Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)
11 July - 14 July 2016
Since then I've personally had the feeling that the Olympics have been on the slide, that they may have lost the lustre of being the pinnacle (well, nearly the pinnacle), of world sporting events. My hope, my desire really, was that a somewhat exotic location like Rio, the first South American city to host an Olympics, would bring back some of the excitement and anticipation that had been lost in recent years.
Aside from my Olympic slant, the standing agreement that I have with Inga is that any time we go to Buenos Aires, that Rio is also included on our schedule. Her pilgrimage to Rio is as much about her paying North European homage to sun, sea and sand, as mine is to red wine, football and meat when going to Buenos Aires. In all honesty I'm a big fan of Rio too. What's not to like about the carioca culture, the marvellous beaches of Copacabana & Ipanema, the beautiful people on the beach or running them, the caipirinhas, the easy way of living. Simple pleasures but thoroughly enjoyable.
Driving in from the airport is a known entity to us, and the beginning of that feeling of being in the city always commences when we see Cristo de Redentor. From a distances is always a lot smaller than you anticipate it to be but its position as guardian of the city is undeniable and understandably its acknowledgement is one of the new seven wonders of the world is deserved, I believe.
This time around we decided to stay at the wonderful PortoBay Rio (Copacabana). Without question, its roof top bar and pool area has one of the great views in Rio. Some six years earlier I had made the wonderful discovery of this location with Janelle and Jet but have never had the opportunity to stay, now was our time and my, what an absolute treat. To virtually be right on the beach and to fall asleep listening to the sounds of the waves crashing on one of the worlds most famous beaches was such a highlight.
A typical day for us in Rio is goes like this. An early morning run from the hotel down to the end of Ipanema and then back to the hotel (around 12kms). Shower and then down for the buffet breakfast inclusive of bottomless champagne. Post breakfast its time to change and then head out to the beach for a few hours in the sun, grabbing caipirinhas from the passing vendors who are brutal with the cachaca! As the light descends during the back part of the day we head up to the roof top bar at the Porto Bay for afternoon drinks and then discuss our options for heading out during the night. Once again, there's nothing overly complicated about the routine but that precisely what's great about it. It's beach culture at its finest.
Typically as a tourist in Rio, if you're not on the beach during the day then you're probably heading up to the viewing point at Cristo de Redentor, or, you're heading up to the top of Sugarloaf. We certainly did both on this trip too, Cristo we did conventionally, taking a bus up from Copacabana like all the other tourists, taking in the views, doing our panoramic photos and partaking in the outstretched arm poses. Sugarloaf however was a little different for us on this occasion.
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
This time I suggested to Inga that we go about climbing Sugarloaf, which you can in fact do by two main routes. The front face belongs to the true climbers, those that know what they hell they're doing and can respect the challenge. The back way, which on the face of it appears like a steep walk is in fact slightly more difficult than that. We decided to take the challenge without entirely realising the degree of difficulty involved. Of course we didn't undertake the ascent on our own, it would have been foolhardy and potentially deadly to have done it that way, but still, we put ourselves into the hands of a knowledgeable local with a large amount of experience of this route.
Initially the ascent from the back of Sugarloaf is nothing more than a trail with a slight gradient. We had assumed that for the most part this would be the case. How wrong we were.
The early part of the climb takes place a vast expanse of rock that is quite open. The issue is that the gradient is relatively steep and the terrain is much the same as walking on a steep pebblecrete surface. Immediately we knew that we weren't prepared, our choice of footwear was enough to signal in the fact that we were less than novices We were more like your weekend experience backyard tree climbers. Having enough knowledge to know that positioning your centre of gravity forward and allowing yourself to 'grip something' for support was probably going to be the way to get this done. Here's where the problem was. This part of the mountain was pebblecrete rock face only. No handles, no crevices, just an upward gradient that made you feel like one slip could have you sliding 50mtrs down the face and into the Atlantic. To say it was disconcerting was a slight understatement. The most difficult section did have a long rope to alleviate the nerves but still, looking down to what could be a harrowing death was not appealing for either of us.
Conquering pebblecrete alley was one thing. What we didn't know, until such time that Daniel our guide explained it, was that there was about 20mtrs of vertical technical climbing that we needed to undertake...'Hey guide Daniel, excuse me sir, but WTF man, what is this vertical limit garbage and why are you making us wear helmets now'. This is probably where things took a severe turn for Inga. The climb was nerve racking and in moments left us dangling in mid air of the edge of a cliff. It wasn't at all the 'walk in the park' that we expected, and when Inga got to the top of the vertical stretch I could see that her nerves had been completely frazzled. Admittedly from that point out the climb up was just a path, with some precarious drops to keep us company, but still, just a path. Poor Inga however had been pushed to the edge and she literally climbed 80% of the remaining way on all fours. It would have been looked more than odd from the perspective of a bystander but self preservation sometimes forces you to take drastic steps.
The prize for getting up Sugarloaf in this manner? Probably a saving of $20 for not paying the cable cars, which we more than paid for the guide, so I guess really it's just to say that we'd be some of the small numbers that have that achievement under our belt, and that's pretty cool to know.
Whilst our time in Rio was only short lived on this occasion it certainly didn't diminish our enjoyment and love of this city. Just like Buenos Aires we know that this occasion is only one in a long line of visits that we'll inevitably be making in the future.
11 July - 14 July 2016
The first Olympics I was fully conscious of and that I can remember with some clarity was Los Angeles in 1984. I recall being on holiday with my family in Croatia. Back then Croatia wasn't a thing, it wasn't the burgeoning tourist destination that it is now, in fact, it wasn't even Croatia, it was still part of Yugoslavia and my family, living in the capital of Belgrade, would do the typical thing of heading to the seas-side over Summer.
