Christmas Vacation of a Lifetime: Stop 2: Rio de Janeiro

Standing on a beach. Staring at the sea.

After a three-day visit to Paraguay, it was on to the whole reason for visiting Brazil: Rio de Janeiro.

Corcovado in the background. Oh how lovely. Wait, no. It's Sugarloaf, a.k.a. Pão de Açúcar.

This was my first trip out of the country on my own. It was only my second time outside of the United States after my high school Spanish class trip to Spain in 1976. (I'm not counting Canada because, really, going to Canada is not really like visiting a foreign country, let's be real.)

It was overcast and not all that hot on my first day in town, which was weird since this was late December and the start of the South American summer. 

Here are two lifeguards towering over the beach high atop that guard tower:

Rio de Janeiro in 1997 was an absolutely amazing place. This was not a place to go to check off sights to see on a list. This was a place to go for the express purpose of experiencing Rio.

And Rio is all about the beaches. Rio culture is beach culture. I was staying at a hotel a couple of blocks inland from the world-renowned crescent-shaped Copacabana beach.

Fitness equipment on the beach! And always in use,

This is Pão de Açúcar. Make sure you nasalize the vowel sound in "pão." If you don't nasalize it, you inadvertently repeat the most hilarious joke in all of Brazilian Portuguese.

I can tell this is Sugarloaf, Pão de Açúcar, because it is rock. Corcovado -- oh how lovely -- is green. There both tall mountains overlooking the Rio harbor, but the color is the tell. Well, that and the giant statue of Christ at the top of Corcovado.

A church I passed along the way:

The way of what I don't remember.

And I believe this is O Monumento Nacional aos Mortos da Segunda Guerra Mundial, the monument to Brazil's WWII dead.  This is in the Flamengo neighborhood,

Again, this is the sight to see:

Crescent-shaped Copacabana as viewed from where?

The top of Pão de Açúcar, properly pronounced with a nasal vowel. I took the cable car (actually, a series of cable cars) to the top to have a look-see.

I never made it to the top of Corcovado (oh how lovely). I know. Only two non-beach sights to see and five days to see 'em and I saved Corcovado for my "next trip" to Rio.

Sadly, after 23 years, there's been no "next trip."

This is Arpoador Beach. Harpooner's beach. It's Rio's surf beach:

No waves like that at placid Copacabana.

Now, let's move on over to Ipanema.

It was a nicer beach than the Copacabana, in my opinion. More upscale, which is totally my scene.

The beachfront fitness equipment was in better shape.

And here's a game of futvolei. It's beach volleyball, with a twist. This being a soccer-mad country, this is volleyball with the futbol-inspired addition of being hands-free. Head or feet? Use 'em. Hands? As verboten as in futbol.

Apparently this was the "muscle beach" section of Ipanema:

Again, this being the era of film photography, I did not take a ton of pictures despite five amazing days in Rio. We will conclude with Ana Paula and João (I hope I am getting his name right).

These were close friends of the wife of an attorney with whom I worked at the time of this trip. They helped show me Rio. Obrigado, meus amigos do Rio. Obrigado.