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Published: March 2nd 2006
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Left Foz for the big drive up to Rio for Carnaval, via Curitiba and Bertioga, long truck days and torrential rain at one campsite... one slightly bizarre highlight was a stop at a petrol station where they had a set of drums in the corner and a kid of about 7 sat and played some excellent rhythms for us as we queued for the toilets! Definitely helped get us in the mood for Carnaval a bit..! Finally got to Paraty, which is a lovely town by the sea, all cobbled streets and colourful shops, restaurants and bars. We thought there were a lot of overland trucks at the campsite in Foz, but this one must have been some sort of record - 3 Tucan trucks, 4 Budget, Overland, Dragoman, SAS, you name any overland company and they were there! I believe there were 3 women's toilets on the whole site, but I didn't hang around too long to find out for sure! A few us took a walk down the road and checked into a lovely hotel with a pool and our own hammock for each room... very nice.
Took a boat trip out around the bay the next day,
couple of nice beach stops, but then the rain came again - but then we are in the wet season now as we travel up towards the equator. Nice chilled out day though, didn't get too cold even when it rained. The next day was just pool and shopping - finally managed to find a bikini that fits! (Well sort of, still a little bit smaller than I would wear at home, but it is true that here you really stand out as a tourist if you wear what you normally would!)
Next day was the drive into Rio - not a long truck day, arrived early afternoon after a bit of a truck party to tunes like Copocabana, Rio, and various other cheesy tunes. A few guys had flown up to Rio from Foz to get there in time for the Rolling Stones gig on Copacabana beach the week before, so we took full advantage and got escorted immediately to the beach, Copacabana of course! Only briefly stepped on the beach at this point, as we wanted to sort out a city tour before the Carnaval started proper.
City tour was excellent, starting off at the Maracana
football stadium, where we got to see the changing rooms and go on the pitch! Then to the Sambadrome, which was interesting to see as they prepared for the parades that would be there the following nights. The Cathedral was next - we could actually see this from our hotel and on the outside it is the most ugly building I have ever seen, basically a concrete pyramid thing! But on the inside, the most amazing stained glass windows you've even seen. Next up was Corcovado where the statue of Christ the Redeemer stands, looking out over the whole of Rio. This has to be one of the most touristy sites of the whole trip, you couldn't move for people taking photos! Obligatory photos done, we then had lunch in Copacabana - they have a very handy concept in Brazil in a lot of restaurants where you pay per kilo after choosing from a buffet. Great when you have no idea what most things on the menu are - although it's still not always obvious when you look at the food, it does tend to give a better idea! Paying by the kilo also means you are less likely to
overeat - very handy when the beach is calling and is filled with beautiful people ;-)
Last stop on the tour of course was Sugarloaf mountain, which overlooks Copacabana, and has just unbelievable panoramic views of the whole city. I came to the conclusion that I love looking at Rio from above, but sorry to say I wasn't that taken with it at ground level. Safety was a big problem, a few people on the Tucan tours got robbed or mugged, though fortunately no-one got badly hurt. I was very lucky and had no incidents at all, but always felt a bit uneasy walking around, even in a group. I felt a bit sorry for the locals, who were mainly very friendly and always warning us to look after our bags and be careful - I guess they are the people who are affected when tourism drops because of the bad reputation.
Despite all that, we still managed to get out for some serious street partying - this is street party on a huge scale! A lot of them were local to our hotel in Lapa, which was very handy :-) During Carnaval there was music and dancing
every night in this area, underneath the arches of an old aquaduct. More Caipirinhas were drunk and we did a bit of dancing - but even just standing around, it was soooo hot! It's a strange concept to be standing outside at 2am wearing a vest top but still sweating....! Managed to fit in a football match between the partying - at the Maracana stadium where we had been on the city tour. 2 of Rio's biggest teams were playing - Flamengo v. Botafoga. We sat on the Botafoga side, but unfortunately they lost 3-2. No trouble at the game though - just a lot of passion!
Sunday night was the sambadrome - the samba school parades are on a scale you can't imagine until you've seen it. Quite disappointed I didn't feel safe enough to take my digital camera out - a little video clip would have been ideal. Each school has hundreds (maybe thousands?!) of performers and several huge floats, all very brightly coloured and sparkly. They have 80 minutes to get the whole school from one end of the Sambadrome to the other, and get penalised if they overrun. They get marks for their dancing, costumes
Girls at Copacabana beach
Ok, so we are wearing quite a bit more than the locals...! etc so need to try and make the most of the time available. They also each have their own song, which is sung in a constant loop for the whole performance - this sounds terrible I know, but it does work! Each song was pretty lively of course, to keep the dancing going. The first parade started at 10pm, and a few of us made it as far as the penultimate one which finished just after 6am .... I felt sorry for the last school performing, as it was now daylight - since each performance started with fireworks, this wouldn't be the best backdrop. We couldn't hang in there for the last one, and got back to the hotel just in time for breakfast which started at 6.30 - very handy!
Managed a day on Copacabana beach on the last day - to be honest it's not that great a beach - very crowded, and the sand shelves away very steeply into the sea, creating huge waves that sweep you off your feet, with a nasty undercurrent. You could be in water up to your ankles one second, then over your head the next! I didn't paddle for long...
give me a pool any day! ;-)
So that was Rio... now time to get some sleep. It was goodbye to a lot of people on our trip and we've now joined up with a whole load of new people, which is nice, kind of like starting a new trip.... looking forward to it!
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