Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Countryside, Beaches and Sugarloaf Mountain

On May 6th we left Buzios (Brazil) and drove back to Rio de Janeiro. The drive from Buzios to Rio was a great way to see the countryside of Brazil. There is a lot of rich vegetation and mountains/hills. It was beautiful.

Back in Rio we headed to the beach. First we went to the Ipanema Beach:

We then headed to Copacabana Beach. This beautiful beach is world famous, and stretches 4km long. It brings in tons of tourists, and the area is full of restaurants and bars. We went during the late afternoon, and it was quiet and beautiful.

That evening we had the opportunity to try a traditional Brazilian BBQ. We went to a really nice restaurant with a full buffet, and then at your table as you sit and eat your meal the waiters walk by with skewers of meat, and they will cut off pieces for you right onto your plate. There were so many varieties of meats, all BBQ’d on skewers. It was delicious!

The following day we went to Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar in Portuguese), one of the major attractions in Rio. It is 396m high and offers amazing views of the city. In order to get up to Sugarloaf we had to take two cable cars, one to get to Morro da Urca (the mountain on the left in the photo below) and then another to get to Sugarloaf (the mountain on the right in the photo).

Once we got to Morro da Urca (before taking the 2nd cable car to the Sugarloaf) we stopped to see the amazing view. You can see Christ the Redeemer in the background of my photo below (the statue at the top of the mountain in the middle of the photo).

While on Morro da Urca we ran into a couple little monkeys! They were so friendly and cute!

We also saw a pretty large lizard!

After having some lunch and spending some time with the monkeys we took the 2nd cable car over from Morro da Urca to Sugarloaf Mountain.

From Sugarloaf looking back at Morro da Urca :

From Sugarloaf we had an amazing view of Copacabana Beach:

We also had a view of the Christ Redeemer statue (it’s hard to see, but he’s on top of the mountain in the background):

I’m really glad I went up to Sugarloaf to see the views. I found the views  of Rio de Janeiro to be better on Sugarloaf than from Christ the Redeemer’s mountain. I’m loving Rio. The city has so much life and culture!

Buzios, Brazil

On May 4th we left Rio and took a 3 hour bus ride to Buzios, Brazil. Buzios is a peninsula, in between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It has about 17 different beautiful beaches, and it is one of the best known beach resort areas in Brazil. It has tons of bars, restaurants, night clubs, hotels and shops. We arrived and went directly to the beach!

We stayed on the beach to see the beautiful sunset:

The boats and the islands reminded me of my time in Halong Bay (Vietnam). The boats almost look like the boats in Vietnam and in Thailand (with the pointy front). It was so beautiful!

The following day we went on a trolley tour of the peninsula. Buzios is a really ritzy area! The shops and restaurants are really expensive, and some of the beach houses are incredible! Going on the tour really gave me a chance to see the big differences in income/living conditions. Brazil is one of the most unequal countries in the world, where the gap between the rich and the poor is really large. Many of the football players and CEOs of big companies have beach houses in the area, and some of them sell for around $6 million CAN! We saw a number of helicopters, and some of the houses have private helicopter pads!

Below is a photo of one of the private residences with a pool overlooking the water.

Although there is tons of greenery and vegetation, the area gets very little rain, and so there are a lot of really large cactus all over the island.

Everyone here has cute little convertibles:

We spent the afternoon cruising around on a boat.

We stayed on the boat until sundown:

Our boat:

Overall Buzios was an amazing city and I had a great time there! If i ever come back to Brazil I will definitely make another trip to Buzios!

Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer Statue, Selaron Stairs, and Cathedral of Saint Sebastian

On the morning of May 4 we set out to tour Rio, and our first stop was the Christ the Redeemer statue, on top of the Corcovado hill. The statue is amazing, and was recently chosen as one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is 30 metres high, 710m above sea level.

The statue is a very prominent piece in Rio, and it can be seen from almost everywhere in Rio.

We went up to the top of the mountain to get a better look:

From the top of the mountain you can see awesome views of the whole city of Rio.

From there we went to see the Selaron Stairs, made by the artist Jorge Selaron. He started putting tiles outside of his house to decorate the steps, and his project eventually grew to cover all the steps. There are 250 steps, and they are covered in 2000 tiles.

I was able to climb up the side:

As the steps grew and became more popular, tiles were donated from countries and cities all over the world. There are over 60 countries represented in the tiles.

Even Toronto is represented!

From there we went to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian. I would have never guessed it was a cathedral by looking at it from the outside! It looks like a rounded pyramid. It was built in the late 1960s and 1970s. Inside the cathedral are beautiful stained glass windows.

