Rio de Janeiro

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10 days in Rio de Janeiro, The Cidade Maravilhosa (The Marvellous City).
Not many cities can boast such a beautiful setting, its backed by green mountains that look down on to wide swathes of sandy beaches.
My hostel was in the area of Ipanema, one of the more expensive, and safer areas on Rio. The hostel was on a small closed street with a few other hostels so the atmosphere was relaxed, friendly and safe. Every evening people from the different hostels were out chatting on the street, well until the 10pm curfew.
The first couple of days were spent getting to know Ipanema beach, which was 5 minute walk from the hostel, and seeing a few of the city sights.
Ipanema beach is a great place to laze for an afternoon, the water is generally clear and warm although the waves break hard and close to shore, its a wonder how girls in Brazilian mini bikinis manage. The beach is divided into numbered posts around which different types of groups cluster. There is an area known for families, the young crowd and the gay part of the beach, also helpfully indicated by the giant rainbow flag. All are served by the small army of vendors that walk the lengths of the beach with coolers of drinks or portable bbqs, umbrellas of bikinis, artisan jewelry... all at a leisurely arm wave away. And for entertainment there were games of football, volley ball or footvolley which you could watch with a fresh coconut water at one of the many beach side cafes. Many afternoons and evenings were spent down on Ipanema beach including one lovely afternoon we were joined by a guitar playing singer-songwriter.
I ticked off a new seventh wonder of the world with a visit to the Christ the Redeemer, a combination of taxi, bus, elevator and escalator whizzed us up 700m to the top of the Corcovado mountain and the 30m high Jesus with his arms spread over Rio. The views over the city were amazing, even watching clouds race in and cover us.
The next tourist tick was the Sugar loaf mountain, we took the more popular route of bus and 2 cable cars up to the top, although we saw it is possible to climb up there too (ropes, hard hats and guides all necessary). We took our time wandering around the walkways at the top enjoying the differnet view points of the city.
I got a view of the city from the water with a boat party organised by the hostel a couple of doors down. We boarded mid afternoon and sailed out of the city 30 mins to a bay where anchor was dropped and every one dived into the water. The evening we sailed back towards the city with dj and bar.
Another must do visit, I was told, was a visit to the Maracana stadium and so I joined up with a group from our hostel to watch a game between Flamengo and Vasco de Gama. It was a fantastic, there were fans carrying huge standards and the crowds constantly singing, clapping and whistling. We were stood with Vasco suporters and their team 2-0, memorable in that is was the 1st time Vasco had won in a long time and also that both teams got 2 players each sent off.

Of course Rio is also about the night, and I went dancing in samba clubs in wild Lapa, to the bars in Ipanema and a few evenings with friends and a bottle of Cuchaca.
I arrived in Rio intending on spending 5 days that, I escaped on the 10th......

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Photos

Views of Rio
the famous stadium

Views of Rio
and clouds