The flight from Melbourne to Santiago, Chile was one of the smoothest long-haul flights I’ve ever been on. Santiago is surrounded by beautiful green mountains but it wasn’t until the flight to Rio that I realised those mountains were probably only hills because sitting behind them was the Andes. We were advised that there would be no inflight service until after we had crossed due to turbulence. It was a spectacular sight which took us nearly 15 minutes to cross with hardly a bump. I was very disappointed that my phone was in the overheads so I didn’t get any photos…..loud sobbing (and that’s a mistake I haven’t made since).
I booked an airport transfer to the hotel which left an interesting first impression. The trip was a bit over an hour (it was about 6pm) and the guy spent the entire time on his phone – texting, texting google translate to ask me the odd question, I think he was shopping and at one point even watched a little Big Bang Theory.
On my first day I walked the length of Copacabana Beach not realising it’s 3kms long and then had to get back. Should have started much earlier as it was bloody hot. The Brazilians take their sport/exercise very seriously and there are people on the beach or walking the esplanade day and night. There’s a bike lane that is free-for-all – cyclists, scooters, joggers, skateboarders. The dress code is bikini tops for women and it doesn’t matter the age of the wearer or the state of the boobs. Body shaming clearly is not a thing over here. I envy them!
The afternoon was the doors off helicopter flight and it was amazing. I got to ride shot gun. It was ok until he banked left and it was all I could do not to grab onto the frame where a door normally is and just pray I’m strapped in. Once over that first ‘what the hell am I doing’ moment it was really freaking cool.
I booked Ubers to the helicopter and back and soon realised that Uber in Rio isn’t held to the same standards as they are in Australia. I was wondering if the cars there was going to break down and on the return I was expecting the gearbox to drop out at any second. The next Uber I used was to the airport and I booked Uber Black. It’s the difference between wondering if you’ll get there and leather seats and the price difference is quite negligible.
I know going to Rio on my own wasn’t one of my smartest life choices but by the time I did the “Lindy this South America not Europe” I’d already booked flights and accommodation. The very smart thing I did was book a 8 hour private guide for day 2 and if I’d been a tad smarter I would have booked him for a further 2 days. Rodrigo was great. I told him I wanted to see the big 3 – Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain and the Selaron Steps and a few other places if we had time.
He added in a monastery and the Portuguese Reading Room, we drove past Arcos do Lapa as he refused to stop due to the crack heads. He’d covered quite a few of the things I’d planned to do the next day. I do have to admit I think flying around Christ the previous day diluted seeing him up close a little.
My throat has felt very thick that day and got much worse the next day. Between the heat, the lag and feeling less than fabulous, I decided to stay in bed and things weren’t much better the next day. I needed to be well enough to fly the following day. I did walk down to the night markets when I really should have caught a taxi but I put my ‘resting bitch face’ on along with my ‘don’t fuck with me’ walk and charged on, then caught a taxi back.
So to answer the question is Rio safe, no not really especially when travelling on your own with an SLR camera. Rodrigo was impressed with the cross body camera sling that I’d bought. He also made me more aware of what to look for when it came to bringing out my camera.
The final question, did love Rio…..no. Did I even like Rio……if I’m honest, not really but I think my opinion is skewed by being here in my own. I think it would be a very different answer otherwise. Am I glad I came…..oh hell yes. Rio has been a bucket list item for years and now it’s done. Would I recommend people to come, yes but do a tour or better yet hire a Rodrigo for 3 days.