18th – 20th February

Brazil at last, bitter sweet as it’s the final country of our South American adventure but what a place to finish!

Arriving in the dark (flight delays), we were greeted at the Miramar Windsor Hotel with champagne (no wonder it’s no. 1 on Trip Advisor) – and offered up a thank you to our wonderful wedding guests because they’re the reason we’ve been able to indulge ourselves these last few days! After a brief stop in our room (small but perfectly formed), we headed up to the 16th floor rooftop pool bar for a drink and a snack. There we caught our first magnificent view of the world famous Copacabana beachfront at night – sitting looking at all the lights and watching the waves crash into the shore felt both exciting and surreal!

Copacabana Beach by night

The following morning was overcast so we set out to familiarise ourselves with the local area and explore downtown Ipanema. We walked past the lake and looked up at the big Christ the Redeemer keeping watch over the city. We then walked along the beach as the clouds began to break. Each section of beach is marked as a ‘posto’ and each attracts different crowds from the athletic, the rich, the young and old and it was fun to see the different sections fill as we headed back to our beach front hotel wondering how we were going to find a spot. Luckily our no 1 hotel came to the rescue as they had a small marquee set up on the sand attended by a ‘beach guardian’ who promptly provided us with a spot complete with chairs, sun umbrellas, beach towels, cold wet towels and a fruit salad. What the hotel couldn’t provide, the beach vendors could, selling everything from sun glasses to jumbo prawns but sadly (and fortunately) no speedos for Jase. This finally felt like a relaxing honeymoon.

So enjoying the sun slightly longer than planned and sunset coming earlier than expected, we missed the opportunity to see any other sights so returned to our room and the very welcome sight of another bottle of champagne – a birthday gift from Charlie’s brother Noddy. We promptly took it up to the roof top bar and drank it, followed by our first cheeky Caipirinha (when in Rio…) before heading out to a recommended bar / restaurant ‘Caffe Felice’ in Ipanema for Thai Curry and sea food linguini washed down with another Caipirinha.

Another champagne treat for Charlie’s b’day courtesy of the Holders.

Rising early and after a hearty breakfast at the hotel we shared a cab with a Dutch couple we met in the queue outside the hotel who were also keen to see Christ the Redeemer. Fortunately the dutch lady turned out to be Portuguese so she quickly quizzed the driver who advised us not to get the tourist tram but to jump on a park bus that would take us right to the top. So, passing people waiting for the train we climbed the hill to see the 38m high gleaming white Cristo Redentor against clear blue skies and giving us awesome views over Rio, the harbour, Copacabana and the Maracana stadium, now ready for the 2014 World Cup.

With the crowds growing we scrummed for position to get the obligatory ‘outstretched’ arms shot before grabbing a drink with the Dutch couple and a taxi back to the hotel before heading straight back to Copacabana beach.

After a couple of hours sun plus a quick shower, we decided to make the most of the ideal sight-seeing weather and jumped into the hotel car to Sugar Loaf mountain to catch the sun set. Having speeded up the two cable cars to reach the summit, we were rewarded with views of Rio getting ready for the night as the sun went down behind Christ the Redeemer high on the other side of the city.

Views from Sugar Loaf Mountain

Returning back to the hotel, it was time for a final brief visit to the rooftop bar before dinner and a bit more people-watching. We were surprised at how much we’d liked Rio during this initial short stay and wondered if it would be the same/different when we returned for our final two days of our trip…and the first day of Carnival 2014! For now though, we’re leaving it to its preparations as we’re headed to the island of Ilha Grande for 5 days relaxing on the beach.