Arrived in Rio de Janeiro from the touristy area around the Iguazu Falls, there’s another highlight coming up – the Carnival in Rio. Since I left Argentina, I was on vacation for a week. That included exploring the Iguazu Falls and Rio de Janeiro.
I’ve been to bigger cities in South America, but I’ve never heard good things about security and crime in Rio. So I was very scared and cautious. Just after arriving at the airport, I ordered an Uber to the hotel in the famous Copacabana area. Rio’s big international airport is located quite a bit out in the North. Going south from there, some dangerous areas must be crossed. I noticed right away that Rio is a different beast. On the road down, we had some areas where the army had checkpoints and was patrolling. Definitely something I’ve never experienced before. Every car that passes must have its lights on and its windows open so the army can see everyone inside. They scanned it quickly while pointing the gun towards us. Things went super fast and on the move. Then the driver started to race. No stopping at crossings or red lights. The streets were dark, with little traffic or people. After a while, it got a bit busier again, and I noticed the taxi driver relaxing more and actually following traffic signs. Also, upon arrival at the hotel, he told me to wait while he moved the car closer to the entrance. So I could just quickly grab my luggage and hop directly into the lobby. That was definitely an experience and confirmed all the concerns I had.
Christ the Redeemer
For the first full day in Rio, I planned to visit the most famous site the city has to offer: the Christ statue hovering above the city. One of the new 7 Wonders of the World. It’s actually only the 2nd world wonder I’ve seen so far. To visit two friends who joined the group I’ve explored in Buenos Aires was to be together again. My friend from Peru and another Nomad from Thailand. We went very early, as they say it’s best to have fewer people and less heat. We booked tickets online in advance with a time slot. We still had to wait quite a bit, but it was very well organised. There’s a rack railway up to the mountain. Quite steep. From there, there are some more steps to take to reach the platform with Christo. My friends and my first reaction: “The statue is so small”. It’s definitely way smaller than you’d think from pictures you see online. But impressive anyway with this statue on the top of the mountain. The view from up was my favourite and just stunning. 360-degree view of the entire city, clear skies, and great visibility.
We spent some time up there, looking around, taking some fun pictures, and then coming back down. Since we left early, we hadn’t had breakfast yet. There’s a special Brazilian breakfast called “Tapioca”, which I wanted to try.
Sugarloaf Mountain
Another main hotspot in the city is “Sugarloaf Mountain”. The strangely shaped mountain. Since my visit was during peak season (carnival), the queues were super long. We wanted to go up to the top for the sunset (also peak times) and queued for hours. We missed the sunset altogether, but caught some nice atmosphere at the middle station while queuing. It wasn’t really what we hoped for. Nevertheless, we tried to stay positive, and instead of queuing more on the way down, we sat in a restaurant at the top and had some food while we waited for more people to come down. The view from there was nice and with chill vibes, obviously very crowded. After we finished, there was still quite a big queue, and we waited another 2 hours. Overall, such places have a reason people visit. They’re nice, but it also means there are many people there, especially during peak hours. Bring patience, or try to go during less-crowded hours or times of the year. We spent 6.5 hours in total.
Rio Carnival
The next day, exploring the beaches around Copacabana and Ipanema was on the agenda. Since I was still quite scared to walk around with valuables like a wallet or phone, I switched to my backup phone and only brought minimal cash in the phone case. I left everything else in the hotel. Street parades in these areas were underway. Many people are on the road with costumes. My friends and I walked around a little, explored the vibes, and had a look at the beautiful, endless sandy beaches.
In the evening, I met a friend who lives in Rio de Janeiro, whom I’d met in Morocco over a year ago. We went for dinner and later continued to a nearby cocktail bar, which was pretty nice.
A day later was the day of the big parade at the so-called “Sambadrome”. It’s located in the Northern part of the city. We relocated to another nearby hotel since the parade is going on until late at night and the entire area is closed to cars. So we wanted something within walking distance. Once we arrived at the new location, we had time to explore some more nearby places, like the “Arcos da Lapa” or the “Escadaria Selarón”.
