Not enough time in Rio

[Deleted]

When I said I was visiting, my friend insisted most of all on going to Rio de Janeiro even though he is based in Sao Paulo. He has been there at least half a dozen times since being based in Brazil, so I accepted his recommendation without hesitation. I quickly learned that just about everybody in Brazil (whom I met) agrees that Rio is the best place to go -- more beautiful, more friendly, more human than the rest of Brazil.

Would it live up to its reputation? After spending a few days in Sao Paulo (which I liked), a couple of days in the resort town of Paraty (which I loved), I found myself on the road to Rio without Bob Hope, Bing Crosby or Dorothy Lamour.



The coast road was a delight, but once it was time to move onto the expressway into Rio it was less so. Expressway was a rather excessive term, because in terms of traffic circulation, it was a crawlway. Frankly, I did not mind, because this gave me a chance to see the some of the favelas, to which all of the photos that we have seen cannot do justice, and plenty of bunker style shopping malls nearby, which are clearly designed to make sure that undesirable elements will never be able to enter.

The GPS on the car was no longer working, so we just had to trust our instincts. Our goal was the area known as "Largo do Machado" and luckily it was not too difficult to find. Unfortunately, once we were driving in that neighbourhood, most of the streets seemed to be going in the wrong direction. Around and around and around we went, and I finally managed to catch the street of our hotel in the correct direction. Believe it or not, the hotel actually had parking, and I was more than happy to abandon the vehicle for the rest of our stay.

[Deleted]

My friend had discovered the Largo do Machado area by accident on his first or second trip to Rio, and I understand why he was attracted to it. It is totally ordinary, non-touristy Rio with a big central square on top of the metro station, lots of shops, restaurants and bars and lots of hustle and bustle. The smaller streets are all shaded by huge trees. Ipanema and Copacabana are just three or four metro stations away, so there is absolutely no feeling of being in an isolated or impractical part of town.

I had been told that the people of Rio are completely different from those of Sao Paulo, and it was absolutely true. Sao Paulo is all about business and serious faces, whereas the people of Rio seem to just be strolling around with smiles on their faces. I did manage to see the "business" part of Rio the next day and while the people did look more serious, they were definitely not as much in a hurry as in Sao Paulo. In the big square of Largo do Machado, people sit around playing music, old ladies chat, young people cuddle and drink beer, children play while their mothers or fathers watch them -- and then there is that other weird thing about Rio. Just about every public area, including the beaches, has huge numbers of training machines in free access -- pull-up bars, weight frames, step machines, cycles -- and people are constantly using them, from the young studs to the grannies. Oddly enough, people did not look any fitter than anywhere else, but surely they must be in better health because of this.

Rio also has a municipal bike system which seems quite popular (bright yellow bikes). I don't know how it works since the stations are not electronic like in Europe. I saw people docking the bikes, and also taking them out, but the system does not use electricity, so obviously people have to sign up for the service somewhere and get codes or something. And with no electronics, there is no time limit so I don't know how people are kept honest. I will look it up sooner or later.

I didn't make it to Ipanema and Copacabana until after dark, but both beaches are magical anyway. Ipanema has night surfing under floodlights and a fantastic view of its mountainous bay with the favelas twinkling with lights up on the hills. Copacabana is endless with the Sugar Loaf at the far end. It seems to have a thousand nets for beach volley and at least a hundred fields for beach football, which are all played in a frenzy at all hours. And of course there are those exercise machines along the way. All of the luxurious buildings along the way seem to have been built all at the same time, in the 1960's or thereabouts, except for the huge historical hotel which must have stood all by itself along the beach for decades.

Every 100 metres there is a beach bar, most of which propose the "best caïpriniha in Rio" for 6 reals. Since it is the very beginning of spring and it wasn't really very warm in the evening (only about 16°), there were not huge numbers of customers, but I imagine that it can get jam packed during the summer holidays in December.

[bixaorellana]

Ah, Kerouac ~~ your excellent word pictures and comments on aspects great & small have made me more interested in Rio in a few paragraphs than the zillions of photos I've seen.

More, more!

I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear about the food, although you probably didn't have much time for leisurely dining.

[Deleted]

Besides all of the workout machines at the parks and beaches, there are an incredible number of health clubs, as least in the bourgeois areas of Rio, and just like in the Los Angeles versions of such places, people clearly like to put themselves on display. Most of the places I saw were at street level with a big window facing the street with a row of machines full of people exercising as the people outside and they watched each other. However, one other establishment that was also a case of great amusement was a dog grooming place which had its bath basins facing the street. The employees lovingly shampooed poodles and Yorkies for the benefit of passersby. No street mongrels in this place -- these were definitely expensive dogs!

Although the street activity was a constant source of entertainment, one of the things that I like the most about Rio was the old architecture from the beginning of the 20th century. Lots of it is crumbling and lots of it is being torn down, but in such a big city there is still quite a bit left when you stray away from the main shopping streets. The Lapa area consists exclusively of this sort of building and has become the heart of countercultural Rio. I was only there during the day, but apparently you are supposed to go in the evening to completely appreciate the area, since it is jam packed with bars and restaurants. My friend and I had lunch in a very popular place called Barbieri, which is a former barber shop. Although most people ate a normal tables, being tourists we chose to sit in the antique barber chairs. Considering how busy the place was at lunch hour, I can't even imagine how popular it must be at night, although I watched a delivery truck unload about 50 cases of beer while I was having lunch.

Lapa is easy to find because its centerpiece is the "arcos da Lapa," an old rail viaduct (no longer in service). I saw it during the day, but my friend assured me that at night it is totally different. I can see from these web photos that he was not kidding.

The streets of the area are also closed to traffic on the weekends.

                       

Something else brings tourists to Lapa, though -- the incredible folk art of the Escadaria Selarón which climbs the hill to the Santa Teresa area at the top. It was built by Chilean artist Jorge Selarón who created it for the World Cup in 1994, using tiles from 120 different countries. The artist died in January 2013. I have rarely regretted more not having a camera to take pictures of it.

   

   

Believe me, it is a really long and challenging climb!

[Deleted]

Quite the adventure, K

I sometimes find that GPS's can be more of a hindrance than a help. Mine has taken me in circles before and wasted so much time.

I always wondered what Copacabana beach would be like, nice to know that it had a magical feel to it. I really like the way the tables are arranged so well in the streets, it just adds to the 'party' atmosphere you describe.

Sounds like you really enjoyed your time there. Is it a place you would like to visit again some day?

[tod2]

Even though I ended up in Rio by accident of of free flight, I have never forgotten it's magic.
We stayed in a hotel just off Ipanema Beach which when first viewing our room shocked us to the core!
Only once before on another trip had we slept on thin sponge mattresses on a sort of grid iron bed! - (That was in Skiathos some two years earlier). The aircon rattled so much that unless you were completely jet-lagged as we were there was no sleep! The next morning we awoke quite late, around 10-11 am. No problem, up came the most huge tray of fresh papaya, mango and pineapple, croissants and fresh bread rollS and a jugs of strong Brazilian coffee.......those memories never leave you.
Thank you Kerouac for reminding me..!!

[Deleted]

I am really afraid that Ipanema and Copacabana are the only two areas of which tourists are aware. While they are wonderful in their own way, I was really happy to be staying in a non-touristy area and to just take the bus or metro there. Just like in Paris, I saw that there was a huge difference in the various parts of town, depending on whether they lived off tourism or not.

[Don Cuevas]

More, please.

[questa]

Indeed. It is very timely. Rio today would probably shock you with the differences, specially the security.