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Published: January 22nd 2009
Having flown to Sao Paolo from Santa Cruz in Bolivia we made our way to the infamous Rio de Janeiro by bus. On the bus we were given what we can only liken to a party bag containing sweets, crackers and a little bottle reminiscent of the wee vessels of Cadet coke we would guzzle as nippers. We arrived in Rio on the 23rd December and this would be the longest we have stayed in one place since studying Spanish in Guatemala. It was nice to finally have somewhere to set up camp for more than just a few days. Our accommodation certainly fit the description of a party hostel and the precious cannabis plant growing by the hot tub reinforced that idea to all who stayed there. At one stage when the plant had fallen into the hot tub a scene not dissimilar to Baywatch ensued and a number of the staff leapt and bounded in to save the hapless shrub from drowning in a manner David Hasselhoff himself would be proud of
Our main priority when we arrived was to sort out our plans for Christmas, namely the dinner and how we would manage it. We met a
Christmas Eve
...and all through the house...nice chap from Essex and the three of us duly planned how we would proceed for our Chrimbo meal. Like food porn it was! Over the next day and a half we planned the meal. In our leisure time we busied ourselves by sun bathing on Copacabana beach and body surfing. This was new to us both but the waves were massive and perfect for it. On more than one ocassion we were thrown around in the waves like rag dolls and at the mercy of the sea and Vicki emerged with her bikini top around her waist and her bottoms around her ankles. Quite the show-woman she is! Conor spent so much time among the waves he once came out with a neck injury and would frequently be dripping sea water from his nose for the duration of the following evening. Good times! One interesting site on Copacabana beach was the lady boys who walked up and down the beach with their bikini tops off, parading their fake assets for all to see and coming onto all of the men. Rotten!
Technically you could say that we made two Christmas dinners. In Brazil they celebrate Christmas with a
Is that my present?
Not bleedin likely! meal after midnight on Christmas eve so a few people in the hostel made food and ate together, us included. It was pretty much a dry run for our main meal but it didn´t fail to taste great. Christmas day was pretty typical and no different to how things usually are at home. For example we spent the morning sunning ourselves on the beach, headed home and cooked a fantastic roast with all the trimmings and then relaxed in the hot tub with a few Caipirinhas (the typical drink throughout Brazil) for our efforts and then headed out to a night club. Pretty standard stuff really but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We struggle on!
We pretty much spent our days relaxing on the beach or exploring the city and at night we tasted what Rio had to offer by way of socialising. One evening we went to a place called Lapa which is famous for its´ weekend street parties and stall after stall of make shift bars with any number of rum based drinks for next to nothing. There were street performers, bands playing and everyone dancing on the streets. Unfortunately there are no pictures because it´s in a
less than savoury area and known for it´s thievery. One unassuming guy in our group was relieving himself down a lane with his trousers around his ankles. God knows why! Anyway he was robbed and knife point and all his stuff was taken, including his camera. Robbed with his bags down? How demeaning! Although this may have dampened his experience we enjoyed the night immensely and had a great time despite the peas and egg in Conor´s hot dog. It still haunts his dreams! Another evening we went to something called a Favela Funk party. It was pretty much a rave in a warehouse with three thousand other people in a ghetto area in Rio. We had our own security guard who could have been a relative of Predator had we not known any better. Once again there were no pictures of this event because we were advised against taking a camera but it really did happen. Honest!
During one pleasant afternoon we made a trip to the same area in Lapa to see a well known site called Escalaria Selaron. These are a few hundred steps that one man, Selaron, has himself decorated with thousands of vibrant and
colourful ceramic tiles that he has made and have been sent to him from many countries around the world. It is an ongoing work of art as he is constantly changing the tiles and has been at it for the past eighteen years. We were fortunate enough to meet Selaron as he lives right beside his steps and he immediately asked us where we were from. When we told him he pointed out a number of Irish tiles with traditional illustrations. We noticed that in a lot of his art work he draws pictures of pregnant women and when we questioned him about this penchant he put it down to nothing more than a personal problem. We assumed as much! The steps were made famous by Snoopy Doggity Dog and Pharrell in "You´re beautiful"
One of the main tourist attractions of the city is Christ the Redeemer. This is a 120 foot tall concrete statue of the man himself over looking Rio and is now one of the new seven wonders of the world. We were told that the best time to go is when the weather is good and the sky is clear so we bided our time
until we got a good day. We got a little tour up to the statue and stopped off at two viewpoints before finally making it up to the base of the statue along with hundreds of others. It was a little hazy when we got up there but for about five minutes the sky overhead cleared and the sun shone directly over Jesus´ head giving a fantastic impression of a halo. It was really something else but Vicki was more entertained by sight of hundreds of tourists gasping and frantically taking pictures before the cloud covered his head again
As part of our New Year´s package with the hostel we were all taken on a boat party. We set sail around two and sailed around the coast of the city before docking off a small beach. The free caipirinhas began to flow at around five past two and it didn´t take long before a number of us leapt (some better than others) off the boat and had a swim before gorging ourselves on yet another great barbeque courtesy of the BBQ-King. This was a title given to the guy who has provided us with 5 fantastic BBQs. Not the
soundest guy but he sure can grill a steak. There was a DJ onboard and we spent the afternoon and evening drinking and dancing until the sun went down
Rio is rated among one of the top 10 places in the world to spend New Year´s Eve and we now understand why. After another great BBQ in the hostel, we were among the two million people who descended on Copacabana beach to celebrate as the bell tolled. As soon as we arrived we were presented with a fantastic site. There were twenty or more cruise ships docked off the beach fully lit up and then two million people all dressed in white on the beach. Why white? We don´t know but it looked great! We were drinking and dancing and only the next day did we realise that Paul van Dyk was the DJ. Soon after midnight there was the most spectacular fireworks display that went on for a full twenty minutes. Most people took a swim in the sea after midnight, us not included. Then a night club beckoned so we duly followed. It was an unforgettable night and a great way to spend New Year´s. Unfortunately most
of the pictures we have were taken on a disposable camera for fear of general thievery
Another typical tourist activity is a favela tour. For us this was a guided walk around South America´s biggest slum, Rocinha and quite an informative and interesting experience. Although it sounds a little dangerous it is a perfectly legal tourist attraction and there wasn´t one ocassion where we felt uncomfortable or threatened. The people who live in the favelas don´t get no benefits or aid from the givernment because they pay no taxes and they have illegally built on the land after clearing their own area of forest. As a result they tap the electricity and water from the lines sold by private companies. The favelas are run by the ruling gang at the time and they administer their own kind of law and justice. These gangs are all drug dealers and they make inordinate amounts of money selling their drugs and guns to all members of society. Our tour guide knew everyone in the favela and they were all very friendly with him. The police don´t go into the slums unless in their hundreds and there is inevitably a shoot out, the
most recent of which took place two weeks before we were there at 6am and kids going to school along with people going to work were caught in the cross fire. It is a very strange situation but Conor must say that the best pastry he has ever had was in a little bakery in the middle of the slum. It was a condensed milk filled pastry and will forever be known as a favela donut
After the twelve days of Rio a detox was required so we moved south to hibernate for a spell
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