Brazil February 2007

2/13 Tuesday Bob took us to the airport at 05:45. We bought water and a Brazilian Portuguese phrase book at SeaTac but couldn’t find an ATM for Bank of America to deposit Wally’s check. We had a several hour layover in Atlanta so we had a cookies-and-cream drink and a takeout meal from Panda Express. We checked with the currency exchange booth and their rate was 1.79 Brazilian Reals for 1.00 USD. We did not exchange money there.

2/14 Wednesday We flew to Rio and, while we were waiting for our flight to Belo Horizonte, I looked around for a bank to exchange or withdraw Brazilian money. I finally asked an attendant and he directed me to another guy – looked like a maintenance guy – who beckoned me aside and asked me how much I wanted to exchange, I said, “$100” and he pulled out a calculator and then a wad of Brazilian Reals and handed me R$200. I figured that was pretty good based on the R$1.79 rate in Atlanta. (And, in fact it was not bad; I could have gotten maybe R$206 instead somewhere else, or maybe not). In Belo Horizonte we bravely found the cheap bus to the domestic airport, Pampulha, rather than taking a taxi as recommended. When we checked in at Total Air Lines we had to pay an excess baggage charge of R$48; Kevin had already purchased our tickets earlier. The flight was on a 40-seat turbo-prop and the weather was pretty cloudy/stormy. We made an intermediate stop at Ipachinga and we had no idea whether we had reached GV or not – the Portuguese was impenetrable. Since not everyone got off and the scheduled time didn’t match up, we stayed aboard and soon landed in Governador Valadares. No one was there to meet us so we stood around for a while until someone brought a phone out to us – it was Kevin and he got us set up with a taxi that took us directly to the Pousada Jeito da Minas on the Ilha (island). After checking in, we got together with Kevin McGinley and Josh (guides) and Gary Biggs from Alaska (Rich and Maggie Shalman had not yet arrived on their car ride from Belo, where we had run into them at the airport; they had actually been on the same flight as us from Rio). We got Eagle Paragliding caps and t-shirts and a set of Google Earth maps of the area. It was pretty late by the time we headed out for dinner and Doc and Maggie had shown up. We went to Farol (lighthouse), about 2 blocks away on the downstream tip of the island) and got a big table upstairs. We thought the prices were quite high but it turned out that most meals on the menu served two (at least), anyway, Josh paid for dinner for all eight of us (Josh, Kevin, Wevia (?), Kevin’s Brazilian girlfriend, Gary, Doc, Maggie, C.J. and me). C.J. got out her computer when we got back to the pousada around 22:30 and sent some emails she had written earlier.

2/15 Thursday The pousada was furnished with lots of pottery and country furniture, very pleasant. Breakfast was buffet-style and there were fruit and juices, homemade cakes, cheese, ham, bread, rolls, sandwich-makings (and a sandwich grill), as well as scrambled eggs or omelet cooked to order. Hot milk was in a vacuum bottle and there was chocolate mix for making hot chocolate. Around 08:00 we got together and later drove to the in-city LZ at Feira da Paz just on the other side of the bridge from the island. Next we drove through part of the city with Bruno, the driver of our retrieve van, and crossed the main bridge to the south (or east – I never did get the directions straight!) on highway 116. We stopped at a bomb-out LZ near a truck dealership on one side and a favela on the other side. Don’t land in the favela even though it’s on the route to the next hill, the crocodile or Salvacão, a house thermal. Then we drove down HWY 116 for 20-30 km with Kevin and Josh pointing out thermal sources and possible landmarks. The big concern about landing out around here is the abundance of power lines and their unpredictable placement. We drove past two small cities, Era Novem and Alpercata, the first petrol station, and stopped at the second one, “Posto JR” to look at the landing possibilities and get something to drink. [Later, or earlier, this day we also drove out to “Tick Field” LZ and beyond on a muddy, red-dirt road to check out the local LZ’s to be used if you couldn’t get high enough to cross the river safely.] The weather was improving after the overnight rain but the Pico do Ibituruna was still in the clouds. We tried to drive up, anyway, after a stop for lunch at a bakery/lancheria on the Ilha, but the steep, cobblestone road was too slippery so we went back to hang out at the pousada for awhile. Later we were able to reach the summit and the launch but, even though the clouds were broken, cloudbase was below us. Wind was blowing up the back side where the launch is directly above steep cliffs and there isn’t much room to run on the relatively flat slope. After waiting, the wind switched until it was blowing lightly from the E, splitting the ridge (a condition that occurred frequently during our time in GV), and the clouds lifted. Josh, Kevin and Doc managed to get off for a sledder to Feira da Paz. C.J., Gary and I packed up and drove down with Bruno. We got back to the pousada around 19:30 to hear that Doc had lost his wallet in the LZ and had to cancel his credit cards. We went out around 21:00 for dinner across the bridge in GV at Restaurante Joa’ near the main square where a Thursday evening market was happening (but we didn’t go check it out for some reason), We had the picanha steak – a special cut of beef, marinated and sliced – a huge platter of fries, cucumbers-tomatoes-shredded cabbage, rice, and “beans prepared Minas-style”. Everything was delicious, especially the steak and beans, but there was way too much food. We got back to the pousada after 23:00.

