On June 11, I ran Maratona do Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I was scheduled to run this marathon in 2020, but the trip was cancelled, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I traveled with Marathon Tours
& Travel (MT&T). I’ve often traveled
to other countries by myself, but this was a trip where I was more comfortable
traveling with a group.
Finding flights to Rio de
Janeiro was more difficult than I anticipated.
Delta Airlines used to have flights from Atlanta to Rio de Janeiro, but
they trimmed their flight schedule during the pandemic. They still have flights to Sao Paulo, but to get
to Rio de Janeiro, I needed an additional flight segment on a Brazilian
airline.
I thought I found flights
that worked, but I couldn’t book it. The
other airline appeared to have seats available, but when I tried to book it, I
couldn’t get a confirmed seat. I was on
the phone with Delta for more than an hour before giving up and doing more
research.
There are two airports in
Rio de Janeiro. At first, I was trying
to find a flight into the international airport. Since I was arriving on a domestic flight from
Sao Paulo, there was no reason I couldn’t fly into the smaller domestic airport
instead. I eventually found flights on a
different regional airline and I was able to book it.
Two months later, Delta
changed their flight schedule. My afternoon
flight from Minneapolis to New York was cancelled, and I was automatically
rebooked onto an early morning flight. I
would’ve needed to get up at 4:00 AM to get to the airport on time, and then I
would’ve had an 11-hour layover in New York before boarding my flight to Sao
Paulo. I was back to the drawing board,
trying to find better flights. I ended up
rebooking all three of my outbound flights to get a more reasonable itinerary.
Weather
It’s winter in the
southern hemisphere, so it wasn’t nearly as hot as it would’ve been at other
times of the year. What surprised me is
how cool it was in the mornings and evenings.
In the morning, it was
generally in the mid to upper 60s. It
wouldn’t start to warm up until after the sun rose.
By midday, it felt really
hot if you were in the sun. The
temperature was often only in the upper 70s, but the sun was intense, making it
feel more like 90s.
In the late afternoon, if
felt much cooler. The temperature was
still in the mid-70s, but as the sun got low enough in the sky to go behind the
mountains, it would suddenly feel pleasant.
By 6:00 PM, it was
already dark, and it would start to feel chilly if you were wearing short sleeves.
Drinking Water
In most of Brazil, it’s
not safe to drink tap water. In Rio de
Janeiro, the tap water is drinkable, but most people don’t drink it, because it
doesn’t taste good. I used tap water for
brushing my teeth, but I only drank bottled water.
I rarely needed to buy water. Most of the time, I was able to drink water provided
by the hotel or our tour group. Whenever
housekeeping made up the room, they left extra bottles of water.
Insects
In most of Brazil, you
have to worry about insect-borne diseases, such as Zika and Dengue Fever. That didn’t seem to be a concern in Rio de Janeiro. I applied insect repellent as a precaution,
but I never noticed any mosquitoes.
Wednesday, June 7
I had a late morning
flight to JFK airport in New York. After
a five-hour layover, I flew to Sao Paulo on an overnight flight. I packed light, so I could get by with just a
carry-on bag. I had a total of three
flight segments on two different airlines, so I didn’t feel comfortable
checking a bag. There were too many
opportunities for something to go wrong.
I’ve been on lots of
overnight flights, but I was usually flying to Europe, so I was crossing several
time zones. On those flights, I stay
awake, because it’s not too hard to hang in there until nightfall at my
destination.
Flying to South America is
different. There wasn’t a big time
difference between Minnesota and Brazil.
Brazil is three time zones east of Minnesota, but Minnesota is currently
observing daylight time, and Brazil is on standard time. Right now, the time difference is only two
hours. That made it more important to
try to get sleep on the overnight flight.
I closed my eyes, relaxed, and got five or six hours of quality rest,
but I never fell asleep.
Thursday, June 8
I arrived in Sao Paulo at
5:30 AM. Not checking a bag saved me some
time by allowing me to go directly to the customs/immigration line. Passengers with checked bags had to retrieve
their luggage before they could go through customs.
