Day 40 and 41

We started off today at the largest vintage market in Rio and it was absolutely HUGE! It went on for streets and streets with hundreds of stalls selling jewellery, clothes, vintage cameras, everything you could imagine. It being a busy market I kept my phone away so don’t have any pictures but was pretty impressive! We then grabbed some lunch and debated what to do in the afternoon. The weather still isn’t great so not beach weather. Keira wanted to get her nails done so we walked around trying to find somewhere but they were all very expensive or not the right type. Eventually we gave up, stopped at a supermarket to grab some dinner and headed back for an early night as we have Christ the redeemer bright and early tomorrow morning!

Day 41
A very early start this morning when the alarm went off at 4.45am! Why are we getting up so early? Well we are trying to beat the crowds to see Christ the Redeemer! We pre booked our train tickets that take you up so we arrived early and joined the queue. Everyone had warned us to arrive super early and to get the first train up, so arriving an hour early we were second in the queue. We eventually boarded the train and set off up the mountain side. The views of Rio on the way up were lovely too. Once we arrived it was a bit of a bum fight to get out. You can either take the lift and then a set of escalators or the stairs. Seeing those long the queue was we ditched that and legged it up the stairs, we were probably within the first 20 people up there! Then of course the huge statue! It is pretty impressive but actually I think the views from up there are better! Huge sweeping views across the bay with the morning light was beautiful! We took our pictures and within 10 minutes the people from the escalator started arriving and it all got a lot busier. I can’t imagine how packed it would be with multiple trains up there! I thought it would maybe feel more spiritual- being a statue of Jesus but it didn’t at all. I don’t think anyone really goes up there for that, more to take pictures and look at the view! But still impressive all the same! We then headed back down on the train and saw the masses queuing up- definitely worth getting up early!

We then headed back to our air bnb for breakfast and to chill for a bit before heading to Copacabana beach which is right in front of where we are staying. Now that the weather is better we wanted the Rio beach experience! And wow the beach was PACKED! As far as the eye can see there is a sea of people and umbrellas it’s insane. Hundreds of vendors come up to you offering food, drinks, sunglasses, bikinis everything you can think of really. We have discovered the Brazilian men are a little too friendly for our liking with them often trying to chat us up and Keira even being offered a kiss! Thankfully not all of them spoke English so we were slightly spared.

After a couple hours on the beach we headed to a beach bar for a cocktail to finish off the day.Read more