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Published: April 8th 2011
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After 20 hours on a plane, a bus ride and a long walk dragging my backpack to the hostel - I've finally made it to South America! I'm staying at mellow yellow party hostel. It's basic, but clean and we get free caipirinhas during happy hour (a very important deciding factor, as you can imagine (thanks ali)) and full of interesting and fun people. So far I haven't spent a second by myself, which is exactly what I wanted.
The lonely planet guide describes Rio as “one of the world's wildest and most scenic cites” and I couldn't agree more! Stunning scenery, rolling waves, white sandy beaches, thong bikinis and budgie smugglers everywhere. It really lives up to all the pictures you see and yes girls the men really are gorgeous! Possibly even better in real life.
I've had a week here and initially I was worried it would be too long but there is so much to do, I will have hardly scrapped the surface by the time I leave. I could easily stay longer.
The first day I arrived I got to see the “Flamingos” play football at their home ground and saw first hand how
much the Brazilians love football. I've been to a fair few premier league matches but nothing comes close to this. Even with a relatively small crowd the atmosphere is electric. Men dancing around with drums - it's a total contrast the football fans at home.
On the second night the hostel organised a brazilian martial arts display. It's really bizzare the opponents don't even come into contact with each other. Good to watch though and of course we had to have a go. It was very amusing, I even managed to do a back flip (with a little assistance).
Favellas are the poor parts of the city and the description I found on the lapa steps sums them up perfectly (see photos). On sunday night (yes sunday night!) we went to a Favella party and it was incredible. I thought I'd arrived at a chippendales show. I've never seen so many topless men in one room. Unlike most clubs at home where the girls are on the podium (usually me included), the guys were up there instead performing what can only be described as a boy band routine. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Why can't
we have clubs like this at home??
As gringos (tourists) our tickets were for the “VIP” area. But to call it VIP was a total overstatement, it was basically the place where they charge gringos twice the price. Anyway we had a great view of the club and it didn't take long before we were downstairs dancing with the locals. There was some serious bum shaking going on and being me I attempted to join in but quickly concluded it required more practice and skill than I first thought. Oh well, I'll just have to keep practising and work those move back in manchester instead!
Thanks to Dan (and steve!) we decided to go to Ipanema beach where all the rich and trendy people hang out. Copacabana is a gorgeous beach but ipanema is even better. The best part for me was getting to see where they filmed “Idiot Abroad” - I'm so glad I watched that before I came. And for those that have watched it, you'll know what I got to see. I can't say any more than that ;o) We spent ages on the beach watching the volleyball and the after school clubs playing football.
Just an average day for a locals here, but it was the perfect day for us. After that we got a minibus back with the locals to nearby the hostel. I made poor dan run several blocks to get back in time for our free caipirinhas - I think he thought I was joking! It's a good job there are loads of great juice bars around to help me detox. No excuse for not getting my 5 a day. My body is a temple and all that.
Yesterday we did the typical tourist thing and went on a city tour. We went to the lapa steps (where they filmed the snoop dog music video), santa teresa, maracana football stadium, got dressed up in carnival gear at the venue where the “rio carnaval” is held and finally finished at “christ the redeemer”. I'd attempted to go up with the gang on the first day but the only cloud in the sky was hanging over the statue and typically as soon as we got to the bottom it cleared. Anyway, it was well worth the wait. This "wonder of the world" is magnificent. I was slightly giddy at the top and
Jen, Rebecca and I were having one of those deep and meaningful moments where you declare anything is possible. Being the eternal optimist at that precise point it really felt like it and for half an hour I felt on top of the world. I was finally standing in the photo I've had as the wallpaper on my laptop for the last 5 months. Everything it has taken to get here was worth it.
Tomorrow I start my 17 day organised tour down to Buenos Aires. I've got about 50 hours on buses to look forward to, which is a good job as I really need to improve my Spanish. Sign language and nodding only gets you so far, that's for sure!
I'm sure there will be many highs and lows to come but so far I couldn't have hoped for a better place to start or better people to share it with!
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Alex Shore
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Sounds absolutely amazing, keep the blog coming! X