Rio - Work The Top

If you've never been to an airport in Latin America, you are in for a treat; people come at you from all sides trying to 'help' you. Yes, you should read that as trying to sell you something. Rio is no different. Official looking men in uniform trying to recruit you away from American Express to their money exchange people, pretty girls calling from plywood taxi booths, street kids begging for change.

Dutch took one of the pretty taxi girls up on her offer since she was so persistent in grabbing his attention with her big smiles and waves from behind her little blue taxi prison. Poof, we're on the road.

If you have never gone for a ride in a taxi in Latin America, once again, you are in for a treat! Brasileiros, in particular, drive very aggressively. I would say that lines in the roads, speed limits, stop lights and traffic signs are mere guidelines but even that would be lying; they simply don't matter in Rio. People drive as they please and honestly, it works for them. Important note: The first lesson in knowing Brasileiros - Rules dictated by established entities are vehemently ignored.

People told me beforehand that the drive from the Rio Airport to Leblon would be uneventful. Not true. It gives you a good feeling for part of Rio that you are never going to see again once you take up roost along the beach. Its industrial, worn out and from what I saw on the hillside favelas, not entirely friendly to anyone.

30 minutes at Warp 9 and we're at the hotel -- The Marina Palace in Leblon, a nice beach area of Rio frquented mostly by locals. I highly recommend! After the elevator got over its attitude problem we ascended to the 24th floor to our room.

Here's the view we had.



This leads me to my first suggestion about Rio. Work it from the top. If you are going to stay in a hotel, get a high floor. IMHO its a better way to get a feeling for the scale of the city. In the name of working the top, also do go to Sugarloaf Mountain right off the bat. The views are incredible and it gives you a better appreciation for how enormous (end-to-end) Rio is in its expansive ribbon of population along the water. Its an incredibly touristy thing to do but the cable car rides up the mountain are fun (at least for me, since I like heights) and you will be able to put the small areas of Ipanema, Leblon and Copacabana into a better perspective.

Views from Sugarloaf





Since we arrived at 1030am and had nothing but yummy plane food to eat we decided to go to the rooftop pool and grille for a spot of lunch. Our next guest, Mio, was not arriving until 1p, so we would catch some more views of the city and fuel up for our first day in Rio!

View of Leblon (city side) from the rooftop pool.



We planted ourselves on the rooftop for hours. Eventually, through some gravitational pull, or perhaps just exquisite taste, Mio appeared. Equipped with a GSM phone, Mio informed us that Jairo and Scott's flight from NYC was delayed. When they arrived in Miami, the Rio flight had just closed its doors and pulled out of the gate. Since all flights from Miami to Rio are night flights, they had that night and the whole next day to spend in Miami. This actually worked out well since Scott had never been to the area and he had been wanting to see Miami Beach.

Mio, Dutch and I had lunch, coffee and soaked up the view from the top.


Rio de Janeiro