2/5/09 We had a lazy day today, having a rest after all the walking we've done in the past few days.

3/5/09 We walked into Centro again to try to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, only to find once again that it was closed! We had a closer look at one of the entrances, and noticed a sign saying that it's closed until 8th May. Centro was very quiet because of it being a Sunday. You may have read somewhere that Rio, like the rest of Brazil, is football mad, and that the crowd at the famous Macarana stadium in Rio is unlike any other in the world because of its passion and high spirits; we got a taster of this this afternoon! We weren't at the stadium, but as we walked to the Fine Arts Museum we passed by a crowd of football supporters on the other side of the road. Firecrackers went off loudly, some police cars stood nearby, and then all singing and chanting, they began processing down the road. Policemen with guns and huge batons walked behind, though the procession wasn't at all ugly, just high spirited. More firecrackers went off as they went past us, and a guy with a massive red-and-black striped flag ran from the back down the side to the front. When we got home and were on our way to the supermarket we heard frantic cheering coming from flats high above us in the street, and when we got back to the hostel we saw that a Botofogo vs. Flamengo match was on. The supporters we had seen earlier had been Flamengo supporters, and they and Botafogo are great rivals. Dave and I watched the rest of this match before having dinner; it must have been a cup final of some sort, because after tha match ended 2-2, they went into penalties - Flamengo won.

4/5/09 Today we went into the Jardim Botânico neighbourhood to walk round the left side of the lagoon. It was really hot so it was a relief to be able to take our tops off! (Yes, I did have my bikini top on ;) ) There were a couple of coxless fours rowing on the lake, and some pedaloes shaped like swans being pedalled around. I was amused to see the latter because it reminded me of the ones on the lake in Singleton Park, Swansea, and I hadn't expected to come across them again in Rio of all places. There's quite a famous view from further down the lagoon, of a mountain with skyscrapers and the lake in front of it, so when we got to it I made sure to get some photos.
Soon after this we turned off and walked into Copacabana, part of our circular route home. We walked along the beachfront, putting off the hawkers trying to sell us sunglasses, jewellery and baseball caps on the way.

5/5/09 We had another frustrating day today where we walked all the way into Centro, only to not actually do anything we'd come for! We found the National Museum OK, but then saw a notice saying that it's free on Sundays, so we decided to leave it today and come back on Sunday instead. We didn't want to go straight home again, though, so we walked to a square with a hill with two historic churches/convents on top and a market in front. We looked round the market but didn't buy anything, and then tried to find a way up to the churches. We couldn't find a way up, however, as they all seemed to be blocked off. Annoyed, and very tired now, we walked all the way home again, passing through a big secondhand book market on our way to the seafront. Unfortunately we didn't see any that were in English, or we would have bought some!
We checked the weather forecast for the next couple of days in the evening, because we wanted to go to the Sugar Loaf Mountain and Cristo Redentor tomorrow.

