River of January

The literal translation of Rio de Janeiro from Portuguese is river of January. I find it a bit poetic that this is where we begin our overseas journey. To be completely honest, I didn't actually realize the translation till we had already been there two weeks but that does not eliminate the symbolism. The story of how we decided to go to Rio de Janeiro first is even less poetic, but it is another lesson in always adapting your travel plans.

Shortly after receiving the wedding invitation for the LA wedding my brother called to say he was quitting his job and had just bought a plane ticket to Rio. I dont think his point was I should join him but since it had been over a year since we had spent any time together and prices were not bad for the flight we decided to book from LAX to GIG, meeting up with him about a month after his planned arrival. Visions of beautiful beaches and samba dancing in the streets began to fill my head. Of course this was still months before any real progress as we had not yet even listed the house for sale. My brother’s planned departure was the week after we vacated our recently sold home so we were committed at this point. The day of his trip I get a message from him saying Brazil has just changed the rules for travel and he is stuck in Panama with no path to enter to Brazil. A couple days later he finally tells me he is now back in the US. It really never even occurred to me to change my already paid for tickets and two week rental in Rio. It would have been nice to spend some time on the road but it was not to be on this destination.

The itinerary from LAX to GIG was fairly direct with only a stop in Miami enroute. When I originally booked the trip it was only a one hour layover but with all the airline chaos they changed the LAX to MIA leg to be first thing in the morning, not desirable but getting upset about it is really only going to impact me, not them. On a positive note, my recently acquired Venture X card came with priority pass and access to the Turkish Airlines lounge in the Miami airport. We passed the 4hr layover with the complimentary snacks and drinks before boarding the long flight south.

We boarded the flight to Rio in plenty of time for on-time departure and grew excited as boarding seemed to complete and we had an extra seat in our row. Sadly the crew made no indications of imminent departure and we sat there for another 2 hours. I knew I could not check in to the rental till afternoon so figured I would be sitting somewhere a few extra hours anyway so was not terribly annoyed with the delay. Eventually the captain came on the PA to announce there was a connecting flight that had been delayed and they were waiting for those passengers to arrive since there were several folks coming from that flight. Our hopes for an extra seat were dashed shortly thereafter and the flight headed south.

Welcome to Rio

The long flight was issue free and I even managed to catch a few hours sleep enroute. We made the long trek to immigration control. Why it is always a 2 mile walk from the plane to passport check is beyond me but I think every airport has the same model. After no more than 5 minutes we had our passports stamped and were off to collect our bags. We grabbed a luggage cart from the area to make our hauling a bit easier and I loaded our remaining belongings onto it and realized this was the extent of our worldly possessions. It still seems like a lot of stuff but at least it fit on one cart.

Since it was still early in the morning when we arrived we found a power outlet in the arrival area and checked for free wifi which we found. Next step was getting some coffee since it had been almost 8 hours since I had a cup.

After enjoying the fresh Brazilian coffee I set about for my next errand. In my brother’s failed attempt at traveling to Rio his checked bag was lost along the way. He asked if I could check with United locally to see if it may have been sitting in a closet there. After several passes through the departures counters I was able to locate some folks from United tucked behind the security counter past the bathroom. The folks in this small room proved very helpful and spent more than ten minutes looking for the bag tag number in all the systems they had available. They all returned no results and they suggested checking with Houston. I relayed the failed attempt to my brother and he had already filed the claim there so my part was done. We did learn a few days later that United located the bag and it has now been returned to him. As I paced across the airport I experienced my first welcome to town by the stifling heat through the periodically opening entry doors. I knew it was summer but was not prepared for the overwhelming sun and humidity.

Life in Rio

There are several neighborhoods in Rio, each with a different experience. In my prior research it seemed Cobacabana or Ipanema would be the preferred neighborhood for tourists so we booked a place for a couple weeks in Copacabana, a block from the beach. The 30 minute toursit’s take on the neighborhoods:

• Centro: middle of town, mostly government buildings and dilapidated architecture. It had the feeling of a lovely town with style and class maybe 30 to 40 years ago.

• Botafogo and Flamengo: Did not spend much time here but they are closer to town with less beach emphasis. Plenty of shops and restaurants to pass the time.

• Copacabana: 3km, 6 block deep neighborhood of 10 floor buildings. Very lively and lots of people, shops, restaurants, and bars. Everything is really setup for going to the beach.

• Ipanema: Also beach focused vibe but a little more space and a bit less dense than Copacabana. I would recommend Ipanema over Copacabana simply for the slightly slower pace.

• Leblon: basically an extension of Ipanema with a little more suburb feel and more local population than tourists.

• Barra: A clear suburb and quite a distance from town. The subway only reaches one end of the neighborhood; filled with tower condo developments and nicer houses. We found it much more relaxing than Copacabana as going to the beach every day did not interest us much.

While staying in Copacabana we explored the main tourist sites including Christ the Redeemer and Colombo cafeteria, both definitely worth the effort. There is a train up to the statue that made the trip fairly easy, admission is included with the train ticket. We also spent a day touring the botanical gardens near the jockey club. Nothing spectacular from the gardens but it made for a decent couple hour activity. The moments near the bamboo garden where one can actually here the fast growing plant expand was a unique experience. Sadly the orchid house was closed for repairs. I did catch a few nicely framed views of the hilltop redeemer statue.