There have been some great Olympics. Barcelona in 1992 was memorable and then of course I was lucky enough to have experienced a hometown Olympics in 2000. Now that was truly one of my favourite sporting experiences of all time. I recall riding the train to work each morning from Seven Hills and looking over at the Olympic stadium with the cauldron burning proudly. That was a hell of a good time.
How much do I love the Olympics!? - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Since then I've personally had the feeling that the Olympics have been on the slide, that they may have lost the lustre of being the pinnacle (well, nearly the pinnacle), of world sporting events. My hope, my desire really, was that a somewhat exotic location like Rio, the first South American city to host an Olympics, would bring back some of the excitement and anticipation that had been lost in recent years.
Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Aside from my Olympic slant, the standing agreement that I have with Inga is that any time we go to Buenos Aires, that Rio is also included on our schedule. Her pilgrimage to Rio is as much about her paying North European homage to sun, sea and sand, as mine is to red wine, football and meat when going to Buenos Aires. In all honesty I'm a big fan of Rio too. What's not to like about the carioca culture, the marvellous beaches of Copacabana & Ipanema, the beautiful people on the beach or running them, the caipirinhas, the easy way of living. Simple pleasures but thoroughly enjoyable.
Copacabana beach from the Porto Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana beach from the Porto Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Driving in from the airport is a known entity to us, and the beginning of that feeling of being in the city always commences when we see Cristo de Redentor. From a distances is always a lot smaller than you anticipate it to be but its position as guardian of the city is undeniable and understandably its acknowledgement is one of the new seven wonders of the world is deserved, I believe.
This time around we decided to stay at the wonderful PortoBay Rio (Copacabana). Without question, its roof top bar and pool area has one of the great views in Rio. Some six years earlier I had made the wonderful discovery of this location with Janelle and Jet but have never had the opportunity to stay, now was our time and my, what an absolute treat. To virtually be right on the beach and to fall asleep listening to the sounds of the waves crashing on one of the worlds most famous beaches was such a highlight.
Copacabana beach from the Porto Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana beach from the Porto Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana beach from the Porto Bay - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Porto Bay Hotel - Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Porto Bay Hotel - Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
A typical day for us in Rio is goes like this. An early morning run from the hotel down to the end of Ipanema and then back to the hotel (around 12kms). Shower and then down for the buffet breakfast inclusive of bottomless champagne. Post breakfast its time to change and then head out to the beach for a few hours in the sun, grabbing caipirinhas from the passing vendors who are brutal with the cachaca! As the light descends during the back part of the day we head up to the roof top bar at the Porto Bay for afternoon drinks and then discuss our options for heading out during the night. Once again, there's nothing overly complicated about the routine but that precisely what's great about it. It's beach culture at its finest.
Typically as a tourist in Rio, if you're not on the beach during the day then you're probably heading up to the viewing point at Cristo de Redentor, or, you're heading up to the top of Sugarloaf. We certainly did both on this trip too, Cristo we did conventionally, taking a bus up from Copacabana like all the other tourists, taking in the views, doing our panoramic photos and partaking in the outstretched arm poses. Sugarloaf however was a little different for us on this occasion.
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Lagoa rodrigo de freitas - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Cristo de Redentor - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Initially the ascent from the back of Sugarloaf is nothing more than a trail with a slight gradient. We had assumed that for the most part this would be the case. How wrong we were.
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
There's a drop of about 100mtrs just to the left of this photo
Climbing Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
The early part of the climb takes place a vast expanse of rock that is quite open. The issue is that the gradient is relatively steep and the terrain is much the same as walking on a steep pebblecrete surface. Immediately we knew that we weren't prepared, our choice of footwear was enough to signal in the fact that we were less than novices We were more like your weekend experience backyard tree climbers. Having enough knowledge to know that positioning your centre of gravity forward and allowing yourself to 'grip something' for support was probably going to be the way to get this done. Here's where the problem was. This part of the mountain was pebblecrete rock face only. No handles, no crevices, just an upward gradient that made you feel like one slip could have you sliding 50mtrs down the face and into the Atlantic. To say it was disconcerting was a slight understatement. The most difficult section did have a long rope to alleviate the nerves but still, looking down to what could be a harrowing death was not appealing for either of us.
Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Sugarloaf - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Conquering pebblecrete alley was one thing. What we didn't know, until such time that Daniel our guide explained it, was that there was about 20mtrs of vertical technical climbing that we needed to undertake...'Hey guide Daniel, excuse me sir, but WTF man, what is this vertical limit garbage and why are you making us wear helmets now'. This is probably where things took a severe turn for Inga. The climb was nerve racking and in moments left us dangling in mid air of the edge of a cliff. It wasn't at all the 'walk in the park' that we expected, and when Inga got to the top of the vertical stretch I could see that her nerves had been completely frazzled. Admittedly from that point out the climb up was just a path, with some precarious drops to keep us company, but still, just a path. Poor Inga however had been pushed to the edge and she literally climbed 80% of the remaining way on all fours. It would have been looked more than odd from the perspective of a bystander but self preservation sometimes forces you to take drastic steps.
The prize for getting up Sugarloaf in this manner? Probably a saving of $20 for not paying the cable cars, which we more than paid for the guide, so I guess really it's just to say that we'd be some of the small numbers that have that achievement under our belt, and that's pretty cool to know.
Final morning run on Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Final morning run on Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Copacabana, Ipanema and Sugarloaf - all visible from this photo
Rio de Janeiro - Brasil - on the way back to Buenos Aires - Argentina
Whilst our time in Rio was only short lived on this occasion it certainly didn't diminish our enjoyment and love of this city. Just like Buenos Aires we know that this occasion is only one in a long line of visits that we'll inevitably be making in the future.
