Rio has a few airports.  The international airport is 20 to 30 mins drive from Copacabana beach.

Those 30 mins in taxi from the Airport where probably the most dangerous experience I had in a long time. I though Taxi drivers in Argentina were psychos, but dang! Cariocas drive like maniacs!!

The weather for our week in Rio was not going to be great as per the forecast, so we were already planning to stick to the hotel’s swimming pool. To my surprise, the hotel did not have swimming pool! After so much research and review of hotels, stars, opinions, maps, locations, etc., I ended up booking one with no view and no swimming pool. This was a big doo-doo, as I pride myself with my research skills and I always try to make the best decision. I don’t even know how I ended up choosing this hotel! The hotel lobby looked great and fully renovated, but the rooms were so small that the super king bed was pretty much taking the whole space. The bathroom was very small to with no space at all to place make up or toothbrushes.

We freshen up and went for a snack and a beer to bar on Leme, as our hotel was located between Leme and Copacabana. After fuelling up we headed for a stroll over Copacabana beach and sat down in one of the many beach bars for our first Caipirinha. There was a musician playing guitar and the ambiance was great when all of the sudden a storm stars and we all had to gather very close together. We were surprised that our bill came with a “musician” fee and a service fee or tip included. This seems to be the Brazilian style.

We were a bit tired so we decided to go for lay down and find somewhere for dinner later.

Under the light rain, we walked a few blocks to a Syrian restaurant. Not many people knows but Brazilian has one of the biggest world populations of Syrians outside of Syria, with about 4 million immigrants or descendants.

It made sense to choose a middle eastern restaurant for our first night in Rio, then. We headed to Basha restuarante and we ordered a mix platter that left us super full, everything was delicious, specially the hummus.

By the time we were returnig to the hotel, it was storming outside, but the rain was warm and beautiful. My MIL didn’t think so and she was running to make it back to the hotel! We took our left over food in a doggy back and gave it to some people sleeping rough on the streets, which to be honest is a lot. I was surprised of seeing so many people living and sleeping on the streets, I knew there was poverty in Brazil, like any country in southamerica, but having favelas so close to the turistic areas, I guess, I wasn’t expecting seeing people living that way.