Cidade Maravilhosa

This trip actually took place about a month ago in mid November, so I’m really behind this time. Better late than never, I guess. Also, on this trip we spent a lot of time just chilling so for 8 days on the ground it’ll be a pretty short post relative to the time spent.

After plucking Ellie out of school at lunchtime on the last day of school before her fall break. we headed over to the airport in Calgary and had a light lunch at the Maple Leaf Lounge. I had a chimichanga and a glass of wine.

I can’t remember what Ellie had, but she was more than content to sit with her juice and the Internet while we waited.

We take off to the north over Stoney Trail as we head east to Toronto on this very decent fall day.

Down there in the scattered clouds is Medicine Hat – Hi Granny and Grandpa!

Always beautiful above the clouds…

Ellie takes a snooze for a bit, with her best buddy Tuci.

The sky is clear as we pass over some rugged terrain in South Dakota before our second lunch.

I had this garlic ginger chicken dish, which was new to me and not bad at all.

Ellie had the kids meal which was a nice kit of chicken fingers and potato wedges, and of course a KitKat.

Back to watching… something… I’m just happy that she’s relaxed!

We’ve arrived in Toronto, where the captain proudly announced that we’re ahead of schedule and wished everyone a good evening. Not so fast. We sat in this spot for almost 40 minutes waiting for a gate to park at. Not nice at all. At least we didn’t have a short connection so it wasn’t stressful for us, just annoying, as sitting there doing nothing was taking time away from our next stop.

The Air Canada Signature Suite lounge, which I visited several times in 2022, but not yet in 2023. Due to the later hour the dining room was pretty empty in contrast to my last visits during primetime where there was a 20 minute wait for a table.

I enjoyed some nice wines, particularly the Laurent Perrier Rose champagne.

And another delicious 3 course meal.

Look at that steak!

I was a bit worried as to what Ellie might eat in there, as I’d never seen a kids menu (I have rarely seen kids in here), and the buffet is still sort of…. fancy. Nevertheless, our server offered a few kid friendly items not on the menu – grilled cheese with fries, chicken tenders with fries, and something else which I can’t remember now. The chicken tenders were REALLY good! She finished off with vanilla ice cream and berries.

After our palates were totally satisfied in the lounge, we boarded the longest leg of our journey. Next stop – Sao Paulo, Brazil.

I decided to have some garlic toast, shrimp appetizer, cheese plate and dessert after takeoff, instead of another full meal.

Not long after that, I set up bed for the night and had an OK amount of sleep, then got up in the brilliant sunshine and greenery of southern Brazil as we approach Sao Paulo.

Before long, we were right in it. Sao Paulo is huge and sprawling.

After a relatively painless border control procedure, we had to reclaim our checked bag and then bring it out groundside again to re-check for the next flight, just like if you arrive in the US from a foreign country that doesn’t have preclearance.

It was fairly straightforward but I could already tell this was going to be a bit different – no one in the bag recheck counter spoke English, but this didn’t hinder us from accomplishing what we needed. After a long walk to the other end of the terminal (actually a different, older terminal) and clearing security again we sat in a terrible lounge totally packed with people to wait for our last flight. At least it had exterior views of this airport which resembled a prison.

Up we are again on the last, short hop of the day. Another aerial view of Sao Paulo. It was hard to capture but there were a few times that there were ~30 floor apartment buildings as far as you could see before they disappeared in the haze and smog.

The windows were filthy and hard to take a good picture out of, but here’s a taste of the scenery along Brazil’s southeast Atlantic coast.

40 minutes later, we’re close to the ground in another sprawling city – our final destination – Rio de Janeiro!

Ellie wanted to check out this welcome decoration / lounger in the airport – which more or less says to enjoy yourself like a carioca (a local).

If you’ve been following for a while, you probably know that I usually take public transit most places that we go. But this time I didn’t feel super comfortable doing that – maybe if I was on my own, but not with Ellie. So I pre arranged a driver Mr. Aldiney Gomes who I’d read about on a couple of other blogs and although he was more expensive than Uber, it was welcome to have someone waiting for us who also spoke great English. He took us down through the typically congested Rio traffic to the end of Copacabana Beach – our home for the 4 nights at the Fairmont hotel. This is the view from the pool. Amazing!

Even though it was late in the afternoon, Ellie wanted to hit the gorgeous pool as long as she could.

Around quarter to 6 we walked around the corner about 10 minutes away to Arpoador Beach on the Ipanema side to catch sunset. It was absolutely beautiful.

Moments after taking this photo, I slipped when getting off these rocks and banged my shoulder which wasn’t happy. Just happy that it wasn’t Ellie and it was a lesson that I should have avoided them altogether. More on that later…

We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed dinner poolside where there was also some live music.

Next morning, we got up not too early and had breakfast at the restaurant adjacent to the pool (here’s the view from the terrace).

And then more pool!

We also walked down to the beach a little later. The weather looked so good that I wanted to head over to Sugarloaf Mountain to catch sunset at the top. The weather can be quite fickle in terms of clouds so although we were still in chilling mode, on a day like this, how could I resist.

We took an Uber over to the base of the cable car. We used Uber quite a bit throughout the week, and it was cheap and reliable, although sometime it took us a while to get a car to accept us (likely because we were going relatively short distances). None of the drivers spoke English. We arrived early to do a little hike on a paved path at the base of Sugarloaf – “Pista Claudio Couthinho” which was recommended to me by one of the guys in my flying chat group who was a Carioca but has moved to Australia a few years ago.

Part way along, there’s a steeper trail that peels off uphill to head to the top of Morro da Urca, the little brother to Sugarloaf.

I’m really glad that I heard about this trail, because I never would have noticed it, and it was so quiet and serene compared to the crowded, congested city just a few minutes around the corner.

Bad news. When we got back to Praia Vermelha, a beach popular with Cariocas, we looked up at the peak and it was socked in.

This is about as good as it got, and only for about a minute. So we headed back to the area around our hotel and will try again another day. Wouldn’t be worth it go up there for obscured views when we have all week to try for a better day.

I had the Uber drop us off a few blocks from Praia do Arpoador on the main street so we could go for a better sunset there – without slipping on moss covered rocks this time!

It was pretty nice on top of the main hill amongst the cacti.

But not an enormously colourful sunset due to clouds in the distance.

Ellie just loved this park around the corner from that viewpoint that had a kids size “gym” area. I think we were here almost every day.

We walked back through the residential / commercial street a block in from the main strip of Copacabana. It was eclectic and vibrant. That hill in the back of the pic is one of the favelas, so it was advised not to venture too far over there alone especially at night!

The main strip along Copacabana Beach seemed like it was always hopping. This guy with the cart here is selling steamed corn on the cob which was very popular. Along the main beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema there were mobile vendors EVERYWHERE selling just about anything that you could want. They weren’t aggressive, but most of them did their little sales pitch when they walked by you, so it wasn’t exactly quiet.

It was brightly lit, even the beach.

There were great bike lanes in this area – I would have loved to try them, but it would have been too much for Ellie with the chaos of cyclists, aggressive ebikes, and pedestrians wandering haphazardly into the lane. WAY faster than driving most of the time aroumd here, for sure!

The stone sidewalk that runs the full length of Copacabana Beach is timeless.

Next morning, where are we… the pool again on another bluebird morning.

We spent almost the whole day at the pool. Heading over to Sugarloaf again as there were no clouds in that area. It took us a long time to get over there, as the traffic was really terrible as it was almost all day, and then we arrived at a pretty substantial line at the base station. Most people said, don’t bother paying extra for the fast track upgrade, the lines move quickly. Well, today, I wish that we paid extra for that as it was half an hour waiting to get on even though we’d prepurchased online.

After a short ride up the first segment we arrived at Morro da Urca and got a great taste of what was in store as we looked south.

Couldn’t linger too long here though, as there was another massive line waiting for us around the corner for the upper segment of cable car. The line looked horiffic but again it “only” took us 30 minutes to get through.

When we got to the top just before the sun disappeared, it was all worth it.

The tip in the center left of the photo is where our hotel is.

It was hard to resist taking so many photos as the lighting kept changing.

This view as twilight was almost completely gone is unforgettable.

Make no mistake though, it was packed at the top and we had to wait about 20 minutes in a line to get down to the intermediate station. Where we could take a bit of time and enjoy the views.

Still another 20 minute line to go, but at least this was the last one.

We hit a local pub near the base of the cable car where again, there was no English spoken, but we successfully ordered what we wanted. I had a nice steak for a great price! Ellie had grilled chicken and fries, and there was a live band playing.

This beach was brightly lit at night too which was nice to see.

And curiously, a statue of Chopin beside the beach, who apparently had never been to Rio.

There was some local festival going on in the square across from the beach with lots of food stalls, another live band, and baton wielding police in case things got out of hand.

Next day.. another long day at the pool. Ellie had met some kids at the pool the day prior who were from Florida and she’d really enjoyed hanging out with some kids that spoke English, but they’d left last night. Just Dad to entertain her today. English speakers are by FAR in the minority here in Rio and I think this is the place in Brazil where English is spoken the most. Wish I’d been able to brush up more on my Portuguese.

And then a long walk down Ipanema Beach. Just behind Ellie’s exercise playground, another festival was setting up for the evening.

