One of Those Days …in Rio

Botanical Gardens

Man and women in the forground with a path lined with palm trees in the background

graham and john's back walking down a path Even on holidays you can have one of those days.

We wake up to pouring rain so we do some laundry and take it easy until the rain stops.

Around 11am Graham gets us an Uber and we head to the Botanical Gardens. As soon as we get through the entrance it starts to rain again. Fortunately it doesn’t last long.
two men walking away from the camera on a tree lined path
The gardens are beautiful with so many picturesque spots. Often we can see the Christ the Redeemer statue in the background.

We see lots of different kinds of birds including little parrots squawking away in the trees.

dark tiered fountain with Christ the Redeemer on top of the mountain in the distance

Monkeys

monkey on the grass eating a piece of fruit

money standing on two legs in the grass There is even a troop of black capuchin monkeys in the trees and on the ground. Often they take one bite of fruit and then throw down the rest. We have to be careful when standing under a tree. These monkeys are larger than the marmosets we saw yesterday.

We thoroughly enjoy the Botanical Gardens.

Things go Downhill

We stop in at a grocery store to grab a few snacks to tide us over and then catch an Uber to the base of the Christ the Redeemer mountain where we plan to take the cog train to the top. A cog train has a third track in the centre that engages a cog wheel to assist the train up very steep grades.

The traffic to the train station is horrendous, we hardly move. We go into a very, very long traffic tunnel, still hardly moving. We are in there so long that I’m starting to feel claustrophobic. Finally we get through the tunnel and our off ramp to the train station is just ahead. But the ramp is blocked! The driver pulls over and talks to a worker and the bottom line is that the ramp is closed to traffic and we cannot get to where we want by car unless we take a very long detour. Graham and our driver talk and and we learn that we can get out here and walk to the train station in 5-10 minutes.

We get out of the Uber and another fellow approaches us offering to have us driven up to Christ the Redeemer by van from a point after the blocked road. You can only access the top by the cog train or special vans. His price is twice the cost of the train plus we wanted to do the train so we say no. He kindly points us the way to the cog train station…which just happens to be straight down a steep, grassy slope before we reach a sidewalk.

We do get to the cog train station in about ten minutes .. hallelujah! We line up to buy tickets and an attendant approaches us and advises that the train broke down and they have two men sitting on a planter drinking a yogurt drink and eating a snack no idea when it will be working again. They advise getting one of the special vans. The vans leave from a plaza closer to the city center about 2.5 kms away. But, due to more road construction, the vans are not running for the next hour. Aggggghhhhh!

We decide to eat our snacks and contemplate the situation. Finally concluding that we’ve come this far so we might as well continue.

a red and white octogon shaped ticket booth A city worker explains to Graham that we will need to get a taxi to take us to the plaza to catch the van tour A taxi stop is a five minute walk down the street.

We are almost at the taxi stop and Graham decides that he prefers to take an Uber. Our Uber driver is nine minutes away. Twelve minutes later he is still five minutes away apparently stuck in traffic. At least a dozen cabs pass us. Graham finally cancels the Uber and we grab a cab to the plaza where the ticket booth for the vans is located.

I see the ticket booth as the taxi drives up to let us off in front and literally as I am getting out of the cab the windows of the ticket booth are drawn shut… it has closed for the day.

We admit defeat. Christ the Redeener does not want us to visit today. Maybe he knew that the mountain would be covered in clouds and we’d see nothing so he was helping us out.

Where’s the Bathroom

a grey classical style church with pillars and the front

By this point, I really have to go to the bathroom. I’ve had to go since we left the Botanical Gardens. We go into a shopping mall. The only public washroom is in a very busy restaurant and you have to get the key from the staff. People are lined up for food so we give up and search somewhere else.

We go to the subway and are told there are no washrooms there either. Now I understand why the city smells like stale urine in so many places.

We decide to try the pretty church in the plaza and see if Christ the Redeemer can help us out. As we get to the door, we see a sign saying “Washrooms are Restricted.” Aaaaahhhhrgh!

Graham tells the older woman at the church religious items shop that his mother really has to go. Being a good Christian woman, she shows mercy and gives us the bathroom key. Amen!

We spend some time after looking around the church (and happily give a donation).

An Uber gets us back to our apartment with no issues.

Sunset???

storm clouds over a mountain in the distance
Graham is tired, so he goes for a nap. John is determined to see the sunset from Arpoador Rock at the end of Ipanema Beach.

heavy clouds in the distance over the mountains with a beach below John starts climbing a path up the rock but I find it too slippery. He suggests that I wait for him on the bench near a large group of policemen.

The sunset is dismal…actually it is non-existent but the dark, low hanging clouds gives the view a dramatic look. Then it starts to rain. Even the police officers leave to get out of the rain.

John finally comes down off his rock and we head back to the apartment, stopping to get groceries for supper along the way because we just don’t want to deal with finding a restaurant in the rain after our day.

But…tomorrow is another day.