Traveling allows you to meet people from all around the world. I was lucky enough to have met a woman in Rome who lives in Rio. Obviously when I decided to come to Rio I contacted her right away. She planned a day of walking and hiking for us as a way to explore Rio de Janeiro.

The sun is intense and the humidity is pretty epic so our day started at 2:00pm. We met at one of the metro stops and walked along Copacabana Beach to Morro do Leme. We entered a military fort and had a leisurely uphill stroll to the top of the fort. Once we were there, the views were absolutely worth the heat and the walk and this was just the beginning.

These little monkeys are everywhere at the fort. Many people feed them so they come up very close to you. They are still wild animals and will absolutely bite.

Once we sat and watched the monkeys and decided to head to our next destination, we walked along the beach a bit more and then jumped in a taxi to Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf). There is an option to take a cable car up the mountain or to hike it. We opted for the hiking option. The hike is only 2400 meters but it takes you through “steps” that have been created from earth and trees, and some inclines that required the use of our hands to actually get up. But if I thought the views from earlier in the day were great, these ones took my breath away!

There is an option to hire a helicopter for as short as 7 minutes or as long as 60 minutes starting at just 270 Reals (99USD) and capping out at 1510 Reals (557USD). There were quite a few helicopter trips being made in the time I was there.

The ability to look at a city from an aerial view is absolutely fantastic but can create a long and exhausting day. We decided to reward ourselves with a beer at Bar Urca which is one of the oldest bars in Rio.