Sambadrome
The night of the world-famous parade has come. It takes place in a specially designed and interestingly shaped venue. It’s a wide road, and along the sides are grandstands with special back entrances. As in most carnivals around the world, it’s about topics that have moved people over the years. In Brazil, it is combined with dances, light clothing, and music. I’m not into Samba music, but I wanted to experience this special tradition. There are multiple groups moving from the start to the end of the road. The same song is performed live on repeat. Trucks with people on them, and in between the people, dance while moving forward very slowly. It takes 45 minutes for a group to complete the full length. Then there’s a break, and the next group performs, moving through the dome. The event lasts until very late in the night.
We listened to a couple of groups, having some food on the stands and at some point left. The show was special, but quite monotonous and long at the end.
Búzios
After the Samba party, I left Rio and took a bus to a famous beach town called Búzios. I shared an Airbnb with my Thai friend for 2 weeks. We had quite a big terrace, which was super nice to work from outside or just chill and enjoy the sunset. We’re both developers and have to work during the week. We were able to explore during the weekend and do some tours. During the week, we couldn’t do much together because our schedules were really off. I’m more of an evening person and usually won’t start before 10 am. While he worked for a Japanese company with a crazy time difference. This meant he had to start working in the middle of the night. At times when I was still awake. So his dinnertime was almost at my breakfast time. We shared the nice Airbnb, but couldn’t do much unless during the weekend. But it was productive and overall good. Sometimes, an Açai bowl during these hot days.
Búzios is a famous holiday place with many beautiful sandy beaches. It’s very safe and completely different from Rio. While I was super afraid to walk outside in the dark in Rio de Janeiro, I had a casual 30min walk back home in Búzios, listening to music on my headphones without worry.
We only had one weekend. So we started it with a “sunset coconut” at the beach. The next day, we joined a tour in the South. First, we had a boat tour with a swim and beach stops. Then we stopped for lunch in the next larger city, Cabo Frio. And yes, the water was noticeably colder than up in Búzios.
The day after, we went on a spontaneous hike along the beach, starting right at our Airbnb. We stopped at some hidden, empty beaches and walked along a trail next to the cliffs. At some point, we arrived at a long beach, which we followed, and we ended up in the town centre for some lunch.
After a productive workweek, we had already ended our 2-week stay in Búzios and had to head back to Rio the same way we came. I only used Rio to switch buses and continued to São Paulo on an 8-hour bus ride. So I spent the whole day on the bus and was happy to arrive at my new Airbnb in Brazil’s commercial capital.
São Paulo
Many people told me São Paulo isn’t interesting or nice. I enjoyed it a lot. Not because the city is so beautiful. It’s a modern business city. Has everything one needs. I lived in a good and central area while staying super focused. The city is crazy when it comes to transportation and how the upper-class society moves around. In my area, for example, almost every higher building has a heliport on it, not because it’s a hospital or for evacuation purposes. It’s a pickup point for people to go somewhere. It’s used very regularly, and hearing the noise of helicopters is very normal and, for me, strange for the first couple of nights. I was also on the approach to the airport, which is pretty much in the middle of the city and has heavy traffic.
During the day, I went to a co-working space within walking distance, which had a couple of restaurants close by, and I loved my Airbnb. I really zoned in and worked a lot on a side project that inspired me, and I had a lot of fun building it. I stayed in the Itaim Bibi neighbourhood, which is safe and wealthy.
I was staying in São Paulo for 2 weeks. On the weekend, I had some time to explore a bit. Although I wasn’t much in the mood and just wanted to work. I met a guy from Couchsurfing who was very interesting to talk to and hang out with. He showed me around the city centre and some nice restaurants where we had dinner. I like his recommendations a lot. Those are the people I remember on my trips. I love doing local things and go around and learn things from locals.
Another day, I went to the soccer museum since I’m in the country of football. I was a big Brazil fan when I was younger, collecting all the shirts of the national team players back when Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaká, Roberto Carlos, and co. were playing. 5-time world championship winner (5 stars), which is still accurate at the time of writing. The museum showed something about it’s history, big players and had some interactive parts. It wasn’t that crowded and had only parts in English. It’s not really a touristy city and therefore I understand that international people aren’t their target audience.