Rio de Janeiro:
28th February - 4th March 2026
February 28th – Saturday
FFS, getting into Buckingham Palace would have been easier than getting into this apartment. The bus journey went without a hitch and so did getting an Uber, but getting in here was a joke and they are going to get one hell of a shit review, that is 100% guaranteed.
The two doormen wouldn’t even let me through the gate even though I showed them my booking documents and all because I didn’t have my apartment number. So I had to stand there on the street like a beggar trying to get into the block I had paid a lot of money for. One of the guys just kept shouting at me, in Portuguese, ‘apartment number apartment number’ so I shouted back in English, ‘I don’t have a number, you have my number’ and ‘shout at me all you want, I still don’t fucking understand’. Eventually, the other one actually read the message I had shown them at the beginning of this poo-lava, looked in his log book and found my room number – FFS – just like I told them, they had it, I didn’t. At this point they let me through the gate and ushered me into the elevator, never mind the fact I told them I didn’t have a key! So I dumped my stuff outside of the apartment door and went back down. I showed them the message stating that they had the key. They just looked at me like I was stupid. I finally managed to get through on the phone to my contact but she didn’t speak English and just kept repeating something over and over again. I passed her on to the most intelligent of the two doormen and he wrote me a message saying the key was under the doormat – so why did I have a message saying it was with the door men? Talk about frustration central. The intelligent doorman finally came with me and yes, under the doormat was the key. Even he couldn’t understand why the owner hadn’t sent me the apartment number and explained where the key really was – it was such hard work and took well over half an hour to get in. Not what you need after spending almost 6 hours traveling.
Anyway, compared to my last apartment, this one is clean and a lot more modern. It is not very spacious but it is comfortable and has air conditioning, which makes a huge difference. I can see Copacabana beach from my window, I am on the 12th floor and there is a crossing to the beach less than a minutes walk away. Once I had calmed down from my fiasco I got changed and went to the beach. However, it actually took well over 5 minutes to get there because the crossing lights are not pedestrian friendly.
I sat at the first beach bar and had a caipirinha and fish bites. The drink was small, but strong and the fish bite expensive. But by then I really didn’t care, I just needed to chill and look at some eye candy to relax my mind body and soul. By the time I returned to my apartment I was totally relaxed. I bought some shopping and hair dye and proceeded to knock 10 years off this old lady. Yes all the eye candy inspired me – tomorrow I will go out as a 45 year old and I will look up and chat to all the handsome young men I care for – lol.
I spent a good part of the evening messaging with Jayson Davari – he has given up drinking, red meat, all drugs and a few other things, in fact his only vice now is smoking. He has been through a shittier than shit time with his son, who is now in assisted living accommodation. It makes all of my minor problems in life pale into even more insignificance than they are already in. Life can be unforgiving at times.
1st March – Sunday
I woke with a bounce in my step but lost it somewhere in Rio, and am feeling quite flat at the moment. It could actually be due to my lack of nicotine support today. My mouth spray is finished and I have 4 lozenges left from Mexico, of which I am having a half of one now. I may be feeling deflated but I am feeling very proud, I am concurring my nicotine habit – finally.
I navigated the Rio metro today, which is a piece of cake compared to London, it has 4 lines and they basically all go in the same direction, making it very difficult to get lost! All journeys are a flat price, £1.15, and you never seem to have to wait long for a train. Although I was heading to Feira da Gloria, which is a Sunday market, I decided to get of one stop later, at Cinelandia, and visit the Lapa Arches and Selaron Steps first. The walk to the market from these sites is not far and it is good to walk. The Cinelandia metro station is on Cinelania square which house the Municipal Theatre, National Library and a couple of museums. I didn’t go into any of these but I did admire the architecture of the buildings and enjoyed the short stroll to the Lapa arches or Aqueduct of Carioca, it was built between 1719 and 1750, and consist of 42 Roman-style arches and its function was to bring water to supply the colonial city through a large sewer in Largo da Carioca. It is surrounded by bars and I read that samba dances often happen in the vicinity, but I think it was too early for any of that to happen while I was there. From there I found the Selaron Steps, which were covered in tourists so you could not really see them properly, However the history is that in 1990, Selarón began renovating the dilapidated steps that ran along the front of his house, with fragments of blue, green and yellow tiles – the colours of the Brazilian flag. Eventually he covered all 215 steps measuring 125 metres (135 yards) long, with over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world. And they are very pretty, I walked all the way to the top and then back down again, just as it started to rain.
I took shelter outside of a hotel, under their canopy for quite a while and then, when the rain stopped, I took lots of photos of the surrounding street art before finding myself sitting in a bar drinking beer waiting for the next batch of rain to finish. By now I was all of 5 minutes walk from the market and feeling very hungry, so once I got there I was delighted to find so many food stalls. I waited patiently for a ticket to get rice, fish and prawns and it was absolutely delicious, I also bought a caipirinha to help it all go down. All the tables in the square were occupied but I got a chair and sat by the wall and got talking to a lovely American lady, Simone, who was also travelling on her own. Like me she loves Colombia and Brazil, but her favourite country out here is Nicaragua – I can fully understand why.