2/16 Friday It turned out that Rick hadn’t really lost his wallet – just misplaced it in his flying gear. We left about 09:30 and stopped at the Bank of Brazil just across the bridge, near the LZ to use the one ATM out of a dozen, labeled with the VISA logo. I took out R$400 (which lasted until we left for Rio). Next we picked up JR and headed up the hill. We hung out on launch for a long time as cloudbase rose. Josh launched finally, and then others. It didn’t look like a good XC day. I launched at 12:12 from the back side and went right, around the cliff face, sinking. I found weak but somewhat rough lift near the square white building with the radio antenna above “Tick Field” LZ. Lift turned on and I cored up to above launch level and eventually to cloudbase (not really much higher). I spent the rest of the flight going up and down but mostly staying over 3000 ft and touring the local area N of Pico do Ibituruna. C.J. and I got to fly together quite a bit and, later, I followed her out across the river and Ilha to land at Feira da Paz. We took a taxi back to the pousada, where a shower and swim felt really good. C.J. worked for several hours before we went to dinner at Farol, same place as the first night, where we had filet da parmegiana with scalloped potatoes. Gary did not go with us because he cracked a wrist bone and sprained his ankle landing alongside the road to launch about halfway up, a spot Josh had pointed out as a good bailout.

2/17 Saturday I think this is the day that Brad joined us. We left around 10:00 and stopped at a field (“one-tree LZ”) near where the road to launch starts up the hill – a good bailout. There was a large amount of traffic on the road including the AVVL bus and a couple of cars with hang gliders on top. It was Saturday and the locals were out, plus the pilots who have arrived early for the comp; it was almost crowded on top. Interviewers filmed C.J. again; this time it was for the big O Global news organization. Conditions looked pretty good but there was cloud development NE of us and showers in front. I launched behind a girl with a blue wing who aborted four or more times. Then I found myself sinking , then climbing in front of the rock face with the same girl, but not back to launch level. I searched around but couldn’t find anything else and followed C.J. to the one-tree bailout. Over the field I caught some lift and drifted NW back towards the river gaining 1000 ft but lost it and landed in one-tree where two kids folded our wings. Bruno came along and returned us to the pousada while Rick was dirting near Salvacão. C.J. and I used the pool after I walked into town to try to buy Guaraná, a carbonated energy drink All the large stores were closed and I ended up buying a 2L bottle at a small mom and pop shop on the island. We went out to dinner early (19:00) to another, nicer place on the island where we all had various kinds of pasta dishes most prepared as casseroles (Several people complained that everything tasted like macaroni and cheese). We had fettuccini ao paillard which had slices of beef in the dish in addition to the pasta and a smoky cheese sauce. During dinner on the patio, under metal awning, we were subjected to noisy bombardment of falling “monkey bananas” onto the awning. Later we walked into GV to the plaza but there was no caproheira “dancing/marial arts” even though the guides expected to find it. We were back to the pousada by 23:00.

