Did you know that Rio de Janiero is a misnomer? The Portuguese explorer who first came here thought that it was the mouth of a river, or “Rio,” and that the month was January, or “Janiero.” A few days earlier would have been Deciembre. In fact it is not the mouth of a river, rather a large bay.
As it was our first shore excursion, we chose to rake a tour. There had been grave warnings about the traffic, given the construction on preparation for the Olympics this summer. It wasn’t bad at all.
The city houses some 6-8 million people. Many seem to live in high rise apartments surrounding the bay. There are mountains all over, splitting the city all over the place.
We went to Sugarloaf, a famous mountain and took the two-part cable cars up. The views were impressive. The Christ the Redeemer statue was shrouded in clouds on the distance, but emerged as we were about to head back down.
We drove through the city and saw the starting and ending seating areas for the famous carnival parades. These concrete bleachers hold 70,000 spectators. We drove past the sporting venues where the opening ceremonies will be held.
Our last stop was at the cathedral, a far cry from churches we’d seen elsewhere in South America. The structure was built in the 1970’s, and has no “colonial” feel whatsoever.
The ship left as the sun was setting. We’ve noticed that locals like to wave and escort the cruise ships as they’re leaving. The light of the sunset was quite stunning.
So you’re off—–on the open seas! Is it 4 or 5 days to Spain? Longer to get through Gibralter to Barcelona, I guess. We still want to hear what you know about the eathquake in the parts of Ecuador you visited.