"?Rio, de Janeiro, ?Riohohohoho, ?land of sun, samba and wine" - top 3 hit from Maywood, a Dutch pop duo in the 70's. Poor things apparently didn't know that Rio was a city, not a country. And that it's so much more than just sun, samba and wine. We think it's more 'city of beaches, Cristo and beer'. The beaches obviously being Copacabana and Ipanema. Seriously though, Rio was a very positive surprise to us. Yes, the two world famous beaches are a big part of the Cariocas' (people from Rio) lives, but the neighbourhoods by the same name are very pleasant as well. Especially Ipanema, where we stayed, was quite nice and safe. We felt the whole city was actually quite safe, nothing like the stories you hear. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite the 'beachy
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