2/18 Sunday I guess daylight savings time switched off or something because we didn’t get up until 8:10 because the clock was off by an hour. We hung out at the pousada because the peak was obscured by clouds. Later, the comp was reported canceled due to overdevelop-ment around the area. We walked off the island expecting to see some activity around the plaza but there was nothing. Stores were closed but we walked over to Point do Açaio for a blended, smoothy-type slushy made with açai berries from the Amazon, topped with sliced banana, granola and honey. [The owner showed up just as we were turning away from the closed shop] After a swim and a little too much sun back at the pousada, I went with Kevin, Brad and Josh to the shopping mall (which was just about the only shopping area open during the Carnaval season) and wandered around the stores for a while. We watched from the parking lot in disbelief as a number of people flew off Ibituruna in the incipient gust front conditions. We spent some time at the food court and then went back to the “hipermercado” where I bought a 12-pack of Guaraná and a pair of Brazilian flip flops (Havaianas). We got a taxi back to the pousada for R$10 (R$4.65 already on the meter because it had been called by radio). Meanwhile, C.J. had been working on the magazine and had it almost done. It started raining again as we left the mall. Rick, Maggie, Gary and we went to dinner early at Joá and stopped at the plaza for a while to watch some drumming. At Joá we had pork loin, kale, mashed beans and, in addition, shared some of the other abundant dishes on the table. We stopped to watch the drumming again on the way back but they were just winding down. Sunday was supposed to be the big party day but there wasn’t much going on (at least that early).

2/19 Monday The weather was cloudy/overcast with showers. I went to the airport with Kevin, Josh and Bruno to buy tickets for our Friday flight to Belo Horizonte. We stopped at the gem shop in GV so Josh could pick up his pendants and earrings. Back at the pousada, we picked up the rest of the crew and returned to the gem shop so that those who wanted to could buy gems and have them placed in settings. [Rick wanted a couple of pieces of transparent quartz ground into fire-starting lenses.] We didn’t drive up to launch until late afternoon. Josh and Brad were able to play in the strong and gusty ridge lift after a rain squall passed. Then the wind velocity dropped and Brad, Josh and Rick launched and flew down to Feira da Paz. They radioed back that the air was turbulent and we drove down with Bruno. After hanging out at the pousada for a while, we went to dinner at the bar next to Joá, Vai & Valte, and had pizza and beer. We were back at the pousada by 23:15. [Brad-->]

2/20 Tuesday We hung out at the pousada until it stopped raining, pouring at times, until 11:00 or so when we drove up to launch. It was cool and drizzly and the Red Bull-style Sol tents, set up on the road for the comp, were being used to keep gear dry rather than as big sunshades. There was a large crowd of comp pilots and spectators. As the cloudbase lifted and sun came out, the strong wind up the front side moderated to a very light and variable breeze. A task was finally called at 14:40 to Engeneior Caldas (about 38 km). We launched after the start window (15:15-16:15). I found lift right off the back side and climbed 100+ ft then headed out to a cloud but there was no lift there and the cloud quickly dissipated. I tried going back toward the face, then north, but found no lift. I ended up in one-tree LZ with Rick. Bruno took us to Feira da Paz to pick up the rest of the crew including C.J. who had gotten 1000 ft over and flown for 1hr 25 min. Later we clients went over to Farol for dinner but it was closed (It is “Fat Tuesday, after all.) then we tried to find the Bonanza Pizza place with no luck. Finally we went back to Joá where we each had the “executivo” plate finally a reasonable amount of food for a low price (R$8). We were back in the pousada by 22:00.

