We docked yesterday In the tiny, but beautiful little town of Paraty, Brazil. The three of us were on a ship's tour called "The Gold Trail"! The first stop was a hike up an uneven and fairly rugged trail to our first waterfall. Duffy hiked the whole way. The humidity felt like a 100% (it IS a tropical rain forest) and the temperature was around 87 --- a veritable cold front compared to Rio today which reached 100 F. Not exactly Iguazu, but still nice..
The second stop in Paraty was "Sliding Rock" where the local boys put on a great show for tips. They climb up the very slippery, wide rock and "surf" down standing up. Quite a feat to behold!!! After all, anyone can sit down and "slide" into the water. There were some in our group who were disappointed there was no time to swim. We got started about 40 minutes late because not all of our group made it on the tinder. The tender ride was one of the longest we've ever done! It took about 45 minutes. When the tide goes out, the bay gets very shallow which is why our ship had to anchor so far out!
Our third stop on our jeep gold trail tour was a distillery where you can taste a very famous( and super strong ) local alcohol called cachaca! We were told it is 80% alcohol - not just 80 proof! Two thimblefulls and your done!!!! They took us to a greenhouse to see Bromiliaids-- and while they were lovely, they were nothing different than what we see in Boca... We barely made it back to the tender before the black skies( which had been rumbling and grumbling ) opened with a typical rainforest deluge!! Not that it would have mattered if we'd gotten wet since the humidity is so high we all felt like we'd already been in a rain shower!!
Today is the first of our two days in Rio.. It has not disappointed. We had
a bit of difficulty locating our private guide but once we found him we were off to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue! There's a tram (actually built in 1882) that takes you to the top of the mountain. You must buy tram tickets and they are scheduled by time. The earliest ticket we could procure was at 2:40 pm but our guide suggested we wait and see if we could find 3 seats on the 11:00am train. He spoke to someone (and I think Mary's age helped a lot). They boarded the 11am train and miraculously found 3 seats for us!! Yea! This is where a guide DEFINITELY helps. You need a local to explain how it all works or you need to be with a tour group..
The day was very HOT but the skies were clear and we had gorgeous views from the top. We will do the famed Sugarloaf Mountain tomorrow along with Ipanema and Copocobana Beaches..After doing the Christ the Redeemer we grabbed a quick lunch at a cafeteria( fast and decent food) and then set off on a bit of a city tour. We saw the so called "new Cathedral" built in the style of Brasilia in the 1960's.. It looks like an upside down Dixie cup...Inside, the stained glass windows are pretty and the glass was imported from Spain and Portugal.
Denzel Wasgington is in town for some important function tomorrow by their opera house( a good copy of the one in Paris). So, It's a good thing we did the main city today. We saw the stadium that holds Carnival in February. It is long and narrow and holds 85,000 people (for very expensive prices). One ticket for a decent seat for one night of Carnival is probably around $1,000.!
There is an elderly gentleman who for the last few years stakes out a corner by the stadium after Carnival. He collects discarded costume pieces and you tip him to try on a few of the pieces! Even the small pieces I wore we're very heavy. The very elaborate costumes that the Samba schools do in the competition at Carnival weigh a TON! Don't know how those ladies do it! They do train all year for these four nights!
More tomorrow after we do the famous beaches and Sugarloaf!
The second stop in Paraty was "Sliding Rock" where the local boys put on a great show for tips. They climb up the very slippery, wide rock and "surf" down standing up. Quite a feat to behold!!! After all, anyone can sit down and "slide" into the water. There were some in our group who were disappointed there was no time to swim. We got started about 40 minutes late because not all of our group made it on the tinder. The tender ride was one of the longest we've ever done! It took about 45 minutes. When the tide goes out, the bay gets very shallow which is why our ship had to anchor so far out!
Our third stop on our jeep gold trail tour was a distillery where you can taste a very famous( and super strong ) local alcohol called cachaca! We were told it is 80% alcohol - not just 80 proof! Two thimblefulls and your done!!!! They took us to a greenhouse to see Bromiliaids-- and while they were lovely, they were nothing different than what we see in Boca... We barely made it back to the tender before the black skies( which had been rumbling and grumbling ) opened with a typical rainforest deluge!! Not that it would have mattered if we'd gotten wet since the humidity is so high we all felt like we'd already been in a rain shower!!
Today is the first of our two days in Rio.. It has not disappointed. We had
a bit of difficulty locating our private guide but once we found him we were off to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue! There's a tram (actually built in 1882) that takes you to the top of the mountain. You must buy tram tickets and they are scheduled by time. The earliest ticket we could procure was at 2:40 pm but our guide suggested we wait and see if we could find 3 seats on the 11:00am train. He spoke to someone (and I think Mary's age helped a lot). They boarded the 11am train and miraculously found 3 seats for us!! Yea! This is where a guide DEFINITELY helps. You need a local to explain how it all works or you need to be with a tour group..
The day was very HOT but the skies were clear and we had gorgeous views from the top. We will do the famed Sugarloaf Mountain tomorrow along with Ipanema and Copocobana Beaches..After doing the Christ the Redeemer we grabbed a quick lunch at a cafeteria( fast and decent food) and then set off on a bit of a city tour. We saw the so called "new Cathedral" built in the style of Brasilia in the 1960's.. It looks like an upside down Dixie cup...Inside, the stained glass windows are pretty and the glass was imported from Spain and Portugal.
Denzel Wasgington is in town for some important function tomorrow by their opera house( a good copy of the one in Paris). So, It's a good thing we did the main city today. We saw the stadium that holds Carnival in February. It is long and narrow and holds 85,000 people (for very expensive prices). One ticket for a decent seat for one night of Carnival is probably around $1,000.!
There is an elderly gentleman who for the last few years stakes out a corner by the stadium after Carnival. He collects discarded costume pieces and you tip him to try on a few of the pieces! Even the small pieces I wore we're very heavy. The very elaborate costumes that the Samba schools do in the competition at Carnival weigh a TON! Don't know how those ladies do it! They do train all year for these four nights!
More tomorrow after we do the famous beaches and Sugarloaf!
Check out the latest blog from Rio!
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