AJK's Mini Rio de Janeiro Trip Report

[AJK]

Some quick notes from our quick trip:

• Fairmont Rio (between Ipanema and Copacabana Beach) is far, far nicer than JW Marriott (which is extremely tired looking and in desperate need of a refurb)
• While spending Shabbas at Chabad AKL, we ate with an older couple who told us "If you think Queenstown and Cape Town are beautiful, just wait until you see Rio."  Well, having now visited all three cities, I can tell you that -- if Rio is in the top 3 at all -- it is a distant third compared to those other two cities.  To be sure, I went in with high expectations (not only from that couple in AKL, but isn't Rio known as this trendy, cosmopolitan city?) but Rio as whole was a lot shabbier and run down than I had anticipated. If you took away the mountains (something it may not be fair to do), Rio would be a really poor imitation of Miami -- the architecture is not as nice and clean, the place emptier (something that could be due to COVID certainly), and water not nearly as blue and clean.
• Ubers are incredibly cheap. My ride home from JFK cost more than all of our 20 rides in Rio combined and then tripled. (Chase actually locked my card due to all those cheap $1-3 Uber rides due to potential fraud.
• Though I had plans to visit Sushi Papaia in SAO before my flight to GIG, we instead were able to change our flight to be three hours earlier so skipped it. That may have turned out to be a mistake, as one night in Rio, a bunch of people we were eating with said that the Sushi from Papaia could be the best in the world. One guy from Montreal said it's better than Yakimono. So we'll have to make it a point to grab a bite when we go back to visit IGU).
• The sushi in Rio was actually quite good. That said, I don't know what it is with Brazilians, but I'd guesstimate that 80% of the rolls had cream cheese in them -- and that's just not something I'm going to get on board with. The other kosher restaurant, Shaq Shuq, was also better than I expected. People told me Brazilian meat tastes like horse meat compared to Argentina and US, but I found the steak I got to be delicious for what it was. It didn't hurt that a meal with two chicken schnitzels and fries, steak and grilled veggies, and five drinks, only cost $24 either.
• Perhaps second only to PEK, the locals spoke the least English in GIG than any place we've ever visited.
• On our flight to MIA and GRU, at least two other people on the plane had bought the glitch. We played the obligatory Jewish geography and actually met up with them a couple times during the trip.
• Hang gliding is the least scary of bungy jumping, sky diving, and hang gliding (in that order).

[AJK]

A few pics:

[KSMH]

Some quick notes from our quick trip:

• Fairmont Rio (between Ipanema and Copacabana Beach) is far, far nicer than JW Marriott (which is extremely tired looking and in desperate need of a refurb)
• While spending Shabbas at Chabad AKL, we ate with an older couple who told us "If you think Queenstown and Cape Town are beautiful, just wait until you see Rio."  Well, having now visited all three cities, I can tell you that -- if Rio is in the top 3 at all -- it is a distant third compared to those other two cities.  To be sure, I went in with high expectations (not only from that couple in AKL, but isn't Rio known as this trendy, cosmopolitan city?) but Rio as whole was a lot shabbier and run down than I had anticipated. If you took away the mountains (something it may not be fair to do), Rio would be a really poor imitation of Miami -- the architecture is not as nice and clean, the place emptier (something that could be due to COVID certainly), and water not nearly as blue and clean.
• Ubers are incredibly cheap. My ride home from JFK cost more than all of our 20 rides in Rio combined and then tripled. (Chase actually locked my card due to all those cheap $1-3 Uber rides due to potential fraud.
• Though I had plans to visit Sushi Papaia in SAO before my flight to GIG, we instead were able to change our flight to be three hours earlier so skipped it. That may have turned out to be a mistake, as one night in Rio, a bunch of people we were eating with said that the Sushi from Papaia could be the best in the world. One guy from Montreal said it's better than Yakimono. So we'll have to make it a point to grab a bite when we go back to visit IGU).
• The sushi in Rio was actually quite good. That said, I don't know what it is with Brazilians, but I'd guesstimate that 80% of the rolls had cream cheese in them -- and that's just not something I'm going to get on board with. The other kosher restaurant, Shaq Shuq, was also better than I expected. People told me Brazilian meat tastes like horse meat compared to Argentina and US, but I found the steak I got to be delicious for what it was. It didn't hurt that a meal with two chicken schnitzels and fries, steak and grilled veggies, and five drinks, only cost $24 either.
• Perhaps second only to PEK, the locals spoke the least English in GIG than any place we've ever visited.
• On our flight to MIA and GRU, at least two other people on the plane had bought the glitch. We played the obligatory Jewish geography and actually met up with them a couple times during the trip.
• Hang gliding is the least scary of bungy jumping, sky diving, and hang gliding (in that order).

Nice!

[Yehoshua]

A few pics:

Looks like you're having a great time! Enjoy and thanks for the pointers. Fwiw, I know the Brazilians speak nothing besides Portuguese, however a friend on Argentina told us they just speak Spanish faking a Brazilian accent and can get by ok. I don't know if your Spanish is any good, but if it is it's worth a try. Not all the words are similar, but enough are.

[PlatinumGuy]

Gorgeous pictures.

