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Published: November 11th 2008
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We arrive in Rio after a 24 hour bus journey from Iguazu, although the thought of a 24 hour bus sounds horrendous this one is actually pretty good, it has massive seats which recline almost to a bed, they show films and serve food and drinks, the scenery is pretty good too. I almost don´t want to get off !
When we arrive in Rio it is hot, although not uncomfortable. We arrive at our hostel in Ipanema - the coolest and most popular beach area, and are pleased to discover that we are staying in a private house just down the road from the hostel. Unfortunately our room is pretty rudimentary, it also has an odour which reminds me of the elephant house at Chester Zoo. Jenny loves it !
We have a choice on the first evening. We can either go up Corcovado to see the spectacular view of the city where the famous Christ the Redeemer statue is, or we can go to the Maracana to see Brazil play Columbia in a world cup qualifier. As we are in Rio for 6 days we decide we can go and see the big JC another time and opt to go to the football. The stadium is very impressive, the crowd have a great time waving their flags and singing their songs, we join in and try and give the ref and opposition some abuse using some of the words we picked up when we saw Argentina play in Buenos Aires. It doesn´t go down so well, and I get a few looks which suggest I am not entering into the right spirit of things, the crowd are just interested in having a good time. Unfortunately for them, the game is appalling. Really really bad. Possibly the worst game of football I have ever seen. Neither team looks interested in trying to win and the game ends 0 - 0, it isn´t helped by the fact that it kicks off at 10pm and doesn´t end until midnight. I struggle to stay awake in the last 20 minutes. Maybe the players were tired too ?
On the second day we get down to Ipanema beach, hire chairs and a parasol and expose our white bodies to the Brazilians. It is absolutely mint, forget your 5 star resorts. In Brazil you don´t have to move a muscle and you will be offered great food, drink, drugs, beach tat and various other services. Everybody has a great time, both the men and women wear swimwear that could be conservatively described as minimal. The men are entitled to it, it seems that most Brazilian men spend most of their life in the gym. For the women however it seems that your arse is never too fat to wear a thong.
On the third day the sun is nowhere to be seen, we go on a tour in the afternoon of Rio´s biggest favela (shanty town) called Rochina aka ´The city of god´. Our guide Bruno is an ex resident and takes us to places that you would never go yourself. Rochina extends steeply up a hill and we enter it via a motorbike taxi which races us crazily to the top of the hill in about 5 minutes, being a biker myself I wasn´t anxious about this, however there was quite a significant amount of clenching during that 5 minutes. I have a video of it but it is too big to upload. We learn that the favela is governed by the drug lords, it is probably the safest place in Rio, any crime within the favela is dealt with very harshly, it contains the only bank in Rio that does not have a security guard, post is delivered to a box outside a local shop and people just go and pick up their own stuff. Stealing somebody elses post does not happen. At the bottom of the favela is possibly the worst situated power station in the world, consequently nobody in Rochina pays for electricity and all the wiring in the favela is very DIY.
On the fourth day we hire bikes and ride along Ipanema and then Copacabana beach before the rain forces an early retirement. In the afternoon we move to another part of Rio - Santa Teresa which is up in the hills. We splash out on a more upmarket hotel / hostel with incredible views of the city and Christ the Redeemer, unfortunately the views we see on our arrival are our last as for the rest of our time in Rio the rain barely stops, the ceiling in our room even leaks at one point. Rio doesn´t really seem to work in the rain, it is all about the beach. Consequently lots of books are read and we even go to the cinema and watch a film (for 2 hours we forget we are not at home). On our last day the rain stops for long enough for us to take a trip up Sugar Loaf mountain to see the views of the city. We can see most of it, although JC is still not coming out to play. There are some cute little Tamarin monkeys running around although they don´t like sitting still to have their picture taken. We ride the famous old Bonde tram back up to Santa Teresa (free to ride if you hold onto the side) and then get an early night before a taxi takes us to the airport at 3am to catch a flight north to Salvador and the sunshine. Just as we leave we look out of our bedroom window and see Christ glowing in the clear night sky.
http://picasaweb.google.com/phy7tes/Brazil_Rio_de_Janeiro
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