Booze, Booty and Beach.. Rio where else..

Arrived in Rio Di Janeiro, after another 22 hour coach journey from Puerto Iguaçu, tired, and sick of coach travel. Worse, I was starting to come down with a cold due to the high powered air conditioning on the Corte Del Norte coach. The penny pinching bar stewards didn’t even provide food for the journey.

When I arrived at the coach station, the last thing I wanted to do was get on another bus to get to Ipanema, so I got a taxi instead. This was my first day in a new city without Dale, so it was time to test the social skills and make some friends. This was the start of my solo around the world trip. From speaking to people before I came to Rio, I knew that this was going to be a great city, but even at that early stage I was not to know how good, amazing Rio actually was.

For someone on a travelling budget, Rio is a bit like eating fruit from the forbidden tree. The city itself is unbelievable, the beaches, the parties and the people are the great, but it is so expensive in terms of a South American city that before you know it you bank account is heading very quick due south.

My first three days in Rio were spent doing more sights and not so much partying due to my impending Del Norte cold from coach travel, so it was early nights and early starts trying to see as much as I could. Initially I’d only booked to stay in Rio for 4 days, in reality I stayed for 9 days, and still wasn’t ready to leave when I did.

The first of the sights I visited was the O Cristo Redentor, which is 2,300 feet above sea level at the top of the Corcovado Mountain. From there, you have some of the best views over Rio, which are spectacular. In 2007, this sight was named as one of the new wonders of the world, alongside Macchu Picchu in Peru, which is another sight I will be visiting in a few months time. From there the tour visited the Sambódromo, which is where the famous carnival parade starts just before Lent every year. As it wasn’t carnival season, the place was deserted, but I visited the shop, which showed all the costumes they wear during the carnival. The purpose of the carnival is to allow the different samba schools to compete with each other, and judges will decide which school is the best. One of the sights which the tour couldn’t do was that of the Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, or the Maracana stadium as it more commonly known, as there was a match being played that day. On my last day in Rio, I went to see a Classico, which was Botofogo vs. Fluminense (both teams from Rio). The Maracana holds nearly 90,000 people. A little bit of knowledge for you guys. It held nearly 200,000 people for the final of 1950 World Cup, and it still remains the largest stadium in South America. It is also due to host the final of 2014 World Cup. The game between Botofogo vs. Fluminense only attracted 16,000 people and finished 0-1 to Fluminense. The final stop on the tour was to Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain), which is next to Guanabara Bay. The best time to visit this is at sunset as the views over Rio are amazing.

I was staying in Ipanema, only two blocks from the beach which, if anyone is thinking about going to Rio, Ipanema is definitely the place to stay. The area is a lot nicer than Copacabana, and the beaches were nicer too. By day, if the weather is nice, the only thing you need do is go to the beach and work on your tan, and admire some of the dental floss the local ladies are wearing inbetween their cheeks. Sadly, the 9 days, which I was in Rio for, the weather was only beach friendly for 4, still managed to don the speedos, play some football on the beach and showed the locals how bad my first touch was/still is.

I only managed to visit Lapa once. This is area is fmous for the street parties, but it’s a really cool area to go, mix with the locals, drink cheap Brahma and people watch. The streets of Lapa are busy until the late hours of the following morning. People drink lots of Cahaca. It was hard as I can’t stand the stuff, tastes like licking tequila off a Rottweiler’s nuts (so I have been told), but the Brazilians love the stuff, mixed with lime, sugar and ice. They drink Caiprinhas by ton.

Managed to squeeze a favela tour in on my last day. I visited (with a guide of course) Rocinha, which roughly translated means small ranch. This is located between Gavea and Sao Conrado. In order to get to the top of the Favela, you have to take a motorbike taxi. These dudes are loons when driving up the hill, total disregard for oncoming traffic and buses. For half the time going up, I was cursing my driver. I know he must have understood because the more I cursed the quicker and more reckless he drove. The population of the favela is approximately 150,000. Michael Jackson filmed his music video ‘they don’t really care about us’ in this particular favela, as well as in Pelourinho, in Salvador, which is where I stayed whilst in Salvador. Through drugs and gun running, the favela makes about $4 million USD a month. Personally, I didn’t see any kids which AK47 and grenades, although I guess that if I really wanted one, then it wouldn’t take long to get one. On the tour you walk from the top to the bottom, going through the streets, meeting the families who live there and of course the street kids, who want you to take their picture and try to entertain you by dancing or singing. To live in the Favela, well to rent a place costs from 300 BRL at the bottom of the favela to 500BRL (£100 - £170 a month) at the top. The difference in the price is due to the amount of litter and rain which they have in the favela. They are two of the biggest problems which a favela faces. If you are at the bottom and it rains, it is not long before you have litter and a small stream outside your front door, sometimes it comes through your living room. If there is an empty space in the favela, you can just build your own place there, the favela works on a first come, first serve / you snooze you lose basis.

My last night in Rio, which is a must for anyone, was spent at the favela funk party. It is full of Brazilian guys walking around with tops off lots of women shaking what their mama gave them. The Brazilian guys show a new meaning to the saying, ‘if you knock on enough doors, then one will open’. They go around trying to pull all the girls, if they don’t manage to pull you, then they will try it on with your friend and so on and so forth. I was with some girls and it was funny watching them trying fight off all the guys which came knocking. That finished about 4.30am and then it was back to the hostel to get some sleep before I left the following day to Salvador.
It was sad to leave Rio, it is a great city. The only sad thing about Rio is the massive wealth gap between the rich and the poor. In places like Ipanema and Copacabana ,you will see outside banks and chemists lots of homeless people, sleeping and begging for food, and it is quite ironic, as these are the services which they can’t afford. Before coming to Rio, I’d heard that it was a dangerous city, but in my time then walking around I didn’t see any trouble, maybe because I looked like a local, not sure.

Next stop for me is Salvador, in the north of Brazil... Rio I will be back very very soon....

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