Day Six - Rio

Anything you may have heard about Rio de Janeiro is absolutely true. As far as cities go, it’s really all that. Beaches, stores, nightclubs, restaurants and fancy hotels placed in a setting of unimaginable natural beauty, imbued in a rich musical and arts tradition, and then plenty of poverty, misery and crime to strike a counterpoint lest you be tempted to think that you’ve landed in paradise. Rio has captivated me since my first visit as a kid and I’ve never gotten over it. Fortunately, Lauren loves it as well and we go back whenever we can.

Apartment in Copacabana
We stayed in an apartment on Rua Domingos Ferreira, a short block inland in Copacabana, a beautiful crescent-shaped beach neighborhood (see the picture to the right).
The beach-front promenade is Avenida Atlântica, which has a distinctive wave pattern to its mosaic sidewalks. I know the neighborhood well because it turns out we were two blocks away from my apartment when I went to school at PUC, Rio’s Catholic university. It was probably the best possible location for a tourist since everything was at our doorstep, including a phenomenal wine store downstairs, a laundry service across the street that does wash/dry/fold, easy access to every bus line in the city, 24 hour grocery stores, the Marriott Hotel around the corner (to change money without a fee), and a pirate-themed candy store vied with the “Sorvete Itália” ice cream shop for our favorite.

The first day in Rio was overcast and drizzly, but not at all cold. Not very promising for being on such a beautiful beach, but our first order of business was to go straight to the beach. I couldn’t wait to show the kids the wave-pattern mosaic sidewalks and the stunning half-moon shape of the beach. They were not wowed by the sidewalk, and they thought the stunning vistas of the mountains jutting out of the sea and squeezing the city up against the water was “okay, dad.”
But what were really cool were the green coconuts that the vendors would hack open with a machete and offer up cold with a straw in it! We strolled along the beach for a bit and then headed back to the apartment and decided to head to Niterói (the city across the bay from Rio).

Downtown and Niterói
To get there, we made our way to the docks of Praça XV and the ferries across the bay. We stopped for lunch at a run-of-the-mill lunch counter (“botequim”) near the docks and had a quick bite to eat with the dock workers. I ordered some pastel de galinha (chicken fritters) and empadinhas de galinha (little chicken pot pies) and a small plate of black beans & rice, and the kids declared it “the best meal we’ve had yet in Brazil.” What’s funny is how scandalized my Brazilian friends were when I recounted to them where we decided to stop for lunch, only to be topped by their howls of laughter when I then told them we took the ferries to Niterói. Cariocas (natives of Rio) cannot understand why anyone would go to Niterói (much less an American tourist), since they think “the only thing good there is the view of Rio.”

Museu de Arte Contemporânea
Anyway, the view of Rio from Niterói is actually stunning, but it’s also the site of the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Museu de Arte Contemporânea, which looks like a flying saucer perched on a craggy bluff jutting out into the bay. It’s a small museum and much of the art on display seemed to be inspired by or spoke to the turmoil Brazil experienced during the most recent miliary dictatorship (1964 – 1985). The overall design and the interior spaces made the entire building itself a work of art, and they even had some interactive exhibits displayed at a kid-friendly level.

Santa Teresa
We decided to walk back to the docks from the museum for some exercise (to count toward a later treat at Sorvete Itália) and we headed back to Rio on the ferry. By that point it was rush hour on Friday and Praça XV is in the middle of downtown, so we could either fight the traffic to get back to the apartment or find something to do downtown. We opted for the latter and decided to make our way to Santa Teresa, a hilly, bohemian neighborhood right near downtown accessible via the last remaining tram line in the city (the “bondinho de Santa Teresa”). The rickety old trams are long on charm and have side-runners and external handles that some younger dudes were hanging off of as we made the steep ascent into the neighborhood and over the Arcos da Lapa (see picture above that I found on the Internet). Some of the shops were open and we browsed through their wares as our appetites increased so we went in search of food. Once we realized that we probably would make it back to Copacabana too late for Sorvete Itália, we let a quest for ice cream guide our choice of restaurant, settling on a quaint bistro called Manga Jasmim, which offered a respectable ice cream sundae.

The Metrô – The Neat and Orderly Rio
We headed back to Copacabana on the metrô to avoid the traffic. One of my college professors and fellow Brazil-phile, Werner Baer, used to joke that the metrô is the only place in Rio that’s neat and orderly because it is a source of civic pride for Cariocas to have a subway (like São Paulo and all the other big cities in the world). I passed that observation along to the kids, and it turns out that the Cariocas did not disappoint me. All the lines were orderly and there was no trash whatsoever to be seen anywhere down there. Before we knew it, we were taking the escalator up to Copacabana feeling calm and refreshed. It was a nice alternative to the rough-and-tumble buses and the sobriety checkpoints.