2/21 Wednesday The weather was looking more promising so we left for launch around 10:00 and launched off the front side around 12:30 before the comp start window. I had to fly around the mountain to find good lift. I ran into some rough air and flew out towards the river over one-tree and found light lift eventually getting to 4300 ft. I ignored the request of the guides to come back to the mountain and fly with the rest of the party and had to follow them at some distance when they all took off southwest down the right side of highway 116. I caught up with the group circling over the second town, Alpercata, but by the time we had reached the far side of town we were scratching to stay up. C.J. was high enough to continue on while Josh, Rick and I avoided a hillside of power lines to land across the highway in a nice big field about 1 km beyond the town. Bruno soon arrived although it took way too much talk on the radio, making it more difficult for those still in the air. We did not have radio communications with C.J. or Kevin, and drove west to chase Brad instead of continuing down the road to where C.J. had landed about 1 mile before the second petrol station (14 mi from launch). We found Brad riding toward the main road in a horse cart. Josh’s plan was to pick up Brad, assume C.J. was with Kevin and would get a bus back to GV, and meanwhile the rest of us would go back up to launch. Brad seemed to think that was OK but asked Rick and me if that sounded alright. Rick said we should go get C.J. So that’s what we did. It turned out that C.J. had no contact with Kevin and had landed by herself. Fortunately, Critter (Richard Kocurek)had landed with her shortly afterwards so she was not all alone in the middle of nowhere. Kevin was left out wherever he had landed because we could not raise him on the radio. It turned out that he was only another mile down the road at the second gas station. The rest of us returned to Ibituruna and had local flights – me to one-tree again after getting bounced around. Bruno picked us up and we returned to the pousada for showers and pool time. We left around 20:00 for Spettu’s, a churrascaria, where the meal is served rodizio-style – the waiters bring around skewers of meat and carve off slices. There were many different types of meat plus a buffet of salad items, beans, rice and potatoes. One pays on the way out – it was only R$15 for the rodizio, and then the costs of drinks and desserts were added on.

2/22 Thursday We headed up to launch around 10:30. Conditions were sketchy – low cloudbase and the wind switching from side to side, so we waited to launch until after the comp launch window at 14:30. By then, there were light cycles, sometimes on the front side, sometimes on the back, both crossing. Brad and Josh launched, got up and went XC. Kevin stuck around with us and eventually drove down with his girl friend, Wesia, and Maggie and C.J. to help with the retrieve. Doc launched, and so did JR. I tried three forward inflations on the back side, then went to the less crowded front side where I was able to reverse in a good cycle. Lift was scattered and punchy in front of the face. At one point I wasn’t sure that I would even make the one-tree LZ, but I did for a big twelve minutes. Bruno picked me up as I was walking down toward a local store for a drink. Then we drove almost to Era Novem, the first town on Rte 116, to pick up Doc who had landed on the slope behind Salvacão. C.J. and I went back to the pousada to shower and pack while Kevin went to arrange his hotel room at Serra Lima; Doc and Maggie were going to check on their purchases at the gem shop. We did some packing and then around 20:00 we went to Aaron and Alejandra’s house for truly excellent BBQ – what Spettu’s should have been. Of course, they had a chef to prepare the meat (on a restaurant-style multi-skewer grill) and a maid, and who knows how many other servants. We offered to pay for all the meat we ate but Aaron refused – I guess we should have known, but Brad had told Aaron that we would chip in for the dinner since there were eight of us. Bruno picked us up and returned us to the pousada around 23:30. The rest of the packing had to wait until morning but our flight wasn’t until 10:15

