Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Sud America

We've gone from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean on an overnight flight that took us to Lima, Peru. We changed planes and after a short delay, flew to rainy Rio, arriving at 6:30 a.m. Our hotel was nice enough to get us into a room as soon as possible. We were tired as sleeping and flying aren't compatible. After a 3 hour nap in our new hotel, the rain had subsided and we went for a walk along the famous Copacabana/Ipanema beaches.  We walked north on the walkway along the Copacabana Beach, stopping to have a coconut drink. Open air sand art, little cafes, walkers, joggers and bicyclists are found along the way.

The low prices of Ecuador are gone. Rio is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Our $4.00 Ecuadorian cab rides are history. Our taxi from the airport to our hotel was $60.00! We will be walking until we need to get to our ship in 2 days. Bob found us a great little hotel within view of the beach. Our hotel overlooks the border of the two famous beaches.When Bob first started looking on Expedia for hotels, he found that most in Rio cost an arm and a leg.  The one we are staying in only costs a leg.

Enjoy the pictures of the mountains tumbling down to the sandy beaches and then the sea.

A bit of Rio history...
In 1808, Portuguese's Prince (later the king) fled Lisbon ahead of Napoleon's armies and moved his court and capital to Rio. Accustomed to the style of European capitals the prince and his 12,000 nobles who accompanied him, transformed Rio into a city of ornate palaces and landscaped parks. Years later, when the king returned to Lisbon, his son stayed in Rio and declared Brazil independent.

Today, Rio is the home to over 10 million people. The whole of Brazil is booming with an economy that is growing leaps and bounds. With the recent announcement of the summer Olympics coming, it's on the cusp of more change and development. Parts of the walkway on the beaches are already undergoing a major renovation.

Enjoy the pictures of the mountains tumbling down to the sandy beaches and then the sea.

Bob threw some coins in the artist's cup and we continued walking. We heard someone talking loudly, turned around and saw that he had followed us complaining that we didn't give enough. We tried to explain that that was all we had at the moment. He kept going on while we kept walking. Welcome to Rio!

After that incident, I didn't take anymore sand art pictures. We just looked. 

My CR-V keeps going south too!

Our slice of the beach as viewed from our hotel.

 (Last post from Ecuador below.)