Back to Rio, then home

On Tuesday 24th July I flew back to Rio, with my flight back to NZ departing the following day. I was staying the night in a hostel in Santa Teresa, a hill-top district often described as charming and/or bohemian. The area had lovely views out over the city.

Top of the remaining things to see before I left Rio was a visit to the Selaron Steps. This was the life-work of the artist Jorge Selaron, covered in more than 2000 pieces of tiles, mirrors and ceramics. Tragically, it really did end up being his life's work, as he was found dead on the steps in 2013, having possibly taken his own life.

The steps are actually in the Lapa district, which is generally acknowledged to be a rather dodgy part of town. I felt safe enough walking there in broad daylight, following the usual common-sense rules of not wearing anything of value and not wandering down quiet deserted streets. By all accounts it's not the type of place to wander around in the dark, and robberies have been known to take place on the steps themselves at night.

I had no such problems, and there were plenty of tourists enjoying the brightly coloured spectacle. I enjoyed looking at all the different tiles, sent to the artist from over 60 different countries.

After taking photos to my heart's content, I headed along the cute cobbled streets back up the hill to Santa Teresa.

Next up I spent some time exploring the Parque das Ruinas, which was only a few doors down from my accommodation.

This was a cool old restored ruin, which had been turned into a public space. There was a stage and amphitheatre for live performances, as well as a coffee shop on site. The park had fabulous views out over the city which I enjoyed as dusk fell.

I made my way back to my accommodation to find a random wedding shoot in full swing on the rooftop terrace!

Once they had cleared out, I had the terrace to myself. It was a very cool place to chill out and enjoy the lights over the city.

Wednesday was my last day in Brazil. My flight back to NZ departed at 6:50pm, so I still had a bit of time to make the most of Rio. It was a stunning day so I headed back to Copacabana Beach.

I had arranged to meet up with Luiz, the local that I met on my Amazon tour, and he was keen that I get the full Brazilian churrascaria experience before I leave. We had lunch at a very posh churrascaria near Copacabana beach. The food was amazing. There was loads of seafood, as well as plenty of salads and vegetable dishes on the buffet. Waiters then came around with big skewers of delicious barbecued meat, from which they would carve slices onto your plate. I was very impressed that this was the place that Luiz wanted us to go to, considering he is vegetarian!

As it turns out, the restaurant experience didn't actually end well, but that is a story for my next post! After lunch I took an Uber back to my accommodation and packed up the last of my things before heading to the airport in the afternoon. It had been an absolutely brilliant trip, but I was ready for home.