SOUTH AMERICA - Part 1c Rio de Janeiro

1c Places visited in Rio de Janeiro
(i) Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach


We stayed in Miramar Palace Hotel (4*) which is conveniently located near the famous Copacabana Beach. However, for the first two days, we stayed clear of walking along the beach as we had heard horror stories of tourists being mugged and pickpocketed in Rio. In fact the representative who briefed us before we left Singapore had also warned us not to go out on our own. However, on the third evening we took the courage to go for a walk as we had found out that some of our group members had visited the Beach without any incident.

There is a hive of activity along the beach especially in the evenings when beach front stalls serving drinks, snacks and other beach stuff operate. We saw some creative and artistic sandcastles from the moving coach...

Another scene of the Copacabana Beach. Incidentally, Copacabana is the title of the 1978 disco song sung by Barry Manilow. The first few lines of the song go like this:

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and dress cut down to there
...
At the Copa (CO), Copacabana (Copacabana)

The hottest spot north of Havana there

At the Copa (CO)m Copacabana

Music and passion were always in fashion

At the Copa... they fell in love.

It must be pointed out the song is not about the beach, rather it is the name of a famous nightclub in New York.

Ipanema is the name of the other famous beach a little distance away from Copacabana. It is also the name of a song "The Girl from Ipanema", but unlike Copacabana, it is connected with the Ipanema Beach.

The song has a fascinating story from the colourful streets of Ipanema, where the composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and the poet Vinicius de Moraes were inspired by ipanema bikini swimwear and a beautiful girl passing their favourite café called A Garota de Ipanema. According to Jobim “she had long, golden hair, these bright green eyes that shone at you and a fantastic figure: let’s just say she had everything in the right place…”

Nowadays the bar is still crowded and many many beautiful girls from Ipanema still pass there every day.

As it was a Sunday when we were there, one lane of the road was closed to vehicular traffic so we just drove past the Ipanema Beach which was packed with beach goers, swimmers and picknickers.

Although there did not seem to be changing facilities on the Ipanema Beach, the beach goers and swimmers did not seem to mind. These are the real beach lovers who, I am sure, would love the public toilet and changing room facilities that Singapore beach goers are provided with.

(ii) Maracana Soccer Stadium

World's biggest soccer stadium according to the Guiness Book of Records. with a capacity for 190,000. It looks better from photographs from the internet than the actual sight.

Who says girls are not interested in soccer? Well, if it is associated with one of the world's largest, why not? ...

Khin posing with the footprints of her favourite soccer star...

And big sis, Tiang must not be outdone so she also posed with another set of footprints but like the psuedo soccer fan that she is, she cannot even remember the name of that star she chose...

But this one, she can - it's Ronaldo right?

Verdict- The Maracana Soccer stadium is nothing great especially when we had to pay an admission fee to get into the gift shop to buy T-shirts - the reason being in the past, there were people who pretended to go to the gift shop and then sneaked into the stadium itself. Anyway, some of the ladies who "usurped" the use of the MALE toilet, had the cheap thrill that they could have sat on the very toilet seat used by some of the great Brazilian soccer stars such as Pele and Ronaldo. Ha! Ha! Ha!

(iii) World Heritage site of Mosteiro De Sao Bento, a Benedictine monastery

The seemingly plain facade of the front of the monastery belies the aesthetically rich, ornate, impressive and beautiful interiors with gold and bronze gilded walls and doors... no wonder it is a world heritage site.

The entrance into the church ...

The special organ is grand in comparison to many other similar musical instruments found in other churches in the world...

The Benedictine monastery is the the first monastery in Rio de Janeiro.

Verdict - If a non - Christian like me can appreciate and admire the grandeur and magnificence of this church, then it must be a meaningful place for Christians to visit. Also the contrast between exterior and the interior of this church building has reminded me - not to judge a church, a building or person by its "exterior".