Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This was my first trip to South America, and I knew I would be exhausted when I arrived in Rio at about 9am on a sunny morning in early August 1992, so I had booked my first night in the Sheraton Hotel, nestling on a private beach just below Vidgigal, a large favela (shantytown) in Rio.

I took a bus from the airport to the hotel, and clicked photos of the famous beaches in Copacabana and Ipanema on the way to the hotel.

I slept the afternoon away and the first night involved just a quick celebration cocktail in the hotel bar followed by a short walk down to the district of Leblon with the dual objectives of checking out a cheaper hotel to spend the remaining week in Rio before heading off to the Amazon rainforest, and a quick look at the local night life.

I was successful in both objectives. The hotel I’d found in my Lonely Planet Guide to Brazil, the Hotel Carlton, was available and within my price range, and while I was exploring the Leblon district, I came across a lively bar with excellent music called ‘Charlies’. Unfortunately, neither the hotel, in Joao Lira Street, or this bar at Antero de Quintal Square, still exist.

Before arriving in Rio, I’d had the idea that the weather was permanently warm to hot, and I got an unpleasant surprise, especially at night, when the temperature dropped considerably, and I found myself without any warm clothing in my suitcase. This was to come back to haunt me later on in the trip. However, the days were warm and sunny and I made the most of the sunshine by visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain. I was quite chuffed on the way there, when the taxi driver asked me which part of Spain I was from!!! Obviously, I could only speak Spanish at this time, and that left me in the strange position of being able to understand virtually everything when I read a Brazilian newspaper, but understand virtually nothing if a Carioca were to read to me what was written.

The cable car rides to the top of Sugar Loaf and the spectacular views of the Statue of Christ as the sun was setting was something that will live forever in my memory as one of the most beautiful days of my life. There are two cable car rides to the top, with a station at the top of a smaller hill called ‘Morro de Urca’ on the way. It was on this hill that I noticed the tourist helicopter rides which I would later return to make the most of.

The top of Sugar Loaf not only holds views of the mountain the Statue of Christ is built on, there are also 360 degree views of Rio City Centre and the Guanabana Bay, Botofogo Beach (2 photos), Copacabana Beach (2 photos), and the city of Niteroi on the other side of the bay from Rio, reached by the majestic Rio-Niteroi Bridge.

I loved the week I spent in Leblon especially the bars, even though I was surprised to find that few of them stayed open beyond midnight. The restaurants also held a secret which I wasn’t expecting. It seemed that in 1993, very few restaurants expected people to eat alone, and so even if you ordered a dish for one person, there would usually be enough food to feed at least two people. I found this a bit frustrating considering the potential waste of food in a country where a sizeable proportion of the population barely had sufficient to eat. I suppose this was an indication that Cariocas rarely went out for an evening meal alone.

My first week in Rio flew by, and then it was time to take a flight to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas State as, in my opinion, no visit to Brazil would be complete without checking out the Amazon rainforest! The flight stopped briefly in the nation’s capital, Brasilia, and I arrived in the busy city of Manaus, beside the great River Amazon about six hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro.