River of January ~2~

 

On Thursday morning, we would be picked up at 7am from Villa 25 Hostel & Suites 10 minutes by Uber from our Airbnb. I wasn’t sure how morning traffic would affect our commute, so we left an hour earlier. Arriving at the pickup point, the hostel manager was annoyed when I asked if we could sit and wait. He thought it rude that our tour operator hadn’t asked permission to use his venue, and I said I’d pass on his message. He quickly softened his stance, and, to mitigate the insult, I ordered an espresso. By the time our ride arrived, said manager was leaving his shift, and I decided to drop the issue and not mention his protest to our guide.

We’d booked today’s activities through Airbnb Experiences. Sunny and I were the first to board the vehicle, together with an American girl of Emirati heritage. Next to hop on was a German of Ghanian parentage. This man showed me an Instagram account that listed street parties (blocos), giving daily updates. Since this was a quintessential part of Rio Carnaval, it seemed imperative that we attend one during our stay. We stopped several more times, and in the end, we had a German and his Portuguese girlfriend/wife, a female Chilean two-some, a pair of very young Danish men, some Italians, and I think an Austrian. I got one or two names but haven’t remembered them. Since we had boarded first, we were in the front row, just behind the driver Marcello. I chatted a little with the American Emirati and the German Ghanian, though my attention during transit was largely given to the guide, who imparted much information, for example that the neighborhood of Ipanema is the wealthiest in Rio and in the whole of Brazil. Of course, I checked this while writing, and it is in fact the adjacent neighborhood of Leblon which wears the crown of most expensive. Wealthiest by income goes to Lago Sul in the capital, Brasilia. The neighborhood that is highest on the human development index is Vila Cordeiro in São Paulo. I had wanted to walk along Ipanema beach simply because of that renowned song that has replayed in my head since childhood, “The Girl from Ipanema”, but the heat that characterized our walk along Copacabana later in the day killed my drive.

Our guide Riccardo was inclusive and astute, for example referring to the Chileans as Patagonians and to the Danes as Vikings. It was light-hearted and welcoming. Of all the people on the tour, he was really the only one who responded well when I attempted to strike up a conversation. I did try a little at stops and during lunch to talk with our other companions, but their responses were all monosyllabic, and they made no effort to lengthen the exchange. Perhaps it was because I was two decades older than them. Or perhaps they judged me for being a much older man with a much younger woman – one of those. Whatever, I eventually quit trying. I am comfortable in my own skin. I was NOT, on the other hand, comfortable in my long jeans and closed shoes!

Our first stop was at Christ the Redeemer. It was a nice ride through Tijuca Forest and up Mount Corcovado. Tijuca is the world’s largest urban rainforest. The area had been largely destroyed by farming operations; in 1861, Emperor Pedro II ordered its restoration to preserve Rio’s water supply. The forest is completely surrounded by the city of Rio, yet is home to hundreds of species, including monkeys, toucans, sloths and ocelots. In 1991, it was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. There are also waterfalls and another viewpoint named Vista Chinesa. We visited only the statue. At the top of the mountain and the foot of Christ the Redeemer, the crowds were impossible; I soon lost interest and sought a peripheral spot with no view and more space between people.

The statue itself has an interesting story. The Catholic Circle of Rio proposed it in 1920 in response to what they considered the godlessness of society. A previous proposal in the mid-1800s was not approved and in 1889, when the country became a republic, the separation of church and state precluded such a monument. But the 1920s proposal turned to private funding from Brazilian Catholics. The artistry and engineering were collaborative: Brazilian artist Carlos Oswald, French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski, Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida, Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, French engineer Albert Caquot. The structure was made of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of soapstone. The concrete making up the base was supplied from Limhamn, Sweden. Construction took nine years.