2/23 Friday [Others left much earlier – Doc and Maggie were going to Belo by car again and left at 06:30]. Our taxi was there a bit before 09:15 and C.J. was still uploading photos and couldn’t get the last one finished. Josh was the only one of our party awake and not gone so we left him our last few Guaranás, paid for the one I drank from the mini-fridge, and taxi-ed to the airport. For some reason we were not charged for overweight baggage going in the return direction. We bought a couple of GV postcards and waited for our flight – no air conditioning but it wasn’t too bad if you sat under the ceiling fans. In Belo we waited for the bus in spite of semi-high pressure salesmanship from the taxi drivers and arrived at the international airport in plenty of time to check in (no lines!) and visit with Doc and Maggie who arrived after us. C.J. got some postcard stamps at the post office and I got another R$400 from the Bank of Brazil ATM. We visited the observation deck and then went to our gate area which was air conditioned and had wi-fi (but you had to have a local ISP for it to work and it was not clear how one did that). We flew TAM to Rio and our taxi driver met us with a sign. We rolled all of our gear over to the parking garage and headed to the hotel. The driver did not speak English so we could only recognize a few landmarks like the Corcovado, and Maracana soccer stadium. The Hotel Santa Clara is located in a nice residential area maybe 8 blocks from the Copacabana beach. There was no elevator and we were on the third floor but the manager carried our big bags up to our room which had a balcony that looked out over the street in front and at one of the granite knobs behind. It took a while for the air conditioner to cool the room off. About dark we went out to look for dinner - there was a place just 100 ft up the block but we walked all the way down to the beach to see if we could find Gary Biggs who was staying at the Othon California Classic on the beachfront. We called him from the desk phone after getting his room number – somewhat tricky since we didn’t remember his last name. He had eaten earlier and was resting so we headed back up Rua Santa Clara and stopped at a pay-by-the-kilo restaurant, Árosa. The food was not outstanding but it was fun to pick what you were going to eat cafeteria-style. We missed the meat on skewers because we didn’t know that it was included. And we didn’t go back for dessert because we were full – have to leave something to try later. On the way we spotted a juice (sucos) bar that had açai, which we had only seen at the one place in GV. We found out that Hotel Santa Clara is not on Rua Santa Clara but, with a little fumbling, we found it anyway. The city gives one an edgy feeling knowing that people have warned us of the crime rate. Still, it doesn’t seem any different from any big city so far.

2/24 Saturday We slept quite well with the air conditioner on about half speed under just a sheet (although C.J. used the airline blanket in addition). I went down to the desk to see about breakfast and asked for tea and chocolate instead of coffee; about five minutes later it was delivered and we ate on the tiny, round table in front of the open French doors on the balcony. Around 0900 or so we went down the gentle hill planning to walk along Copacabana beach and check on Gary. We ran into him in the lobby of his hotel and went out to talk to the guys at the tour desk just outside the door. It would be R$130 for all of us to go to the Corcovado in a taxi. After hearing that we were interested in hang gliding, the driver offered to take us to Corcovado and take us over to the São Conrado LZ for R$200 (as well as driving around the Lagoon, through the Tijuca Forest and along Ipanema Beach. We really hadn’t planned to go anywhere when we left the hotel this morning so I didn’t even have my camera with me, and we hadn’t yet bought any water. But, C.J. had her camera and the driver went around the corner and brought back several bottles of water. We were ON! Driving up through the forest I saw a small monkey but thought it was just a squirrel until it was too late to point it out. The Corcovado was crowded (even though our driver had assured us that this was a good day and we were early enough to beat the crowds)(Ha! – a cruise ship was in port.), and we elected to walk up a few flights of stairs rather than standing in line for the elevator. The view was really good and C.J. got several photos early before it started to get a bit smoggy. I don’t know how our driver found a place to park because we had gotten out of the taxi when it seemed like we were going to be stuck in a traffic jam for a long time, but he was waiting for us as we came down the stairs. We headed down and took one route to the beach LZ around behind one of the granite domes and came back to Ipanema on the ocean side. At the LZ I went to the office to find out what we would have to do in order to fly the site. C.J. was doing the same thing with people she had met around the LZ. She got a number to call the next day to see if conditions were good for flying. We hadn’t been told that part of the tour would be a visit to a gem shop but we went through the motions even though we really had no use for the beautiful pendant of green topaz that was offered (only $128). Back in Copacabana we tried to find a grocery store that Gary had shopped in, but we must have been one street too far over. Gary headed back to his hotel and we stopped at the açai place and shared a bowl (acái na tigela) which had no bananas or granola, but was plenty cold. At a small grocery store we bought some 1.5 l bottles of water then went back to the hotel for a shower and a siesta around 14:00. C.J. still needed to upload that last photo so we went out to find an Internet connection around 18:00. The hotel had given us the address of a nearby Internet café, but we could not find it even though we figured out that it was inside a larger building something like a market building in Vietnam. There were plenty of other Internet places, however, and we just picked one. The first one, Checkpoint, sent us to another Checkpoint where we tried the wireless. That didn’t work and we were about to leave when someone from the first place suggested hooking in directly, so we were taken up stairs to a bare desk with an ethernet cable. That worked fine and C.J. was able to upload and pick up and send email. She gave the manager R$10 for the hour (usually R$2/hr) for taking the time to get everything working. By 19:00 we were heading back to the hotel to change for dinner with Gary. We went to a nice place on Santa Clara, “Rian”, just a block off the beach and had a great dinner with carpaccio for an appetizer and “seafood Portuguese-style for two” plus two bottles of red wine. Gary paid for dinner. On the way back we stopped at a supermarket, Sendas, in the same building as Checkpoint, and C.J. got some pink Havaianas. We changed our clocks back one hour for the end of daylight saving time. We were back at the hotel by 23:00 (which became 22:00).