After eating I had a little stroll around the market. It was interesting, especially the fish, meat, fruit and veg sections, but I am not a big shopper so after a quick look around a few of the clothes stalls I soon found myself back on the metro and returning to my apartment. I had a little nap and woke up feeling deflated. Maybe I walked all of my energy out of me. As a means of trying to pick myself up again I went for an evening stroll along the beach front but it did nothing for me. There were a lot of street vendors selling caipirinhas, and tourist paraphernalia such as fridge magnets, as well as a few expensive but cheap looking restaurants and bars. The walk did me no good what-so-ever, if anything it made me feel very frumpy as everyone was dressed nicely and I had on a frumpy flowery dress. I really must do a clothes change as I am not happy with a couple of the pieces that I have. I walked back along the road that is one up from the beach but parallel to it, my apartment is actually on this street, and got a bit more shopping, tomorrow I will cook. I also saw a couple of bars that were not so touristy so perhaps tomorrow evening I may go and hang out at one for a little while.
March 2nd – Monday
I should put on some clothes and go for an evening walk, but I am so exhausted. I went out at 10:30 this morning and didn’t get back until 4pm, in total I have walked over 15000 steps – I am not sure I have another step left in me for today.
It’s not been a mega exciting day but it has been nice. I walked the length of Copacabana beach and then crossed over and walked half the length of Ipanema beach, where I stopped and got some lunch. It wasn’t my first stop, or my first drink, but it was my longest stop and strongest drink. To be honest, I am not sure what all the fuss is about in regards to Copacabana beach, it is long, sandy and wet, just like so many of the other beaches I have seen in my life time. The view out to sea is quite nice with some mountains and clouds to be seen, but the view inland is full of ugly apartment blocks. I have seen nicer long sandy beaches on Koh Ta Kiev, with palm trees and jungle and not an apartment block to be seen. I blame it all on Barry Manalow and his stupid song. And as for the eye candy, some of it should be fully clothed from head to foot, but it general most of it was worth a quick glimpse. Ipanema beach was a lot shorter and seemed to have a lot more character to it, although it was really just more of the same. The walkway was lined with street vendors and there was a little park with a few hippy styles clothes stalls. So it was a bit more interesting and I can definitely see why mum and Mike like this area. It is far classier and has a lot more going on. If I had the energy I would go wondering around there this evening, but it is quite a walk and I happy to stay in and rest my weary feet and body.
I think the highlight of the day was on my way back and my chat with Yasmin. We set some dates in stone for my arrival back in the UK and looking after the house, dog and Lucas while she goes off on her 40th birthday holiday in paradise. All I need to do now is decide where I will be leaving
from book my ticket back. I feel sad at the fact that I only have 3 months left, I feel like I’ve only just settled into this way of life and now I have to up root and start again somewhere else. But that is still 3 months away, so I will forget about it for now and keep on enjoying this. And there is nothing stopping me from coming back.
I think the highlight of the day was on my way back and my chat with Yasmin. We set some dates in stone for my arrival back in the UK and looking after the house, dog and Lucas while she goes off on her 40th birthday holiday in paradise. All I need to do now is decide where I will be leaving from book my ticket back. I feel sad at the fact that I only have 3 months left, I feel like I’ve only just settled into this way of life and now I have to up root and start again somewhere else. But that is still 3 months away, so I will forget about it for now and keep on enjoying this. And there is nothing stopping me from coming back.
4th March – Wednesday
I am so ill, and have been for the last 26 hours.
Yesterday started off well, I bought a ticket to go to see Cristo Redentor today and after that set of for Sugar-loaf mountain. The cable car was only a 45 minute walk so easily doable. And it was actually quite a nice walk and a good way to see a bit more of Rio than just the beach. Going up in the cable car was fun and the views of the mountain good. There was also a helicopter ride that left from the first platform, but you only get 10 minutes for £125, so as much as wanted to do it, I gave it a miss. The views from Sugarloaf were spectacular. You could see the whole of the Rio coastline and how the city has been built between the mountains, there are far more little islands around here than I realised. You could also see the airport I flew into and the landing strip, which literally has sea at both ends of it. It was quite entertaining to watch the aircraft take off and I saw one landing and swear it went under the bridge that runs across Guanabara bay and connects Rio to Sao Goncalo. I would have loved to stay longer but the beer and 2 slices of pizza I had on the first landing started to make my stomach feel a bit dodgy, so I left and walked back.
Don’t ask why, but even with a dodgy stomach I decided to sit at one of the beach bars and have a caipirinha. By the time I got back to my apartment I was feeling so rough, I literally got into bad and started involuntarily shaking, I just couldn’t stop and I was running a fever. It was really horrible and to top it off I couldn’t control the air conditioning unit, the batteries in the remote had died and I was too ill to deal with it. I must have, eventually, fallen asleep for half an hour or so but woke up with diarrhea. I was literally peeing poo out of me one the hour every hour all night, so exhausting.
Mum and Mike tried to get me to go to the pharmacy but there was no way I could have left the apartment, getting to the bathroom was hard enough. Anyway they think I’ve got ice-cube poisoning, which is probably correct as I have not been vomiting. They said the beach vendors use tap water for ice and I have been drinking so many caipirinhas, that it sounds the most likely cause of being so ill. This afternoon I managed to go to the pharmacy, but I had to have a sit down and rest half way there as I felt really weak and feint. I
now have paracetamol and immodium. The paracetamol is keeping my fever down but I won’t touch the immodium until tomorrow, just before my flight to Buenos Aires. I am hoping I will be better by then and wont need it, but better to be on the safe side of life when flying.So, I didn’t get to see Christ the Redeemer today, which I am quite upset about. It is supposed to have even better views than Sugar-loaf Mountain. However, it does mean that I will just have to visit Rio again – lol.
Now to plan my Argentinean trip, the biggest question being ‘do I really need to rush to Ushuaia for my birthday?’ I have a couple of days to think about it, I just hope I am fit enough for my flight tomorrow. Major decisions can wait until I am actually in Buenos Aires.