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Published: March 7th 2007
Leaving Liverpool I had a delightfull 24 hours of flying ahead of me! But well worth it when I arrived in Rio! I felt fithy after sitting on a plane for that long, plus I was sweating like a bastard when I got here in my tracksuit pants and hiking shoes!
Well, what can I say, Rio so far has been an adventure to say the least, I have had such bad luck, that im sure it can only get better!
On my first day I headed to Ipanema beach (post 9) for some sun and down time! It was so hot, the sweat was pouring off me, it was an effort trying to rub the sunscreen in. I think it was only about 32 degrees, but the humidity was right up there! I hired an umbrella and bought a sarong and stretched out to work on my tan! Men and women patrol the beach selling sarongs, prawns, soft drinks, beer, coconuts, ice creams and Açai! You dont even need to get up, you just call them over and make your purchace, how good it that? I was in heaven. Then there is the beach ettiqutte, in rio is basically "anything
Young Blood!
This Girl prepares for her entry into the Sambadrome!goes" except women are not allow to go topless! Men wear these tiny shorts to show off their bods, and even give their penis a bit of a squeeze every now and again to make sure that it´s looking its best too! The women parade around the beach with confidence in their bikini´s no matter what shape or size they are, I love and envy the attitude and pride that can be found in most Brazilians, some call it vanity, I call it flaunting what you´ve got and knowing it! I think that Brazilians could quite possibly be the best looking people in the world, even the ugly ones, aren´t that bad! But im off tomrrow to purchace a new bikini, however im not going for the full on g-string style! My theory is, if you cant feel comfortable in Brazil in a bikini, where can you?
As part of the "Carnaval Package" at my hostel all the guests got a trip to a deserted beach, boat cruise, and tickets to the Sambadromo! I haven´t got pictures of the deserted beach, basically we hiked for about 30 mins, up and down this bloody hill, working up a sweat only
This was not an option for me!
Would have loved to have taken a Tram down from Santa Teresa, but my foot prevented me! to discover that the beach was inhabited by Brasilian campers, and the water wasn´t so pristine! But it had some waves and the boys played football with the locals on the beach, and it wasn´t so bad in the end! The Boat Cruise however held disasterous events for me! It started out as a great day, got on the boat, had something to eat, even got the opportunity to jump off the second level into water! I was having such a good time, the tunes came on and I got up to have a dance for a bit, but trying to get down was where I faulted. I slipped on the water on the seats and came flying down A over T! Apart from my extreem embarassment, I quickly sat back up on the seat and thought I was ok, then I thought "God my foot bloody kills!" I looked down and my foot had already blown up to the size of a tennis ball, people got me some ice and I had to elevate it for the rest of the trip, Game over! I watched every one else enjoy the rest of the trip while I tryed my hardest
On the count of 3!
A very unflattering photo of me jumping off the second level of the boat into the water! not to cry from the pain. Thanks to everyone who looked after me, made me laugh, made me cry, and put up with my abuse when it wasn´t deserved! So the next day I spent at either the clinic or the Hosptial getting xrays and dissapointed looks from the doctor for not getting it seen to sooner! When I got back to the hostel all the boys were envious of my "Robocop Boot", and I stayed in bed while everyone else went out and partied! The next day I woke to discover I couldn´t hear out of my left ear! I was SO upset, I had a little cry and decided that these were all signs that I wasn´t ment to be in Rio! I felt like crap, everyone was out having fun and enjoying Carnaval, while I was deaf in one ear and limping around like and idiot with my crutch and boot. Eventually my ear popped a little bit and I put off visiting the hospital again, and grabbed some sinutab! So with my foot and ear kind of sorted I attempted to enjoy carnaval as much as I could!
There were street parties every day, people walking
After my fall!
Sarongs are great for anything, beach, tablecloth, bandage! around masks and head pieces on, there was definately a buzz in Rio! But the highlight for me was the SAMBADROME! Wow, what a highly energised place, we left the hostel at about 10pm and caught the train to the sambadrome, however instead of getting off with everyone else, I got off a stop later and had the opportunity to see all the dancers before that entered the sambadrome, and thus the perfect opportunity for great photos! After a really long walk to our seating area, I got to enjoy the plethora of costumes, floats, colours and samba music, that went on all night. For those of you who dont know what the "Sambadromo" is, I will explain. The Brasilians built the Sambadrome in 1984, its basically a street with stands either side where people sit/stand/dance and watch some of the 13 samba schools parade past on foot and floats. After each samba school went past, these men came on to sweep the floor, and fireworks went off when a new school entered! Each school has their school song with they samba to, and by the end, you just about know some of the words, or at least the tune!
