure what time we got on the bus, but I know it was before 5:00 PM. That bus ride took forever.

It was after 7:00 PM when we got there. They drove us and our bags to the new place (probably a whole three city blocks), and showed us around inside. It was immense. And it had water heaters! (Water heaters are not very common in Teresina because the climate is so warm hot that a cold shower is relaxing. I have missed hot showers, though.)

Even though it was a bit dusty from being dormant for a while this was one of our favorite things about our trip to Rio de Janeiro. It was cool during the day (Though a bit dark: Even at noon one needed to turn on the lights to see anything.), and really nice to be able to come and go as need arose without worrying about disturbing anyone.

The next day was Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate.

I will leave you with a picture of Kylie and Nádya by a tree right outside the apartment, and there are a couple more pictures in the album:

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.

An Afternoon In The Park

Toward the end of 2007 we first came into contact with Tim and Joyce Keliher. I think it was back when I preached at an English service here in Teresina. They are missionaries who help facilitate on-campus Christian groups. They don't lead the groups, they are there for support of the student-leaders of the groups.

It was a great afternoon, and the park is a pretty interesting place even if it is filled with ravenous mosquitoes. There were two things that stuck out among the mountain of photos we took that afternoon. (And we would have taken more, but the camera's battery died.)

The Iridescent Lizard

As we were hiking around the part of the park that leads down to the river a lizard that had been sunning itself scampered across the path. It was so cool looking that we had to find it to get some pictures. Fortunately it was not far off the path (we did not have to even leave the path), and we got some pictures.

It was about a half meter long, and my guess is that it was a chameleon of some sort. I have not seen anything like it before, so iridescent, so blue and green. So cool.

There are three more pictures of it in our photo album from the afternoon.

If you know more about this lizard than I do please comment!

The Birds

The tropical bird trade is huge business here, and a lot of it is not legal. As we were traipsing back toward the front of the park we passed a police station. Nádya asked if they still had a zoo exhibit a little further on. It turns out that there was not, but they did have some birds whose owners had been caught without bird-owning licenses, and would we like to see them?

The one above is a crested cardinal, and pretty rare from what they told us. The birds were there because it was the weekend, and IBAMA (the agency which evaluates and frees the birds who can be returned to the wild) is closed on the weekend. Again, there are more photos in our photo album from the afternoon.

One intriguing fact they told us was that the cages are crushed when the birds are handed over to IBAMA. I guess that is to discourage investment in such things. It really is not that uncommon to see someone riding down the street on a bicycle with a bird-cage. They are usually caught for their songs, which can be very beautiful.