John Connell’s Personal Blog

Incredible Rio

May 29th, 2010

I had my second visit to the amazing city of Rio de Janeiro a couple of weeks ago. The sights, sounds and spectacular setting of this city simply take my breath away. Like all the great cities of the world, it never stops. Sao Paulo might be the engine of Brazil’s incredible economic success at the present time, but Rio remains the face that this country displays to the world.

Everyone I met in Rio was friendly and, language permitting, more than willing to tell me anything I wanted to know about the city and its people. On my last day there, I got into a taxi to take me from the hotel to the Cisco office. The driver had a classical radio station on. As I settled down, I picked up the words Winton Marsalis and a beautiful piece began, one that I had not heard before. The driver asked, apologetically almost, if I wanted to listen to something different. When I said no, and that I considered Marsalis a genius, he beamed from ear to ear, told me the voice was that of the American soprano, Kathleen Battle, and then proceeded to tell me a little of his life story.

He had been a chemical engineer, had travelled the world - he had even been to Glasgow back in the 1970s - and had taken up the taxi business after he retired. His English was probably better than mine, so we spent the 40 minutes or so of the ride exchanging thoughts and memories of various parts of the world we had both visited.

He was kind enough to say he wanted to return to Scotland one day for a holiday, so I gave him my card and told him to get in touch if he ever did come back.

Rio has some wonderful views, as can be seen from the photos here, but I know that its people are even more spectacular than its wonderful setting.

Technorati Tags: rio de janeiro, brazil, sao paulo, winton marsalis, kathleen battle

Entry Filed under: Travel, latin america, rio de janeiro, sao paulo