2/25 Sunday After breakfast I got a phone card at a news stand and C.J. called Ricardo, the pilot she met yesterday in the LZ (She used the phone card because it was more expensive to call a cell phone from our room phone). He said it was not a good day for flying. So, we went to the shore and walked along the beach; the sun was hot but there was a breeze and it was not too bad. There were LOTS of people – apparently Sunday is when the locals go to the beach, too, and Avenida Atlantica is closed to motor vehicles (except one big truck with a live band and a big crowd following). We walked a ways on the sidewalk and also on the wet sand. C.J. took a photo of an elaborate sand castle (for a R$2 donation). When we reached the south end of the 4.5 km beach (we had not started at the 0 km mark in Leme), we continued to the Forte da Copacabana and toured the galerias below the thick dome that protected the huge guns. Then we went to the surface where two pairs of the 305 mm cannons still stick out of the fortification. There were great views back to the beach and Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar). We toured the military history museum before going back into the sunshine. On the way back we stopped at a newsstand to get a Bill Beck postcard and a couple of bottles of drink. We walked through a street market of fruits and veggies then back to the beachfront, starting to search for a lunch spot. We settled on a sidewalk kiosk along the beach and C.J. had the traditional caipirinha (cachasa and crushed limes), while I had a chopp (draft beer), followed by burgers, all served under a beach umbrella. Tired from the walk, but more from the hot sun and humidity, we headed back to the hotel through the crowds. I went out later to Sendas and bought a six-pack of 1.5 L water. We showered (no hot water since morning but that is not a big problem here) and relaxed with the AC for a while. Around 17:45 we went back to the Internet place and C.J. sent some emails and proofed PDF. Walking back along the street, each little bar exploded in shouts and cheers as the local futebol team scored on TV. We were going to meet Gary for dinner at 20:00 so we left around 1940 and found him already in Restaurant La Maison next to Rian. It turned out that he had not gone to the soccer match at the Maracana stadium because the tickets were sold out. We had another nice dinner and brought home a bunch of meat from our “churrasco misto” for two. We paid the bill this time including two bottles of wine (R$96 for the wine!). We staggered back to the hotel by 22:20.

