Views of Ipanema Beach

(Katherine) Last night we checked into our apartment in Ipanema, which we had again booked via Airbnb.com.  We had been advised by multiple people to stay in this neighborhood verses the more well known Copacabana, which is actually much more ridden with crime. We didn’t venture too far from the apartment that evening, just wandered a few blocks to find a lively restaurant called Via Sete where we enjoyed two hearty meals, but swapped beer for our normal bottle of wine. We quickly learned that Brazil doesn’t have much of a wine industry so they need to import everything and pass the transportation fees on to the consumer via exorbitant prices. That will definitely be one perk of Argentina that we will miss during our stay in Rio. We also have to avoid drinking any water and eating any foods that have been rinsed with the local water (i.e. salads) for fear of contracting a stomach bug.


Today we decided to explore our area, which is 2 blocks away from the beach, and right on the border of Ipanema and Leblon. We hadn’t really heard of Leblon until we were in Argentina, but we quickly learned that it is actually one of the nicest neighborhoods in the area with great shopping. We decided to walk along the beach for a bit, which lined right up with a street much like Ocean Drive in Miami. We noticed what appeared to be a look out above the beach and trekked up the hill to what turned out to be one of the most amazing beach views I have ever seen!

At the top of this hill, just before the bend in the road, there were little kiosks which sold simple food and cocktails and bore the name of a popular brand of beer - SKOI. There were individual tables with chairs and umbrellas - each coupled with a million dollar view! We each ordered 2 traditional Brazilian rum-based drinks, caipirinhas, and thoroughly took in our surroundings. We were pretty isolated, only a few locals and car drivers appeared to hang out at this exclusive hillside location, and seemed to know all of the kiosk workers. Only about 12 tourists made their way through during our stay, which makes me think this might be somewhat of a local secret. We were about to leave when one of the final World Cup matches began on one of the kiosk’s flat screen TV’s. With a fresh glass of beer in hand, we settled in to watch a major international sports event perched above one of the loveliest beaches in the world - priceless!

Later that evening, we decided to venture out after a homemade dinner to discover some of Rio’s nightlife. We didn’t really have a plan, but we figured it shouldn’t be too hard to find. We were wrong. There wasn’t much to speak of as far as the eye could see, so we ended up having a bad beer at a local chain brewery, Devassa. We made it an early evening since we didn’t see any obvious venues to choose from, and decided instead to get some sleep so we could focus on the tourist adventures we had planned for the next couple of days.