After clearing customs in
Sao Paulo, I boarded a 45-minute flight from there to Rio de Janeiro. Our takeoff was delayed about half an hour by
fog in Sao Paulo, but I still got to Rio de Janeiro by 9:30 AM. On the flight, I met two runners who were in
my tour group, so we were able to share a taxi to the hotel.
Our group stayed at the
Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana. This
hotel was located near two famous beaches.
We were right at the south end of Copacabana Beach.
We were also just a few
blocks from the eastern end of Ipanema Beach.
The runners in our group
were arriving at different times throughout the day. We had a welcome reception in the evening,
but until then we were on our own.
I was fortunate to get
into a room right away, so I was able to change clothes and do a workout in the
fitness room before lunch.
Whenever I visit
someplace new, I seek out local pizza.
There were several pizzerias near the hotel, but some were only open for
dinner, and others were closed for the Corpus Christi holiday. Then I found a 24-hour pizza bar two blocks from
the hotel.
After lunch, I visited
both of the nearby beaches. When I had
spent enough time in the sun, I came back to the hotel and did some race-walking
on the treadmill. After a long overdue
shower, I went back out to explore more of Copacabana Beach. By now, the sun was getting low in the sky,
and it was much cooler.
Because of the holiday,
there were more people at the beach than usual, and there were street vendors
selling food and drinks. I saw a lot of
people drinking from coconuts. I also
realized I missed an opportunity.
Instead of walking on the treadmill, I should’ve gone for a run, while
the street along the beach was closed to traffic for the holiday.
At 6:00 PM, I went to the
welcome reception for our tour group. I
had already met a few members of the group, but this was my first chance to
meet everyone else. We also got more
information about our itinerary for the next few days. Then our tour guides surprised us. They had already gone to the expo and picked
up everyone’s race packets, so we left the reception already having everything
we needed for the race. In addition to
our race bibs and T-shirts, we each received a hat, small backpack, and a wristband
to get into the VIP tents in the start/finish area.
I had such a big lunch
that day that I didn’t feel the need to have a full dinner. Cocktails and appetizers were all the food I
needed.
After not sleeping the
night before, I was ready to crash as soon as I got back from the reception.
Friday, June 9
We had an early breakfast
at the hotel. I joined a few other
runners on the patio, where we had a nice view of the bay just before the sun
came up.
After breakfast, we went
on a guided tour, which took us to Corcovado Mountain, which is home to the
Christ the Redeemer Statue. To get to the top of Corcovado, we had to take a tram. Then you could either walk up 220 steps or take an elevator followed by an escalator.
This is one of the
highest points in the city. From here,
you can great views of the city.
One of my pictures was
photobombed by two monkeys, who climbed on top of some solar panels.
After Corcovado, we went
to the race expo. We already had our
race packets, but this gave everyone a chance to explore the expo and shop for
running gear. The expo was mostly outdoors,
and there were food vendors, so some of us had lunch while we were there. Before we left, our tour guides showed us where
we would meet after the race.
When I got back to the hotel, I
found the wifi adapter on my laptop was no longer working. I spent the next hour and half trying to
troubleshoot it, with the help of one of the hotel’s IT guys. Eventually, I had to give up, so I would
still have time to go for a run before dinner.
By now, the sun was low enough
in the sky, that it was comfortable for running. I ran four miles on the sidewalk alongside Copacabana
Beach. The only thing difficult about
that run was weaving around all the people on the sidewalk. In some spots, it was tough to find room to
get through.
Most of the sidewalks near the
beaches had this same tile pattern. It
represents the waves.
Before my run, I asked the IT
guy to come back at 6:00 PM. That gave
me plenty of time to shower and change clothes after my run. We worked on the computer for almost an hour,
but we weren’t able to get it working. I
eventually had to give up on using my computer for internet access, so I could
go to dinner.
By the time I ate dinner, it
was dark and it was getting chilly outside.
Rather than go to a restaurant, I had dinner at the hotel, so I could
get to bed early.
