24 June 2016 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Part 1

I’ve wanted to visit Rio for nearly 20 years. Not for the beaches…I already have that in California. Not for the Samba…I like other genres better. Not for the 2016 Olympics hype…someday in another city maybe. No, my friends, I’ve wanted to visit Rio because of James Bond. Do you remember the 1979 film Moonraker?

This is my 5th trip to Brazil over the last 12 months. Every time I have come to Sao Paulo for the purpose of a work trip.

Rio de Janero is just a 1 hour flight away. With each trip I kept telling myself I should go visit. This time around I did, with a nice weekend visit. I stayed at a nice new Hilton in a rapidly growing western part of the city called Barre. This is more of a business area than tourist area and makes for better sleeping in my experience.

On Saturday morning I took a 30 minute taxi ride to Ipanema. Ever hear the song?

What a beautiful coast line! I’m going to surf this someday.

I joined a tour group in the lobby of a local hotel. We set off for a bus ride around the city. The bus took us around the lagoon where in one month the best rowers in the world will compete at the Olympics. There is about 7 miles of bike/run trail here. Rio culture includes a strong desire to be outside and active.

We stopped outside the downtown area where Carnival happens every February before Ash Wednesday. That is a bucket list item of mine, but such a trip is expensive and requires reservations more than a year in advance. Anyone want to go in 2018?

The tour also stopped by the Catholic Cathedral, an interesting conical architecture. There is also a roman style aqueduct (now used for train) behind this building. Very different influences than the Spanish/Portuguese style I am used to seeing. This modern place has been visited by 2 popes and has room for 5,000 seats or 20,000 standing. The stained glass windows were amazing. I took a moment to say a prayer of thanks for this wonderful day.