At the Copa, Copacabana

Even though I didn't get much sleep on my second night in the new hostel in Rio, I still woke up the next morning to check on the weather for hang gliding.  Lisa had decided she wanted to join me so we went down to the front desk at the crack of dawn.  Once again we were told that the weather was too windy and overcast with a threat of rain.  I headed back to bed and slept for several more hours.  With our plans dashed yet again, Lisa and I decided to head downtown with Mana, Tulee and Angus to the Santa Teresa neighborhood.  Another new arrival from Germany named Zeyep and an Australian guy named Will also planned to join us.  Unfortunately, Zeynep couldn't get money out of the bank since her ATM card had accidentally been demagnetized and Will offered to stick around to help her.

The rest of us hopped on the subway and rode downtown to the Lapa station.  Our first stop was supposed to be the Escadaria Selaron, which is a famous set of stairs decorated by the Chilean-born artist Jorge Selaron.  Selaron began renovating the dilapidated steps in front of his house in 1990 using fragments of blue, green and yellow tiles in reference to the colors of the Brazilian flag.  Now the 250 steps are covered with 2000 tiles from 60 countries all over the world.  At first we had a bit of trouble even locating the staircase, but after asking several different people on the street, we finally found our way.

Since the stairs are covered with tiles from all over the world, we all had fun trying to find ones that matched our home countries and states.  I found one or two from New York, but didn't see any from Connecticut.  About halfway up, however, we ran into the artist out in front of his home.  He was mainly there trying to get people into his shop to buy his own homemade tiles and works of art.  The cool thing was that if you did buy something, he would personally sign it.  I bought some (pre-signed) magnets since that's my cheesy tradition.  Selaron's assistant who spoke English explained to us that people still send him tiles to swap out for ones currently on display.  Maybe I should send him one from Connecticut to add to his collection.

Once we finally got to the top of the escadaria, we were at the lower end of Santa Teresa.  The neighborhood is on the top of a hill in the center of Rio and is known for its narrow, winding streets and enclave of artists.  We wandered up to the top and tried to go to a museum, but couldn't find the entrance.  At another stop, Mana tried ordering a serving of acai, but the guy in the shop was too bothered to make it.  We considered stopping for lunch, but instead just popped into a few different boutiques and art galleries before making our way back down the hill.  By the time we got down, everyone was in the mood for some acai so we stopped at one of the innumerable juice shops.  After resting for a bit, the group headed back toward the subway.  It was still only mid-afternoon so I decided to stop in the National Museum of Fine Arts before returning to the hostel.  I had a nice time walking around and particularly enjoyed seeing old paintings of Rio and an exhibit of family and self portraits by a Brazilian artist.

That night, Will and I had talked about getting tickets to a soccer match either on our own or through the hostel, which was organizing a group outing.  In the end, we never got our act together, but it turned out to be for the best.  It poured down rain that night and we would have been completely miserable outside in the stadium.  We basically all just took it easy instead since we were tired from the late night before.  Lisa and I also wanted to get up early on Thursday morning to try once again with the hang gliding.

Unfortunately, the morning's cloud cover foiled our plans for the third time.  We hoped it would clear up by the afternoon and we'd have another shot then.  With that in mind, Tulee and I decided to go up to the Christ the Redeemer statue in the morning, figuring we would be back down to the beach on time for an afternoon flight.  I arranged to meet up with Lisa back at the hostel at around 1:00pm to reassess the situation.   In the end, things didn't go according to plan.  I hadn't extended my hostel reservation on time to remain in the same room for another night so I had to move all my luggage to the room next door.  Once I finally got organized and took a shower, Tulee and I were already running late.  We asked the hostel for directions, but then had trouble finding the spot where we were supposed to catch the bus.  By this time it was nearly noon.  I realized there was no way I was getting back in time to meet up with Lisa.  I felt bad about completely ditching her so Tulee and I went down to Copacabana where she had gone to swim.  Since it was still really overcast and windy, the prototypical Alaskan girl was the only one splashing around in the water.  She was therefore pretty easy to spot.  Both Lisa and I agreed that we didn't think the weather was going to change so I was free to go off with Tulee to attempt to go to the statue.

Unfortunately, our luck didn't improve after that.  Tulee and I took the bus to the base of Corcovado mountain where visitors can either take a private taxi or a tram ride up to the 130-foot-tall statue.  There was no line at all for the tram, but there was a very good reason why.  We could see from the video monitors showing the view from the top that the peak was completely shrouded in clouds.  The visibility was practically zero.  Obviously we would be able to see the statue up close, but there would be no chance of seeing the view of the city, which was the main attraction for Tulee, the Jewish Israeli.  We decided it wouldn't be worth it to pay to go to top and we would try again the next day.  We hopped on the bus right back to Copacabana, our plans for the afternoon ruined.