As you can see, the beach was packed, but it sure is pretty.

The outcrop in the back here is the cactus hill that we hiked up the other evening.

On Sundays, one half of the main road around the beaches is closed to vehicles, which is super nice. Great support of cycling.

Ellie grudgingly takes a selfie with me.

We stopped at an Italian restaurant partway back to our hotel, where Ellie had a delicious spaghetti, and myself a shrimp risotto.

Oh, yeah, she wanted to stop at the exercise playground again after supper.

The next morning we got up early and went to see Christ the Redeemer. I wish that we’d been able to take the tram up, as it starts in a residential area right at the bottom and brings you all the way to the top, but as I was judging it based on the weather I waited till too late to book tickets and the early morning runs were sold out. I wanted to be there as close to opening time as possible to avoid the horrible crowds and lines in the blazing sun (the sun comes up at 5 here), so I reached out to Mr. Aldiney on WhatsApp to see if he could take us over. He wasn’t available but recommended another driver who also spoke English, Roberto, who picked us up at 7:20 to head over there for opening of the shuttle vans at 8. Apart from taking the less scenic and less interesting way up, it was a success as we didn’t have to wait in line for anything at the top.

Ellie really liked it.

The views were of course incredible.

Here’s looking over the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas – a beautiful lake and also an Olympic venue.

We stopped at a viewpoint halfway down to look back up above the jungle at where we’d been.

And – speaking of that fickle weather, look at this low cloud that rolled in while we ate our late breakfast. Maybe the views wouldn’t be the same up there now!

After some more time at the pool, we had to move a few blocks down the street to our hotel for the second half of the trip – the Emiliano. We just walked over with our luggage as it was faster than driving. At the Fairmont I didn’t even bother to take pics of the room or the view as they were decidedly unremarkable commensurate to the price paid, for example we had an Ocean View room, which we could in fact see the ocean from, but none of the beach as that was blocked by the other wing of the hotel. The view from the pool was better than from our room even though it was four levels lower. Anyway, at the Emiliano, we had a gorgeous room with a matching view. If we opened the shutters on the windows, you could just look out of bed and see the whole beach.

Here’s what the view looked like with the shutters open – the main strip, the beach, Sugarloaf Mountain.

And the rooftop infinity pool although small, was awesome, and Ellie approved.

Yup. Up here, we’re right in the middle of it all without having to deal with the ruckus and vendors down on the beach.

I got an expensive club sandwich and french fries for a really late poolside lunch, along with a glass of Brazilian bubbles.

The menu at the hotel was pretty “fancy” so we didn’t see much that Ellie would like for dinner without me having to eat most of it. So we headed for some fast food to satiate her craving for junk food. I was interested in this place Fat Guys Hamburgers (must be good with a name like that), but the small seating area was totally packed and I didn’t feel like trying to struggle through translating the kids menu which was not visibly posted (I could see other kids having kid size stuff).

We went a few doors down to McDonalds where I could be assured of nothing being lost in translation due to ability to order from a kiosk. We had already been here a few days ago so I knew it was “safe” – safe for getting what we ordered, not physical safety, as this was pretty close to the entrance of the favela on the hill.

Curiously, the section of the menu for bigger meals translated to “Stomach Hunger”.

Ellie got her usual Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal and I got a McCrispy Chicken Deluxe meal from the Stomach Hunger menu, where the chicken sandwich came out looking like the cook literally threw it into the box.

We walked back on the main strip and through the night market which was set up with lively stalls for souvenirs every evening in the center boulevard.

Next morning was the worst in a while. If you remember on the first night I banged my shoulder and it wasn’t that happy. Well, I’ve dislocated both of my shoulders many years ago and they’re never the same after that. This morning I caught myself falling out of bed, reached the wrong way I guess, and that finished it off, dislocating my left shoulder. I tried to pop it back in myself (I was used to this as it happened all the time originally until I did the physio exercises to get things back in shape). But this only made it much worse until it was extremely painful to do anything except sit in one particular position. So I had to seek medical attention. I can’t say enough about the hotel staff in this situation. If I hadn’t made it clear yet, very few people speak English here, so I was extremely concerned about being able to communicate with medical staff on my own. So I called the front desk for assistance and they put me in touch with a doctor that they have on call, who called me back in my room and then made some sort of arrangements with one of the local hospitals. The concierge then personally escorted me in a taxi over to the emergency room “Pronto Atendimento” and stuck with me to do all of the translation. It was such a big help and I’m not sure how it would have gone without his assistance. Way more stressful, anyway. The hospital was Casa de Saúde São José, was a very nice modern facility, and was just what I would expect from any hospital in North America or Europe.

