Blogs from Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America

The Favela tour yesterday was an eye opening experience. We were taken to Rochina, or 'little farm', which is the largest Favela in Rio. The favela covers a square kilometer on a steep hill and is home to approximately 70,000 people. There were shots taken here for Fast Five and The Incredible Hulk. There were a few of us that went from the hostel, in total there was 15 of us in the group. We were picked up at the hostel and driven to the bottom of the Favela. Rather than having us drive around in the van the guides set up the tour so that we each jump on the back of a motorbike taxi which takes us to the top of the hill. This was to give us a better feel of the place, ... read more

La topographie de Rio la rend unique : une grande baie très découpée, des collines très proches de la côte, qui obligent une partie les habitations à se construire à flanc et determinent les quartiers (Flamengo, Botafogo, Santa Teresa, Lapa etc), des forêts tropicales en pleine ville, dont la plus grande forêt urbaine du monde (forêt contenue dans la circonférence du centre), et bien sûr des plages (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon etc). On ajoute la statue du Christ Rédempteur au sommet d’un morro (nom des collines ici), un téléphérique au sommet d’un autre qui rappelle un pain de sucre, et on a une ville de beaucoup de caractère… Rio est une ville où l’on peu aller voir un match de football à Maracana le mercredi, sortir le reste de la semaine, aller à la plage le dimanche ... read more

An early morning rise -5.00-rewarded us with the spectacular entrance into Rio De Janeiro's harbour. Dawn was breaking and the surrounding hills were dusted with low clouds. The well known statue of Christ slowly came into view and made quite an impression. We excitedly looked forward to our trip there later in the morning. We boarded the coach and started our trip; we travelled past several beaches including the famous Copacabana beach. It was very packed with families enjoying their children’s summer holidays, plenty of beach volley ball. The coach did not stop to let us sample it's delights and we had chosen the wrong side of the bus to sit on, so we did not see much of it either. We arrived at the base of the statue of Christ and it was very hot!!! ... read more

We set off from Iguazu stopping in Curitiba for one night before heading to Paraty, as I said in last blog a beach resort 4 hours outside Rio. We arrived early evening so only had time for some dinner check into hostel and a few drinks before going to bed. Chris (Norway) and I were sharing a room and as they only had couples doubles left we ended up having 3 rooms joined together with 11 beds! lol Following day we had booked a Caipirinha boat trip, a short trip along the beaches being served Caipirinhas all day, Caipirinha is the Brazilian national alcoholic cocktail made from Cachaça, sugar and lime, very moreish! We had to walk 20 mins into town to get the boat, a small hippyish affair with just us on it. The boat ... read more