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 Five: O Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)

Cristo Redentor is more commonly known in English as Christ the Redeemer, or even "the Jesus statue." It has recently been voted one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, and is one of the many iconic tokens of the city of Rio de Janeiro. There is little bit of history on the making of the statue in several places on the internet. [*]

When I first realized that we would have to go to Rio de Janeiro as a part of Nádya's visa process, I was excited that we might get a chance to see this grand display of artisanship. We were glad to go somewhere other than on visa-related business by this time, and a fun day it was.

Every time it had rained since we arrived on Sunday, it had rained in the afternoon after a sunny morning. With that in mind, and given the high elevation (700 meters, around 1200 feet) of the statue clouds could be an issue, we planned to arrive mid-morning, and leave about lunch time.

There are several ways to get to the statue. If you have rented a car, or wish to take a taxi, there are roads that lead up to its foot. We took the Metrô, and then a bus to the Cosme Vehlo train station.

It was kind of strange to be among so many people in such a small space, all of whom seemed to speak different languages. It really felt like a tourist trap at this point, almost to the point of me wanting to call it off.

We had to wait for our turn on the train. When they sell you the ticket, it comes with a boarding time. The lines were long, and I think we had to wait for one more train before it was our turn, so we fed Kylie.

The nice part about getting that done was that we had a happy baby for the next couple of hours. We also had an alternative activity which distracted us from the savory smell of the espresso bar (who knows how much they charge there...).

Our train was scheduled for 11:00 AM, and about 10:50 AM it came rolling in. As we made our ascent I kept the camera on, and ready in case some beautiful vista of Rio came up. There were several, but the train was moving to quickly for the camera to focus fast enough. So none of them really turned out to be anything I am very proud of. I have put some in our album of the day anyway.

We arrived at the end of the line at about 11:20 AM, having been teased on and off by grand views of the city, then socked in by clouds. The higher we climbed the more clouds there were. I was worried that we had (in spite of my genius plan) chosen the wrong time to get there.

It was not a disaster, though. In fact, the clouds added to the uniqueness of the experience, which made it more enjoyable. I do wish we had a chance to see some better views of the city from there, though. Hopefully someday we will get a chance to return.

As the clouds broke away, the sun actually showed it's face for a few moments, and we got some of the standard shots:

It would have been nice to stay a bit longer, but our stomachs were telling us that it was time to go. So we headed down to the train station for the ride down.

I ended up getting into a conversation with a guy from Phoenix, Arizona about Brazil, and what it was like to live here. He told me something that shocked me: "You have an accent in English." Please don't tell my English students!

The next day we made plans to go to Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar).

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