We stopped at the grocery store to get some staples (which includes peanut butter in our house)and we were amazed at the variety and quality we saw on the shelves (a big departure from Brazil in years past). We saw scores of specialty items, like 8 varieties of cheese fondue, an olive & cheese bar, two kinds of maple syrup, imported wines and even a brand of paper towels called “Snob.” Based on our paper towel choice, we were able to clean up spills in the kitchen and feel smug about probably having paid too much for the paper towels.

Day Seven – Rio

We woke to another gray day and had breakfast in the apartment. The kids took a liking to putting requeijão, a type of cream cheese, on their bread. Even with our meager pots and pans, the coffee was good! Before heading out, Lauren taught me and the kids how to play Rummy 500, so we had fun playing a few hands.

After we got tired of that, we headed to the beach. It was only in the 70s and still overcast, but the kids were undeterred and went right into the water. The surf was up and they had fun frolicking in the waves. Expecting the water to be cold, I reluctantly went in up to my thighs and found that it was not cold at all. This bode well for our time at the beach.

We got suckered into a few items from the roaming beach vendors on the way back to the apartment, showered quickly and headed to Djanira’s house for lunch. That meant, of course, that we had to take her all the things she asked us to get her (hair relaxers, Clinique products, etc.). Somehow we managed to get it all into one bag and off we went in one of the many buses speeding their way down the streets.

Ipanema and our friend Djanira
That shot to the left is a night-time still shot of Ipanema beach looking toward the Morro Dois Irmãos hill that I took with my non-digital film camera in 2007. The lights dotting the hillside to the left above the ocean is Vidigal, one of the city's numerous favelas (hillside slum). This is probably my favorite picture of Brazil.

Djanira lives in Ipanema, the beach and neighborhood made famous by the song “The Girl from Ipanema.” It is a small, sophisticated little strip of sand between the Atlantic Ocean and the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (see picture to right), filled with shops, restaurants and very expensive real estate housing the who’s who of Brazil’s arts, music and entertainment industry. It’s quieter and more refined than its bawdy sister, Copacabana, and on Sundays it hosts the weekly “Feira Hippy” of arts and hand crafts. The beach-front Avenida Vieira Souto has a distinct mosaic pattern (see picture to the left).

How Djanira came to live in Ipanema is a story for another time, but she is a self-made woman with a good head for investment and has always been a saver. She has been one of my dearest friends since when I first met her as a student at PUC renting a room in her apartment.

Since it was Saturday, she made feijoada (black bean stew) for us. It's a Brazilian tradition to eat feijoada on Saturday, adding music and drinks and turning the meal into a party lasting until nightfall. Our feijoada with Djanira lasted until past nightfall and as we left, I talked her into going with us the next day to the feira hippy. That was a big, big deal because as long as I’ve known her (since 1985) she has professed to never having gone to the feira hippy, calling it a “programa de gringo” (something only a gringo would do). I now have the picture to prove that she's done it (see below)!

When we got back to the apartment, of course, it was not too late for some more Rummy 500.

Day Eight – Rio

Today the sun came out and renewed our faith that winter in the tropics was not all doom & gloom. We got up, showered and then made our way to Ipanema, stopping at the Padaría Eldorado – one of Ipanema’s oldest and best bakeries. As we walked past the stores of Ipanema, the kids started noticing how some of them took random English words and gave them new life as the name of these boutiques, such as a bathing suit store named "Potty," a luggage store called “Big Bag,” a clothing boutique called “Enjoy,” and a shoe store named “Mr. Cat.” We even had a lingerie store in our neighborhood called "Lascivia!"

The Feira Hippy and Rollercoaster Rides
After breakfast, we made our way back to the “Feira Hippy”, picking up all sorts of gifts, souvenirs and momentos. My favorite has to be the Cuícas we bought, which are little instruments whose high-pitched tones are a very distinctive part of Brazilian music. We were able to fit in a visit with an old friend, Márcia Coelho, and we ended up seeing Pablo Matania, the creator of two paintings we have hanging in our house that we bought at the Feira Hippy in the early 1990s. (see picture above).

We left Djanira at the Feira Hippy and caught the bus to Gávea, where Gisele lives. By this point, Alex was growing fond of the buses since they were driven in such a way that you felt like you are on a roller coaster. I’ve long been aware of how the drivers take sharp turns at full speed, stop on a dime and take off from red lights like a drag racer, but I never made the connection to a roller coaster. Good times! Wheeeeeeeeee!

