Rio: Summer, Wonders, and a Sip of Home

My last conference of my PhD (much like my first one) took me to the Southern Hemisphere. I was excited for a couple of reasons: it was my first trip with such a big work group, and my talk was scheduled for day one — which meant an entire week free afterward to explore Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There are worse ways to spend a sunny April. :)

After a long flight, my colleagues and I landed in Rio. My very first hour felt oddly familiar: a blast of humidity hit me the moment I stepped out of the airport, and for a second I could’ve sworn I was back in Mumbai. To add to the chaos, a swarm of taxi drivers descended on us, all trying to whisk us away before we could even find the Uber pickup point.

Once my talk was done, the real trip began! We first took a private guided tour my PhD advisor had organized for the whole group. Our tour guide was a German who had lived in Rio for 40 years, and his local knowledge gave us a very personal introduction to the city. We first visited the popular beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. The atmosphere was electric (quite literally due to the heat), and our guide summed it up perfectly: “We have two seasons: hot, and very hot. It’s great your conference is during the hot season!” But the heat didn’t stop tourists from packing the (surprisingly) clean beaches, where hawkers sold coconut water and fresh tropical fruit, some of which my German colleagues had never even seen.

From there, we headed downtown, starting at one of Rio’s most Instagrammable spots: the Selarón Steps. Jorge Selarón, a Chilean traveler began to renovate the steps with colorful tiles. Eventually other travelers began to bring tiles from their own home countries, turning the staircase into a colorful patchwork of cultures from around the world. The steps were vibrant and full of life, capturing the energy of the famous Lapa district, where we returned on the final day for a pub crawl.

We also swung by the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, a public library with serious Hogwarts vibes. Honestly, I could’ve moved in on the spot, if only they’d let me, and if I could read Portuguese.

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura

Finally, our guide pointed out a few favelas, sharing stories of both the people living there and of careless tourists who’d wandered in and never made it out. Needless to say, we kept our distance.

Favela

We’d set aside half a day to witness one of the wonders of the world: Christ the Redeemer! Having spent most of my life in India and the last five years in Europe, it felt strange to have seen my first world wonder in Brazil. Stumbling upon it almost by accident, tucked into a conference trip, felt like the universe’s way of reminding me to keep updating my bucket list.

We took a train up and then climbed a fair number of stairs just to reach the base of the statue. It was something else. I was relieved not to feel the disappointment I’d experienced the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The level of detail made the statue look remarkably lifelike, and I couldn’t resist video-calling my parents and sister to show them my first world wonder, live. The panoramic view from the top was insane, and we came back to Rio a very happy bunch of travelers.

View from Christ the Redeemer

The rest of our days in Rio were spent enjoying the local experiences. We spent many evenings drinking coconut water at the beach after the conference sessions were done. The weather was perfect for endless gossip sessions and beach evenings!

We also went for a pub crawl and tasted Caipirinha, Brazil’s most popular cocktail. Time and again, Rio reminded me of Mumbai. Our pub crawl got washed out near midnight because the skies opened up almost like they do during Mumbai’s monsoon season. The people, the nightlife, the ocean, it all reminded me of a home that I haven’t been to in quite some time.

Looking back, this trip felt like a fitting way to close out my PhD conference travels. My first Southern Hemisphere adventure was full of nervous excitement about presenting for the first time; this one felt like coming full circle, presenting with far more confidence, and finally having the time to enjoy the places these conferences kept taking me. Rio gave me sunburnt shoulders, a new favorite cocktail, and an unexpected reminder of home, halfway across the world. Not a bad way to end a chapter!