Copacabana Beach was very quiet when we went for a walk before breakfast.
Ian's dislike of heights reappeared when he saw the cable car swinging between Sugar Loaf Mountain and its neighbour, so opted to spend the morning on the beach whilst I went up there with Chris and Stuart.
The little cable car pod and some views as we went up.
Including Christ the Redeemer
The views all round were amazing; Rio is a natural harbour with sweeping bays and lots of little volcanic islands, most unoccupied.
Copacabana Beach with approximate location of our hotel
Back to the beach to collect Ian - the water may give the impression of being calm.
But being the Atlantic, although not that cold the waves were huge at times, with a very strong undercurrent so unfortunately swimming was out.
Looking back towards our hotel
All along the beach front are exercise apparatus and statues of one kind or another.
Ian having a heart to heart with Brazil's best loved poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade
This was the first time we'd seen anybody paddle boarding.
After lunch we went to the Botanical Gardens which had a very impressive palm walk, but although were very well laid out it didn't house the variety of flowering plants I'd hoped to see, apart from in the Orchid House.
These giant Victoria lily pads were rather exceptional though.
One of the many species of Egret.
Next day our flight wasn't until mid afternoon so Ian was able to soak up a few more rays in the morning.
And from our hotel rooftop, a last view of probably the most famous beach in the world
And that was Rio, before we really got to know the place it was time to pack the suitcases again and we were off. We totted up 13 flights overall and goodness knows how many miles.
My favourite sites were without a doubt Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls. Ian's favourite sight was probably this!
Ready for the journey home, luckily already being on the east coast of Brazil, the flight to Madrid isn't quite as long as the outbound to Lima, so hopefully we won't be as tired when we get home.
Except unfortunately at Bajaras Airport, Madrid we came into a gate miles away from our connecting flight to London (Bajaras is a huge airport) and we were bussed all over the place. Despite the 7 of us running the last few hundred meters, the gate was firmly shut when we got there and Derek's pleas went ignored - easier to offload our cases than let us board!
In October 2020 during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, having endured more than 6 months of lockdown and cancelled holidays and with no idea when we might plan such adventures again, I decided to revisit this blog. It was the first I'd ever written and was brief to say the least, so I spent a week going back through all my photos and rewriting the chapters as the memories came flooding back. We are truly blessed to have had the opportunity to visit such iconic and amazing places.