Saturday, June 10
For people doing the half
marathon, Saturday was race day. For the
rest of us, it was a day to be on our own.
The half marathon route went
right past our hotel, so I could see runners going by while I ate breakfast on
the 6th floor patio.
I also saw a group of people
paddling around the bay.
After breakfast, I went on a
half day tour. Most of the tour was spent
at Sugarloaf Mountain. To get to the top
of Sugarloaf, you need to take two cable cars.
The first one takes you to the top of a smaller hill called Urca. Then another cable car takes you from Urca to
Sugarloaf.
From the top of Sugarloaf, you
get great views looking back at the city.
On our way back, we stopped
briefly at Urca. It’s not as high, but
you can see a part of the city that isn’t visible from Sugarloaf.
After Sugarloaf, we had two
other stops. The first was the Rio de
Janeiro Cathedral.
Our last stop was at Escadaria
Selarón. These steps are adorned with 2,000 tiles from
60 different countries. It was the busiest
time of the day, so there were too many tourists in the way to get a good picture. Walking up the steps, we could see some of
the tiles.
When I got dropped off at the
hotel, it was 1:15. I was planning to
have an early dinner, so I didn’t want to eat a full lunch. Instead, I got some gelato from a café next
to the hotel lobby.
After getting back to my room,
I changed clothes and did a workout in the fitness center. Then I organized my clothes for the race. My running shoes were still damp from my run
on Friday, so I had to dry them using a hair dryer.
I joined several runners from
our group for dinner at an Italian restaurant that was walking distance from
the hotel.
Sunday, June 11
Sunday was a warmest day of my trip. When I woke up, it was 72 degrees. The temperature was still dropping, but I don’t
think it got below 70 degrees that morning.
It was race day. The start of the marathon was about five
miles away, but MT&T provided transportation to the start. We had to be in the lobby by 3:45 AM, so I
had to get up much earlier than I wanted to.
The race started in waves,
starting with elites, then wheelchairs, then runners with disabilities, and the
amateur runners. According to the information
we received, there were supposed to be five waves of amateur runners. Everyone in our group had access to the VIP area,
which put us in the green (second) wave.
After getting dropped off in
the start area, we had about 40 minutes before our wave was supposed to
start. We all made our way to the VIP area.
There was food and beverages, but we
quickly discovered there weren’t any port-o-potties inside the VIP area. Then everyone left the VIP area to get into lines
for port-o-potties. By then the lines
were long. Mine seemed to be the line
that was moving the slowest.
By the time I finally used the
port-o-potty, the elite athletes had already started. Since we had our own wave, I assumed we would
have our own entrance to the start corrals.
I was expecting to be able to get into the start corral directly from
the VIP area, but it didn’t work that way.
I asked one of our tour guides,
and she pointed in the direction I needed to go to get to the start corrals. By now, there was a big crunch of runners
going in that direction. I couldn’t
actually see where there was an entrance to the corrals. I only saw barriers on the side of the
street. The runners ahead of me were
climbing over the barriers, and I had to do the same thing.
The barrier was too tall for me. I had to put both hands on the top and push
myself up as high as I could before I could finally get one leg over the
top. Once one leg was over, it wasn’t
too hard to swing the other leg over and jump down.
I was in the start corral, but we
were packed in like sardines. Most of
the runners around me had race bibs with blue backgrounds. I saw at least one with a red background. The blue group was supposed to be after the
green group, and red was the last group.
I assumed I was in the wrong corral and had to move up until I reached
the front, so I could move into the corral for the green group.
With effort, I managed to squeeze
between people and keep moving forward.
I eventually realized there weren’t any corrals. Either that, or I was already in the front
corral. I saw race bibs of all different
colors, so it’s more likely that they didn’t really have corrals for the different
start groups. It was a free-for-all.
When we started running, the
runners around me all started at different speeds. I did my best to ignore them and start at a
pace that felt right.
We started well before dawn,
but there were plenty of street lights.