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Coming down from Corcovado Mountain, we stopped for a stroll through the gorgeous neighborhood of Santa Teresa. One of the attractions here is the Selarón Steps. When we came by, the crowd obscured the view almost entirely. I was not impressed in the slightest. In hindsight, seeing an image on Google Maps, I wish I had wandered up and taken closeup shots. The history of this project is fascinating. Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón began by renovating the steps in front of his own home with tile fragments in blue, green and yellow, the colors of the Brazilian flag. He was initially mocked by locals, but wasn’t deterred and soon became obsessed, eventually covering the entire set of steps with tiles, ceramics and mirrors. He funded the project from sales of paintings (among them 25,000 portraits of the same pregnant lady) and donations from locals and tourists. He began the project in 1990, and it ended on January 10, 2013, when his body was found on his lovingly renovated steps. The steps have been featured in documentaries, commercials, music videos, and different editions of “The Amazing Race”.

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Our next stop was at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian. I’d seen the structure from Mount Corcovado and wondered what it was. It is unlike any cathedral I’ve seen in any other location. It is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. Designed by Edgar de Oliveira da Fonseca, it is based on Mayan pyramid architecture. The church is resplendent with rectilinear stained-glass windows. Naturally, I went looking for the pipes. I was not able to locate the console, but the pipes were visible. I was astonished by the number and the size of them. It did not seem to me that they could produce enough resonance to fill the space, and I wondered how they would sound. I tried to find a recording online. Google AI led me to a link of a video on TikTok. However, the video itself has a #SaoPaolo in its description, so I cannot verify its veracity. Also from Google AI is this quote: “Visitors frequently mention the ‘tranquil music’ and the organ playing as a highlight that enhances the ‘mystical atmosphere’ created by the building’s unique lighting.” I could find no more information about the instrument, not even on the cathedral's own website. Ah, well, that's what I get for having niche interests!

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From here we were driven just a few blocks on to Praça Marechal Floriano and shown the façade of Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro. As in Europe and Uzbekistan, where theaters are closed during the summer, this theater was similarly closed during Carnaval, and there was no show to be enjoyed during our stay. A temporary stage had been set up on the plaza – this was likely going to be (or had been) the site of one of the many blocos that take place during Carnaval. It was not in use today as we wandered by. 

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We filed back into the van and were driven to Maracanã Stadium, officially known as Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho. I’d seen this, too, from the feet of Christ the Redeemer. This is the beating heart of Brazilian football. Built for the 1950 World Cup, it was at the time the world’s largest stadium. Its capacity is 78,868; however, the record attendance stands at 173,850 on 16 July 1950. (Ahem – sounds like a Health & Safety hazard – ahem.)

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It was finally time to get lunch, and I was famished. We went to a place where you pay for your meal by weight, or you pay a single price and eat all you can. Sunny and I both opted for all-you-can-eat. Typing now, it took a while to find the exact restaurant because it wasn’t named in the day’s itinerary, nor did Google Maps Timeline catch our location. Restaurante Conde Gourmet had so many options. At one counter stood a chef, behind whom several flavors of meat from a whole farmyard of animals were skewered and placed over a flame. The dedicated chef shaved bite-sized chunks onto guests’ plates. Afterwards, he lathered salt onto the freshly cut strip and returned the skewer onto the grill. This style of Brazilian barbecue is called “churrasco”. Sunny found the meat too salty; I liked it precisely for the saltiness. Apart from the meat, there were all kinds of vegetables, French fries, pizza, pasta/noodle dishes, stewed meats, salads, and desserts. Drinks were extra, and I washed my meal down with a local beer.

Foreground left: the German Ghanian;
to his left, the two Danes

After satiating, we headed to the final stop of this tour, Parque Lage. This is a public park located in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood at the foot of Mount Corcovado. It was once the residence of an industrialist, Henrique Lage and his wife, Gabriella Besanzoni, who was Italian and a mezzo-soprano and contralto opera singer. The mansion that was their house was largely open to the public until May 2025, when it was shut for extensive renovations. Plage Café, formerly located in the courtyard, closed permanently. The restored buildings will not be opened to the public; rather they are intended to be used exclusively by Escola de Artes Visuais. Our wander through the gardens was pleasant, but the heat and humidity that had punished me all day put me on a bench to escape any more cardiovascular heating.

