Sugar Loaf Mountain

Tip: Visit Sugar Loaf late in the evening (after 5 pm) to beat any crowds at the cable car lines and stay till its dark to see beautiful lit views of the city, favelas and Copacabana beach!


I think this was a day when we took a train, a ferry, bus, taxi, and a cable car...did we miss anything ;). We took the metro in the morning to Centro (orange line), from here, after a 15min walk we took a ferry from Praca XV. It was a R$ 2.80 ticket per person, and fun 15 min ride to Niteroi, that looked like a really old part of Rio. 

We took a train again from the Centro station (orange line) to Botafogo (I think, can't remember exactly). Got off, took a bus, then a taxi to the 'base station'  at Urca. Cable car tickets were R$ 44 pp, and the lines weren't too bad. Cable car ride was brief and fun. The half way point to sugarloaf gives really views of the city too...but we headed up soon after taking a few good shots. The top is just AMAZING! You get views of the Guanabara Bay, Niteroi, the bridge connecting to it, SDU airport, Copacabana and of course Christ Redeemer! 

We were also lucky (barely) to catch the first few minutes of city lights from the top of the mountain. The last cable car leaves at 8pm so unlike us, if you are lucky and it doesn't rain like crazy, you will be able to capture beautiful pictures of the Bay and the city from the top.

Spellbound and almost soaking wet in the rain we ran to the cable car. There were only few others who had waited till the dark.  We took in one last bit of the city and started our descent. What a day, what a trip. We'll always remember it by the extremely friendly people, beautiful beaches, rich culture and the colorful favelas - Adios Rio, We loved every single day here...you are truly the City of God!

  

Corcovado- Christ Redeemer

We had a late start that morning (as usual :)) and planned to do a little souvenir shopping at the Hippy Fair at Ipanema...Rahul, our wallet and I had a great time there...what fun bargaining for local handmade goods in a combination of Engliguese and universal sign language! This is where we learnt the numbers 15 (quinze), 20( vinte), 10 (dez), 30 (trinta), and that the locals are so keen to interact that they really don't mind if you don't want to buy their handicrafts! 

We took bus # 583 from Ipanema to Cosmo Velho station (30 minute ride), which was the last stop. We had read that there is a massive 4 hour queue to get into the cog train that takes you through the scenic routes of the Tijuca National Forest where Corcovado is located. But being a weekday and all, we overlooked this 'fact' and to our disappointment reached at 3 pm to find tickets being sold for the 7pm  ride :(  Hence we decided to skip the scenic route and took the short-cut ride in a van, which got us to the top in about 30-40 mins. 

Tip: Listen to all the people that told you to go early and beat the crowds (are you reading this Rahul, Kamala and Piyush ;))! 

The first glimpse of the status is simply breathtaking...the mere size of it is overwhelming and 'divine'. There are 220 steps that lead to Christo's feet-the stairway to heaven! Once you are here, Christo blesses you...with the best 360 degree pan views of the entire city! So get your binoculars and camera out, set up your tripod and click away! We must have spent about 3 hours here enjoying the cool breeze and views...Christo watches over all of Rio, and people turn to Christo from any where in Rio! What an amazing concept! 

We finally gave up waiting for it to get darker for some night shots.  The last van pick up was at 7:45pm so we only barely missed the lights of Rio from top. 

This was a trip truly worth every cent (R$ 38), and I highly recommend it...(chose a clear day if you can help it).

Favela Tour

Zezinho's affair with Rocinha

At first I was mentally conflicted about going to a favela...a term used for a 'rural' area where there are shanty houses, closely packed together. I am not heartless by any means but the very idea of going to see underprivileged people as a tourist did not seem right. What would they get out of my visit? Is this even morally correct? Have I not seen enough 'favelas' (or worse) in India? With all these questions in my head, but keeping an open mind, I set out to visit Rocinha- the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro housing quarter of a million people. Rahul had booked us with Zezinho, who was a cheerful, chirpy guy, completely covered in tattoos,  and will make you feel instantly at ease. He picked us up from our hotel and accompanied us on the van ride to the top of Rocinha.

The best part was that he belonged to Rocinha...which did not make us very 'touristy' at all. Rather than feeling like an outsider, who was here to watch and click pictures of poor people in shanty homes, I felt like I was visiting a friend, who was taking me to visit his friends! We started from the top and headed downhill...Zezinho told us the history of how the favelas came about, how the city's garbage, water and electricity were managed, and how it was being kept under check by the drug lords... we even saw some 'look out' points and 'hot spots' (drug purchase zones!).  

As we maneuvered our way through the narrow alleyways, we couldn't miss the colorful graffiti on the walls, the cheerful kids and adults who will stop by and say 'Oi'. I instantly felt like I was part of the community...

Zezinho showed Rahul some really good spots to take pictures; the highlight of the tour was his friend's 'penthouse'...what else would you call a roof apartment that has this view (below)?

 

Notice the high rises in the picture above? They are a true illustration of the gap (or the lack of it!) between the rich and the poor...We must have spent about an hr or so here just taking pictures and admiring the greenery and architecture, watching kids flying kites from their roof tops, and just taking in every bit of Rocinha...We continued further down, visited Zezinho's house, and then from there proceeded along to see some local schools, a day care, radio station, a catholic church, couple of real estate offices, housing complexes recently built by the government, and Zezinho's favorite restaurant where we had some coffee. Finally we concluded our tour outside the sports centre.

We also saw the beautiful archway entry into Rocinha, with a Welcome sign. Rocinha just recently went on the map! Zezinho had passed on his love for his community to us. We left Rocinha a bit sad, as the 6h had gone by too fast, but feeling deeply connected to a neglected group of people, who didn't even speak our  language but welcomed us with open hearts, smiles on their face and 'Oi' on their lips. Here ends the story of Zezinho's continuing affair with Rocinha...

I cannot recommend Zezinho more to you! If you take his tour, please tell him " Rahul and Padma said Oi!"