Visibility was never a problem. I
assumed that would be the case, so I didn’t bring a light of any kind.
The course was marked in
kilometers, but my watch was giving me splits in miles. As a result, my recollections of the race bounce
back and forth between miles and kilometers.
For the first mile, I ran at
about the same pace that I started two weeks ago at the Coeur d’Alene Marathon. The temperature felt comfortable, but after
about five minutes, I started to notice the humidity. I was already sweating.
After running the first mile in
about nine minutes, I eased up a little in the second mile. At 3K, I reached the first water station. The water was in pre-packaged cups with a
foil seal on the top. I had to slow to a
walk, so I could peel the foil back enough to start drinking. I continued walking until I was done
drinking. Then I resumed running.
My second mile was about 30
seconds slower than the first one, partly because I walked through the aid
station. I did the same thing at all the
other aid stations. As a result, I
tended to have fast miles and slow miles, depending on whether that mile included
an aid station.
By the end of the second mile,
I was sweating like crazy. It occurred
to me that I was sweating much more than I did on Thursday, when I went for a
run in the afternoon. It wasn’t that
hot, but the humidity was crazy. I tend
to hold up well in hot temperatures, but humidity can make me struggle if it’s
high enough. This was definitely one of
those days. The air felt like it was
almost saturated.
In the next mile, one of the
other runners in my tour group caught up to me.
I ran with him briefly, but his pace felt tiring, so I had to drop back
after running with him for a few minutes.
At the expo, they had a crude
course map, but it didn’t have any detail.
I thought the race was going to be out-and-back. I knew there was a loop through the downtown
area at the beginning, but I thought it would only be a few miles. It was much longer than I expected, and we
wouldn’t repeat this part of the course.
At 6K, I reached another water
station. Then, just a few minutes later,
I reached an aid station with Gatorade in cups.
I didn’t feel like drinking again so soon, but I didn’t want to pass up
a chance to drink the Gatorade. There were
lots of water stations, but the Gatorade stations were few and far between.
By the time I reached 7K, the
inside of my shoes started to feel squishy.
They felt like they do when I’m running in rain. They weren’t wet from rainwater. They were soaked with sweat.
As I started my fifth mile, I
noticed the horizon was starting have a pinkish hue. By the end of that mile, the horizon started
to look orange. The sun was rising.
For the first four miles, my
pace was in the 9:00 to 9:30 range.
Starting with the fifth mile, it was in the 10:00 to 10:30 range. I was adjusting my pace to the conditions, after
realizing the pace I started wasn’t sustainable in these conditions.
The early miles had lots of
turns, including a few U-turns. I wasn’t
familiar with this part of town, so I had no idea where I was.
We passed some interesting
sights in those early miles. At one point,
we passed a sailing ship that was lit up with multiple colors. Later, we passed a ferris wheel that was lit
up with red lights. There were letters
scrolling across it that spelled out MARATONA.
At seven miles, we turned onto
a street that was paved with lumpy cobblestones. I took that cautiously. We ran on the cobblestones for one block, and
then made a U-turn and ran back and ran the cobblestones of the other side of
the street.
By now, the sun had risen sufficiently
that there was plenty of daylight. The
sun was still low enough in the sky that we didn’t feel it directly.
After a couple more miles, I
saw a sign for the Santos Dumont airport.
That airport is close to where we started. It wasn’t until the middle of the 11th mile,
however, that we ran past the start/finish area. Now, finally, we were starting the out-and-back
part of the course.
I was passed by a large group
of runners. Then I saw one of them was
holding up a sign that read, “5:30.” It
was a pace group. I initially assumed the
sign meant they were targeting a finish time of 5 hours and 30 minutes. That seemed impossible. I was going slower than usual, but not nearly
that slow. I eventually realize that
5:30 was their pace per kilometer. That
was much faster than I was going, so it was no surprise that they passed
me. They must have started much farther
back than I did.