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Tour over, our guides offered to bring us back to our pickup point, but we opted to be dropped off nearby in Copacabana. I had booked that dinner theater show between Hearst Castle tours in California. These tickets were also digital; however, while I’d already secured my Sambadrome tickets for several nights hence, I hadn’t yet had an email to deliver Roxy Dinner Show tickets. The show was in a few hours! I was unsure about how their system worked, but it seemed that bookersinternational.com rented rooms on the ground floor of Hotel Atlântico Copacabana. Those who came to pick up paper tickets or, like me, query digital tickets had to line up outside on the sidewalk. An agent, called a Rio Carnaval Angel, gave us wrist bands. Entrance was timed. As we entered, we had to follow the yellow arrows to pokey rooms in the back. I sat down in the first room and explained my trouble. I had to prove my identity, provide the credit card I’d used, and show my reservation number. He then wrote a note which I had to take to the second room. Here I was told that the digital tickets had been emailed. I was astonished. Nevertheless, they allowed me to connect to their internet. (I was connected via SIM, but not here, deep in the catacombs of the hotel.) And there they were, emailed in the time that I’d spent here, with the other moles, in the tunnels of a hotel on Copacabana. Okay, enough waxing lyrical.

From here, we stopped in at an ice cream vendor and headed towards Copacabana Beach. It was still blistering in the sun, so we stopped in at a beachfront restaurant for cocktails. I had my first caipirinha, and I was sold. After cooling for a while, we took a stroll along a short section of the 4km-long promenade that fronts the beach. A vendor of T-shirts said as I passed, “I have your size: XXXXXL!” What an unexpected burn out of nowhere, and I guffawed. I mean, the unabashed audacity! Ex-fucking-squeeze me?! 

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A couple of blocks along, we turned right and found the Cine Roxy building where tonight’s performance would take place. This is a converted Art Deco cinema, opened in 1938, then restored and reopened in 2024 as an immersive entertainment venue. It is located on the corner of Rua Bolivar and Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana. We were early and waited in the foyer. We were underdressed and I felt self-conscious among the glamorous dolls and their expensively clad beaus. We found a row of chairs where we could hide from the crowds and wait for the doors to open.

When they did, the cavernous hall of the theater became visible. On the main floor where rows of seats used to be, 70 tables stood ready to accommodate 580 dinner guests. The mezzanine level above offered an additional 120 seats. The venue’s original 280-square-foot Art Deco dome had been preserved, while the cinema screen had been replaced by a 400 sq m. stage backed by a 210 sq m. concave 4K LED panel. We were shown to our seats and offered drinks, which were, naturally, not included in the ticket price. Then we placed our orders.

Sunny and I were seated side by side at a table for eight. Four American ladies, well-dressed and coifed, sat at the two seats beside me and the two across from those. Two Hungarian gentlemen were seated across from Sunny and me. I had stop-start exchanges with the one who could speak English. Meals started arriving, accompanied by unintrusive live jazz. My starter involved tuna, goat cheese and pesto. This preceded fillet mignon, served with potato mille feuille and gravy. The meal was wrapped up with a large meringue, filled with coconut cream, and dressed with fruit pieces and fruit jus. It was all quite scrumptious, and the service impeccable.

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The real show started during desserts. This was considerably livelier and more interesting. It was presented as a sort of cultural tour of the country. A map of a certain region appeared on the LED panel. Then dancers in folk fashions demonstrated dances from that region and in other ways portrayed the day-to-day lives of the people. Then a new map highlighted a new region, and so the show continued. It was very high energy. I can’t imagine myself choosing such a show regularly, but in this setting, in a country I had not yet visited, it was enthralling. This is from their website:

From samba to forró, from Parintins to southern traditions, from bossa nova to carnival, from capoeira to street art – it’s Brazil pulsing on stage like never before. In “Aquele Abraço”, the audience is an essential part of the show, like the number one member of this journey. So when you take your seat at the Roxy, feel like you are on stage: sing, dance, participate, get emotional, let joy carry you from beginning to end. Enjoy the ride!

The evening’s entertainment had started around 7:30pm and we exited the theater at around 11:00pm. Sunny found a clothing store, Citycol Copacabana 2, across the avenue and a few steps away from the intersection where I bought cheap shorts to get relief from the unbearable heat and humidity. Back at the corner and diagonally across from Cine Roxy was a supermarket, Zona Sul Supermercado Copacabana, where we bought water and extra supplies. Then we hopped in an Uber and were relieved to be heading in the direction of bed.

And that was the second day.