Well what a day we had in Rio Yesterday...The Tour was doing a Boat Cruise out in the Harbour and because I got sick last boat ride I opted out.. So there were 3 of us who decided to head into downtown Rio and visit some of the areas we drove past on the bus..
David, Roberta and I cought the local bus (Madness, crazy drivers!) to Copacobana, we got off and walked through the shopping area and then a Tunnel, the tunnels have an elevated pedestrian walkway at the side , it was a busy tunnel . At the otherside we visited an Art Deco church and took some photos.. We then walked a couple of Km to the Metro Station and caught the train 6 stops to a different area..we then walked again to the Carnival Street...Basically a Street with Grandstands down both sides , where the floats drive through..Its a big area. Under the Grandstands they have a couple of tourist shops where you could buy souveneirs or get your photo taken with the big head dress and fancy costumes on..After a couple of photos we left through the opposite end of the Carnival Street as we were heading into downtown.. We entered another tunnel David first, then me 2 mtrs behind him and Roberta after me...To cut a long story short a bloke on a bike came up beside us and jumped off the bike and onto the railing and held a gun at David demanding money & his phone....I saw the gun and just freaked out, I turned and grabbed Roberta and we ran back the way we had come , screaming out the whole way "He has a gun, he has a gun!"...I really need to learn Brasilian ..as nobody understood me.. when we reached the next man coming behind us I turned back to see the robber heading back our way on his bike again so as he passed me I took a swing at him and he ducked so I missed him...So we then turned back to go find David..running the whole way..I think I should have been in the Olympic 100 mtres !   We found David on the other side of the tunnel waiting for us..We were all shaken up but at the end of the day, David lost $25 , but we were all alive, but absolutely freaked out by the whole event.. We then made our way into downtown where it was very busy. We found McDonalds and we sat and regrouped and generally just calmed down a bit. I managed to order my lunch in my bastardised Brasilian..Quartero..Fritos..zero....There it is a mealdeal !
After lunch we walked through the downtown, we saw the Opera House which was a most magnificent building and the marketplace , they have these streets that are just jammed packed with people..apparently 42 blocks of marketplace..Pretty amazing but as it was so busy an we were still a bit freaked we just went around the sides of it and made our way up to this fabulous church ..the inside was filled with beautiful artwork so we got some nice photos..we also had a quiet prayer to god for keeping us alive...lol
The bus trip home was like a rally drive..obviously the buses have no timetable so they just go flat out and you just get tossed about..Its quite fun and getting directions was another ordeal as we caught a different bus home..anyway we worked it out in the end and got off when he turned a different direction and we then caught the oldest yellow cab in Rio back to the Sheraton..that was quite a funny moment pulling up in the noisy taxi at a posh hotel...
David and I went out to the back bar and belted down a few drinks to calm the nerves before going back to the rooms and changing our underwear !! Pizza in the hotel for dinner then time to pack bags and get to bed as we had a 5.30 wakeup call.
Today we flew to Iguassu Falls 2 hrs South of Rio. Looked lovely from the air, farmland cut out of the Jungle..we caught the bus straight to the Falls and our local guide Wilson, showed us about..They are very different from Niagara Falls but very beautiful and so much water !! There were monkeys again, different ones this time, they also had racoons and hundreds of butterflies. we spent a couple of hours the on the Brasilian side, tomorrow we see the Argentinian side. Looking forward to that..another thousand photos I guess.. Drinks & Dinner on the house tonight so have to get ready..
We caught