I felt like I was drinking too
much, but I expected it to get much hotter later in the race, so I continued
drinking at every opportunity. I assumed
I would need to make a bathroom stop at some point. I occasionally saw port-o-potties, but they
always seemed to have lines. I didn’t
want to stop and wait, so I kept going.
I started recognizing the
streets now. We were running on streets
that I had seen before during my two guided tours. We were running through the Flamengo neighborhood. At 19K, I had a good view of Corcovado. The statue was facing directly toward me.
After the Flamengo neighborhood,
we ran past Botafogo Beach. This beach
looks nice, but one of our tour guides told us you shouldn’t swim there,
because the water in that bay is polluted.
People go there to play beach volleyball.
Before getting to the Copacabana
neighborhood, we had to run through two tunnels underneath large hills. As we ran through one of the tunnels, all the
drivers were honking their horns. It was
their way of cheering for us.
I never noticed the 21K sign. I also never noticed when my watch recorded a
split for mile 13. After the second
tunnel, I saw the 22K sign. It was only
then that I realized I had missed the halfway point. From my time at 22K, I estimated that I
averaged about 10 minutes per mile in the first half of the race. That’s only because my first four miles were
faster. All the miles since then had been
slower than 10 minutes. I fully expected
my pace to continue to get slower in the second half of the race.
At 14 miles, I turned onto the
street that goes past Copacabana Beach.
The next two miles would be familiar, because I ran past this beach on Friday. The difference is this time I got to run in
the street, instead of running on a sidewalk with uneven footing.
For the first 14 miles, the sun
was low enough in the sky, that I was always in the shade. That ended when I reached Copacabana. Here, I felt the sun for the first time. It didn’t make me feel any hotter, but I expected
that to change as the sun got higher in the sky.
There were signs on the boulevard
with ads. Underneath the ads, there was
a digital display that alternately showed the time and temperatures. At about 25K, I noticed the temperature was 21
degrees Celsius. That’s about 70 degrees
Fahrenheit. The temperature wasn’t any
warmer than when we started. It was only
the humidity that was making running so difficult.
At 16 miles, I ran right past
my hotel. The runners in our group who
did the half marathon on Saturday were probably watching us from the 6th floor
patio.
In the middle of the street,
volunteers were handing out bananas. There
had only been three Gatorade stations so far, so I wondered if I should eat a
banana. I didn’t want to do that much
extra walking, so I skipped it for now.
I could always grab a banana on the way back.
After passing my hotel, the
course turned right and went through Ipanema.
A few blocks later, after a couple bends in the road, I was alongside Ipanema
Beach. I continued to see signs with the
time and temperature. The temperature
was still 21 C.
I continued past Ipanema Beach
until I reached the Leblon neighborhood.
That was the last neighborhood I would see before the turnaround.
After the turnaround, I was on
the side of the street closest to the beach.
I could see the entire length of Ipanema beach. On Thursday, the beach was packed. On Sunday, it was almost empty. I can only assume that the local residents
were still at church, and the tourists were all either running or watching the
race.
A few minutes after making the turn,
I saw a 6:00 pace group on the other side of the street. That’s faster that I was currently going, so
I assumed they would eventually pass me.
The sun was starting to feel
warmer now. Fortunately, I only felt it
sporadically. Running through Ipanema,
we often had shade from the tall buildings nearby.
At 31K, there was an aid
station with gels. I ate a gel and
followed it with a cup of water. I had
been worried that I wasn’t taking in many calories, so that helped.
From miles five through 19, my pace
consistently stayed in the 10:00 to 10:30 range. Starting with the 20th mile, I slowed down to
something between 10:45 and 11:00.
At 21 miles, I ran past the
hotel again. This is where the bananas
were. I wanted to get one, but another
runner got between me and the volunteers with the bananas. By the time I got around him, I was already
past the bananas. Other volunteers were
handing out some type of bar, but I didn’t want to eat anything dry.
Now I was running through Copacabana
for the second time. Here, there wasn’t
any shade. I probably would’ve got hotter
here, but I started to feel a nice breeze blowing in from the ocean.
