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| Beach bar on Copacabana. The red-tinged bar on the left of the right photo is shutter bounce. Clearly this camera is struggling. |
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| Long shot of Copacabana. |
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| More detail of the beachgoers. |
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| The entrance to the amazing Museu do Amanhã. |
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| Train station at the base of Christ the Redeemer. |
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| View of the city from Christ the Redeemer. |
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| An example of how much the camera was struggling at this point, but an over-exposed Jesus is religiously symbolic of its plight. |
We left for Rio via a different airport from the one we arrived at. We had landed in Argentina and were leaving from Brazil. Conveniently, the Brazilian airport was across the road from our hotel.
It was a confusing place. It was unclear which queue we needed to join to check our bags and there was some anxious faffing with machines and scratching of heads before we got past that hurdle. Security managed to be more dispiriting than usual, with the queue there barely moving, while a nearby maintenance crew noisily repaired an escalator. It was a relief to finally board the plane. We would soon be on our way to Rio for one last adventure.
However there was a surprise waiting for me at the other end. I was in the window seat, and by the time I'd got into the aisle while everyone disembarked, most of the overhead luggage bins had been emptied. I checked the one over my seat and noted with minor concern that it was empty. My luggage is a small black rucksack and it's not unusual for it to be moved by the cabin crew during their Tetris-like pre-takeoff rearrangements. I checked the other bins, and a sickening feeling gripped my stomach. My bag wasn't there. There was another similar black rucksack, but it was not mine. I tried to appear calm but I was absolutely freaking out. The rucksack contained all my cameras and all my film. Everything I'd shot in Antarctica was in it. It was irreplaceable.
As the plane emptied out and I was left standing near the bin containing the only unclaimed rucksack, it seemed likely that another passenger had mistaken my bag for theirs. I'm amazed they didn't immediately notice how much heavier mine was, but I guess someone who wanders off a plane with the wrong bag isn't really a details sort of person.
While I tried to hold down a full-blown panic attack, we explained the situation to one of the cabin crew, who calmly liaised with a colleague. Meanwhile Liz suggested she could go to the baggage claim in the hope that she'd find whoever had my bag. It seemed like a good idea, especially as so far it was the only idea. My biggest worry now was that whoever had my bag wouldn't notice their error before they were on a connecting flight or in a taxi.
The cabin crew member came back to me and said I should take the rogue bag and follow her colleague. He led me off the plane. I asked him where we were going, but he spoke no English and my Portuguese would struggle to order a drink. I followed him into the terminal, at which point he met up with another colleague, who tried to explain something to me but since neither of us spoke the same language the effect was mutual confusion. After a bit more panic I got the impression that I should go with him, and he led me through a door into what I gathered was a back area of the airport. It felt a bit like walking off a stage set. Unsure where we were going, I just had to trust that it was somewhere good and followed him through a series of doors and corridors, presumably taking a shortcut not available to passengers.
I was unsure how long this was taking. In my jittery state it could have only been a few minutes, but I was wondering how Liz was getting on. If I end up in some remote part of the airport I had no means of contacting her, as her phone had no service there. I shouldn't have worried, as I suddenly realised I had been taken to the baggage claim. I was directed to a desk, where I saw, and oh what a sweet sight it was, a woman holding my bag. I recognised her from the plane, she had been sitting across the aisle from us. She looked as relieved as I felt upon seeing me carrying her bag. We hugged, any annoyance at her for taking the bag in the first place temporarily forgiven in thanks to things working out okay in the end. And that was that. I found Liz by the carousel. My hands were shaking. I felt drained, but happy. We still had to get to the hotel, but once again we had the luxury of being collected from arrivals and driven there.
On the way there we watched the sun set in that rich, blood orange way it does in all the glossy brochures. Very nice, I thought, and looked forward to being able to photograph it next time. I wouldn't get a particularly good shot from the back of a moving car. This however was not to be.
The hotel was a bit of a come down after the ones in Iguazu. It was a basic city skyscraper affair, with adequately functional rooms. It was also just off Copacabana and was perpetually busy. There was some sort of party happening noisily near my room. I tried not to think about the nature of the noises emanating from it. I wear earplugs to sleep anyway, so this was a minor irritant in the scheme of things. My high from being reunited with my bag was settling into a sort of contented lethargy, so for dinner we went to an Italian place near the hotel that had been recommended, where I drank wine and ate a portion of lasagne the size of my head. It would appear that my spirit animal, when backed into a corner, is Garfield.
The next day was, in the language of the travel agency's itinerary, 'at leisure'. We would have a very full day being ferried around tourist hotspots the day after, but this day was completely free. Rio's a big city, so we decided to focus on one area so we weren't spending too much time getting around.
First we checked out the Copacabana. Neither of us are sunbathers and we're both genetically disposed to burst into flames on contact with sunshine, so this was very much an exercise in observation from the shade. It was impressively big, but honestly even taking the intense heat out of the equation, it was far too crowded for me. Everyone looked to be enjoying themselves though, so kudos to them. I'm not really a beach person, which is why we swiftly left for Centro.
When checking out the guides for Rio my eye had been caught by the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) in Centro. It's a spectacular neo-futurist building dedicated to applied science, but I was there mostly for the building. There's one view of it above, but I took loads more digitally so check out the bonus photos at the bottom of this post. The content of the museum was somewhat interesting if a little thin, although I might be being a jaded metropolitan wanker here. I've seen a lot of similar exhibitions. The architecture containing it all is the star here, and it's absolutely worth visiting just for that.
If you think I'm waxing too pretentiously about a fancy building, then relax, because after a light lunch in its café we went to the nearby aquarium. I love aquariums and they are often my standby option when the weather dictates that I need an indoor activity. The weather doing the dictating is usually rain, but in this case it was the relentless sun. I just fancied walking around a cool, dark place looking at fish. Fortunately Liz agreed. We would be hitting up the major tourist sites in Rio the next day. For now the mission was to take it easy and not melt into a puddle of sweat. Also, it seems only fair that we should visit the fish. Fish are a major part of the Antarctic food chain and we'd only seen the birds and seals that were eating them. Anyway, I don't want to labour the point too much, but the aquarium was pretty good and I recommend it if you like fish and not being incinerated by the burning eye of God. Also it is called AquaRio, which I think deserves props.
In case you're worried that we went all the way to Brazil only to eat Italian food and watch fish, fear not. That evening we ate at a Brazilian restaurant which had also been recommended. We also found our way to the rooftop bar of our hotel and tried some caipirinhas, which are Brazil's national drink and I can see why. They go down very easily and pack a decent punch. We didn't have too many because the planned itinerary would pick up the next morning, when we would visit some of the tourist highlights of the city, including of course Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain.
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