2/26 Monday We supplemented our bread, juice, hot drink and cheese with last night’s leftover meats so we lasted until 15:00 before needing lunch. Hugo, the guy we were corresponding with via email about reservations was at the desk and we could ask about storing our luggage at the hotel until we needed to go to the airport for our 23:55 flight. He told us that it was not a problem. Weather looked very iffy for flying – clouds and wind – so we did not even call Ricardo. Instead we took the Metro to the Cinelândia (Praça Floriano) stop and found our way to the Bonde (tram) terminal to Santa Teresa. We passed over the Arcos da Lapa, a Roman-style aqueduct and wound through the hillside neighborhood. We got off at Largo dos Guimaraes instead of taking it to the end of the line, and walked up the other set of tracks far enough so we could see the Corcovado (beyond “Mikes Haus”, a small bar mentioned in Lonely Planet). Then we cut off the tram route down a long hill to intersect the first set of tracks, then back to Guimaraes. From there we followed the tracks back towards Centro past many nifty-gifty shops to Curvelo where we headed over to the Ruins Park. It was closed so we didn’t get the promised 270 degree view, and we skipped the museum, too. We encountered a little rain and one thunderclap, but not enough to cut short our sightseeing. Continuing downhill along the Ladeiro da Santa Teresa we came to Escadaria Selarón, a long stairway with the risers decorated with colorful tiles. We descended to Lada, fumbled around under the old aqueduct, passed the modern Metropolitan Cathedral, and found our way into Centro and back around the Petrobras Building to the Bonde terminal and a food-by-the-kilo restaurant. This time we knew enough to get slices of the barbecued meat and went back for small slices of each of the tortas (prices are higher per kilo for desserts so they are weighed on a different scale). After lunch we looked around the plaza at Cinelândia and then caught the Metro back to Copacabana at 15:45. We were ready for a shower and a rest after all that walking. Around 20:00 we went back down to the beachfront and walked farther to the east to eat outside at Maxim’s. I had the Fettuccini do Paillard (which I had forgotten I had ordered in GV) and got a big slab of marinated steak on top of my fettuccini. C.J. had Frango Cuban-style – breaded, fried chicken (not quite a whole one but a lot of chicken) with fries, peas, fried banana and two thick slices of bacon.

2/27 Tuesday We had the leftover chicken with breakfast. Around )9:30 we headed down the hill thinking about taking a bus to Ipanema but decided to walk through the tunnel (along Rua Tonelero). It was quite a ways to the Lagoon (passing a Metro station where I did not think there were any Metro lines). Once there we walked on the path along the lake to the right, past the swan boats to the first kiosks, then went back the other way to the channel where we turned left and walked down the rough side of the channel to Ipanema beach. We walked along the water’s edge of the remarkably uncrowded beach for a ways and along the sidewalk all the way to Arpoador where we climbed up on the rocks for a view toward Copacabana Fort and Sugarloaf. Then we backtracked a bit to get onto the street leading to Copacabana. Somewhere along the way we stopped to buy bottled water, lemon drink and postcards, and got taken for 50 centavos for a pay toilet whose door refused to open. A nearby cop directed C.J. to the Sofitel hotel which had a bathroom in the lobby (several levels of sophistication above the Hotel Santa Clara!). Returning to Avenida Atlantica, we wandered down the beachside sidewalk 100 m or so to find a kiosk for lunch. Before C.J. even got her caipirinha, a young man on a bicycle snatched her belt pack which was lying on the small table right next to her hand and rode off with it. We chased him yelling, “Stop! Thief!” but no one tried to stop him – maybe yelling in English was not the most efficient method. C.J. was angry; I was almost amused that we had been robbed so easily. Fortunately we did not lose anything irreplaceable like passports, but there was C.J.’s camera, credit cards, debit card, some cash, two $50 traveler’s checks, and other ID’ like her drivers license. After downing the caipirinha, we returned to the tented snack restaurant where we had met the policeman earlier and reported the theft. He did not speak English but another man interpreted and the cop called the tourist police who showed up 30 minutes later. They took us back to the hotel to get our passports, then to the tourist police station in Ipanema where C.J. filled out a bunch of reports, and I went with one of the tourist police to four banks, none of which had an ATM which worked with my soon-to-be-canceled debit card. The clerks at the tourist police station tried to help us call Mastercard and American Express and Visa/Bank of America for the debit card but we only got through to AmEx which canceled C.J.’s card, but not mine which had a different number (whew!). It must have been two hours before the paperwork was completed, we received a copy, and the police drove us back to our hotel where we could get a shower and change clothes. There was quite a bit of discussion about what we should do because we had barely enough money right then to get a taxi to the airport and eat a meager meal, and we still had another whole day. Fortunately, we still had one credit card that might work in a restaurant and I had two $50 traveler’s checks and some US money. I checked the guidebook and found that there was an American Express office in the Hotel Copacabana Palace so we could cash one or both checks there tomorrow. About 17:30 we went to the Checkpoint internet café and sent an email to Bank of America about the credit card. Then I went to the first Checkpoint and used the phone to call Bank of America to cancel both the Mastercard and debit card. [It would have cost R$15 for the first three minutes at the hotel and it ended up needing about 15 minutes at R$1.50/min to complete the call with the usual hold times.] Back to the hotel to change, then we went to dinner at Restaurante Árosa, the kilo-place where we were pretty sure that they would take our credit card. This time we knew about getting slices of BBQ meat, and we went back for dessert (Hey, we hadn’t had any lunch!). We paid with my AmEx card. At this point we had about $39 USD and R$67 (the taxi costs R$60-65 to the airport) so we felt that we needed to cash one or more of the $50 travelers check depending on what we do tomorrow to be sure we have enough of a cushion.

