To beach? Today?

Sometimes I make a plan, but it fails despite it seemed perfect. When we woke up at 7:30 we realized it is raining. After 2 days of hot weather reaching up to 42°C during which we did not find time for going to the beach it was raining! So much for my plan from yesterday as well as year ago when I decided to end up our travelling in Rio de Janeiro when we will relax and spend time on beach. We did not relax much last 2 days and going to beach seemed like crazy idea today.

But at least we could go for breakfast. Then we returned to room and slept until 11:00. We slowly packed our stuff and checked out. We settled on compromise price due to staying one night in dormitory and one in en-suite.

Faux pas with Churrasco

It was time for lunch. Hostel owner endorsed nearby Churrascaria Estrela do Sul and I wanted to try it. If you like a good meals and especially meat I can only encourage to go there. Waiters periodically came to table with skewer containing some (different) kind of meat and asked if you wanted some. I wanted to taste everything, of course. They just cut some to your plate and went to other table.

It was rather expensive compared to alternatives, 49 Reals meat "experience", 29 buffet without meat. It would be strange to avoid drink and we like Caipirinha (they have rather strong variety). After eating well Zuzka suggested they have cakes and I might like some. So I tried chocolate one.

Then we received bill. The first one we refused - it was incorrect, because Zuzka had only buffet (they got confused because she was sitting with me at meat lovers side of restaurant). After fixing it it was still quite a lot. Caipirinha was quite expensive, cake was billed separately and there was 10% service. We were nearly out of cash and we left our cards in hostel because we were still thinking about going to beach. Less you have with you, less you will regret visit of thieves. So I picked all coins I had and eventually got whole amount together. Only few coins left, together it was less than 1 Real :-) We were quite close to real blunder. Don't go to restaurant if you don't have money :-)

We immediately returned to hostel to take the card and hurried to nearby ATM in order to regain some self-respect.

Private beach? Yes, Copacabana!

It was still cloudy, rain could begin at any time again, but we decided to try Copacabana regardless.

It was completely empty. Only in distance was group of teens. Sand was nicely cool, but water was not cold at all. It was warmer than air. But those huge waves... BTW following photos were taken 2 days ago at Urca beach, I did not take my camera today and even if I did I would not take any photo.

We've been there for less than one hour when even darker clouds started to cumulate at east so we decided to return back. We nearly made it. Before we arrived to metro station it started to rain heavily, so we stayed there for long time. Only when pigeons nesting above us decided I am good target for their artistic needs and decorated my back we realized this crowded gate of metro station might not be the best place. But it was still raining cats and dogs. Only after I noticed the pigeon is getting into position again we left and ran back to hostel.

It takes long time to get to airport in Rio

We waited in hostel until 17:00. It was still raining, but slightly less. We hurried to bus stop and after 10 minutes it stopped raining completely. Nearly perfect timing.

Waiting for bus was one of those experiences I didn't like. No bus was coming. Eventually some came, but it was heading to different place (according to label). Then after long time I've noticed correct one, but it did not stop! My patience was over. I got really nervous. We had to wait more than one hour for bus to arrive! I relaxed a bit, but it was not over yet, we hit traffic jam.

Some time after stopping at Dumont airport I've noticed we might be going differently compared to our route 3 days ago. Then we stopped at some train station I was sure we did not pass along before. Could we be in wrong bus? Label on bus was suspicious, but Zuzka asked driver if he is going to international airport. But he spoke English at least as well as we spoke Portuguese... If we are not going to Galeão we will miss our flight! In this mega traffic jam we might have problem to catch it also with taxi.

After riding of 1.5h I've noticed a landing plane. At least I hoped it was a plane. Just light over the horizon. After couple of minutes I've spotted Galeão navigation table and finally relaxed. We are going to make it :-) Why am I always stressing so much? Zuzka was at ease all the time.