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Published: November 29th 2006
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Rio De Janeiro
Christ The Redeemer 00
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Until we arrive in New Zealand
BRAZIL
- 170 Million
Rio De Janeiro (Janurary River) 7 Million population
Capital - Brasilia
Language - Portuguese
Money - Reais - 2.12 to 1 USD
Cariocas - Inhabitants of Rio
37 degrees Hot Hot Hot!! 42 hrs bus direct from Ritro bus station Buenos Aires on Cama bus..
105USD to Rio Novo in Brazil and I have to say I slept for most of it as for the week I was in BA I was going on 4hrs sleep a day...the ride from BA to the Rio was smooth going, steak dinner on the bus followed by wine and champagne....the border crossing was easy and from Brazil on it was off the bus to a crap canteen for breakfast&dinner which we had to pay for.
We left
Iguassu to Buenos Aires ..thinking I wouldnt be back as my plan was to travel from BA to Rio... which I did but somehow looked out the window after 17 hrs on the bus and while passing a place that I recognised....!!Iguassu again!!..I was like 'what
Rio De Janeiro
Copacabana Beach!!! the hell am I doing back here´the funny thing was that I was going to Rio from Iguassu but changed my mind and went with the girls MT, Anne and K to Buenos Aires...so I went 34 hrs out of my way it looks..and didnt know that bussing it to Rio was Via Iguassu..I seriously couldnt believe it when I seen it...may it be the last time I see it ...
Famous for
Samba...Carnival (End of Feb) lush beaches such as..Ipenema Beach..Copacabana Beach, Caipirinha´s (cachaca - fueled cocktails), hot hot weather, The Amazon, Soccer, men in Speedos....women in thongs on the beach...sun sea & surf!! the easygoing lifestyle of its inhabitants & of course The Most famous statue of
Christo Redentor..Christ The Redeemer. Cariocas (Inhabitants of Rio) free sensual & spirited with a love for Samba and celebration!! 😊
Took a tour from the hostel
Stone of a Beach (where I have to say the staff are really cool, Ricardo 😊 & Pedro...just couldnt do enough for us) to The Christ....wow it was really amazing & the Panoramic views were breath taking, the out stretched Saviour is visible from all over the city and after dark he looks to
Copacabana Beach
EVERY guy wears speedos here... be floating in the night sky.. it´s on top of Corcarvado Mountain&the drive up the cobbled colonial streets passed the really rich houses then in the distance you could see the Favelas (Shanti town..poorest part of Rio..) to the top.....mesmerizing!
Met up with Helen & Andrew (Brother&sister from UK) here in the hostel, we went to the hostel bar that night&down stairs to the basement club, they ended up having a huge arguement over something small and the next thing I knew the next morning was that Andrew had left and flew home 1 month into his 4 month holiday!! so Me, Karen & Helen went to
Copacabana beach to catch some sun, she was due to fly to Chile that night but was very upset and didnt know what to do...so we joined the rest of the Brazilians on the beach and had a few beers while sun bathing and ended up sorting all her problems out haha!! we changed her ticket to stay in Rio with us another week ...so for the next few days we spent on Copa beach topping our tans up&partying the nights away, Copa beach is beautiful,
white sands, packed with people,
Copacabana Beach
just chillin on Copa beach.......catching rays huge waves and
melting sun with blue skies, we got sunloungers from the Rio Intl hotel guys as we became very friendly with them and even went out to Lapa with them for a night on the town. Helen & (Ricardo from the hostel) seemed to get on ´pretty well´and I think they will miss each other when she leaves, couldn´t meet an nicer guy, so much older than his 23 yrs..wiser and a heart of gold...he seems to bring out the good in everyone that surrounds him....
City Centre - a few of uis from the hostel went and did some site seeing ....myself and Helen couldnt get back to the beach fast enough!
Ian (UK) took me to the Favela at night...bit of a crazy thing to do but it was worth it 😱...tried numerous taxis to take us there but 3 refused to take us and in the end we found one guy that would, Favela is an area in Rio that are the poorest in the city...dwellings are
4 or 5 houses built on top of yours and its unclaimed land...so anyone can just build there...
the towns are run by drug lords & even
the police wont enter but for a few times a year for raids and a shoot out will follow.. everyone is grabbed off the streets and all hell breaks loose, the
kids employed by drug lords walk the narrow streets with
AK-47 assault rifles on their shoulders, clashes with police and rival gangs are common..,.. my experience was fine..no one took any notice of me as such..(Thank God) maybe because I was with quiet a big English police man...walking the winding streets (St Marys Hill multiplied by a million) during the day of course passing people going about there business..Ian lives in the favela and says that the people there are very friendly& helpful, they have no business in robbing you because they dont want to bring the police in for something as little as robbing a gringa and if you re no threat to them...they re no threat to you...I disagree myself....and Im not stupid enough to wander in there on my own to find out..but then again they are normal people living in
extremely poor conditions & making the best of what they have and where they live...(if that be safe guarding the drug lords of the Favela
then thats what it is)....I guess not everyone is lucky enough to live in a nice house in a nice area and have a job or travel the world.
One Movie of the Favela is ..City of God.....TAGLINE-Fight and you'll never survive..... Run and you'll never escape...paints a pretty good picture of the Favela!!
Just one travellers story on the Favela in Rio Just a few more pics of Rio De Janeiro Brazil Lapa...........
Met up with Marie Therese again in Rio for the weekend on friday night we all headed out to Lapa with a few locals (much safer)..an area in Rio where all the pubs and clubs are, everything happening...samba school, eating, drinking & dancing on the streets of Lapa, lots of people also begging, mostly young children (4 or5 yrs old) that will do a little samba for 1 real. It was a really cool experience...
Went to the famous Maracana Stadium to see a futball match between Botofgogo and Sao Pualo Corinthians, the athmostphere was great...lots of chanting, dancing and I even got to fly the huge flag..at the end......
Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro and
Botafogo v Corinthians We leave Stone Of A Beach Thursday 30th Nov for Chile, we tried getting
Rio De Janeiro
Special Police Forces in the Favela...dont worry I didnt take this picture... a flight and we nearly had it but the guy helping us never confirmed it so the price was too expensive so now we get a bus from Rio to Chile direct....54 hrs.....Ugh! paaainful but its a comfortable bus with food and drinks etc etc and on Saturday the 1st we go on standby for New Zealand...(Another change of plan as our original plan was to fly the 28th of Dec) flying into Auckland...I cant wait...I am sooo excited...we have a 1 years working visa for NZ and the plan so far is to stay only 5 months but I know I am going to love it so will think about staying the year...time will tell...
NEW ZEALAND HERE WE COME!!!!
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danielle
non-member comment
great
Looking like fun women and am glad u're heading elsewhere now..send me a mail from New Zealand