Friday April 18 2025- Day 2

 

Friday April 18 2025- Day 2 


Thank goodness for Gravol because I was out cold for a good six hours.
We arrived in São Paulo, and of course, our luggage was the last of the bags to arrive. Lol.
As you can imagine, a major world city of 20 million people has a ginormous airport! But at 8 AM, it’s a ghost town. We breeze through security and customs in a heartbeat and made a beeline for our next flight. Dropped off our luggage and we’re on an immediate quest for a Starbucks for a certain fanatic I am travelling with.
Success!
A chai latte and caramel macchiato calm the nerves before grabbing the shuttle to change terminals. We found a little homemade pizza place and chilled for a few hours before our next hopper flight to Rio.
The views coming in from the ocean were spectacular as we flew past the Christ the Redeemer statue on the mountain top. Intermittent cloud with some blue sky and wispy clouds were perfectly picture postcardesque as we touched down.
Hotel wanted $125 for a 40 minute car ride - cabs were $40 - good old Uber - $9! SWEET!
Forgot to request English an speaking driver. lol. Belmiro and I struggled a bit but bonded over music as Canadian artist ?? was on the radio we figured out that Lady Gaga was here in 2 weeks performing on Copacabana beach for over 1 million people. Wow.
Our hotel on the cliffs overlooking the ocean was spectacular. We got upgraded to a room with two floors unfortunately it wasn’t high enough for a great view so we moved into a regular room near the top for the best view. Opening the patio doors to the balcony with the waves crashing on the shore wiped away all travel stress almost instantly. 🙏
A fantastic supper on the top floor lounge and off for a 3 km walk on Ipanema beach. Thousands of people when we arrived but very few after dark.
Grabbed an Uber for $3 as we didn’t feel like trekking uphill after a long day.
Odd to bed early as 630am alarm and 7am tours await in the morn!

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