I really enjoyed the cathedral. It was unlike any cathedral I had ever been to. From there we said goodbye to Rio and hopped on a 3 hour bus to Buzios!

Rio de Janeiro: Ipanema

My hotel in Rio is located right in the heart of the area Ipanema, which is one of the neighbourhoods in Rio, famous for it’s beach (the Ipanema Beach). The day I arrived (May2nd), after checking into my hotel, I decided to take a walk around the area, and especially down to the famous beach.

The beach was beautiful! You could see views of the mountains and the city. I was surprised however at how early the sun went down! I went for my walk around 5:30pm and it was in the midst of setting! It made for a beautiful photo though:

The following day (May 3) I spent the majority of the day on this beach! The views from the daytime are amazing:

I decided to climb the rock (seen at the end of the beach on the right in the photo above) to get a better view of the area:

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people exercising by the beach. While walking along the beach I saw many runners jogging in the sand, and along the paved path (next to the road) I saw lots of people on bicycles. There are even workout stations outdoors where people can lift weights or do pull-ups and other exercises. See below for a workout station right by the beach:

This is Rio’s version of the Bixi Bike (rent a bike):

I also took some time to explore Ipanema’s streets. There are tons of stores, restaurants and cafes, and the area is bustling with people. I found my way into a street market and sampled a few different fruits (all delicious by the way!).

So far I’m loving Rio! Tomorrow I’m doing some more sightseeing in Rio and then I’m heading to Buzios (a beach city in Brazil, 3 hours from Rio) for the weekend. I’ll be returning to Rio on Monday (May 6) to finish exploring the city.

Arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

After a 10 hour flight from Toronto to Sao Paulo, a 3 hour stop-over, and then a 1 hour flight from Sao Paulo to Rio, I am finally at my hotel in Rio de Janeiro!

The journey was smooth, and pretty uneventful. My flight left Toronto on May 1st at 11:45pm, and luckily I was sufficiently tired and ready for sleep by the time I got onboard.

I slept for most of the flight (luckily no one was seated next to me, so I was able to use both seats and lie across them). I woke up to a pretty awesome view of the countryside of Brazil:

I also had a nice view of the city as we were landing in Sao Paulo:

Arriving in Sao Paulo kind of reminded me of arriving in Mexico, the decor of the airport, the chairs and even the smell reminded me of the decor and atmosphere of Mexican airports (specifically the Mexico City airport). The main difference was that everyone was speaking Portuguese!

My flight from Sao Paulo to Rio was also smooth, but when I arrived in Rio I almost got ripped off getting a taxi to my hotel. I had heard it is best to go to a special taxi stand inside the airport instead of going outside and hailing a taxi. The first taxi stand I went to wanted to charge me $60 CAN for a taxi to my hotel! I told them that was ridiculous and walked away. It turns out I was right about it being way too expensive because a taxi stand about 20 metres away only charged me $25 CAN for my taxi. I am now in my hotel room (with free internet!) and I’m resting and getting ready to go explore the city!

Summer 2013 Travel Plans

Hello everyone, I have finally figured out my summer 2013 travel plans (all of which I will be recording in this blog).

It has been almost 2 years since I took a big trip (in the meantime I have been busy completing my MBA at The Rotman School of Management). Now that I am finishing my studies it is time for another big adventure before I start full time employment on August 6th!

My summer adventure is split into two parts: South America for 5 weeks and Europe for 5 weeks, with a 2 week stop in Toronto for my graduation ceremony.

Part 1 - South America: I will be leaving Toronto on May 1st and traveling to South America. I will travel through Brazil, Argentina and Peru for 1 month. I start in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and end in Lima, Peru (see below for map of locations).

On May 30th I will travel to Veracruz, Mexico from from Lima, Peru for 1 week to visit family, before returning to Toronto for 2 weeks for my graduation ceremony.

Part 2 – Europe: On June 22nd I will leave Toronto for Europe. I will start in Hungary with my friend Paige, and then together we’ll head over to Croatia for 1.5 weeks where we will be living on a boat and island hopping through the Croatian islands (see below for map of locations).

From there I will head over to Paris for a few days, and then to London on July 11th to tour through England, Scotland and Ireland for 2.5 weeks (see below for map of locations I will be visiting).

Once I’m done my tour I will spend about 1 week in London before I return to Toronto on August 1st.

I am really excited for my adventure, as it will probably be the last time I will have 3 consecutive months available to travel (once full time work starts I will only have 2-3 weeks a year of vacation time). I hope you all enjoy reading about my travel adventures. Feel free to leave comments on my posts, or ask questions about the places I’ve visited.