Maybe it was even better since I was paying cash! I was in and out of there in 90 minutes. I suspect I would have had to wait a lot longer to get this done at home in Calgary these days. I was on my way with my arm in a sling and back to the hotel to rejoin Ellie who I did NOT want to bring along for this excursion. I was pretty bummed out, sore, and tired, so the only thing we did for the rest of the day was go to the pool, which Ellie didn’t mind at all. Of course I couldn’t go in but I just sat on the side.

The next day was beautiful again. I was still feeling sore and down, but the view helped a bit.

I tried not to mope around all day and went for a very long walk after our very late breakfast down almost the entire length of Copacabana Beach.

As I got back to the hotel in a sweaty mess – Rio was experiencing a heat wave this week with temperatures in the upper 30’s and very humid – I bumped into an English family (Mum and 2 girls) that we’d seen pop in and out of the pool area the first night. We waited for the elevator together and I mentioned to the two kids that I’ve got a daughter their age and she’d like to meet them. They said, we saw her and want to meet her too! So 20 minutes later we were all up at the pool together and we spent most of the next 48 hours with them. They already had plans to catch sunset from Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf) so they headed off to do that, then we regrouped later in the evening at a pub next to the hotel for some pizza and a classic Brazilian meat platter.

The portions were huge. Everything on the table here except the pizza and side plate of fries is part of a half serving !!

The girls could get the hotel wifi from our patio table, so here they are laughing at some Youtube or TikTok rubbish like they’ve known each other for years.

The next day we had breakfast together and then hung out at the pool until the late afternoon when the sun was less intense, and headed over for an obligatory beach visit.

After the beach, Ellie wanted to show them the exercise playground.

We went back to the hotel restaurant to enjoy our included dinner for the stay, which was fabulous.

The whole next morning and early afternoon was spent at a leisurely breakfast and lounging around the pool. I was pretty restricted from what I should or shouldn’t do with my arm, and still feeling pretty down about it, so I wasn’t about to propose any more activities. The girls didn’t mind that at all. But before we knew it, late afternoon we were heading back to the airport already. Mr. Aldiney picked us up and navigated us through the dreadful traffic. There was one point on the highway where the traffic was so bad that people had set up what was essentially mobile refreshment stations between the lanes. Guys walking or wheeling all manner of drinks and snacks going car to car.

After an uneventful check in and boring lounge experience, we were on board our short hop to Sao Paulo as it started to get dark. The exterior of the terminal here at GIG is another… dreadfully dull one.

As we descended into Sao Paulo the lights went on as far as you could see until they disappeared into the haze.

We had to once again navigate all the way from the far end of GRU Terminal 2 to the far end of Terminal 3 just like on the way in. So it was a lot of walking. Surprisingly, the transfer passport control area was utterly deserted of passengers which was super welcome. Also surprisingly, I was not questioned once on this trip as a solo parent travelling with a minor. This was very unexpected as Brazil takes child trafficking very seriously and I expected to have to answer at least… something. The only questions I was asked at passport control in GRU at either end of the trip was what our flight number was.

Anyway, we navigated all that and took a short spell in one of the many lounges in T3 which wasn’t noteworthy enough for a pic – all we had was some chips and bottles of water. Then we were back on the overnight flight to Toronto. Here’s Ellie doing a decent job on her kids meal pasta dish.

And then chilling before she fell asleep. She did so well on this trip flying-wise; no concerns at all about throwing up or feeling sick. I hope this means she’s found her way to do it. It certainly made the travel a lot easier on both of us. Myself, I had very little sleep on this flight as we had a lot of turbulence going around thunderstorms (that we could see out of the windows flashing lots of lightning) over South America, plus the fact I couldn’t get comfortable with that left arm in the sling.

Well, after all that, here we are almost home, flying over Medicine Hat again – Hi, Granny and Grandpa! in a crisp clear sky.

I’m not sure how I feel about this trip. It was a gorgeous location and we got pretty much perfect weather compared to what it could have been and met some great people. But I booked this trip many months ago when I felt a lot more energetic and, in the weeks leading up to this, I was very busy and didn’t have a lot of time to research much or do planning as I usually do. And then the shoulder thing put a big damper on several of the days. So, we didn’t do as many outings as usual. Still, we did get to see some of the coolest sights, and Ellie was very happy with all of the pool time, so I’ll chalk it up as a success. If I was to do it again, I’d stay just a bit longer but then split the trip into visiting another location in Brazil, such as the stunning Iguazu Falls. But I agree with the old nickname for Rio de Janeiro – it really is a marvelous city, as far as the physical setting goes. Truly marvelous. Thank you for following along. The post took many days to put together and ended up being a lot longer than I originally thought.