The Bonde and Lapa

Yesterday (Friday the Oct 17th) was the best day of the trip, in the morning Dylan and I woke up early and headed to Santa Theresa, which is a bohemian style neighborhood that runs through rich and poor parts in the hills of Rio. We caught the bus and subway to get there and then took a bonde (tram) to get up the side of the hill. The views were excellent and the views of the favelas in the surrounding hills really displayed the large contrasts from Ipanema. The bonde was an amazing experience as there were few tourists on it and school kids were jumping on and off the rails as the tram moved. The kids were having fun running along side and doing tricks with there feet and even in the air while holding on. I got a couple really good photos that I will post when I return home. Dylan and I hopped off the tram near the top and had lunch at a local restaraunt where we enjoyed the locals singing happy birthday for one girl and where the mix of graffiti art along the tram line and old style mansions really displayed the wide variety of Santa Theresa.

After Santa Theresa we headed back to the apartment for a nap. Post-nap we met up with my friend Ale and headed to a Lapa street party. We first arrived and wandered around trying to find a Samba club to go to and listen to some music. We had some beers, and walked through the streets of Lapa, where locals sell street meat, and other locals are the street meat, haha. The Arcos do Lapa are also impressive, they are massive Arches that carry the bonde through Lapa and to Santa Theresa, we travelled across them earlier in the day. We checked out an awesome Samba club which was nearly empty when we arrived around 10pm, but filled up by 11 and everyone was dancing to the band and enjoying the night. At about 1230 we headed out into the street to experience the most amazing street scene i have seen. A area of about 5 blocks by 5 blocks was just packed with people. People playing live music, drums, samba, guitars. Other people performing crazy things, some people drinking, some sitting down, others standing in groups talking. It was like a neighborhood party of sooo many people, and it happens every Friday and Saturday. The best part about it is the lack of tourists. Its 95% or more locals and it is the most crazy party i have ever seen. At night we went and chilled on the Escadaria Selaron, the famous stairs located in Lapa that contain the most unique tile from all over the world, and is even more famous because it is in Snoop Doggs video Beautiful, check out the video, its a cool video that shows the beauty of Rio, both in the city, the culture and of course the women, haha. We left the street party around 130am, and it was still going strong, if not getting bigger, they usually party until about 4am. Headed back to the apartment via bus and called it a night. The public transportation here is amazing, no need for taxis, the fact that they are almost as expensive as Canada has increased our need to learn the system...we feel like we know how to get many places now too.

Today is Saturday October 18th. We woke up early and headed to the grocery store to buy some danishes and strawberries for breakfast. We quickly ate those and headed off to Corcovado, the symbol of Rio. You may know of it as Christ the Redeemer. It is the massive Jesus that overlooks the city and is well known as it was voted as one of the new wonders of the world. We caught the bus in Copacabana and headed to Corcovado. We arrived and met a girl, Jessica who was from southern brasil, who had a job interview in Rio and was at Corcovado to kill some time. She joined our Cristo excursion and the 3 of us, as well as a number of tourists and locals headed up the side of the mountain in a train. We reached the top and it was extremely foggy, we could see the city, but the photos we took of the amazing view werent that good. The view of Cristo was good, minus the grey skies, but lots of good photos. Had sushi for lunch after Corcovado, relaxed for a bit and mowed down some pizza.

At night we headed to a club called Melt, which started as a lounge and changed into a club, 2 floors, a more chillin level and a crazy electronic club upstairs. We checked out both but mainly were on the lower level, so we could hear each other think. Met a few cool people there, and eventually called it a night at around 4. Slept till 9am, solid 5 hours lol.

Sunday the 19th we got up early and checked out Centro (center or downtown), it has some good museums, historical buildings and nearby was Lapa which we visited a few days earlier. The stairs (Escadaria Selaron), which we had seen at night were much better during the day and we were able to get some photos, as were the Arcos de Lapa (Arches of Lapa). After that, we headed back to the apartment for a mid afternoon nap, as we were going to a futbol game at 4:30pm.

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