Rio de Janeiro

Here's what a little weather looks like on the radar...

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And out the window

On  final forRwy 20L,  Santos Dumont airport, Rio, with Sugarloaf in background

Nice flight to Rio, airport SBRJ, which is quite a busy regional airport. For the aviation inclined, the approach given was a circling approach that takes you perpendicular to the runway at the midpoint. At the 1500 ft. minimum altitude, the city blocks sight of the airport until you're almost on it. Given the clouds, the obvious choice was a turn on to downwind right for 20L, but tower called for cross the centre and downwind left.

We were sent to a parking spot directly behind a Challenger. I wasn't too fussy about leaving our little bird right in his blast path should he decide to depart, and told ground so. In our extensive (and unsuccessful) negotiations with the refuelers, I was assured the other aircraft wasn't going anywhere before our departure. In any case, into the terminal, no hassles, to the taxi desk to prepay our taxi fare (good system - saves a lot of potential hassles), into the car and away to our upgraded suite at the Palace Copacabana, another Orient Express hotel, directly across from the famous beach.

Another day, another hotel window

We had an afternoon tour booked, so an hour or so after our arrival we were picked up our guide, and taken first to the cog railway transporting us to the top of  Corcovada mountain, location of the famous Cristo Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer statue. Building of this monument was completed in 1931, in art deco style, of reinforced concrete and soapstone. It stands almost 40 m., with a wingspan of 30 m., and has a commanding view of Rio and its harbour. The railway was initially built in 1885, and climbs about 670 m., with a further climb now of about 40 m. to the base of the statue.

Christ the Redeemer statue

We were fortunate to get an intermittently clear view of the statue and the city, as it is very often cloudy. We were told that the place can get very crowded at times, especially during carnaval. The mountain itself was cleared and coffee beans planted at one time, but subsequently reclaimed in the mid 19th century with the planting of a number of tree species, many non-native. We saw jackfruit, a very large fruit native to southeast Asia which was introduced at the time and is now invasive, as well as the odd remaining coffee bean bush.

View of Sugarloaf from the statue

We continued from the bottom of the railway to the Sugarloaf tramway, for another climb and views or the area. This tramway was originally built in 1912, and was the second in the world. The current system was installed in 1972, and reaches the top in two stages, the first going to Urca, and then after a change of cars, to the top of Sugarloaf, so named because of its resemblance to the traditional cone shape of sugar as it was sold.

Pterodactyl, or maybe a frigate bird, over Sugarloaf



Regrettably, because of our weather delay at Iguacu, our planned two night stay in Rio was cut short, and we didn't even get a chance to enjoy the famous beaches. By the time our tour ended, it was evening, and we hardly had a taste of the capital of the cariocas, so it's another entry on the list of places we'll have to revisit.