My fist impression of Rio was, WOW! What a contradiction! I
took the BRT from the airport which was about a two hour trip and for the
entire journey all I say was houses that had been half demolished and graffiti everywhere
and everything just looked dirty (without any litter to be seen).



From there I took a taxi to Recreio along one of the longest
beaches in the Southern Hemisphere. Here the buildings were much the same and I
was amazed at how small the apartments were inside (damn we are lucky where we
live!!)



After finally getting a shower and a change of clothes I
made my way to Ipanema, where the contradiction showed up. The beach was lined
with multi story luxury hotels and which were just hiding the flavelas behind
them.



I walked along Ipanema and then around into Copacabana. While
walkin on Ipanema I had my first glimpse of Christ the Redeemer and this was
the moment that I realised that I was in Rio! I’m in Rio, woohoo!!



This beach walk walk was about 30km but it never felt like
it with all the distractions. What I will say is thank goodness I had
sunglasses on!! In Rio (and I suspect Brazil) a bikini is an everyday outfit and
not just what you wear to the beach (except that each day may involve a trip to
the beach...)



Needless to say that I am now a lobster but wow, what an
awesome day and so worth it...but we may need to look at that again in the
morning...