Two days in Rio de Janeiro

It’s Rio, baby! It’s hard to believe we’re finally here. Bright lights, big city. Gorgeous beaches, urban sprawl. It looks like the postcards.

But first we spent a few sun-soaked days on Brazil’s north-eastern beaches. Living the life; getting up late, breakfasting on fresh papaya and watermelon, dressing in just swimsuits and venturing lazily out to explore the sandy streets and colourful houses of those little towns, and to bask in the warmth on beach after perfect palm-tree-lined beach.

We stayed in Porto Seguro and spent a day in the smaller but slightly busier Arraial d’Ajuda, and another day in the even smaller and very sleepy Trancoso (which stands out in memory as housing the best food-per-kilo we’ve had yet, struggling to believe that the rooms filled with piles of food weren’t just a hunger-fuelled hallucination).

And in the evenings, we would take advantage of some fantastically good-value caipirinhas at drinks stalls on the seafront. It was all tremendously relaxing, and the kind of life that it’s weird to be having in December, a week before Christmas.

At last, it was time for our last bus ride (18 hours, so not going out with a whimper), and the huge messy city-ness of Rio came as a bit of a shock to the system. First impressions? It was a little disappointing that Christ the Redeemer wasn’t looming over our heads as we pulled into the bus terminal. (I’ve since realised that the famous statue is more a distant hilltop shadow than an omnipresent reminder that we’re in Rio. Maybe I should carry around one of those little copycat figurines they sell everywhere.)

But, finally, we have sipped caipirinhas on Copacabana beach, and the dream is fulfilled. We have also had a beer on top of the Sugar Loaf (hmm, we drink a lot), laid our long-suffering bodies on the white sands of Ipanema, and seen the stunning city from the top of the Corcovado, from which the Christ does loom, and from which one understands how the views alone can make a city famous.

Quito and La Paz were impressive, but Rio really must be the most beautifully-situated city we have seen. Perched on the coast and punctuated by jutting green mountains, it’s incredible that it even came to exist here.

It’s been lovely, and we’ve had a very productive couple of days. But now, the weather has started to turn a little cloudier, as we knew it would, and we’re having to find indoor activities to occupy our time. Perhaps a funky samba club that we can hole out in for our last few glorious South American days.