Jesus and two Sugarloaves

It was a long flight from Canada to Brazil, and being covered in gin and tonic after some bad turbulence didn’t make it any better. But eventually I got to Rio de Janeiro, my first stop in South America!

My first day in Rio was also the last day for my friend Steffen so we decided to meet up on the very iconic beach of Copacabana and drink some just as iconic cocktails, caipirinhas.

Apart from the beaches there are a few sights you just have to see when in Rio, and for simplicity and security I booked a city tour through my hostel. Sure, I could’ve done it by myself, but the prices would’ve added up to roughly the same anyway, and some spots, especially the hike up to Christ the Redeemer is notorious for muggings, so I went all-in tourist instead this time.

Christ the Redeemer was also the first stop on the tour. This famous statue is pretty impressive, especially considering the location they managed to build it on, but I actually preferred the amazing view of the city and the bay that came with it.

There was a few stops in and around central Rio, including one of the places I’d put on my list of things to see, the Escadaria Selarón, a stairway turned into art by creating a mosaic of tiles from all over the world. I didn’t find any tiles that were typically Swedish but still a pretty cool way of adding something interesting to something as boring as some stairs.

The last stop of the tour was Sugarloaf Mountain, a large rock in Rio with great views of the city with Christ the Redeemer in the background. Supposedly you can get a photo with the sun just behind the statue at the right time of the year. This was not it. But it was still an amazing view at sunset with the last bit of sun reflecting in the harbour. Christ the Redeemer, the harbour of Rio, and the entire city and the way it goes with the nature, two world wonders (Christ as one of the modern 7 world wonders, the harbour of Rio as one of the natural 7 world wonders) and one Unesco world heritages (the landscape of Rio and the way the city is built up in it) in one day!

I did also do a bit of sightseeing by myself in Rio. One of the things I really wanted to see was a mural called Mural Etnias by the artist Kobra. Someone told me this is the largest street art mural in the world. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it’s definitely the largest piece I’ve ever seen, really well-made, and really interesting.

Big and unsafe cities get tiring after a while though so I made my way out of Rio and to the colonial town Paraty (pa-ra-chii). The old part of the town has strict regulations on how to build or renovate houses resulting in a bit of a time travel. Cobblestone streets and white buildings with colourful doors and windows everywhere.

In the hostel in Paraty I also got a first glimpse of the local wildlife. There was a whole bunch of monkeys around, especially in the mornings, and they were happy to eat straight from the hand of anyone with a bit of banana or sponge cake to spare.

In Paraty I met some other backpackers going on a day trip to a beach only accessible by boat to do a hike up a small mountain, Sugarloaf Peak (same name as the one in Rio, and with pretty much the same shape), and I decided to join. We started out with a boat ride through a fjord to an almost empty beach (apparently only empty because of the weather) and started our hike from there. It was a fairly short but pretty steep hike. After about an hour and ~500 meters of altitude gain we reached the top and despite the bad weather we were rewarded with a great view similar to fjords in Norway or New Zealand. We did get a bit of rain making the decent muddy and slippery but we still somehow made it down safely and surprisingly quickly. There will be some sore muscles from this though.

One and a half weeks in Brazil so far, and it will probably be another two weeks or so. Now it’s time to leave the coast and see a bit of inland Brazil