Lunch with Gisele
Gisele is the daughter of one of my mom’s childhood friends, Azamor, who herself also has a daughter named Dóra. Gisele and Dóra live in Gávea, a leafy neighborhood in the foothills of the forested mountains that form the backdrop for Rio’s vistas, which is also the home of PUC. When I studied there, I took a political science class that met at night, so I got into the habit of dropping by Gisele’s house to visit after class. Since she is a night owl, she usually was getting home herself at that hour from her dance class and we’d hang out and visit. She is facinating to talk to because she is well read, travels extensively and works as a supervising editor of publications at Brazil’s national archives. As a result, she is very articulate, and I credit her with having helped me develop a strong vocabulary in Portuguese.

After lunch, we went for a stroll through Gávea and into the neighboring Jardim Botânico. The old architecture, courtyards and gardens harkened back to another era and made for a pleasant stroll as we tried to walk off over-indulging at Gisele's table.

On the way back to the apartment, we got off before our stop and visited a handcrafts fair on Copacabana’s Avenida Atlântica. Lilly believes in her own personal version of an economic stimulus program based on gift shops and handcrafts fairs, so we had to do our part to help the economy...

Day Nine – Rio

The day started out semi-cloudy and it looked like it kept wanting to rain all day, so thinking we’d not be going to the beach we decided to head out to Pão de Açucar and Corcovado. The shot above is of Pão de Açúcar from atop Corcovado. The shot to the right is from atop Pão de Açúcar looking toward Corcovado across Botafogo Bay.
Needless to say, both are stunning places to visit because of their incomparable views of the most beautiful urban setting in the world. We took the roller coaster (bus #512) from Copacabana to Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain). Once we got there, we unwittingly became part of the background on a Discovery Channel production about gastronomy in Brazil, which made a stop in Rio and had the hosts providing commentary on the cable ride up and on the mountaintop.

Once back at Sea Level, we walked the 6-blocks back to Botafogo to catch another roller coaster (bus #583) to get to Cosme Velho to catch the cog railway to Corcovado. Along the way, we passed the old buildings of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and saw a cacao tree with pods on it. We also passed the Rio Yacht Club and it’s inlaid azulejo tiles in its outer wall, which provide a visual cue that this country was colonized by Iberians.

We were able to take pictures of Corcovado and I showed the kids points of interest, such as where my mom (their vóvó) grew up, the largest stadium in the world (Maracanã), and of course
Copacabana, Ipanema and Gávea/Jardim Botânico. It always amazes me that Maracanã stadium has a capacity of 200,000 and there is not a single parking lot attached to that facility. Not one – it’s a fact. There are numerous private parking lots that have popped up as a result, but there is no “official” parking lot for that stadium, which was built for the 1950 World Cup games.

Once again at sea level, we strolled through Cosme Velho and Laranjeiras to take in the beautiful architecture before catching the rollercoaster back to Copacabana (bus #584). We made a stop at the Pirate Candy store (aargh, matey!), picked up our laundry and then had dinner at the little Italian restaurant acorss the street (Trattoria Donanna) for Italian food.

After dinner, we decided to take a stroll up Avenida Copacabana to the Lido area adjacent to the Copacabana Palace Hotel, where there are a ton of souvenir shops.

A Brazilian Joke about Brazilians
Sometimes when I reach the top of Corcovado, the vista of blue ocean and lush green hills as far as the eye can see reminds me of one of my favorite jokes in Portuguese that Brazilians tell about themselves (paraphrased into English), and it goes like this:

According to the Bible, God made the world in seven days. What is not recorded (but well known among Brazilians) is that on the seventh day, God peered down at the earth to survey his handiwork and St. Peter came alongside God and said, "My Lord – I have a question for you. You’ve bestowed great beauty, plentiful food, fresh air and many resources on each land, but every place has a drawback. The Pacific Rim has terrible earthquakes, the Atlantic Basin has fierce hurricanes, harsh blizzards plague the polar regions, even Hawaii has volcanoes. But this area here (pointing to Brazil) is not plagued by any of those natural disasters – was that an oversight? How can you have a land with such a mild climate, bountiful food and stunning beauty that it’s almost paradise?" God put a hand on St. Peter’s shoulder and said, “My son, wait until you see the people I put there.”

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That picture above was not taken by me, but I like the way it shows the setting of Corcovado, my favorite place on earth.

Day 10/11/12/13 – Rio

These four days were all about the beach. Every day was sunny and between 85° and 93°, the water was clear & blue and the big waves kept the kids enthralled for hours on end. Every day, we had a leisurely breakfast and then sauntered down to the beach, rented chairs and umbrellas and then whiled the hours away just relaxing.

