Day 19: Rio De Janeiro

Christ the Redeemer

Rio is an incredibly beautiful city. It is also very hot and humid in January. I think sweltering is apt. This was our first 2 day stop, so we had a city tour with a tram ride up Sugarloaf, which was amazing. We made plans to go out to a Bossa Nova club for the evening, and due to pretty long queues at the tram, we didn’t get back to our “room” until after 6, so had to scramble to clean up the sweat-drenched clothes and bodies, meet up with friends and go out to Copacobana to the Bottles bar, which didn’t disappoint.

Meanwhile, back at home, the furnace kicked the bucket during the biggest cold snap of the season. Then the pellet stove quit, so I now own a bunch of space heaters. Wait, there’s more: the refrigerator started making a screeching noise, so I have been a bit distracted dealing with that. I knew we’d have some trouble with the properties, but didn’t expect this much after only 3 weeks! Maybe we can enjoy the rest of the trip in peace, or maybe this is the new normal? Time will tell…

We visited the museum of tomorrow, which has incredible architecture, and I don’t know how I don’t have a photo. We are taking Tango lessons and Portuguese lessons on the ship, which give our days at sea a little structure and keep the brain firing before we settle in for happy hour!