My Rio Commute

(This post first appeared on my work-related blog in the Summer of 2016, but I wanted to re-post it in the same place as all of my other travel-related material)

August 2016: I picked the Flamengo neighborhood and the apartment in which I’m staying because of its proximity to the Marina da Gloria. Unfortunately, it’s about an hour outside the main Olympic village in Barra (pronounced Ba-ha) but there are dedicated Olympic busses that run from the Marina to Barra every hour.

The alternative is to take the Metro from Catete (Ca-Te-Chey) to Central and get on another dedicated Olympic bus that runs every half hour but starts earlier in the morning and runs later at night.

The Rio metro is very clean and safe, and runs close or on schedule — quite a surprise considering the rest of the city’s attitude towards scheduling.

Luckily, I only need to go to Barra three times through the games, and I’ve already been once. I also have a Team USA press conference on Saturday and a World Sailing press conference on Sunday. Otherwise, my commute is more like this:

I walk through the beautiful Flamengo Park, along Flamengo beach, to get from my apartment to the sailing venue. The park is always teeming with runners and bikers, and lots of security. It’s absolutely gorgeous and a lovely way to start my morning before the craziness of the media center!

I walk about a mile, or a little more than 1.5 kilometers. I’ve entertained the idea of renting a bike but locking it up each day and bringing it up to the apartment at night is a bit of a hassle. Plus, walking gives me more time to take in the sights, like Brazil’s World War II Memorial.

See that soldier there in the middle? He’s guarding an eternal flame, and also is a great scale to show how massive this monument is!

The woman who owns the apartment I’m renting also volunteers at the Marina and takes the same commute, though at a different time of day. She assured me that it was safe and so far I’ve had no issues. If I leave work late enough that it’s already dusk or dark, I take a cab which costs about 20 Brazilian Reals, or about $6.50. Not too bad!