Rio de Janeiro from Above

We woke up really early—at 5 AM—since our internal clocks are still set to Danish time. By 6, we headed down for breakfast because we wanted to get an early start to the day. A friend had tipped us off about a good hostel we wanted to move to. The taxi driver had no trouble finding the address, but since it was still early in the morning, the "hostel" hadn’t quite woken up yet. We were greeted by Adriana in a bathrobe. There were no double rooms available, so we got checked into a dorm instead. It cost 30 reais per person. Tomorrow, we can get a double room for 80 reais per night. The first thing we needed to sort out was our flight tickets since we have to head home a week earlier. We took the metro downtown, which was 2 reais per ticket, to find Lufthansa’s office, only to discover they had moved. After some searching, we found the new address, where security was top-notch. We had to register with our passport numbers and take a photo before we were allowed into the building. We quickly changed our tickets but had to pay a $100 fee for the change. We wanted to check out Sugarloaf Mountain, but first, we went back to the hostel since it didn’t make sense to wander around with our passports and tickets on us. Bus number 511 goes directly to Sugarloaf and only costs 1.5 reais. The people here are really friendly and helpful, even though they don’t understand much English, so we found our stop without any issues. The cable car ride costs 30 reais per person and takes you all the way to the top, where there’s an amazing view of Rio. It’s also possible to see Rio from a helicopter, with a ride costing 150 reais per person. We had never flown in a helicopter before, and the chance to see Rio from a completely different angle was tempting—so we went for it. It was incredibly exciting. A helicopter ride is nothing like being on a plane. We saw the Christ the Redeemer statue and Copacabana from above—it was stunning. On the bus ride back to the hostel, we missed our stop and ended up at Ipanema Beach. It’s just as beautiful as Copacabana, but the waves are similarly big, so we didn’t go in for a swim. It gets dark early in Brazil—by 6 PM—so we took a taxi up to the Christ the Redeemer statue to enjoy the sunset over Rio and watch the lights come on. To get up the mountain to the massive statue, you can either take a taxi or the "trem," which is a little train that runs through the jungle. We chose the train—30 reais for a round trip. We hadn’t eaten since 6 this morning, so our stomachs were starting to growl. We found a place where you pay by the kilo, which is a very common method in Brazil. Back at the hostel, we struck up a conversation with other travelers who shared some great travel tips. Now we know where to find the bars—Lapa!