2/28 Wednesday After breakfast we checked at the desk for the American Express office (“behind the Copa Palace”) and walked down there, stood in line and cashed one $50 check at no charge. We returned to the hotel and got packed up and C.J. showered. We got out of the room by noon and then sat around the lobby for a while trying to decide what to do. C.J. settled on the Pão de Açúcar and found out that the 511 bus went there. We walked down to Avenida N.S. de Copacabana and headed east until we found a bus stop with “511 - Urca” on it. The bus took us to within a block of the cable car station for R$4 (pay the cashier on the bus, not the driver). We bought our tickets (R$70, not as bad as 72€ for the Aiguille du Midi) and were soon on our way up to the top of the first monolith, the Morro da Urca, a three-minute ride. We didn’t spend much time there but loaded on to the second stage to the summit of the Pão de Açúcar. Great views of the city, harbor, Niteroi, the beaches and Christo Redentor! We toured the top, which was larger than I had expected from my view from ground level, and were able to spot the tiny monkeys in the jungle growth when a saleswoman from the Amsterdam Sauer jewelry shop fed them a banana. Later we had a lunch of quiche, picanha hamburger (microwaved in its plastic wrapper, but still very good) and a can of Guaraná. Then we took a trail down the east side in the jungle shade and sat at an overlook with a view of the harbor and Niteroi bridge, and the close-flying urubu vultures. Back at the top we rested in the shade and watched the urubus and frigate birds thermalling over the top. We headed down around 17:30 stopping for a video presentation on the history of the cable car, and to read a sign about the geology of the area on the Morro da Urca. The cable car deposited us at the base as the moon was rising over Sugarloaf and I took a few photos (which also had the effect of avoiding the crowd of taxi drivers hustling for business). We caught the 512 bus back to Copacabana and stopped at the Sendas store to buy a bottle of cachasa, the sugar cane liquor used in the caipirinha, and some water. Back at the hotel, I sponged off in the lobby bathroom; then we waited until the taxi showed up around 19:50. We were at the airport by 20:40 and passed through security after checking our baggage. There was a moment of panic when I couldn’t remember where we had put the immigration document, but I found it in the baggage we were about to check. There was not much in the way of food in the crowded gate area but I did buy a can of maracujá juice and a container of Guaraná -Vita, a non-carbonated guaraná drink and checked out the duty-free shop upstairs. After passing out of the waiting area, our carry-ons were opened and inspected and all water was discarded. Once we reached cruising altitude we had dinner and a complimentary drink (gin and tonic for me, vodka infused with mango and tonic for C.J.) Then I slept most of the way to Atlanta.

3/1 Thursday It was stormy and rainy coming in to Atlanta-Hartsfield. Later there was thunder and lightning while we were waiting to board. C.J. used our Silver Medallion Delta Frequent Flyer cards to get us upgraded to First Class. Actually, she got to First Class, her first time in First, and I had just about settled into a seat by myself in Coach when the flight attendant told me, “Your seat is available, sir.” Cool! We had a great lunch while those in Coach were getting snacks. There were thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley and warnings on CNN in the terminal about tornadoes. It was mostly cloudy as we passed over the central part of the US so I slept. There were rumors of snow in Seattle which turned out to be mostly rumors, but there was definitely new snow east of Seattle and it was cold. Bob picked us up and we drove into the snow in Issaquah.