I reached another aid station
and drank another cup of water. The
water was in large trays that were filled with ice to keep the water cold. It wasn’t until after I left that aid station
that I realized I could’ve grabbed a handful of ice cubes to put in my
hat. I could’ve been doing that for the
whole race.
About halfway through
Copacabana, I saw several military vehicles parked between the beach and the street. There were jeeps, trucks, tanks, and armored
personal carriers. They weren’t there
any of the other days, so I knew it was some kind of special occasion.
It occurred to me that I still
had not been passed by the 6:00/kilometer pace group. I thought they were right behind me, but
evidently, I had a bigger lead on them than I thought.
As I reached the end of Copacabana
Beach, I saw another water station. I considered
getting some ice cubes, but it occurred to me that this late in the race, it
might do more harm than good. My
forehead was caked with salt from sweat that had evaporated. If I put ice cubes in my hat now, the water
would run down my face as the ice cubes melted, rinsing the salt into my eyes. I knew from experience how much that can sting.
At the end of the beach, I
turned left to run back towards the tunnels. I once again could enjoy shade. I kept seeing signs with the time and temperature. It was still 21 C. That surprised me. I though it would be warming up by now.
As I entered the first tunnel,
I only had 5K to go. By the time I left
the second tunnel, I only had 4K to go.
Just past the second tunnel, I
reached a water station that had a pair of port-o-potties. I had wanted to make a bathroom stop almost
since the beginning of the race. A
runner in front of me went into one of the port-o-potties just before I got
there. The other one was already occupied. I had to hold out until the end of the race.
I ran past Botafogo Beach
again. After the 39K sign, I started to
put more effort into my pace. Then I
realized I was starting to pass a few of the other runners. For most of the race, other runners were
passing me. Now, for the first time, I
was passing them. That encouraged me,
and I put even more effort into picking up the pace. For the rest of the race, I ran faster.
At 40K, it was getting harder
to maintain my effort, but I did my best.
It didn’t help that some of the other runners were speeding up now, so I
was once again getting passed by several runners.
With about a mile to go, I
reached the last aid station on the course.
I knew I couldn’t peel the foil off a water cup without stopping to
walk, and at this point, I didn’t want to do any more walking. I pressed on.
At 41K, I told myself I only
had 1,200 meters to go. That’s like
three laps around a track. Finally, when
my watch gave me my split for mile 26, I saw that I had run my fastest mile
since early in the race. About a minute
later, I saw the finish line.
I finished in 4:27:46. Moments after I finished, the 6:00/kilometer pacer
finished. I was shocked that he never
passed me. He must have been much
farther behind me than I realized when I saw him on the other side of the
street in Ipanema.
They were handing out bottles
of water, but I knew I could get something to drink in the VIP tent at the
finish. I kept walking to get my finisher
medal.
I kept walking forward until I
saw an exit on the right. I knew I
needed to go that way to get to the VIP tent, where I would meet out tour
guides and the other runners in my group.
As I kept walking, I saw more runners coming from a different
direction. They all seemed to be wearing
light blue T-shirts. I eventually
realized they were runners who finished the 10K race. That race also took place on Sunday, but it
started later. The blue T-shirts were
their race shirts. The marathon T-shirts
were orange.
Getting through the finish area
was difficult as it got more crowded. It
didn’t help that several runners suddenly stopped to take selfies in front of
one of the banners.
When I reached the end of the
finisher chute, I had two priorities.
The first was to find port-o-potties.
That wasn’t too difficult. After
waiting for four hours to pee, I was surprised how little fluid I passed. I didn’t realize it, but I was just getting
started. I made two more bathroom stops
before leaving the finish area.
I’m really glad the MT&T
staff showed us how to reach the VIP tent after finishing. Without knowing in advance, I might not have
been able to find it. There wasn’t any
signage.
The VIP area at the finish was
much better than the one at the start.
They had food, beer, and port-o-potties.
