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Published: June 18th 2006
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Ipanema
No girls in sight We arrived in Rio after dark and it took a full day before we were able to glimpse the Big Jesus. Didn´t really feel like we were in Rio until we had seen him. Stepping out onto Ipanema beach on our first morning was pretty wonderful all the same.
The atmostphere in Rio was fun straight away. Knowing we would be tired after our flight from Madrid, we had booked a transfer from the airport. A very friendly guy, Paolo, and his son were there to meet us and despite our non-existent Portuguese and their faltering but enthusiastic English we were soon gesticulating at each other quite merrily. Graham got them talking about football and that seemed to do the trick. A universal language. World cup fever is truly everywhere here. The streets are adorned with yellow and green strips - a kind of bunting. Even the little lap dogs of Ipanema are wearing the Brazil colours.
Paolo dropped us at our hostel - a few blocks back from the beach in Ipanema. We unloaded our bags and headed straight for the bar. We got chatting to a few fellow travellers and were soon knocking back the cheap beer
Good Morning Rio!
Looking from Ipanema towards Leblon and very reasonable caipirinhas. Everything seemed so much more relaxed after the frenetic pace and heat of Spain.
We spent our first full day on the beach - and shopping. New Havaianas for both of us. It had to be done. We stood out by not having funky flip-flops and they are only a few quid a pair here. We soaked up the sun on Ipanema for quite a while and watched the locals power walking through the soft sand. It was pretty quiet though really and only a few incredibly skimpy male and female swim suits were on display. Graham treated himself to a massage on the beach. Sounds a bit dodgy but it was all above board. Until he realised he had misunderstood how much it would cost. Our first day there and we hadn´t really worked out the exchange rate. I thought he was going to be set-upon when he tried to explain he would have to go and find a cash point before he could pay. It was all fine in the end though.
I think we were both on edge the first day having read and heard so much about crime levels and
World Cup Fever
Ipanema streets decked with green and yellow. the likelihood of being mugged or pick-pocketed. But in the end we forced ourselves to relax. There are so many nice and normal people going about their daily business, we tried to do the same and started having a much better time.
After lazing around on our first day, we got our act together on the second day and booked a trip to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer. Paolo turned up in his trusty van and took us all the way up to the top of Corcovado - through lush forests and round hair-pin bends. All at full speed whilst checking his phrase book to try and describe the surroundings and life in Rio. We weren´t expecting to indulge in adrenaline sports so soon…
The statue was awesome up close. It is such a magnificent presence from anywhere in the city, but up close you can appreciate the beauty of the statue itself. After we had viewed and photographed it from all angles, Paolo drove us back down the mountain and through the older area of Santa Teresa to appreciate the remaining colonial architecture. He was slightly dismissive of the tourist appeal and thought we were
best off driving straight through. We didn´t like to disagree. He took us to the foot of Sugarloaf - which was where our tour and driver service ended - and left us with instructions to get the 512 bus back to the hostel.
We weren´t sure whether it would be worth going up another tall lump of rock to see the city from above, but went for it all the same. Definitely the right decision. The cable car system had a very James Bond atmos. In fact the whole city has a kind of faded glamour. We weren´t all that surprised to see a group of exotically clad wafer thin models teeter off the cable car in front of us. A pretty stunning setting for a fashion shoot.
The cable car ride was rather vertiginous. And I didn´t even think I was affected by that sort of thing. We spent a good couple of hours doing the loaf all together. The journey is in two stages and there are plenty of snack bars and gift shops on the way. But the views are worth all the crowds and stomach churning lurchings. We didn´t really want to come back
down and face the noise and chaos of the streets again.
Fortunately we didn´t have to wait long for the 512. It did take us about an hour to travel only a few miles back through traffic jams and utter mayhem, but the thought of an ice cold caipirinha kept us positive. Unfortunately, the hostel was putting on a BBQ that night, and it would have been a shame to miss out. The char-grilling was excellent, but the number of national drinks required to wash down all that meat left me with a killer hangover the next morning. Another ride with Paolo to the bus station and the hideously winding, but stunning coast road down the Costa Verde turned me as green as the milky emerald sea. But there´s nothing like the promise of a few days on a sun drenched tropical island to make a girl feel better.
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Tabi and Sam
non-member comment
bring on the drinks
hi mil , loving the pictures, keep posting as i very excited to hear from you and see the photos. You look lgreat in what i am guessing is the red vest/red and white skirt combo! xx