Rio

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Rio
I made a major blunder in my planning, only allowing two full days in Rio. I had a couple of strolls along Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, watched the surfers at Arpiador and had a swim in the warm water of Ipanema in between visits to the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado and the favelas of xxx. Even so, I loved Rio and would have liked to spend a lot more time there. The beaches are quite special, and are right in the heart of the city, the headland of Axxx creates some impressive waves and the surfers were able to do some pretty cool stuff. The people are not quite as beautiful as the PR would have us believe, and a lot of the bodies on display are a bit on the chunky side. The views from Corcovado are impressive, as is the statue, but the star is really the city itself. The location, with the beaches glittering in the sunshine, the steep, dramatic volcanic plugs and the Atlantic rainforest covering the steepest hills make for an awesome setting. The favelas may be illegal settlements, and they are incredibly densely populated, being almost invariably five stories high, but they are permanent, being made of brick, and there's a DIY boom going on. I saw into a freshly renovated home with clean white walls and ceilings, modern light fixtures and power points. There is wifi throughout the favelas and most homes seem to have a satellite dish. Even so, homes are really small, you can often reach out of a building and touch the building across the alley and for most, the view from your window is of a brick wall so close that you will get little light. After decades of reluctance to even acknowledge the favelas for fear of legitimising them, the authorities changed their approach in the mid 1980s, providing clean water and sewage. Now there is also a regular rubbish collection from the main street that runs through the favela. There's a bus station at the bottom of the hill and, as the alleys are much too narrow for cars, a fleet of motorbikes serve as the taxis for the community.

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