Back at the hostel, I ran into Lisa who had returned from the beach.  She was just about to leave to go over to the Confeiteria Cafe, a Victorian tearoom in downtown Rio that's been open since 1894.  I hadn't really eaten and had nothing better to do so I tagged along.  We shared a late afternoon tea set, which for Lisa was a first.  Everything was really good and definitely filled us up for dinner.  Unfortunately as we were leaving to get on the subway, the skies once again opened up.  We had to race down the street dodging rain drops to make it into the station.

That night back at the hostel, our multicultural contingent, weary of the bar there, decided to venture over to the hostel next door.  That hostel had a bar in the basement, which unlike the bar at our place, stayed open past 11:00pm.  We had so much fun writing messages on the walls, learning how to samba dance (not too successfully on my end) with lessons from the bartender and drinking caipirinhas into the wee hours of the morning.  For most of us, it was our last full night in Rio so it was a bit bittersweet.  The next evening, Mana was heading back to Holland after five months away, Tulee was on a flight to Israel following seven months of travel and Will was off to Canada for the next leg of his journey.  Meanwhile, on Saturday I had a flight back to Buenos Aires from Sao Paulo and Lisa was also planning to fly there that day from Rio de Janeiro.  The only ones sticking actually around for longer were Angus and Zeynep.  That said, I was actually debating back and forth about whether I was going to just blow off my flight and take a bus to Iguazu Falls and then to Buenos Aires instead of lying.  However, I felt like I was starting to get sick so that new plan was literally still "up in the air."

The next day, we all agreed to meet at the hostel at 6:00pm for farewell drinks before Mana, Will and Tulee had to head to the airport.  In the morning, Lisa and I tried one final time to go hang gliding before giving up for good.  With the weather still uncooperative, Tulee and I instead headed back over to Corcovado.  This time there was a sizeable line to get onto the tram.  The mountain remained clouded over, but it was our last chance to get up to the top.  Once we arrived, the peak was mobbed with people.  We had to fight our way through the crowds to climb up the stairs and get a good look at the Art Deco statue of Jesus of Nazareth holding his arms to the sides as if on the cross.  Tulee had fun playing around with the sculpture, but others were clearly not so easily amused.  Luckily, even though the sky was white with haze there were breaks in the clouds that gave us a good view of the city and sea stretched out below.

Getting down off the mountain was thankfully much less of a hassle.  When we got to the bottom, I made the decision that I should really go buy a bus ticket to head back to Sao Paulo so I wouldn't miss my flight.  Trying to go to Iguazu was in the end just way too complicated.  Since I didn't have a room booked in Rio that night and our current hostel was full, my plan was to take an overnight bus to Sao Paulo and then take a shuttle to the airport from there.  After trying to book a ticket at the company I had originally wanted to use, but not understanding where I was supposed to go, I finally resigned myself to booking a spot on the 11:00pm bus with the same line I'd taken to get there.  I then splurged and caught a nice tourist bus (as opposed to the local bus) back to Copacabana.

By the time I got off the bus, it was nearly 5:00pm and I had some shopping to do before our arranged meeting at 6:00pm.  There was a certain gift that I wanted to get for my new friends, but it was a bit difficult to find.  I finally tracked it down and arrived at the hostel just a few minutes late.  However, the only ones there were Angus and Will.  Finally Mana and Tulee drifted in, but Lisa and Zeynep were nowhere to be seen.  I finally gave up and went through my elaborate gift presentation without them.  Lisa arrived a short time later, having just missed out on all the fun.  By that time, the other three had to catch their cab so we all had to say our goodbyes.

Once they were out the door, Angus, Lisa and I went over to the other hostel for some drinks and a barbeque.  The owner wanted us to recruit people to come over, but at first we were only mildly successful.  Eventually more people started arriving and we had a pretty good time.  As the hour approached for me to leave for the bus station, I continually put it off for a little while longer.  Finally it was imperative for me to leave or risk missing my bus.  I was really torn about going since I was having so much fun.  However, I knew in my heart that I had to be responsible and do the right thing.  I pulled myself away and luckily grabbed a cab that was just passing by out front.  Angus kept trying to get me to change my mind and stay or even to turn around and come back.  Once the cab pulled away, though, I knew I would get on the bus.

We arrived at the station and I got on board only to sit there waiting to leave.  After nearly an hour, they made us disembark and get on a different bus since apparently ours wasn't working.  Once we got on the new bus I passed out until we pulled into Sao Paulo just after 7:00am.  My flight wasn't until 1:00pm so I had plenty of time.  I figured I would book a shuttle bus over to the airport where I could relax for a few hours.  There were two other girls ahead of me in the ticket line who were also clearly backpackers.  When they found out the price for the shuttle, they had a change of heart.  They decided to take the subway all the way to the airport.  Like them, I had plenty of time and the ever-present inclination to be frugal and hoard money.  Should I take the subway as well?  In the end, my exhaustion won out and I decided it wasn't worth the effort.  I did feel a bit like the hardened traveler who finally sells out after 11 months on the road.  But I guess sometimes you just realize convenience is worth the extra cash.