We spent 9 days in late October with
Tofino Expeditions, first
in Rio, then kayaking for 5 days in Paraty. We only added one
additional day at the beginning to make sure we didn’t miss the
tour.
I was worried about the safety of Rio, given my experience
at a conference there in 1995. I was pleased to not feel unsafe
at any time in this go around.
We stayed at the Sol Ipanema hotel, in the middle of the
Ipanema beach area, with a great view of the beach and sea. We
found a very good restaurant for our first dinner on our own and
then all the rest of our meals were with the group and within
easy walking distance of the hotel.
There was only one other couple, from Verdun (Montreal).
Tofino works with a local outfitter, in this case
Paraty Explorer,
who assigned two guides to our cozy group (one of them, Michael
Smyth, the co-owner, in Rio and then Bruno, a Rio native for the
city tour).
We did a little touring of Rio on our own - walking
Ipanema and some of Copacabana beaches with Michael before being
put in a cab to the Sugarloaf cable car. It’s a two-part ride:
first up to Urca and then across to Sugarloaf. It was actually a
bit cool and cloudy with threats of real rain for our upcoming
kayak segment in Paraty. The next morning we went to the
Botanical Gardens. On the way back we were lightly scammed
(overcharged) by the cabbie. But cabs here are cheap. The other
couple, Denise and Michel, arrived in the late afternoon and we
joined them and Michael to start the official tour with
introductions and dinner.
Next day, we had a local guide, Bruno, to show us a little of
Rio. We got an early start to beat the big crowds going to the
iconic Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado Mountain. It’s a
lot more organized and controlled than 30 years ago. Fortunately
the clouds parted from the statue, though the city was obscured
by fog. Then Bruno walked us through the Santa Teresa
neighborhood (where he lives) and to the Selaron Steps and a
monastery. We also went by the massive Gloria Hotel that had
hosted the 1995 conference, and concluded the day tour on the
Praia Gloria beach. Another excellent dinner and then we were
ready for the main event the next day - a 4.5 hour drive down
the BR 101 highway to Paraty. Where it rained.
Paraty is rather less well known than Rio, and is a burg
of some 50k people. It really has a small town vibe, and has a
pretty active old town center. And the most aggressive
cobblestones I've seen. Paraty was a very big deal in the mid
1800s as it was designated by Portugal as the exit point for all
the stuff Portugal was taking from Brazil. When the railroad was
put in up the coast to Rio, that dominance died out.
The kayaking segment is described
here. Michael gave us a
parting walking tour of Paraty before we headed back to Rio. We
spent the next morning wandering to the end of Leblon Beach and
then decided to head to the airport early. The Rio beaches
really have an atmosphere and are a focal point for the city.
We found Rio to be like most other big cities - safe enough if
you are sensible. And we got the chance to see some of the nice
bits to really turn my opinion of Rio around. That said, there
are a lot of dodgy areas where housing looked pretty dismal.
And, sadly, there was a major police action involving a couple
of thousand police that took more than 100 lives in one of the
favelas. Fortunately for us, this was a couple of days after
we’d left.
My camera arsenal was an iPhone 14 Pro, Canon SX70 and
Olympus TG4.
