Our hiking mate, David, joins us from Derbyshire, England, and is a great personality. The four of us get along famously as we make our way to the park. We stop at a little gas station for water, then make our way into the park stopping again at a great waterfall at the entrance to the park. This forest is high up in the mountains surrounding Rio – and as the car climbs up the hill, the vegetation gets thicker and thicker, and the birds more plentiful. We park in a lot at the bottom of the trails and sign in with the Park Ranger (everyone must sign in and out – they keep very good track of the traffic on these trails!).
The trek is pretty strenuous – with lots of areas where we are climbing hand over hand up rocks and boulders. There are some rebar supports to use as stepping guides, but mostly it’s a hike/rock climb. The foliage and vegetation is thick and very rain forest-esque. Fortunately, it’s not all that sunny – which doesn’t bode well for our views – but it keeps us a little cooler than if the sun was blazing down.
After about an hour of climbing, we reach the summit at Parrot’s Peak. It’s about 3300 feet in altitude and simply a sheer rock outcropping – nothing more. There are quite a few people up here – lounging about, some with food for lunch, others just enjoying the space. Ed and Cathy, being relatively sissies when it comes to heights stay back near the boulder, but do venture out a bit to get some shots of the forest. I stay comfortably in my pack – I’m not getting out there – no way! They may be sissies, but I’m a full blown scaredy cat – and I’m staying put. If Ed and Cathy want to risk their life out there on the edge – go for it! Just leave the back pack on the ground when you do, thank you! I’m sure Eduardo or David will take care of me.
They all end up climbing even higher, up to the tippy-top of the rocks, where they can just barely see the city stretched out below. Unfortunately it is very misty and cloudy, so the spectacular views are non-existent today. Oh well – nothing much you can do – but it was still an exhilarating hike and experience to be up there! Eduardo took some pictures of us and then we headed back down the rocks and into the forest again.
On the way back, Eduardo told us a lot about how he loves to hike and climb (he actually said he was addicted to it) and that he’s traveled widely around Europe rock climbing, skiing and hiking. In addition to being a hiking guide with Rio Hiking, he is also teaching art at the university and a photographer, painter and sculptor himself. He’s had a show in New York City, but unfortunately wasn’t able to attend because he couldn’t get a Visa. He is hoping now that he works at University, he’ll be able to go to the States if he can put on another show. We hope so too! If he is half as talented as he is personable, this is someone to watch for in the art circles! The hike was great, but Eduardo and David made it really fantastic.
We headed back down to sea level again – taking David to his next adventure – climbing Sugar Loaf mountain. He had never been rock climbing before, and this was a real rock climb – with ropes, etc. We were all hungry, and Eduardo told David he absolutely had to eat before climbing, so he took us to this great little café on a side street leading to the Sugar Loaf cable car station. The café specialized in empanadas – Ed and I shared one cheese and one chicken turnover – and they were scrumptious! Not to mention only 2 Reals each! What a bargain. Satiated and tired, we drop David off, and then we go in search of wine.
We’ve asked Eduardo if he knows any place where we can find box wine. He thinks we might be able to find it in a neighborhood grocery, so we go there. He parks the jeep in the smallest space imaginable (the drivers are crazy here, btw, and the parking is at a premium – how he stuck this jeep into that space, I’ll never know!). The grocery store ended up being a bust, but it was still fun to go explore in an obviously local neighborhood with a beach that was absolutely PACKED with people just around the corner.
After providing us with a couple of suggestions for dinner, Eduardo dropped us off at the hotel with kisses and hand shakes. We were sad to see him go! We could have hung out with him all day – and into the evening. But, alas, he had to go home for a nap, before picking up some other folks after their afternoon tour! So, we hit the room, cooled off, used the facilities, then hit the streets once again – this time in Rio clothes (shorts and bathing suit top!!). This time, we walked the entire length of Copacabana. Phew – that’s a walk! You don’t realize how long it is from the map, but it’s another hike altogether!
We took a detour at a market on one of the side streets – amazing fresh veggies! We were traveling light unfortunately – no camera! Bummer! No great food pictures. But great memories – that’s for sure. After the market, we continued on down Copacabana and found one of the restaurants Eduardo suggested – Shirley’s. It looked fantastic – huge shrimp in a case, but the place itself was teeny – maybe 20 tables – tops. And at 3 in the afternoon it was packed. It was located at the far end of Copacabana so we would have to take a taxi – and there didn’t look to be many other options around if Shirley’s was crowded and we couldn’t get a table. So, we decided that maybe we should look for other options.
We headed back to our end of Copacabana, along the main commercial road, not the beach promenade. People were everywhere, walking to and from the beach, just wandering around on a sunny hot Sunday afternoon. We found a couple of restaurants, but they were far enough away that we worried about walking down the street at night, so we kept on our quest!
Stopped in a farmacia for some basic supplies and got hung up at the cashier when she was trying to ask us if we were going to give her a bill bigger than a 50. Not good! Portuguese is SO different from Spanish – it is next to impossible to understand anything. Fortunately we were saved by another customer who spoke English and translated – but otherwise – we were doomed!
Finally ended up settling on the Boteca Belmonte – what looked like a “sports” type bar on the corner a block from our hotel. We’d looked at the menu a couple times, and it seemed all right – but they actually had someone there who spoke English so that sealed the deal. (It’s amazing what a huge issue the language becomes when you are totally clueless. It’s scary and disappointing and can become overwhelming – especially when you’re a little tired and travel weary!).
So – back to the hotel to shower and rest, then back to the Belmonte. It’s a very cool place – all open air – TV’s around to give the “sports” bar impression. But the coolest thing is that they have these little “pastries” that they walk around with and offer to you. They aren’t free, mind you, but they are only 3 to 4.50 Reals, and they are excellent!! They look like huge muffins, but in actuality they are huge cheese balls. We had a shrimp and cheese pastry – it was delicious – similar to cream cheese with 4 huge shrimps and melted cheddar or something on top. Excellent! Cathy could have eaten those all night – forget about the dinner! (Other varieties included dried meat with cheese, a Neapolitan (who knows?) and shrimp, crab and hearts of palm.
We weren’t all that hungry, so the sandwiches looked like the ticket for us. Ed ordered veggie soup to start – it came in a huge bowl with toasted little bread slices on the side. Yum!!! The sandwiches were pretty big too! About 6” thick – and ALL MEAT. I kid you not. They were incredible. Ed’s sandwich was filled with thick slices of sausage (chorizo like) while Cathy’s was stuffed with Canadian bacon (not really – it was cooked ham – but they called it Canadian Bacon!!!) and pineapple. Awesome. The sandwiches were stuffed to the gills and so were Ed and Cathy when they were done!
Service turned out to be great even though once again, no one understood English and our English speaking waiter wasn’t the one handling our table. He did pop in and out though to make sure we were being taken care of properly. 76 Reals later (the wine was 20 Reals – for ½ a bottle – definitely NOT a wine town!!!), and we were ready for bed. It was a great find – and looking (and listening) around, not another English speaker in the house. We are definitely the vast minority here.
We waddled back to the hotel. Had our beer and wine night cap, then slept for a solid 8 hours!!!
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