Another roaring hot day – perfect for more up high sightseeing. Today is was the Sugarloaf mountain, or Pão de Açúcar. We decided that the Uber “comfort” in crappy Sanderos just wasn’t cutting it, and since the price difference is about $5, we splashed out on Uber Black. Apparently here that means a VW T-Cross. Not exactly the Jag I got in Wellington when I mistakenly ordered an Uber Black. The driver did have some tips for our next stop in João Pessoa, apparently when they ask if you want your food hot or cold, they mean spice level. Very handy to know!

The cable car up to the top is in two stages, with the middle one being a bunch of viewing areas, shops and restaurants. Mostly overpriced tourist tat, but there was a Hermes store that was selling an array of overpriced tourist tat that you could pretend was classy. There is also an Olympics booth selling leftover 2016 bits & pieces, which must be rare and collectible given the prices. I assume the water bottles included cocaine since they were priced at $150.

The gondolas are thankfully modern and look in a good state given they take 65 people at a time, and were pretty fast. Apart from having to scan your ticket every 5 minutes, it was probably the best organised and efficient tourist spot so far.

There was a poster that suggested not giving way to racist behaviour, which while admirable seemed a bit misplaced, given that those who are inclined to be overtly racist probably won’t take advice from a poster, nor from a person on the poster who I assume they are likely to be racist towards. To be safe I tried not to be racist towards anyone.

The views are spectacular, absolutely amazing. The serenity wasn’t quite up to the levels of Bonnie Doon when there are two helicopters buggering about on the helipad waiting for rich wankers to get their seatbelts fastened. Whatever possessed the powers that be to build a helipad up there must have a few 0’s behind it.

Guanabara Bay, the Rio-Niterói bridge (8.26 miles long) and various other bits of Rio. Insanely amazing views.

Red Beach near the middle and Copacabana Beach higher up.

Two different favelas at the top and bottom, they seem to fill in the gaps in the valleys. The rock walls remind me of the concrete walls & banks in Wellington that hold the hillsides together but here they are solid granite & quartz, forming massive hills and mountains.

One of the Marmosets that live around the Sugarloaf Mountain, this guy was very laid back, just sitting there for ages and didn’t seem bothered by too much. Even with a Latin woman walked past and shrieked as she spotted it at the last moment it didn’t move. We definitely need these in NZ.

A truly evil drink, Pink Moon. I don’t know what possessed me to try this, and it was far too easy to drink. It was kind of a grape beer, in a brown bottle. Just weird.

Almost every meal comes with rice, regardless of what the meal is. A salad wouldn’t go amiss instead, or anything that isn’t carb heavy. And as for the crumbed and fried banana, that was an unusual addition. Everything is so brown as well. Farofa with egg and mystery bits. The menu said raisins but that could have been a mis-translation since it also said there was maniac flour.

Lunch was beef picanha, it arrives cooked fairly rare and finished tableside on a bbq plate. We had two plates stacked with this beef to share with 3 of us. Every now and then someone would come along and put the remaining beef back onto the plate and reheated it.

Which leads me to the customer service here – it’s so good, if a little uncomfortable at times. In NZ, a lot of the time I feel as a customer I am an inconvenience for the staff member, interrupting their day. That you spending money at the shop is taken for granted. Here, the staff are there to make sure your meal is enjoyed. It does get a bit much, after they give you the menu and you’re desperately trying to decipher the various items they are standing beside the table waiting for you to place your order. “Look, you’re being desperately helpful but please fuck off for 5 minutes so I can panic in peace”. I’ve ordered the same thing a few times now just because I felt the pressure and just went with what I knew. Most place will plate up the food as well, even when it’s not necessary or sensible. Any time I got out to eat back home I’ll be forced to rant at the waiter “what, I’m supposed to just eat off this plate you served my food on? You’re not even going to put it onto another plate? What the hell?”

But that’s beside the point, they actually appreciate the customer and do their best to make sure your meal is enjoyable, definitely something that has been lost back home. Bring back Kiwi Host!

The Sugarloaf from Fort Copacabana.

Fort Copacabana, from the front of Fort Copacabana. A 19th century fort, modern as far as Portuguese forts go in Brazil. Pretty interesting museum as well, but all of the info was in Portuguese so some imagination was needed.

The good old Atlantic Ocean, on the far side of the area we explored on our first day here, taken from the rear side of the fort.

We headed out to a restaurant nearby called Adega do Cesare, which we guessed was a mix of Brazilian, Portuguese and Italian. Louie switched on his local savvy mode and asked for the specials menu, AKA the local prices. They were about half the price that gringos are charged which put our dinner at $16 NZD a plate. And the chicken parmigiana was damn good. I was curious to see if or how the waiter was going to plate it up for us, and he did not disappoint. The brown dish was the size of a dinner plate so the chicken was massive, he just cut it in two and lifted a half onto each of our plates. Note that Louie’s is behind mine, we had one each! Definitely value for money and better than any I’ve had in New Zealand.

Thursday morning update: We have decided against a helicopter trip, seeing as the heliport is an hour + out of the city and we will see the places we’ve already been to. We were also thinking of going to the Tijuca National Park but it’s really only jungle and mountains, and I am absolutely not equipped or in any shape for that. Louie didn’t need too much convincing either. Instead we are off to Palácio Parque Lage, a historic mansion and park with jungle and waterfalls etc in the shadow of Corcovado (big Jesus), the Macarana Stadium where overpriced soccer clothing will be bought and the Zoo, depending on the time. We’ve definitely earned a tropical rest in a couple of weeks in Búzios.