RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Bom Dia. It was spectacular to sail in to Rio at daybreak. Seeing all the famous landmarks on our side of the ship, like Sugerloaf mountain, Christ the redeemer statue and Copacabana beach. After a while we got to the cruise port area and docked there. The weather was overcast with rain showers in the forecast. For this morning we had an excursion booked to go up sugerloaf mountain. After an hour bus ride we got to the mountain. In order to get to the top you had to take 2 gondola rides. After the 2 rides we got to the top. O my, the views of the city were spectacular. From here we could see all the local beaches in the city. We were lucky, after we were up for half an hour it started to cloud over to the point that you couldn’t see very far and we even felt some sprinkles of rain. After we got down the mountain with the gondola we boarded the bus over to Copacabana beach. We stopped at the beach for 1/2 hr and took some pics of the spectacular sidewalks and beach area. Because of the cloudy weather the beach was not to crowded. After this visit we slowly drove back to the ship where we arrived around 1pm. After lunch we decided to take it easy for the afternoon as we were going out tonight to the famous Sambadrome for the Carnaval parade. After dinner, we had to assemble in the ship theatre for the bus pickup. After a short bus ride through heavy traffic we arrived at the drome. The Sambadrome is a large venue, basic a 700 meter long street with concrete bleachers and sky boxes on both sides of the road. There is room for 90,000 spectators. after a little bit of a wait, it finally got under way around 10:30. The first school float started to roll down the road. 1 float can consist out of over 1000 participants. They have 50min to go from one end to the other end. If they are over or under the 50min they get deducted points for their performance. There are 7 school floats scheduled per night. after 4 nights of parades, they will announce the winner next week. The winner will get a money price for their community. While watching this, lots of dancing is going on in the stands and lots of people are dressed up in their favorite crazy outfits. Unfortunately we had the occasional light rain shower, that couldn’t stop the crowd from singing and dancing. After each school there was a short fire works display. After watching 4 school displays go by, we figured it was time to go. Meanwhile it was 3AM and getting bed time for me. After the bus ride back to the ship, we noticed that there was a veryyy loud music party going on in one of the buildings close to the ship. For the night I had to use my ear plugs to drown out the music outside. This Carnaval parade was definitely our highlight of the day, what an experience to be there.
Before we went to the caraval we were warned about the crime and also warned for pick pocketing and to leave all your jewelry, including your watch and rings at the ship. As it was, the exursion we were on was organised by Holland America and at no time did we felt in danger. At all times there were hosts nearby. There was also lots of security at the venue. Busses were easy to catch after each performance, if you chose to return to the ship early. Big thumbs up to HAL.
Cheers
“South America” “Rio” “Carnaval” “HAL”
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