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Published: December 23rd 2008
Rio de Janeiro
Copacabana beach with Sugar Loaf in the backgroundRio de Janeiro, Brazil (11 - 23 December 2008)
After a rather long flight from Heathrow I arrived in Rio with an hour delay at 22:15 local time. Since I had booked a pick-up service through my guesthouse I was arriving there shortly before midnight, just as it began to rain. There were some guests on the covered roof terrace, and so I chilled out having my first Brazilian beers...
The Rio Backpackers is located only 300m from the world famous Copacabana beach and thus an ideal spot for exploring the various parts of the city: Ipenema Beach, Centro, Sugar Loaf, Christ the Redemer statue, Maracana stadium, Sambadrome, Santa Teresa, etc. There are some great people in the hotel, expecially the two crazy Canadians Celeste & Michelle who run the reception/bar on a part-time base whilst doing volunteer work in the favelhas during day time.
The fist week after my arrival was a rather rainy one, but therefore also not so soooooper hot. Ideal weather conditions to do some sightseeing. And in the evenings, when the parties start, the weather becomes irrelevant anyway since it's all about having a fiesta.
Going out to pubs & bars and clubbing
are excellent here; every night there are several things going on. So I have been out quite a bit, to the street party in Lapa, a nearby colonial ballroom with live samba bands, Ipanema & Copacabana bars and finally also an Irish Bar last night (pub quiz - we didn't win...).
A large contribution to my wellbeing here in Rio is the enormous variety of people you meet from all over the world, mixed with local contacts that you randomly establish when lying at the beach or having a beer at the bar.
I had originally planned to stay in Rio for 4-5 days, however, since the atmosphere of the city is so great (and especially now that it has been hot and sunny for the last couple of days) I decided to spend Christmas here in the hostel, having a party with the various people here from Norway, Sweden, England, Austraila, Canada, Germany, etc etc...
So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a good start into the New Year! Take it easy, but take it!
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