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Arriving in Brazil by jet after a comfortable 10-hour flight from Toronto seemed strangely ostentatious. After all, the first explorers had to endure scurvy and the doldrums, then battle against the southeast trade winds in order to reach their South Atlantic destination. But discover it they did. On 1st January 1502, Portuguese navigator Captain Goncalves named their destination Rio de Janeiro (River of January) when he mistook the balloon-shaped natural harbour of Guanabara Bay for a river estuary.

Rio de Janerio

Angelica
2006-04-05 12:51:30

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Arriving in Brazil by jet after a comfortable 10-hour flight from Toronto seemed strangely ostentatious. After all, the first explorers had to endure scurvy and the doldrums, then battle against the southeast trade winds in order to reach their South Atlantic destination. But discover it they did. On 1st January 1502, Portuguese navigator Captain Goncalves named their destination Rio de Janeiro (River of January) when he mistook the balloon-shaped natural harbour of Guanabara Bay for a river estuary.

Just a hair's-breadth above the Tropic of Capricorn, today Rio is a city of kaleidoscopic contrasts. Steep rocky mountains march unimpeded down to the expansive ocean; modern skyscrapers stand next to old colonial-style Portuguese houses and favelas (shanty towns) cling to hill sides behind waterfront luxury hotels.

Perhaps it is these very contrasts that reflect the true nature of the spirited locals, fondly known as cariocas. There is always time for an impromptu game of volleyball or soccer on one of the many local beaches or a chat with an acquaintance over a demi-tasse of strong Brazilian coffee.

Because the city is built on a series of hills, it is easy for the visitor to get disoriented as each time one emerges from a tunnel burrowed through the side of a mountain, a new vista appears, the old familiar one having disappeared from sight.

The ideal way to get a geographic perspective of this burgeoning city of 13 million people is to visit Sugar Loaf Mountain. This massive double-humped granite tooth overlooks balloon-shaped Guanabara Bay. The ascent to the top is made in two stages by bubble-shaped, Italian-made cable cars, and the coastal view from the top is breathtaking.

For another local aerie-like adventure, take the Swiss-built rack railway on an 853-metre climb to Corcovado (Hunchback Mountain), site of the familiar 40-metre-high reinforced concrete statue of Christ ...