Jimmie and I had to catch the bus out of Vicosa at 1020pm. The plan was to take the bus to Rio, sleep on the bus, drop our luggage off at the airport in a luggage locker that we were informed about, and spend the day sight seeing. Our plane left at 830pm from Rio the next evening to head back home to the US so we had a lot to do in the next 24 hours.
Seems like a good plan that should work without any kinks right??? Of course not. The bus ride was fine except for the fact that it is very difficult to sleep when your head keeps banging against the window. Jimmie was able to get more rest then me but he could sleep through a tornado and not hear a thing. I, on the other hand, was not blessed with the ability to sleep like the dead. The bus trip arrived at the airport earlier than expected so Jimmie and I were hanging out with the airport work crew at 430am looking for a place to put our bags.
The information deck informed us that they no longer stored bags for people anymore. Perfect!!! Luckily, Jimmie was able to ask around to a couple of other people and found out that the airport does in fact store luggage but the information desk and the luggage guys were not on the best of terms. We stowed our bags with the luggage guy and were ready to jump on a bus to take us into town.
We were coming up on 6am now and needed to find some coffee and something to eat. We met a nice family from London who was traveling. Jimmie had been to Rio before so he was able to give all of us the rundown on what he knew of the city. When you first leave the airport you can not help but notice the amount of favellas or low income or shanty homes. These houses are made of scrap wood, metal, mud, or even cardboard and make up a lot more of the Rio landscape than you would think. Here is a picture of what they look like.
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| From Rio De Janeiro - Sugar Loaf and More |
After the bus trip we walked around a bit we found a local padareia to drink some much need coffee and munch on a few pastries. Next stop, Sugar Loaf. These is one of the must see tourist stops if you ever visit Rio. The pictures and videos should give you an idea of the beauty you will witness if you ever have the privilege of visiting.
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| From RioSugarChristHome |
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| From RioSugarChristHome |
Next stop, the Christ statue that overlooks the city. We took a taxi over to the base of the mountain and rode a small electric train that took us to the top. The top was covered with clouds but it was still a very remarkable site. Again, a must see if you are ever in town.
We traveled back down the mountain on the train and took a taxi to a more artsy part of Rio. It used to be considered a rough part of town but now the cobble stone streets were lined with restaurants and art shops. We ate at one of the local eatery's with a friend we met on the train. After a late lunch we took a historic electric rail car back into the central part of town. It was getting close to 5pm and we needed to get back to the airport to catch our flight. We found a bus that took us to the outskirts of the airport - we had to jump on a separate shuttle which happened to be an old VW Bus that dropped us off at the airport.
So, to sum things up, we had started the day off on a bus, then a taxi, next a gondola (Sugar Loaf), then another taxi, then an electric train (Christ Statue), then another taxi, a historic cable car, a shuttle bus, a Volkswagen bus, and finally.....a plane.
It was time to go home.
Don't worry, more to come.