Wall art!
Santa Teresa This goes on till sunrise, making it a very long night, especially for girls who try to samba with a robocop boot on! I only slept for 3 hours that day, I was dreaming of Samba music and hoards of people all around me dancing, it was a crazy dream. After the Sambadrome it was time for some sight seeing.
One of the main attractions in Rio is Cristo Redento or Corcovado or Christ the Redeemer or the "Big J man" as we liked to call him. A huge statue of Jesus Christ stands over Rio, its 38 metres tall and stands at the top of Corcovado mountain 710 metres up. The view from Christ is beautiful, you can see all around Rio, Copacabana, Ipanema, Maracana football stadium etc. I got some really good pics, plus I got to take the lift cause of my foot, but it was bloody hot up there! Plus there were heaps of tourists around (who would of thought). Like my experience with the pyramids in Egypt, I have seen photos of Cristo Redento for years, and it was very surreal to be standing in front of it. Even when you are on the ground
Kicking Back in the chillout room!
Please take note of "Robocop Boot" its pretty cool to cruise to Botofogo or Santa Teresa and just look up and see Christ on the hill looking over Rio. Sunset up at Christ is also ment to be amazing, but I never got the chance to go, so with another tourist attraction under my belt I moved on the the next biggest thing in Rio.
My visit to Sugarloaf was pretty unremarkable, except it was an overcast day, so my photos aren´t that great, and I got to take the Cable car all the way up cause of my foot, while everyone else from the hostel had to bush walk up to the second landing! Pao de Açucar is much less hectic than Christ, and there is more opportunity to walk around, buy a drink and just relax, but in my case it was an ice cream.
If there is one thing I have learnt about Brazilians, it´s that they love Ice cream, Juice and Quick food. Down the road from my hostel there is a juice bar called "Copa Lima", the make all juices fresh, they also sell hamburgers, sandwitches, cake, Açai, deep fried balls of meat and other savoury delights. The juice bar Culture
Do I blend in?
A cheeky photo with some carnaval goers! goes like this; you order, you wait, you get your food and eat and drink standing up at the counter, when you are finished, you pay, the you walk on and contuniue what you were doing. Its a whole new meaning to fast food, some of it is high in fat, some of it is ok, but Im sure there will be hours at the gym for some Brazilians post devouring a very tasty cheeseburger. Either way, I loved it and visited the juice bar everyday, sometimes even 3 times a day.
I also managed to squeeze in a football match at Maracana stadium, it was Flamengo Vs Vasco, the arch enemies. For my first football experience I had a great time, it was 40ºc outside the ground, so the beers went down easily, the fans were chanting and singing, there were black and red ballons everywhere. We sat in the Flamengo side and watched as the game went to penalities, I got some great footage on my camera of the goals and the flares that the fans lit when Flamengo won. Oh, and the female toilets didnt have doors on the cubicles, so I had to just shrug my
shoulders, swallow my pride and just go infront of everyone! My theory was, when am I going to see these women again to care about their future opinion of me?
Sunrise on Copacabana beach was another highlight for me, I had been out all night with a group of people from the hostel in Ipanema and we all met at a kiosk on the beach and ordered beers. As the sun began to come up we moved all our chairs onto the sand in a semi-circle and watched the huge sun come up over the hills. A Brazilian couple joined us and locals walked past looking at the crazy gringos, the Irish boys also put on a Caporiera show and entertained the group, we all kept chatting for a bit before fatigue kicked in for me and I found my bed. The biggest regret is that I didn´t have my camera on me, but the memories will live in my head forever.
Apart from everyones perceptions, I never witnessed people having sex on the street during Carnaval, I never feared for my safety, and I had a blast despite the fact i had to hobble everywhere. If I
The Parade strip!
A bigger view of the sambadrome! had my time again, I would do Carnaval in Salvador or Olinda then head down to Rio and see the winners parade on the saturday after the main parades. That way you get the best of both worlds, the "Blocos" and the Sambadrome. Dont get me wrong there were plenty of street parties in Rio, but sometimes they were a little bit hard to find and they ended early. Despite this I do not regret Carnaval in Rio, as I met some fantastic and interesting people who made my time in Rio so enjoyable, thanks to those who walked behind the group with me at snails pace and looked out for me when boading buses, trains etc.
Next on the agenda is Recife and Olinda which is futher up the coast, I have to decide where im going to go from there.
I have great footage from the Sambadrome and Football, I will add it when I get time and figure out how.
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