Oi amigo-
I'm from the chi and living in rio going on 3 years now. I suggest you plan your weekends to be at the beach in rio, specifically Ipanema or Leblon (even more specifically near post 9 or between 11 and 12). The beach is truly awesome here and IMO the only thing worth visiting in this country. if you see the weather is guaranteed to be crap for that first weekend, go ahead and book that foz trip last minute because this city is terrible when it rains, otherwise go mid-week.
If you are interested in "meeting" people, get on tndr if not already. I have friends absolutely cleaning up down here when they come into town.
the Jesus statue is kind of a must for the photo and to get a view of the city but no reason to double down and do sugarloaf too unless you want a photo from a different angle. For a better photo and more unique experience, I might suggest hiking up to pedra bonita. Or alternatively hang gliding. Both can be easily arranged by hotel and with real at 4-1 very very reasonable even at inflated tourist prices. Check out a soccer game too and know you can take the subway directly there on the cheap.
A couple nice restaurants are CT Boucherie and ZaZa Bistro and Gero which is Italian but better than any Italian I ever had in chi.