What a beautiful energetic city... and amazingly friendly and laid back people and sexy and beautiful ...and it not even summer. It´s a huge city and i only had 5 days so opted for a tour of main sites:Sugar Loaf - massive granite boulder - we walked through forest and then cable car for last section with amazing views over Rio, beaches, city and surrounding mountains and parks.Christ the Redeemer statue at 30m high towers over you and embraces city below.Everyone is warned of the dangers of Rio so we also visted the artistic, bohemian neighbourhoods of St Theresa (famous tiled stairways) and Lapa (samba clubs) as part of the tour, but coming from South Africa, what was there to worry about - rather safe than sorry...A guided (advisable) tour through the largest favella in the country with 200000 people and set on a steep hill behind the beach ...an assault to the senses...horrifying conditions for people to live in, dangerous, dirty, dilapidated...limited services in terms of water, electricity, sanitation, healdth care and schooling and large drug element with head of favella the drug lord. We were fortunate to tour within alleyways visiting artists, bakery and child care centre, uplifting moments in an otherwise depressing visit.
I met Nathalie from France (admirably travelling for 4 years.....now that is a brilliant idea) in the youth hostel, so we enjoyed a day swimming and sunbathing on Ipanema beach - in the Atlantic ocean, much warmer than Camps bay!! Ipanema beach, on a sunny day was packed with surfers, lithe bodies playing volley ball, bat and ball and sun worshippers, running and cycling tracks line the beaches and is busiest in the morning and weekend. A little shopping didnt go amiss as well as some culture - Museum of Modern Art, a night of dancing and capirinhas at a Samba club in Lapa and enjoying tastes of Brasil, notably the fruits - asai and coco gelado - there are so many fruits to try. Enough of rest and relaxation, it was time to start the cycle tour - I feel as I have talked about it for long enough and planned for long enough ... hoping that will pay off!After getting bike set up and rider meeting on Saturday we were ready at starting line on Rio Ipanema beach at 7.30am on Sunday morning with sun barely up to bid us on our long way...
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Day 1: Rio de Janiero to Mangaratiba - 117kms, 6 hours riding timeWe cruised along the beach, past the favella, Barra (beach & shopping suburb) and through to the first hill in convoy for 35km and then up and over into marshlands and started to find our own rythm until lunch at 50km. The weather had turned and was overcast and drizzly at times but a cool day for riding. The next 40kms or so were through relatively industrial areas and major roadworks, which was uninteresting and put a bit of a cloud over the days experience. The last few kms ( I cant believe I just said few for 30kms!´) was along the coast, rolling hills, through a few tunnels and then down into a tiny town of Mangaratiba, and our rest for the night at Pousada Mentoca ( a basic hotel). Dinner was enjoyed in the next door restaurant and a sneaky beer and diary write up on the beach, main reflection on day 1 - tired!!Day 2: Mangaratiba to Parity - 146kms, 7 hours riding timeA really long day ...1500m elevation...rolling hills, I was cycling with Max who was great at setting pace on the hills, and Taleda who was great at ensuring we were on route (excellent strategy to cycle with local Brasilian!!!), it was long but it was good, great weather, great scenery, great lunch and refreshments along the way, several photo stops.....but at 140km I was ready to get to camp. Camping just next to the beach, first thing get tent up, then a quick bowl of soup, shower and then dinner......and then the rains came down!Day 3: Parity to Sao Sebastiao - 156kms, 7,5 hours riding timeAnother really long day....but less hilly with only 900m elevation, more rolling hills, I was cycling with young James and Ben who were having a slow day......maybe not for me! Beautiful clear roads, stunning scenery with tropical rainforests, beautiful beaches, islands....but then it all started to go horribly wrong ...camera battery died at first photo stop, and at 80km point it started to rain, all the way to Sao Sebastiao!!! Not much fun, as long as you kept moving you were warm, and highlights were refreshments at 108km and a clean toilet at a garage at 139km!!! Sad...Heading into a rest day so option to upgrade from camping to an apartment, which I jumped at the chance of being dry and spacious (cop out!) but given the massive thunderstorms most of the night, I was pleased at my choice, especially at ZAR100!!!
.Day 1: Rio de Janiero to Mangaratiba - 117kms, 6 hours riding timeWe cruised along the beach, past the favella, Barra (beach & shopping suburb) and through to the first hill in convoy for 35km and then up and over into marshlands and started to find our own rythm until lunch at 50km. The weather had turned and was overcast and drizzly at times but a cool day for riding. The next 40kms or so were through relatively industrial areas and major roadworks, which was uninteresting and put a bit of a cloud over the days experience. The last few kms ( I cant believe I just said few for 30kms!´) was along the coast, rolling hills, through a few tunnels and then down into a tiny town of Mangaratiba, and our rest for the night at Pousada Mentoca ( a basic hotel). Dinner was enjoyed in the next door restaurant and a sneaky beer and diary write up on the beach, main reflection on day 1 - tired!!Day 2: Mangaratiba to Parity - 146kms, 7 hours riding timeA really long day ...1500m elevation...rolling hills, I was cycling with Max who was great at setting pace on the hills, and Taleda who was great at ensuring we were on route (excellent strategy to cycle with local Brasilian!!!), it was long but it was good, great weather, great scenery, great lunch and refreshments along the way, several photo stops.....but at 140km I was ready to get to camp. Camping just next to the beach, first thing get tent up, then a quick bowl of soup, shower and then dinner......and then the rains came down!Day 3: Parity to Sao Sebastiao - 156kms, 7,5 hours riding timeAnother really long day....but less hilly with only 900m elevation, more rolling hills, I was cycling with young James and Ben who were having a slow day......maybe not for me! Beautiful clear roads, stunning scenery with tropical rainforests, beautiful beaches, islands....but then it all started to go horribly wrong ...camera battery died at first photo stop, and at 80km point it started to rain, all the way to Sao Sebastiao!!! Not much fun, as long as you kept moving you were warm, and highlights were refreshments at 108km and a clean toilet at a garage at 139km!!! Sad...Heading into a rest day so option to upgrade from camping to an apartment, which I jumped at the chance of being dry and spacious (cop out!) but given the massive thunderstorms most of the night, I was pleased at my choice, especially at ZAR100!!!
Day 4: Rest daySo we are on our rest day and it is still raining, but bike is now clean and tweaked, laundry done, camery fixed, blog updated, little bit of shopping and wandering around beautiful Sao Sebastiao, playground for Sao Paulo, stunning crumbling architecture, beautiful eclectic church, great food and apparently stunning waterfalls on the many islands around here, but it is still raining and I am keeping dry! Knee is a little sore so good to get a rest, bum is not too bad, and bike is great! Gotta keep loving it.
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