Enroute with Enzo: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Hey there South America! First stop, Rio de Janeiro. The one thing I have to say right off the bat about Rio and perhaps Brazil in general is that I found the people I encountered here to be extremely warm and friendly. New Zealand likely comes in a close second, but the people have been some of the friendliest I've encountered on my trip. Without even asking, when we've looked lost people just came up to us and offered directions. Also the language here, Portuguese, is one I don't speak. Usually even in the friendliest of places, when you're someone who doesn't speak the language you'd expect to face at least some mild frustration from locals who have no idea what you're asking for. Though, not the case here, folks genuinely seemed to want to help.

We saw that warmness again at our first stop, Christ the Redeemer. At this point in the trip I had two friends with me, Adam and Josh. When we were riding the tram a Brazilian tour group was interested in where we were from and in welcoming us. Also, every time the tram would pass another tram up the mountain the people in both trams would let out a loud and extended cheer. At first I thought perhaps we were just in the party tram, but it happened over and over again both on the ride up and down. Here we are at Christ the Redeemer.

Unfortunately it was a rainy and dreary day, but we still had a pretty good view down to the city.

After heading back down the mountain, with more cheering, we set out to see some more of the sights of Rio. That started with a long walk to include lots of steps!

With the help of a local, we found a tram that got us the rest of the way to where we were going.

Our next stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. The church is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro. It was completed in the 1970s and as you can see has a unique pyramid like shape.

After the church, we stopped by the very popular Escadaria Scaloron, or the Selaron Steps. The steps were created by Jose Selaron who was from Chile, in the 1990s. At first he just started with the steps outside his home, but it soon spread as he scavenged the city for more material. In later years as the steps became more popular, he received donations of material from all over the world to continue his work. He was found dead on the steps in 2013. The photo below is just a small section of the steps.

Most of the rest of our time in Rio was spent enjoying food and drink and the beautiful beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. Bohemia beer and Caiperinha's quickly became our favorites drinks. This was the breathtaking view at sunset from the balcony of our AirBnB in Ipanema.