6/5/09 We couldn't have picked a better day for going to the Sugar Loaf and Cristo Redentor than today, because for most of the day there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Usually, there's always a little bit of cloud drifting around Cristo Redentor even if the rest of the sky is clear, so although there was a bit of a haze in the distance, overall it was great.
We went to the Sugar Loaf first, walking out of Botafogo and into an area we hadn't visited before - Urca. Before we went to the cable car terminal, we walked on the path around part of the base of the mountain. This was beautiful, because on one side we had rainforest and rock, and on the other we had a view of some of the small islands and the turquoise sea. Before the bit where we had to turn back, we came across lots of small monkeys climbing up tree trunks and eating some fruit someone had left on a bench. (There were signs up saying you weren't allowed to feed wild animals here, but there you go.) We were both really chuffed, because we've seen a couple of this kind of monkey before, climbing on the telephone wires at the end of our road, but hadn't managed to get any photos of them. This time, however, we managed to get lots, and a short video as well! They were smaller than the sort we saw in India and Cambodia, had a sort of furry ruff round their necks, and I think they had stripy tails.
After this we took the cable car up. The price had increased from the R$35 it had quoted in the guidebook to R$44, which we thought was a bit stiff, but we went up anyway. The Sugar Loaf Mountain had another peak just next to it, but lower and more rounded, and the cable car lets people off here before carrying on. Even at this stage we reckoned it was well worth the price, and then once we reached the Sugar Loaf itself we were 100% certain! Needless to say, the panoramic views were incredible; Urca far below us, Copacabana beach, Cristo Redentor on Corcovado mountain in the far distance opposite us, Botafogo and Flamengo with their beaches, Centro, the harbour with lots of boats in and the long bridge across to Niterói, the mountains behind Niterói leading into the distance, and then the open sea with the small islands in it.
Once we had got back down we bought a small ice lolly each to keep ourselves going (it was between 30 and 36 degrees) and began our long walk to Cristo Redentor, buying on the way a 2 litre bottle of Coke to keep us going even more. Our walk was very long, and by the time we arrived at the place where you catch the cog train up the mountain, we were knackered! It was a relief to sit down and finish off the Coke. The journey up was beautiful, because it took us through rainforest with lots of scarlet flowers, the sun shining through the leaves, and with exciting views every now and then as we got higher and higher.
I had thought the view from the Sugar Loaf were incredible, but once we got to the base of Cristo Redentor my jaw dropped, because the view from here was even better! It's twice as high as the Sugar Loaf, you see. The Corvocado is set in the middle of a national park filled with rainforest, so we had the views of that, plus as well as nearly everything we saw from the Sugar Loaf, we could also see the Botanical Gardens and the accompanying Jardim Botânico area, the neighbouring lagoon, Ipanema, the Macarana stadium and north Rio, and what we thought were some of the favelas on a couple of hillsides. We went round taking photos from every side, and also took lots of Cristo Redentor himself. He is 30 metres tall and is made of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of soapstone. He is the largest Art Deco sculpture in the world, and in the base there's a small chapel. We stayed for ages taking in the views, and then I wanted to take a particular photo where I got all of him in and part of the base but didn't have anybody else in, but I had to wait a long time because people kept getting in the way. Eventually I got one which wasn't quite from the right angle but would do, and then as we began to leave, I had the idea of lying on my back at the right distance away, looking up, and taking a photo from there. It came out just right, so I was very pleased! I probably got a couple of odd looks, but never mind. I had my photo, so I was content!
It was sunset by the time the train set off back down, and by the time we were back at the bottom it was dark. We didn't want to risk walking all the way home in the dark, so for the first time in Rio, we caught a bus. They are a bit different to the ones at home in that there's a separate person to take the fares, rather than just the driver.

7/5/09 Not much today apart from some jobs that needed doing. In the evening we went out for dinner to a Kilo restaurant. These are common in Rio; you pay by weight, usually a certain amount per 100g. It was laid out like a buffet, split into savoury and puddings; the variety was amazing! I took some of what looked like a savoury sort of rice pudding (it turned out to be rice in a runny cheese sauce - lovely), some normal rice, a spoonful of a black bean sauce, some carrots, cauliflower and lettuce, some meat stroganoff, a piece of grilled meat, some potato, tuna and egg salad and some chicken, leek,mayo and egg salad. The latter was absolutely delicious, as was the stroganoff, the carrots and the cheesy rice dish; the rest was nice too, just not quite as good as the stroganoff etc. There were loads of other salads and dishes, but I knew I'd want puddings as well and the weight (and therefore cost) would have crept up too much, so I didn't have anything else savoury. When we had first entered the restaurant, we had been given a plastic card; after we had put the food on our plates, our plates were weighed and we had to give the cards back. Receipts were printed but we had to hang onto them until the end, when we paid for everything at a separate counter near the door.

At first we were confused about how we'd get our puddings, because I'd given our cards back after getting our savoury food. Dave got us another card, but then a waiter came up and told us that we didn't need it, we just had to show the weigher our original receipt instead. Well, he said everything in Portuguese but we guessed what he meant in the end! The puddings were even better than the savoury food - everything looked absolutely luscious, but as I only had a bit of space left I decided to just sample the ones I most liked the look of. I had a slice of something a lot like creme caramel but with a slightly thicker texture; this I had smapled before, because small slices of it were on offer at the breakfasts at our first hostel here. I also had a slice of a wobbly sticky white pudding set in the shape of a ring; I think it was made with ground tapioca. It was delicious! I had a small slice of a sort of lemon meringue pie too, as well as some cocktail cherries and a finger of a kind of chocolate cake which I had mistaken for meringue with cream in. Dave tried a bit of everything of mine, and I tried some of his chocolate icecream.

8/5/09 Another job to do today - a hunt for Haviana flipflops! We went into Copacabana to do this as we thought there'd be more places selling them there. We looked round a couple of shops before finding one that had enough choice and sold them for cheaper. Dave and I each got a pair for ourselves, and I bought some more pairs for a certain other person (you know who you are!)