Tuesday, April 15, 2024, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Afternoon

Our tour driver arrives on time. We were hoping to be the first on the bus but we are next to last. All is okay though as I get a seat with availability to take a few photos and am seated next to a man from New York who is a Navy Vet and very pleasant to chat with. He is only in his late 20s and has a fabulous sense of humor! The tour picks up one more passenger and we are on our way!

The road up to Christ the Redeemer is tree lined through a forest with occasional views down on the city. We arrive at the parking lot and unload the bus. Our guide takes us up a ramp and small sets of stairs to a gift shop where he buys our tickets. Then we go back down ramps (hey, what is with this?) to load more busses that take us to the top parking lot. We unload the bus and are presented with a massive stairway. We look off to the side and we are overjoyed to see a sign pointing to an elevator!

We emerge from the elevator to see the final 220 steps to the top. Then we look left and see escalators! Wow! So escalators it is! 4 escalators later and we are at the top looking up at this monolith statue. Our cameras report dizziness as they look up to get their favorite shots! Throngs of people are mingling and getting their own photos (hopefully not as good as ours!). Dozens of people pose with their arms out, posing like the monolith! We join suit and get our own photos. The weather and sun and clouds and blue skies all help as we tour the area. The views down onto the city are spectacular as we walk around!

Our cameras satiated, we travel back down the escalators and elevators and meet our guide who then loads the bus and takes us down the hill. Now it is on to the famous Cathedral that is unique in it’s own right and definitely unique as cathedrals go in the world! It is like a pyramid in the middle of the city! Our cameras are set free for 15 minutes and they make the best of our time!

We now board a new bus and travel to the ‘Selaron Steps’. A famous set of tiled steps named for the designer. Fun place but we only climb a short way. Our cameras capture the marvel of the steps and we then progress down to the bus. Elee and I go down first to get some photos that we saw as we arrived but couldn’t get. We go and take our photos and the tour guide chases us down and tells us we are not safe here! But we never felt threatened (except for a crazy lady yelling at me) yet we go back to the bus.

Next we head off towards Sugarloaf Mountain. The afternoon is waning and we arrive at Sugarloaf an hour or so before sunset. Perfect! We cross the street to get to the cable cars and an actual crossing guard is dressed as a Star Wars character! We get in line to load the cable cars and along with 63 other tourists per cable car we get in. The first cable car ride goes to the top of Morro Da Urca Mountain and we walk through a fairly lush garden (surprisingly) to the next cable car station. Boarding the next cable car, we are first in line to board so we get prime locations in the car! It is a fun ride up as the sun is starting it’s descent in the sky!

We unload and walk around the platforms and marvel at all the restaurants and snack shops at the top! But our cameras rebel at all the shops and drag us towards the railings and views off the top! So we allow them to capture the views as best they can and eventually we force them into temporary retirement while we share a slice of pizza and a beer as a snack! Then, after our cameras convince us to get a final few images, we cue up and ride down the cable cars, once again jockeying for position for our cameras! Nice tourists recognize our cameras and happily make way to give me a prime position!

At the bottom of the first cable car ride, we are back on Morro Da Urca, while we wait for our group to gather, we are still at a decent altitude and we grab photos of the city as all the building lights come on! Great shots! We even see Christ the Redeemer in the distance and get shots from afar as the statue is lit up!

Then our bus starts dropping tourists off at the different pick up points. We tell the guide not to take us to the Porto Bay Hotel where we were picked up. It seems we have met another couple from our ship on the tour and they know how to ride the Metro Trains back to the ship for free! So we go with them and we get back to the ship.

Tonight the ship is throwing a “Carnival” party on board. We think the ship’s timing of some of these events is poorly planned. There are people still not back on the ship yet and those of us that are aboard are tired from touring Rio all day! Good night all!