Last day in Rio

More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/

I got up a bit late but I got the metro from Catete to Cinelandia and after wandering around mapless for a bit, managed to find the tram station for the tram up to Santa Teresa.

The tram is extremely quaint and old-fashioned. Viewed less romantically, the line was built in 1975 according to the plaque at Estacao Carioca station and the trams still look like it. The amount of noise (a sort of loud groaning squeak) the trams make while running is amazing. The trams are single carriage vehicles with a pair of slightly too small looking wheels in the centre, giving the impression the thing might tip over if too many people stand at one end. There are no doors and some people do actually just stand on the footplate at the side and hang on with one hand.

But it was quite good fun, I'm just pointing out all these little curiosities. It's amazingly cheap as well - BRL0.60, compared to BRL2.80 for a single ticket on the metro and (judging from signs I've seen) a similar price on buses. I really don't know if anyone seriously uses it or it it's just for tourists, but maybe they do. I got off at the terminus (it turns out there are two different ones, but I didn't know and wouldn't have cared much if I had) and walked back, following the tram tracks. I had a large pizza at a restaurant on the way and found my way back to (probably) Curvelo station.

Partly out of laziness and partly as I had some recollection the metro ran over a narrow archway near the centre which I doubted I'd be allowed to walk along, I decided to get the tram back the rest of the way to the centre. There were quite a few other people waiting by the time it turned up, and they weren't obviously all tourists. (I guess most visitors will just do a complete round trip on the tram.) Three trams turned up, I couldn't get on the first two and I missed the chance to get on the third one, so I had to wait ages for another one to come along (I honestly think it was about 45 minutes or an hour, judging from the timestamps on my photos), and there were always a few (very few) people waiting to get on. So maybe some people do use it as a real means of transport. If they do, they must really hate the tourists for packing the thing out all the time. :-)

I had a quick couple of beers in the centre of Rio and then got the metro back to the hotel. It's started thundering and I suspect it is or will be pissing it down soon. I will hopefully be able to go out for a few beers at Bar Getulio later on. I can't really pack now anyway as most of the packing is taking my valuables out of the safe, and it seems stupid to do that then go out and leave them in my luggage.

There follow some miscellaneous observations which I should probably have scattered over my earlier posts, but WTF. I had time to marshal my thoughts today while waiting for the tram. :-)

I seem to have noticed quite a few women here with tattoos on their legs. I won't say it's exactly common, but it seems a lot more prevalent than I'm used to in London. I must admit I find it a bit naff, but anyway.

The taxis here don't seem to follow the obvious system of turning their 'taxi' light off when they're occupied, instead they (as far as I can tell; it's very hard to see, which is kind of the point of my objection) have a card in the window which says 'free' or 'occupied'.

The metro (based on admittedly only two journeys between two stations) here isn't as nice as in Sao Paulo, though it seems OK. The two stations I've seen are not all that obvious, there are markings above ground but they seem relatively discrete compared to tube stations in London. Maybe it's just because I'm not attuned to the local indicators.

In Sao Paulo, when you buy a single ticket for the metro, they give you a little rectangular card ticket which you put in the gate to enter, then it swallows it. You don't need to have any proof of purchase on the journey or to get out at the other end. Here in Rio it's similar, but (confusingly at first; I had to be helped by someone the first time I tried it today) when you buy a single, they give you a plastic card about the size of a credit card. There is a special slot on the machine which accepts it and swallows it, much like the paper tickets are in Sao Paulo. I think that's quite a clever system, the plastic cards can probably be re-used endlessly and they are probably harder to lose than paper tickets.

(As far as I'm aware there are pre-purchase and/or frequent use schemes for both metro systems, but I didn't need that here and although I just might have benefited in Sao Paulo where I used the metro nearly every day, I didn't want to get involved with anything that complex while I was struggling with the language.)

The hotel and airline for Puerto Williams still haven't got back to me to confirm my payments have gone through OK. Nor has the hotel in Punta Arenas replied to my submission on their web page asking about looking after my suitcase or about the late check in. (With those web page forms, I always suspect the message has got lost completely, but I don't think they gave an e-mail address and I guess you have to use the form if that's what they prefer.) Why is it so hard to give these people money?