NEW YEAR'S EVE ON COPACABANA BEACH

December 27 to January 2

Well they almost had to take us screaming and kicking from our beautiful hotel back to Rio, but since we were going back for the New Year´s festivities, we went.

We are back at the Debret until we leave Jan. 3. Our room is on the side with a decent view of the beach and fortunately several tall trees that are home to some singing birds(in the early morning of course). Best of all, we have 2 sets of closets. The Hotel offered us a remodelled room on the top floor facing the beach but it had a few small drawers and closet space for only 4 hangers. They thought we were nuts to turn it down but it just did not have enough storage for 2 women for 7 days! However, we really appreciated the thoughtfulness of offering us such a trade at no extra cost. Barb thinks she saw a couple with all their belongings in plastic bags chortling as they moved to the top floor.

The Debret is undergoing a renovation programme that is beyond our understanding. They refaced one side of the building but not the other. They fixed the roof so we are back eating breakfast at the top of the building with a spectacular view of the beach. The second floor is being remodelled extensively, but they are still trying to rent some rooms there. The 10th floor (there are 11 floors) has some remodelled rooms and at this rate it will take 5 years to complete.

When we returned to Rio, the weather was lovely but we were tired from the trip. So the next day we decided to take a bus to Barra da Tijuca, which is a suburb of Rio. It looks like any burb of a big city and would fit in at home. They have a very large shopping centre, which was AIR CONDITIONED! The bus ride took us past many interesting sites in Rio and took 60 minutes so it was like a mini tour. Our ride back to the hotel proved to be extremely interesting. We went into Sao Conrado where both the Hotel Intercontinental and the Hotel Sheraton are located. There is a major project underway there with construction of luxury condominiums. It was surprising to see Canadian firms Brascan and Brookfield Properties as developers. We drove past the Botonical Gardens, the Race Track known as The Jockey Club, the Fashion Mall (which we were told was in outer space when it came to prices), the Planetarium all of which we did not have time to visit.

There is a huge slum, called a favella, overlooking these hotels and condos. It is one of the largest slums in Rio. The favellas are, we think, the most famous slums in the world. One of our guides remarked that they are the real Rio. We had an idea that because the favellas are squatters, that they would have no water, plumbing, etc. The favellas are built on the hills behind the flats that border the seashore. In fact, they have full services plus paved roads. They even have taxis to the top of the mountain! The taxis are motorcycles. We remember seeing in Vietnam whole families riding one motorcycle, mother, father and 3 kids. In some very lovely residential areas, the favellas are the next door neighbours. While many of the hilltop mansions were built first, it was impossible to control the construction of the favellas due to the huge numbers of people moving to the city. As a matter of fact, if we look left out of our window rather than right to the beach, there is a large favella behind us up the hill.

On our ride back from Barra, we drove through a section of road perched on the cliffside next to the ocean with the favella up the hill. As we neared Rio, we passed an enticing hotel next to the favellas called The Sinless Hotel with rates starting at 48 Reals per night. What a deal.

The weather turned very muggy in high twenty´s and low 30's with occasional rain during our bus ride, sometimes just pouring. When we got into Ipanema, we got caught in such a deluge but managed to find a bus to take us to Copacabana Avenue. We arrived back quite wet.

We saved the Corcovado (Statue called Christ the Redeemer)and Sugar Loaf Mountain tours for our last week and lucked out as we had a lovely day for the tour. Wow, both are very high up and most of Barb´s friends know how she loves heights!! But she persevered when Lynne insisted Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is two peaks connected by 2 differnet sets of cable cars, is a must. As she pointed out, Barb rode a cable car in Hong Kong up to a peak to see the great Buddah and she could do the same to see the great Sugar Loaf. Our tour also included a stop at the factory that is busy making all the costumes for the 2010 Carnival. All top secret so we couldn´t get in, but we did see last years and for 5 Reals you can get your picture taken in one of the costumes--no we didn´t. We also saw the area where they march out in costume to parade for the crowds. It is like a stadium, only it looks like 2 street blocks with the 'Suites' being closer to the street and air conditioned. The guide stated it was very expensive to attend and it was more for the tourists and the 'Cariocas' the citizens of Rio, don't go.

Another part of the tour included a stop in LeBlon, the last of the areas along the strip of beaches and an up and coming area, where we were told several of their soap operas as filmed are very popular with the other countries of South America and are a high demand export.

We toured another top jeweller in Rio--'Amsterdam, Sauer', but Barb still isn´t buying. She had hoped for a ring with the stones of Brazil, but knowing she still has 6 weeks of vacation left, decided to postpone such a purchase.

On December 30 it started to pour...such a torrent of water, we were worried there would be no New Year's Eve celebrations. By noon on December 31, the downpour started to disappear and low and behold - a pleasant Dec 31 on the beach. We planned our own New Year´s Eve meal as most places charged upwards of $300 (not Reals)so we picked up some goodies at our favourite dining location, a split of champagne and had our own celebration. We dressed up in the traditional white and joined the throngs of people (about 2 million) on Copacabana Avenue for the music and the fireworks. It was great!

We have been having a difficult time with the TV...STARVED for English. But must say, we are continuing to add to our Portugese vocabulary having discovered Fashion Week on television along with Jeannie Becker, of all people!

We have been wandering through grocery stores here as we are always buying water to drink. We noticed that prices are very high. Cherries are $6 lb and they come from Chile. Most of the produce is priced no differerent than at home and we found this very surprising. There are never fresh muchrooms on the shelves (must be the weather). It must be very difficult for people who live here as the minimum wage is $200 a month which is impossible to live on. We think a lot of families have several peope working at jobs one never sees at home. People sitting on a stool and punching floor numbers in a fully automatic elevator and 2 people per bus, one to drive and one to collect fares.

We have found a perfect place to eat that we call buffeteria. A huge selection of food sold at prices ranging from $1.59 to $3.49 per 100 grams. At every one, there is someone at the door to give you a blank bill, all sorts of people running around filling the food trays, selling water, beer etc., cashiers and one person to collect your receipt as proof of payment. We never see so many people running around at home.

We have set up our own little buffeteria in our room with Lynne's portable coffee maker and our own supply of tea bags and cookies for that well balanced evening snack with coffee cups, plates and cutlery from our breakfast room.


CURVES GALS: we took pictures of the Curves location on Rua Migel Lemos 21 in Copacabana and will bring them in when we get home.

We are very glad we came to Brazil and spent enough time here to get a feel for the country. There is a sense of energy and optimism everywhere and if they can solve the problem of employment at meaningful wages, they will be well on their way to general prosperity.

We found the weather a trifle too hot for us (heading to 45 by full summer) and too humid as well. Thank goodness for air conditioning.

We are leaving for Peru tomorrow and are packing now...although Barb managed a couple of hours on the beach this morning. We took our last free hour to update our blog and are not sure when we will be able to post again. But keep in touch.

We anticipate a big change in climate once we head into the Andes.