bye bye Rio

Our last day in Rio as we board the ship at 3 pm. What a time we have had! Our day with Edvaldo was wonderful..we spent from 10 am to 8 pm with him seeing all the highlights of the city in his older model VW sedan with A/C. He has developed all sorts of tricks to thwart thieves when he parks and keeps his cars for 4 years or about 800,000 km. It is required that most cars have both Natural Gas and ethanol options, so there is little exhaust fumes here- a tribute to the environmental policy.
As we left our B&B we travelled up toward Corcovado..the famous Christos Redentor statue that gazes over the city. We stopped to look across to a favella on the hillside. Edvaldo told us that there would be people watching us through binoculars and if we were Poliza we would be fired at. Quite the game of cat and mouse it seems. The road goes through the National Park Tijuca that has preserved many of the native species- trees, birds and flora- that have disappeared in the rest of the country. It is well patrolled by police in the day, but very unsafe at night.
We spent quite a long time in lineup to buy a ticket to travel by van up to Corcovado. We watched as some people just seemed to be able to circumvent this and probably bribe the organizer to jump the queue. Hope they solve that before the World Cup and Olympics. The views from the top are extraordinary...the beaches, the green of the forest that surrounds the city, the white of the buildings in contrast. But, poor Jesus, he was totally surrounded by scaffolding- unrevealled to us!
We saw the stadium where they gather all the samba schools for Carnaval parade, the Maracana soccer stadium holding 90,000 people, the magnifcent modern San Sebastian Church shaped like a cone with soaring full height stained glass panels,- all of this accompanied by Edvaldo's excellent commentary on all aspects of Brazilian life and culture. We had lunch in a typical local restaurant- a buffet of Brazilian specialities costed by the kilo. The day was capped by a trip up Sugarloaf Mountain by aerial tram and a view of the sunset over Rio.
We drove home along the beach strip of Copacobana, Ipanema and Leblon...those are in order of wealth-highest to lowest, and reverse order of lively activity. Even at night there are the locals who play beachvolley ball in the sand of Copacabana and jog in the cool of the evening.
Edvaldo's love of Rio is contagious- he shared so much of his life with us and we even talked with his daughter Carolina on the cellphone. She is top of her class in English. We caught the fever of the possibilities of Brazil, all of it fanned by the enthusiasm and zest of a people who love bikinis and beaches..what is not to love about that! (the bikini enthusiasm has not quite embraced me yet, though the women here have it no matter their shape)
Yesterday we had a day to do our own exploring. We hoped on the old yellow tram in front of our Casa and rode it down to the Centro. Our plan was to go to a museum, scout the harbour for a tourist boat ride and then spend the afternoon walking the beach at Copacabana. Plans have a way of changing...the museum didn't open until later as it was Good Friday holiday, the area where one catches the ferries didn't feel safe- especially after a young boy tried to grab my little camera- so we just hopped the subway for the ride to the beach. The subway is safe due to police presence in every station. The Copacabana Beach was packed...families, umbrellas, soccer players, swimmers, sandcastles, and of course immense variety of bikinis accompanied by minimalist speedos. We were overdressed for sure. The white sand of the beach contrasts with the green hills that contain the towering buildings of Rio. A few hours of walking, enjoying lunch in a sidewalk restaurant and we were ready to take the bus home.- a new adventure.
These buses fly through the streets ..and don't even slow down for the cobblestones of Santa Teresa. We asked the driver where to get off..due to a misunderstanding we got off a stop too earlier- but not to fear, a cry went up from the other people on the bus who made him keep the back door open and gestured and waved until we got back on. They all talked at once in Portugeuse and we got the message! Such helpful demonstrative folks.
Last night we had a beautiful dinner in Sobrenaturel restaurant with a young Brazilian couple who live in Fort Lauderdale. The live music we hoped to hear never materialized so we had coffee with a Samba CD in the common room of the B&B- a quiet ending to a great stay.