Cariocas seem to do everything on the beach, so it's interesting just to see the many vendors walking up and down the sands selling just about everything. In addition to beach volleyball and paddle ball,

it's very common to see guys kick a soccer ball around on the beach. Rio's municipal government has upgraded the city's tourism infrastructure, particularly at the beach. Every 200 yards or so, you can find one of these kiosks (see below) that provide all sorts of information about the conditions at the beach, including the recommended SPF for that day depending upon your skin color. It would be unheard of to see such a thing in the US, but not so in Brazil. The attention to SPF is relatively new in Brazil, so sun screen is annoyingly expensive, but the blunt differentiation by skin tone was still surprising.

Tourist Safety on the Beach
For security reasons, we always walked a half block over to be in front of the Marriott Hotel. The tourist police, the Polícia Militar and the in-house security staffs of all the large high-end hotels all watch the sand by the big hotels very closely. In Copacabana, look for the Meridien, Copacabana Palace, Marriott, Othon Palace and Sofitel. In Ipanema, look for the Caesar Park.

On Day 10, I had to go downtown to get a new set of copies of my mother’s birth certificate since they misspelled our family names on the last set I requested in 2007 (ugh!). As a result, I ended up missing a half day on the beach, but it gave Djanira and me a little time to catch up about my grandfather’s estate (she’s our lawyer). We also seized the opportunity to have breakfast at the Confeitaría Colombo – an elegant turn-of-the-century coffee house that could easily fit in on the Champs Elysées or anywhere in Europe.

Large-Size Shoe Store
On the way back to Copacabana, I happened upon a store that specializes in large-size shoes, (Ding-ding-ding!) so for the first time in all the times I’ve been to Brazil I was able to buy a pair of Brazilian shoes for a souvenir. How about that? The name of the store is "Summerville." Check it out at the corner of Barata Ribeiro and Figueiredo de Magalhães (tel: 2548-0836).

Lunch consisted of caipirinhas (and guaraná for the kids) and aipim frito (manioc fries), which brought it all full circle with our Amazon trip for the kids. The aipim frito brought back memories of the times I would down to the beach with my friends when I was at PUC and we’d order beers and aipim frito and watch the world saunter by.

The Wine Store
We ventured into the little wine store downstairs and discovered a treasure-trove of great wines from all over at amazing prices (Pata Negra from Spain for about $15). Here’s the scoop: “Deu la Deu” Vinhos at Rua Domingos Ferreira, 66-B (near Figueiredo de Magalhães), tel: 2235-7287.

We took the Pata Negra to Djanira’s house for dinner, and along the way we caught the full moon rising over the water as we took one of the roller-coaster buses along Avenida Atlântica to Ipanema. We headed back after dinner and then played Rummy 500 until bed time.

Brazilian Gemstones and H. Stern
On day eleven, we had lunch at Habib’s (on the beach, of course) and then after 4:00 we took quick showers and headed over to H. Stern for a tour of their gemstone processing facility. It’s way cool, and of course labor-intesive. It was impressive to see just how many gemstones and precious metals are mined all over Brazil. Of couse, they tried to sell us the high-end jewelry, but we held strong and then spent a bunch of time buying trinkets and handcrafts in their gift store. That picture to the left of Lilly and the carved eagle was taken at the Amsterdam Sauer store (biggest competitor in Rio to H. Stern jewlers).

Churrasco – Brazilian Barbecue
For dinner, we took the plunge and ate at Porcão – the granddaddy in Rio of all Brazilian barbecue restaurants (called Churrascarías). Meat on skewers whisked through the restaurant and then skillfully sliced with a large knife onto your plate. The key at a Churrascaria is to sit at a table near the doorway to the kitchen so they stop at your table first and you get the hottest meat off the grill. If you really want to work it, grab the seat that faces that doorway and then make eye contact with the guy who has what you want. Needless to say, we overindulged but decided that it was worth it. There are cheaper places to have churrasco, but Porcão is considered the best (IMHO). Check them out in Ipanema at Rua Barão da Torre, 218 (Tel: 3389-8989).

Renting Furnished Apartments in Rio
On our last day in Rio, Andréa came by and I paid her for the apartment. It was $750 for 9 days in a 2-bedroom apartment a block from the beach in Copacabana. That just can’t be beat. Here is her contact information and if you call her, tell her you know me and I referred you:
Andréa Kelemen, tel: 011-55-21-2235-6657 / cell: 011-55-21-9643-6850 / fax: 011-55-21-2547-0537. She is the daughter of one of my grandfather's old fishing buddies, and they rented an apartment to me when I lived in Rio in the 1980s, so naturally I called her first when I knew I'd be in Rio for a few days with the whole family.

For our last dinner in Rio, Djanira pulled out all the stops and made Brazilian beef stroganoff (with tomatoes) and champagne. We stopped at the wine store and got a really smooth Portuguese red wine called Periquita for $6 a bottle. Amazing – both cheap and good.