They were also giving out Maratona do Rio visors. After sitting down to drink a beer, I was
spotted by one of our guides. A group of
about 10 runners had already left to go to the hotel. I had to wait for the next group. While I waited, I had some food and compared
notes with other runners.
When it was time for another group
to leave, we walked to where our bus could pick us up. As the crow flies, we were only about five
miles from the hotel, but we couldn’t take a direct route, and traffic was
really slow. It took more than an hour
to get back to the hotel. Thankfully,
the bus had a bathroom. I would not have
been able to hold it until we got back to the hotel. When we finally got there, I needed to pee
again. Clearly, I overhydrated during
the race, but I expected it to get much hotter, and it never did.
After getting back to my room,
I took a long shower and did some stretches.
I relaxed at the hotel until midafternoon. Then I went to the hotel restaurant for a
late lunch. I was a filling meal, but this
was going to be my only real meal of the day.
While I was eating, I noticed
several naval vessels in the bay. I
asked my server and found out that this was some type of military holiday. That also explained the vehicles I saw parked
next to Copacabana Beach. They were in
Copacabana because there’s a military base just south of the beach.
Later in the day, we had a
post-race party at the hotel bar. It was
a chance for everyone to celebrate their marathon, half marathon, or 10K
finishes. For seven of us, it was also a
chance to celebrate running marathons or half marathons on all seven
continents. I received an extra medal
from MT&T, along with a certificate.
Monday, June 12
I flew home on Monday, but not
until late in the day. For the first
time during this trip, I didn’t have to set an alarm. I could sleep until I woke up naturally, and
eat breakfast at my leisure.
Some of the other runners in my
group extended their trip by traveling to Iguassu Falls. They had to leave for the airport before I
was even awake.
After breakfast, I started
packing, and then I did a workout in the fitness room. After that, I spent the rest of the morning walking
along Ipanema Beach.
Sometimes, I’ll hear a song during
a trip that’s appropriate for the destination or the occasion, and I’ll always
think of that trip when I hear it. The
first time I traveled to Portland for the Firecracker Triple, I kept hearing Katy
Perry’s “Firework” on the radio. When I
was in Cuba, a lounge singer in my hotel was singing “Havana.” On this trip, I heard “Girl from Ipanema” at
least three times.
I had to check out by noon, but
the hotel held my bags for me until I needed to leave. In the meantime, I had lunch at a Brazilian
restaurant a few blocks away. When I got
back to the hotel, I was able to use the changing room in the fitness center to
change clothes before going to the airport.
I gave myself plenty of time to
get to the airport. In theory, it’s a
30-minute drive, but I had seen how slow traffic can sometimes get. I allowed an hour.
I started with a short flight
to Sao Paulo. From there, I had an
overnight flight to Atlanta. It was
difficult fitting everything into my suitcase, as I had acquired a T-shirt, a
visor, a hat, a souvenir cup, and a backpack.
I could’ve used the backpack as an extra bag, but I wanted to avoid checking
luggage. Atlanta is another airport
where you need to retrieve your luggage before you can go through the customs
line.
I managed to sleep for about an
hour. After that, a crying baby woke me
up and light turbulence kept me from getting back to sleep. I was hoping to sleep longer, but any sleep
is good when I’m on an airplane.
Tuesday, June 12
When I arrived in Atlanta, I
was one of the few people who didn’t have to wait for a checked bag, so I was
first in line when I got to security after going through immigration and
customs. That gave me lots of time
before my flight to Minneapolis.
When I got home, my first order
of business was to troubleshoot my laptop.
The first step was to plug into our home network using an ethernet
cable. That wasn’t an option at the hotel,
because the rooms don’t have ethernet ports.
Once I was online via ethernet, I could go into my settings and select
wifi, and just like that I was able to connect.
Presumably, my computer automatically downloaded the driver it needed,
but it was completely behind the scenes.
I still can’t fathom why I
needed an updated driver for my wifi adapter, when the hardware didn’t
change. I’m not an IT guy, though. The IT guy at the hotel, said it would
probably be easy if I could just get online via ethernet first. He was right.
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