Let me take you to Rio: Rio de Janeiro

Let me take you to Rio, Rio

Fly on the ocean like an eagle, eagle

Then we can chill in my gazebo, gazebo

Oh, oh, oh, oh, nah, nah, nah

In 2011 when I was watching the animated film Rio and the place caught my attention. But that time it was not at all possible to visit the city of the country Brazil. 

The marvellous CLEAN beaches, a primitive tram line, the street sports on Sunday when one side of city's road remains closed, beach volley, the aqueduct, yearly occurring carnival, Christ the Redeemer and the scenic view of south Atlantic attracted me for a long time. In 2016, I got chance to move Brazil and apparently I complete my wish list of visiting Rio de Janeiro.

The phrase You are in Rio, you should enjoy it... it's worthy. A city of passion, good vibes, nature's open arm welcome, sports, activities, history .... all are there.

The derivation of Rio de Janeiro is River of January and its famous as the name simple Rio. It is capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro and the 2nd most populous municipality metropolitan area within the Latin American country Brazil and the 6th most populous in the Americas. 

On 1 July of 2012 part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site by  UNESCO and it has been named 'Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea'.... as a Cultural Landscape.

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere by tourists and travellers for its natural settings, Carnival, samba, bossa nova (Brazilian type of music) and balneario beaches such as  Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. 

In Portuguese the word balneario means seaside resort town. Whatever the case, these resorts offer recreation, sports, entertainment, food, hospitality and safety services, retail, and cultural events. These balneario towns are characterized by being flooded by masses of tourists during the summer seasons. Balnearios may be as simple as a beach or as complex as a planned city as Mexico's Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. 

I am totally fond of the beaches of Rio, what a enjoyable place. If you are worried, stressed out, disturbed..bla..bla... believe me once you reach on the beaches no negativity can touch you. You will be engaged on lots of activities, the latino musics will take you out and the beauty of gorgeous Atlantic will keep you all time refreshed.. the sand sculptures, cycles, skating board, made your mood just non other than the Happy.. 

In Rio the most famous landmarks include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca forest National Park. The statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil, and is listed as one of the New 7 wonders of the world. The statue is 98 ft high, excluding its 26 ft pedestal. Though it was raining when I went to visit. 

There is a tram to carry you from the base of the mountain to the top and after get down from the tram a huge-elevator will help you to visit the statue. 

A panoramic view of the Guanabara Bay will be gifted to you and I guess it's a life time achievement of your vision to get that.

Just opposite to the Corcovado there is the Sugarloaf Mountain with its cable car, which is another attraction for Rio. 

Domestic airport: Santos Dumont and Rio-Niteroi bridge

At the entry of Rio from flight you will charmed with the view of the Rio–Niterói Bridge, the sixth-longest box girder crossing bridge in the world on the Atlantic. Over the Guanabara Bay it connects through east  and west i.e. Rio and  Niterói respectively. 

You will definitely enjoy the awesome right life of Rio with Sambadrome and Bossa nova. Sambadrome is the famous samba which is the world's famous form of dance in Brazil only and makes the annual carnival (for 6 days on each February) more cheerful, colourful and vigorous with lights-dance-magic. 

The costumes of the Queens of carnival in 2016 were presented in samba dance form at the platform show. It was a live show of samba. It's really, really tough to balance and dance in a costume of heavy weight with a high heel pair of shoe. The mechanism of twist, jump, gestures and the formation of the dance is amazing. 

There are more than 200 samba schools in Rio and during the carnival in each year they participate in festive. This is the biggest carnival in the world with 2 million visitor per day on the street. 

Bossa novais a style of Brazilian music with lyrical fusion of samba and jazz. It was developed and became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The phrase bossa nova means literally 'new trend' or 'new wave'.

Source: animated movie, Rio Internet

Do you remember the video of song Fly Love (Wasn't really thinkin', wasn't lookin' , wasn't searching..for an answer...In the moonlight..When I saw your face) @Rio movie (2011) where a pair of endangered Spix's Macaw were sitting on a moving tram during the sunset. The yellow canary bird namely, Nico whose bottle-cap hat functions as a tambourine, Pedro, the red-crested cardinal who is Nico's best friend and the romantic Toco Toucan fond of Carnival were supporting them to make love with the beautiful song. 

That exact place is present in Rio and the story of the movie is partially true, but I wished it could be happen.  The male Spix's Macaw named Blu was raised in captivity and travels from Minnesota to Brazil with his owner to repopulate his species with the last wild living female his species, Jewel. Blu and Jewel ultimately fall in love, have 3 babies and the movie ends happily with the hope that bird loves literally can save their species. Unfortunately based on the study, Jewel likely would've died in 2000 ... and the movie was 11 years late, so it was a tribute to the extinct species....

The high double floored white bridge was displayed in the movie was actually the aqueduct, named as Carioca Aqueduct is a fresh water supply system in Rio. It was built in the middle of the 18th century to bring fresh water from the Carioca river to the city. It is an impressive example of colonial architecture and engineering.

The Carioca Aqueduct is located in the centre of the city, in the Lapa neighbourhood and is frequently called Arcos da Lapa (Lapa Arches) by Brazilian people. Since the end of the 19th century the aqueduct serves as a bridge for a popular tram that connects the city centre with the  Santa Teresa neighbourhood uphill, the Santa Teresa Tramway.

The aqueduct was deactivated at the end of the 19th century, as new alternatives to supply water to Rio were developed. The structure was adapted in 1896 to serve as a viaduct for a  tram line – the Santa Teresa Tramway that transports passengers between the centre of Rio and the hilly Santa Teresa neighbourhood. The picturesque ride is popular among locals and tourists alike.

The finals of 2014 FIFA worlds Cups was held at Maracana Stadium, one of the  world’s largest football stadium.  In 2016 the summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics was hosted in Rio and making the city the first South American to ever host the events

The city was founded on 1st March 1565 by the Portuguese and going through a number of changes in emperor from Portuguese to French. Unfortunately this marvellous beach city was also a city of slaves from the colonial period until the first independent decades. In 1819 there was a large influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro, the total count of the tortured  peoples were 1,45,000 and in 1840, the number of reached 2,20,000 people. 

She is Fatima lives in Rio, working in a tourist agency as guide and interpreter. She told me the history and stories about Rio. 

How to reach Rio: Actually I went from Sao Paulo via domestic flight. But if you wish you can go from any city of India. There are one domestic airport, Santos Dumont which is almost floating on the Atlantic Ocean and Galeão International Airport.

Regarding language you might face some difficulties to communicate, but its manageable with Google translator and speech translator.