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Published: August 15th 2015
It's taken awhile for us to finish the blog. This final entry is the hardest to write, so much has happened since we arrived back and by typing it all up we're sealing the deal on the travels. Three years, a wedding and half way through a pregnancy, here goes...
The bus to Rio went via Sao Paolo and was the last of our overnight road jaunts. We were downstairs this time and caught a gorgeous sunset and views of the mountains as we approached Rio. Meals weren't served on board, we stopped at a restaurant where we experienced the first of many of the kilo restaurant variety (customers plates are weighed after buffet to determine price). Our hostel, Casa 579, sent a taxi to collect us. The driver was waiting with a sign, it was a welcome sight in the crowded bus station. Portuguese sounds so different to Spanish so we couldn't understand anything anyone was saying although if we tried to speak Spanish, more often than not people could understand us. Our driver was not one of these people so communication was non-existent. Luckily he already knew where we were going so we kicked back and
enjoyed the views winding up and down many hills en route. Our hostel was really nice with super views and frequented by monkeys but had only one shower for the building and our room was right off reception so not very private. There were no ATMs nearby so we got a campi van (white mini bus with 2 green stripes, 2.5 real per trip, 65 euro cent) from the street outside hostel down into Largo do Marchado, a shopping and metro district at the bottom of the hill. There is a street car usually but it had an accident back in August 2011 and hasn't been running since. Apparently business in Santa Teresa is down 70% since. We ate at a busy restaurant while out and Ash had her first local Capirihna, it was strong!
Barking dogs woke us the next morning. We feasted on a fabulous breakfast while looking over the city but unfortunately no monkeys paid us a visit. We found out when we returned later that we missed quite the commotion. A monkey came into the terrace and the dog went wild and bit it. Animal rescue had to come to treat
the monkey's hand and neck. Sounds like we may have been better off missing it! We spent the day on a guided city tour, first stop Christ the Redeemer. It was a lovely sunny day and there wasn't a queue in sight so we got straight up there. The statue is 29 metres high on an 8 metre base and enjoys a commanding view over the whole city. We spent ages walking around and looking all over the city. You could spend the whole day up there, Rio is a spectacular city from up high. While we were there what felt like a battalion of tourist police arrived on a day trip. They swarmed the place, taking pictures and checking out the views like everyone else. Saw some ugly monkeys eating bananas on the elevator back down from the statue. In the car park we asked our guide about a huge old hotel, it was disused but the building was beautiful. He said it was where teams competing in the 1948 World Cup had stayed. He said they were planning to knock it down to create more parking spaces for the 2014 World Cup. Such a shame!
Arrival in Rio
Casa 579 GuesthouseOn the way back into the city we stopped in Santa Teresa at the old house of the royals now in ruins. We stopped for lunch in another kilo restaurant with really nice food then set off with out new driver with better English on the 2nd half of the day starting with the famed steps of Lapa, Escadaria Selarón (Selarón Steps). They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who we met and took photos with on the steps. He had a small gallery half way up and we bought some prints of his other work. 8 months later (Jan 2013) we read he was found dead on these very steps, the circumstances around his death have never been solved. Very sad. Next stop was the Catedral Metropolitano which looks like a massive cement Mayan pyramid from outside but is very impressive inside with 4 huge stained glass windows in different colours meeting at the top of the pyramid. The church seats 5 thousand people and stands 20 thousand. Other sights we caught on the tour were the arches of the old aqueduct, the Municipal Theatre at Cinelandia, an exact replica of the one in France,
and the National Library, 7th largest in the world and biggest in Latin America. We picked up some churros from a street cart and took a snap with the vendor , he was chuffed to be a tourist attraction. Last stop was Sugar Loaf for the sunset where we got 2 cable cars up to the top. The views were amazing. Sky turned loads of colours before red then black. A truly special experience.
The next day was another beautifully sunshine filled affair. Ade launched himself (along with a professional) off a cliff in Tijuca Park attached to a parachute and sailed over the city landing on a beach a few kilometres away. He loved it! Ash had intended to do it as well but chickened out when faced with the reality of cliff jumping. The views were gorgeous again. Don't think there's an ugly or boring place in Rio! We caught a local bus to Leblon from the landing site and walked up to Ipanema Beach where we found a nice kilo restaurant.
The next day we headed to Ihla Grande, an island about 3-4 hours south of Rio
by mini-bus and ferry. Our hostel was on the first pier the ferry stopped at with nice views back across the main village and beach with its own small beach (Praia da Júlia) behind looking out over a bay of anchored sail boats. Very picturesque. There was some confusion over room bookings but Ade managed to sort and we checked in to our home for 2 nights right on the water. The hostel restaurant was on a deck on the water so we had some drinks and ate at the BBQ night by candlelight as the power cut out. We played yahtzee on our own balcony after dinner and killed a bottle of wine.