[TheDonald1]

New Itin:

Sun, JFK-MIA, AA, 77W in F, 2:30 PM-5:47 PM
<dinner at Street Kitchen during 4:18 connection>
Sun, MIA-GRU, AA, 77W in J, 10:05 PM-8:30 AM +1
<lunch at Sushi Papaia during 7:05 connection>
Mon, CGH-SDU, LA, PE, 3:35 PM - 4:40 PM, $150 PP with bags
<three days in Rio>
Thu, SDU-GRU, LA, Y, 8:15 PM-9:25 PM, $25 OW PP
<2:40 connection>
Fri, GRU-MIA, 77W in J, 12:05 AM-6:35 AM
<2:05 connection>
Fri, MIA-JFK, 772 in J, 8:40 AM - 11:30 AM

1) I'm told by local TAs, I may be able to change my CGH-SDU flight for $20 day of flight, so if we finish lunch early, we can try to do that.
2) Currently booked at JW Marriott, but exploring upgrading to the Fairmont Rio instead, which is smack in the middle of Copacabana and Ipanema, apparently worlds nicer, although slightly farther from the only open Kosher restaurant, Shaq Shuq.
3) As a result of their being only one open kosher place, and especially because that place is only open from 6-9pm, we'll likely have to bring some food with us. Oh well.

according to google Shaq Shuq has permanently closed is it true ?

[AJK]

No.

See below.

Some quick notes from our quick trip:

• Fairmont Rio (between Ipanema and Copacabana Beach) is far, far nicer than JW Marriott (which is extremely tired looking and in desperate need of a refurb)
• While spending Shabbas at Chabad AKL, we ate with an older couple who told us "If you think Queenstown and Cape Town are beautiful, just wait until you see Rio."  Well, having now visited all three cities, I can tell you that -- if Rio is in the top 3 at all -- it is a distant third compared to those other two cities.  To be sure, I went in with high expectations (not only from that couple in AKL, but isn't Rio known as this trendy, cosmopolitan city?) but Rio as whole was a lot shabbier and run down than I had anticipated. If you took away the mountains (something it may not be fair to do), Rio would be a really poor imitation of Miami -- the architecture is not as nice and clean, the place emptier (something that could be due to COVID certainly), and water not nearly as blue and clean.
• Ubers are incredibly cheap. My ride home from JFK cost more than all of our 20 rides in Rio combined and then tripled. (Chase actually locked my card due to all those cheap $1-3 Uber rides due to potential fraud.
• Though I had plans to visit Sushi Papaia in SAO before my flight to GIG, we instead were able to change our flight to be three hours earlier so skipped it. That may have turned out to be a mistake, as one night in Rio, a bunch of people we were eating with said that the Sushi from Papaia could be the best in the world. One guy from Montreal said it's better than Yakimono. So we'll have to make it a point to grab a bite when we go back to visit IGU).
• The sushi in Rio was actually quite good. That said, I don't know what it is with Brazilians, but I'd guesstimate that 80% of the rolls had cream cheese in them -- and that's just not something I'm going to get on board with. The other kosher restaurant, Shaq Shuq, was also better than I expected. People told me Brazilian meat tastes like horse meat compared to Argentina and US, but I found the steak I got to be delicious for what it was. It didn't hurt that a meal with two chicken schnitzels and fries, steak and grilled veggies, and five drinks, only cost $24 either.
• Perhaps second only to PEK, the locals spoke the least English in GIG than any place we've ever visited.
• On our flight to MIA and GRU, at least two other people on the plane had bought the glitch. We played the obligatory Jewish geography and actually met up with them a couple times during the trip.
• Hang gliding is the least scary of bungy jumping, sky diving, and hang gliding (in that order).

[TheDonald1]

My mistake i was Iooking a differentat  place with the same in name  but different location

[yitzyul]

New Itin:

Sun, JFK-MIA, AA, 77W in F, 2:30 PM-5:47 PM
<dinner at Street Kitchen during 4:18 connection>
Sun, MIA-GRU, AA, 77W in J, 10:05 PM-8:30 AM +1
<lunch at Sushi Papaia during 7:05 connection>
Mon, CGH-SDU, LA, PE, 3:35 PM - 4:40 PM, $150 PP with bags
<three days in Rio>
Thu, SDU-GRU, LA, Y, 8:15 PM-9:25 PM, $25 OW PP
<2:40 connection>
Fri, GRU-MIA, 77W in J, 12:05 AM-6:35 AM
<2:05 connection>
Fri, MIA-JFK, 772 in J, 8:40 AM - 11:30 AM

1) I'm told by local TAs, I may be able to change my CGH-SDU flight for $20 day of flight, so if we finish lunch early, we can try to do that.
2) Currently booked at JW Marriott, but exploring upgrading to the Fairmont Rio instead, which is smack in the middle of Copacabana and Ipanema, apparently worlds nicer, although slightly farther from the only open Kosher restaurant, Shaq Shuq.
3) As a result of their being only one open kosher place, and especially because that place is only open from 6-9pm, we'll likely have to bring some food with us. Oh well.

Any particular reason you didnt fly straight from GRU-SDU vs CGH

[AJK]

Flight times and prices.