October 13 – 23, 2025
Gate1Travel with Jane, her friend Sue from MN, and Liz
Tour Guide Silvana, with Carlos in Rio, and Mano in Iguassu Falls
Took driver, Diane, to MCO, to ATL, to Rio. Then Buenos Aires to ATL to MCO and Groome Transport to home and I drove Liz home. No scares or late/cancelled flights at all — even though our country is shut down and the Air Traffic Controllers are working without pay.😮
My first view of Rio De Janeiro,Brazil. And the Brazilians spell it Brasil.
It is located on the mountains and one of the only places in the world where the rich people live at the bottom of the mountains on the beaches and the poor people are up at the top. It’s usually the other way around, so the wealthy can have their view.
This is the view from my room. The rooms were quite nice and I was able to hit the sauna and have two massages while I was there.
Jane save the day by bringing her portable kettle so that I was able to have hot water for my coffee every morning. Had an espresso machine in the room, with tiny little cups, but it was a pain trying to drink coffee out of them.
Another view from my room where I was able to see the famous Sugarloaf Mountain. We eventually took a tram up to the top, for the view of the ocean and the city
It was cool to realize that even though it was 13 hours away from home by flight it was the exact same water of the Atlantic Ocean that I am able to walk in at home..
The famous Copacabana beach.
And I found it strange that the sand was black or there was dirt in it, something I hadn’t seen in our beach at home.
What can I say. This is Copacabana beach in Brazil. Liz says according to her research, via our walk on the beach, 95% wear thongs!
This was made of sand and I still don’t know what Labubu’s are but apparently they’ve gotten to Brazil.
There were several pet stores on every block. They love their pets.
This was in a local grocery store. I always find it surprising.
Our favorite thing to do when we first get to a city. We hit a local grocery store to buy bottled water, local snacks and get small bill change for the local money we’ve just gotten out of the ATM.
Liz and I scouted out the free sauna and while we were there we met a man who claimed he was a masseuse. When Liz told him of her sciatica problem and he was able to find and push the exact spot that hurt, I decided I didn’t care if he was licensed or not I would let him give me a massage. $60 bucks cash for an hour was the deal!
This is the famous drink of Rio called caipirinha and it is made with a sugar cane brandy liqueur call cachaca. Liz enjoyed it thoroughly.
The scary thing is the next day at our meeting our tour guide explained that all clear distilled boozes in Rio had a possibility of being tainted by methanol, thereby killing people who had the famous drink. They had no idea why it was done.
Needless to say Gate1 Tour Company did not allow her to serve us what she normally did at our welcome gathering, until the city was sure they had gathered all the tainted booze.
I bought a coffee mug the second day we were there since all they had in the rooms were espresso machines with these tiny tiny cups. Note the pattern on my cup is the exact pattern that is on the sidewalks of Copacabana.
Breakfast looked good but there was a little problem with the salt shaker.🙄
We took a walking tour through one of the favelas of Rio. Favela is a neighborhood slum. There were 48 of them in Rio. Once we arrived we were asked at least five times if we felt safe and of course I said no. And they assured us wholeheartedly that I would be perfectly safe.
When they’re at that adamant about being safe you know something’s up. Turns out I was safe because the drug dealers of the neighborhood are well known carrying Uzis and handguns and they keep the peace. They don’t allow stealing and they look down on domestic violence. There is a police department right around the corner. However they never do any work because the drug dealers take care of the crime long before the cops would get involved.
We were not allowed to take pictures throughout most the neighborhood you on your phone. Yeah, not feeling safe.
We specifically booked a walking tour through the favela that did not include a motorcycle ride because Sue broke her foot a month before this trip and was in a brace, plus we’re all over 60.
Well!! these are the motorcycles we all HAD to get on in order to get to the top of the mountain.
Going up the winding hills were A Wild Ride and I noticed half the drivers of the motorcycles had helmets on and we were not offered them at all. Also at the last bit before getting to the top, the grade was so steep I started sliding off the back of the motorcycle seat.
We all lived and the view was fabulous.
The views may be beautiful but I still wouldn’t ever want to live in a mountainous area. Thank God for Florida.
We were allowed to take pictures at the top of the mountain. It shows how poor these people are. Also if you have money you can build another level on top of a house that you own, whether or not it’s right in front of a neighboring house, eliminating their view of the valley. There’s a maximum of five levels because the base wouldn’t hold more than that.
The big blue containers hold fresh water that they use to live on.
This happened a week after we got home from Rio. However it was not the actual favela we were in.
Here are some cute bathroom signs I ran into in Brazil. Look at the little hands and foot coming out of the ladies bathroom. So cute.
These are the Caps of water bottles and maybe a design here but I’ve seen them nailed onto trees to keep cars and motorcycles from hitting and damaging the tree.
This is the Copacabana Palace which is very famous and many famous people stayed there.
Some of the names that have stayed at the hotel include Walt Disney, Marlene Dietrich, Ginger Rogers, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield, Paul McCartney, Janis Joplin, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Princess Diana, Carla Bruni, Halle Berry, Lana Del Rey, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.
Carlos was very proud that Obama stayed there and they were told the president is not allowed to take gifts. Once Obama saw the Jersey he grabbed it and thanked them for the gift.
I believe Churrasqueira Rio is the restaurant we ate at the first night of our tour. Brazil and Argentina are known for its beef and meat and the waiters kept coming back to deliver more and more and more meat until everybody could eat no more. They had beef and pork and lamb and fish. I was happy because they had a beautiful salad bar.