Today’s post is 1050 words, 29 photos, 1 video, a 5 minute read. Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
This week I continue the tour with Marcia and Celso that began in last week’s post. We’ll have lunch at a churrascaria followed by a cable car ride to Sugarloaf Mountain.
If you missed the first three posts in this series, click here, here, and here.
Carretao
It was well past lunchtime when Celso pulled the bus up to the Carretão Classic Grill in Ipanema. This was our first but not our last visit to a traditional Brazilian steakhouse known as a churrasaria. This is an all you can eat experience of grilled meats served table side on large skewers that also known as rodizio. Typically patrons pay a fixed price that includes a gourmet salad bar and traditional side dishes. In some churrasarias payment is by weight, so much a kilo, a better deal for light eaters.
We were met at the door by this gentleman who saw us to our seats and took our drink orders.
Those drinks soon arrived. I had the sangria in the little pitcher. It was awesome.
Right after the drinks, this appetizer plate arrived. It comes with the meal. I liked those deep fried dumpling things the best but it was all good.
Then we made a trip to one of the most gorgeous salad bars I ever seen. There were salads of course in addition to several traditional Brazilian side dishes. I can’t even begin to name them.
Upon our return from the salad bar, the servers, also known as gauchos, began bringing by these large skewers of meat. There was a lot of beef, some pork and lamb. Since they didn’t speak much English, hand gestures were used to indicate how much you’d like sliced off onto your plate. 
We were each given a two-sided disc. One side was green that meant you were ready for more and the other side red indicated no more at this time. The gauchos circulated around the room so if the disc was green they’d stop ready to cut more meat.
You can imagine how full we were after that interesting and new dining experience. I don’t have a clue how much it cost, lunch was included in our tour. In future visits to a churrascaria where we had to pay, the bill was in the $25-30 USD range. And they are all good and very popular.
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar)
Back on the bus we made our way to Sugarloaf Mountain, a peak that overlooks Guanbara Bay. It’s not far from Copacabana. Sugarloaf got its name from the Portuguese when sugarcane was the prime crop in Brazil. They said it looked like a loaf of refined sugar. Ok, if one uses their imagination! Rising 1300 feet (400 meters) above the surrounding area, Sugarloaf is reached by taking two cable car rides. The first takes riders to the smaller nearby Morra de Urca. After a short walk and another wait, another cable car transports visitors over to Sugarloaf Mountain. It’s one of the most popular attractions in Rio with more than 1.5 million visitors a year.
Upon arrival Marcia purchased the cable car tickets and we entered a long line of passengers to wait for the next car. The line actually moved pretty fast as the cars were quite large. It was standing only with the early boarders getting window views. Those of us that boarded later had to stand in the middle. 
This was the view from the cable car. It looked like there was a art fair or festival going on near where we got off the bus.
When we reached Morra de Urca, we took a leisurely walk through the botanical gardens to the cable car station to Sugarloaf.
This is the view from Morra de Urca towards Sugarloaf Mountain. From this vantage point it doesn’t look like much. Boy was I wrong!
In addition to the fantastic views, there was a DJ making music, shops for souvenirs, food stands, and very nice dining facilities. We were there for the views but couldn’t help but hear the music. A lot of visitors come for the sunset views.
Here are some of the photos I took of the view below.
Off in the distance is Christ the Redeemer. AI tells me that the distance between the two is 20.5 miles (33 kilometers). I had my telephoto lens extended to 200 mm, not bad for the little camera.
Rio de Janeiro is a city that is divided into sections by high mountains and water features. It takes a while to move around the city. If you are planning a trip to Rio make sure you consider time to get from one place to another. Join a day tour with transportation, take an Uber or taxi, but definitely forget driving and parking. It’s impossible.
Here’s another view of Copacabana Beach. 
This is a wide angle view of Morra de Urca. Note the tiny Christ the Redeemer in the upper right off in the distance.
It was a super nice visit to Sugarloaf. It was the last stop on our tour. Marcia and Celso delivered us back to our hotel. We would see them early the next morning when they would deliver us to the airport for our flight to Iguazú Falls.
After a short rest, we had a very light dinner with our friends. My Traveling Partner and I decided to walk along Copacabana Beach after dark. No worries, it was Saturday night and people were out and about. Here are a few photos from our walk. The vendors were out in full force selling all sorts of stuff. We bought a couple of small gifts.
Drinks were easy to purchase from guys pedaling a mobile bar.
Along the promenade, there are several bars and restaurants trying to entice passersby to eat or drink at their place.We were still full from our large lunch at Carretão so politely declined.
This was our last night in Rio. Early the next morning we would travel to Iguazu Falls near the Argentine border. I’ll pick up that story next week.
I’ll end this blog with the five senses plus one.
See – beautiful views of Rio from 1300 feet, the gorgeous salad bar
Hear – the screeching of cables, the ocean waves, fireworks, voices of lots of people with many different languages
Smell – cooking meat, saltwater
Touch – hand rails and hangers on the cable car
Tasted – delicious meats, sweet, fruity sangria
Learned – Rio is popular and busy on weekends, more about the history of Brazil
Until next week, happy travels!
Tom
PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM