Rio 3

Last day in Rio and it looks like I'm not going to make it to Corcovado with this mist. There might be an outside chance tomorrow morning. I surveyed the half day tours on offer in the lobby of the Rio Othon hotel and signed up for Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf) in the afternoon. I rang the bus station and was assured that there were plenty of seats to Paraty the next day. The lobby also had a cased display of minerals. Brazil produces 90% of the world's gemstones, thus the origin of my parrot trinket.

Cars exhaust fumes around here have a fruity smell due to the use of alcohol which Brazil produces from sugar cane. I walked from Copacabana to the Jardim de Alah at the end of Ipanema. There was a fruit and vegie market there but no hot food. So I bought from street vendors a hot dog, an empanada and mate tea as a snack. The vendor of the last two looked Argentinian. Passed another Minas Gerais restaurant where the waiters were wearing straw hats.


After lunch at a por kilo place, I joined the tour. There were delays collecting all the passengers. First they gave us a quick tour passing through downtown, including the Arab district.  While passing a park agoutis were pointed out to us. They looked tame and unafraid of humans. I guess they must not be very edible or they would have disappeared into pots long ago. 

We passed the Sambadrome where carnival parades are staged but of course that was way back in February so it was just an empty concrete site.

Rio has a modern unconventional conical cathedral. Workers were clearing the chairs from the Pope's visit.

On the bus I met an Aussie couple from Bendigo, K and A. He was an electrician and she was a part time physical instructor. They were travelling around by plane and their next stop would be Iguaçu Falls.

The ascent of Sugarloaf was in two stages. First the cable car took up to Morro da Urca and then another car took us to the summit.

The hill is composed of granite and quartz, which why it has survived erosion. The name comes from the resemblance to a loaf of refined sugar but an alternate theory is that it is of Tamoyan Indian origin.

It was misty at the top and the views were disappointing. In this picture you can just make out Copacabana.

Cristo Redentor, that emblem of Rio, peeked through the clouds a couple of times, then vanished in the mist again.

I took the Aussies to dinner at a por kilo place as they didn't know about those establishments. Then an ice cream for dessert, sold by weight also. K thanked me by buying me a chopp. So that was three friends I made that day, including the one on the right. I accompanied them part of the way back to their hotel. The clouds were really moving in when I reached mine. Most unpropitious for possible redemption the next day.