The next day was pretty relaxing, we strolled along the beach, played more yahtzee and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings sipping pina coladas. When the sun started to go down Ade suggested we grab another round and hit the beach to watch sunset. We found a nice spot and took some photos and before Ash knew it Ade had popped down on one knee and was holding out a surrogate ring asking Ash to be his wife! Obviously she said yes!! There
was much celebration. A chilled bottle of sparkles was produced along with the Concha y Toro wine glasses we'd picked up in Chile and we toasted to us and our future. It was all very exciting :-) After the sunset we tried to make some calls home but the line was terrible, we eventually got the message across but I'd say our whole hostel also received the message. Cringe. We ate a yummy fish stew at a restaurant on the beach under a tree by candlelight and had more sparkles.
We moved slowly the next day but all we had to do was transfer back to Rio. The driver got lost trying to find one address and we missed the sunset. Our hotel was on Copacabana beach right next to Ipanema beach where as it turns out Ade had been intending to propose but the weather report said thunder storms so he brought forward to Ihla Grande the night before. As it turned out we would have missed the sunset altogether, so it was good call. We stayed at Orla Hotel right at the end of the beach with super views the whole way along
Copacabana. We upgraded ourselves to the top floor suite facing the beach. It was amazing! Internet was much better here so we made all our calls, ordered room service and started swotting up on the 4 C's of diamond shopping before our 48 hours in Dallas.
Breakfast was great and worth the queue to get in. Spent the morning researching rings and Ade's new computer. For lunch we checked out a famous Churrascuria in Ipanema. Servers come round with loads of different types of meat and you have a green sticker saying yes or a red one saying no. Ash tried chicken hearts but Ade declined. That night we flew to Dallas with American Airlines, the worst airline ever (planes from the 70's). We didn't have individual entertainment units which was handy as encouraged sleeping, flight was 13 hours. Ade undertook the brave job of driving the rental car in Dallas which was quite scary at times, roads are unreal over there! It was Memorial Day so luckily roads were quieter. Strange driving on the "wrong" side of the road (sometimes on the "right" side by accident!). We checked into the Hotel Indigo on main street in
Escadaria Selarón
with artist Jorge Selarón downtown Dallas which we assumed would be the centre of the action but was actually really quiet. Once we checked in and, fed and loaded up with addresses we hit the diamond trail, first stop a few wholesalers. The experience was pretty shady but fun. We turned up to office blocks that were empty cause of the holidays and analysed diamonds for flaws with a loupe (magnifying glass used in the trade). These guys couldn't set the diamond into rings in a fast enough time for us so we hit a jewellery store recommended by Ash's cousin Blake who lives in Dallas called Jared's. Here we hit the jackpot! We chose a few diamonds and a few rings and mix and matched till we found the combination we liked best then got to watch the jeweller in the lab put it together. It was really cool. Job done! Next on to computer store where Ade picked up the last of the model he wanted. Success!
The next day we hung out with Blake at the Stockyards in Fort Worth where Ash's Mom had visited with her Aunt Dottie (Blake's Grandmother) many years ago and bought
her red cowboy boots. We shopped around for some but they are all between 1-2k USD so we gave it a miss! Blake took us to lunch at a huge BBQ place called Coopers Pit Bar B Que where we had ribs, baked potato, coleslaw and corn on the cob. It was great. Next we checked out Billy Bob's Honky Tonk Bar, allegedly the world's largest! There we saw the bull riding arena, pool hall, stage for bands etc. There wasn't anything going on in the middle of the day so it was quiet but it was cool to see. Over the dancefloor there was a huge glittering disco saddle! Along the wall by exit were framed hand prints of famous acts that had played there, the only one we recognised was Willie Nelson. There was a huge neon blue sign by the door saying 'Y'all come back!'. We headed to the old train station which is now the shopping zone and Ade got his fortune told by Pappy, a mechanised cowboy fortune teller. He also had a go on a mechanical rodeo bull but didn't last too long. Very amusing. We caught a cattle drive with long horned bulls,
strange animals with very large horns.
Blake took us to The Flying Saucer in Forth Worth, a bar with plates all over the wall, where we chatted for a while and met some of his friends. Scott, Blake's Dad and Ash's Mom's first cousin, called and was free for dinner after all so we headed to meet him at a restaurant near where he lives. It was great to meet him. After Blake drove us back to Dallas and took us to the night club district where we had another drink then he dropped us to our hotel where we said our goodbyes. It was great to meet him and get shown around by a local.
The next day we started our long multi stop trip home in which we packed as many visits as we could starting with Viri in Madrid for 3 nights then Ade's family in Wigan for 2 nights, Dundee for 1 night, Southampton for 2 nights, London for 1 night, Dublin for 1 night then back to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland where we'd set off from 5 years earlier on train headed for India. What a
trip its been!
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