We were at sea for the next three days, before docking in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at about 12:30 AM. All the passengers disembarked here in the morning. Our total sea distance from Santiago, Chile to Rio de Janeiro was 4879 nautical miles, or about 5611 statute miles.
Montevideo may have the best old buildings, but Rio has the best topography by far. Brazil is reputed to have about 5000 miles of white sand beach. The city itself has many high-rise buildings (many not attractive). It has a lagoon and many vertical rock projections, that require suspended cable cars or cog trains to negotiate. Many tunnels are required to connect various parts of the city. The people walk with apparent purpose. They speak Portuguese in Brazil. They study English in school, but it is not heard outside of there much. They are helpful and polite. They also party when they can, and carnival is a way of life. We saw happy people. We stayed in Rio a couple days before heading home. I wish it were closer, I wish it were here.
Our stay here included a tour to a Samba theater, featuring drums, wild samba dancing and scanty costumes. There were performances by Gauchos demonstrating native musical instruments and devises for herding cattle and catching small game.
We took a narrow gauge cogged train to the top of a steep mountain where the statue of Christ resides, overlooking the city. I estimate that the statue is over 100 feet high. It is the most pictured landmark in Rio, visible in all of the city, and images of it are prominently displayed wherever postcards are sold in South America.
The cogged railway has cogged drive wheels which engage a geared track, enabling the train to climb steep grades. The train in Rio is the twin of one that we rode in Switzerland several years ago. On the way up the mountain we had momentary stops at small neighborhood centers. But, for the most part we traveled though heavily wooded areas containing both wild and possibly cultivated trees. Some of the trees had large coconut-like brown husks that appeared to grow close to the trunk. These were not palm trees. Upon inquiring I was told that they are Jack(?) fruit trees imported from India, and that they grow well in Rio. I don't know if the fruit is edible, or by what other name they might be called. To satisfy my curiosity, I will have to find out more. On our ride through wooded sections we encountered whimsical life sized or giant sized cement figures of insects, reptiles, animals, even a soldier mounted on a horse, vividly painted, placed close to the track, apparently just for our amusement.
While the cogged railway was not a new experience for me, our ride to the top of Rio's Sugar Loaf mountain by overhead cable car was. We got to the top by first taking another cable car to the top of a slightly lower mountain, and from there on another cable car still higher to the Sugar Loaf summit. I will not admit to being terrified of heights, just that I am uncomfortable looking down from them, but not nearly as uncomfortable looking up at them. I can't explain the discomfort I feel when standing at the top of a perfectly substantial cliff or when looking out the window of a tall building, because I cannot discern any logic in my feeling. I have a private pilots license for single engine land aircraft and do not even have a feeling of height when in an airplane; but if I'm connected to the ground by a rope or a cable, the uneasiness returns. No logic to it at all. I judge all heights to be either "very high" or "much too high". I enjoyed the cable cars but in a clenched teeth sort of way. And the view from the top, looking down at the city and the boat filled lagoon and the islands far out to sea, I would repeat again and again. Such astounding beauty !
Portuguese is the language in Brazil. It is not Spanish, they will point out. And it's a language to be preserved, they will point out. We were told that probably more than 75 percent of the students in Rio have studied some English in school, but seldom speak English outside of school. We found that even waitresses in large hotels have a hard time writing orders given to them in English. While we had some minor difficulty in ordering food, we assumed that since we had made no effort to learn their language we could not fault them for not being fluent in ours. In any case, right or wrong, meals were served to us promptly by beautiful dark-eyed smiling gracious waitresses and we did not question whatever they served.
Rio de Janeiro is a wonderfully beautiful city, inhabited by beautiful people who appear to love their city as we do.