Brazil

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Rio de Janiero
Ever since Oli Pipe and I were asked to complete an English project on the Maracana football stadium and the city of Rio de Janiero, I have been fasinated by this city. One of my favourite films of all time was 'The City of God', which was based here. The first thing that springs to most people´s minds when you mention Rio de Janiero is crime. This is understandable as there is such a divide between the rich and the poor in this city, like Cheltenham but on a much more dramatic scale with favelas and mansions.

Getting there
The flight was long but the excitement saw me through it. I met two lovely genuine locals on the plane, one that had been in Auckland at the same time as me, they helped me out with some key phrases and filled me in on the brazilian football gossip. I had pre-booked my hostel and arranged an airport pick-up... they didn´t make it. Great start! I got a lift from my Auckland friend's parent and the ball was rolling.

Mellow Yellow backpackers
Named after the great five a-side team that once ruled the all weather Oakwood courts, Fabio Capello´s Mellow Yellow Chellos. This hostel had it all, a hot-tub, cheap bar, Rio categorised rooms, free internet and an amazing free cooked breakfast. What more could you ask for... oh yeah, also it was situated two minutes walk from Copacabana beach.
They gave me the futebol dorm, being the only one there I got a pick of six beds. They had selected me the Robinho locker, gutted as there was such a selection of greats, from Rivaldo to Ronaldinho and I ended up with the one that was currently playing for Manchester City! It was 10pm and I was shattered but desperate to explore, I chose to stay within the walls of the hostel for tonight, showered and headed up to the bar. I met a like minded traveller from Watford, who had been all over South America and travelling for 17 months (Mayer). He now rented an apartment in Rio and knew a few locals. Mayer and myself got on from moment one, later that night his friend Junior, who had lived in Rio most of his life came up to meet with us. Mayer talked about Rio's must dos and must sees and how he planned to show me these sights in the morning.

Ipanema beach, Uruguaiana market and Fluminense at the Maracana stadium
I had also met with four others the previous day at the bar Damon, Tom, Katie and Karen. We decided to meet at breakfast at the jet-lag considered respectable time of 11am. I awoke at 9am and sprung out of my top bunk bed. I couldn't believe I was in Rio, in an extremely excited manner I headed to reception, picked up a couple maps and asked a big list of questions. True to his word Mayer met us at the hostel and myself and five others: Karen, Katie, Kane, Tom and Damon headed down to Ipanema beach, the best beach of my travels. This made the beaches on the East coast of Australia look like muddy fields! After bantering with Katie (Welsh) and Tom (New Zealand) about how the Kiwis and the Welsh only have one thing in common, there love for sheep... literally! We headed to the market in Uruguaiana. Damon and myself bought a Fluminense shirt each and jumped on the metro to the Estadio do Maracana. This 82,238 seater oval stadium experienced the world's greatest official attendance of 199,854 in the 1950 game between Brazil and Uruguay. Although not full this time, Fluminense played against Confianca, we chose to stand with the loudest fans and samba, sing and shout our way through the game. The fans didn´t cut into their team like they would in England, they were having too much fun for that. When times looked tough they began singing louder instead. Drums echoed round the stadium and some of the world´s biggest flags were swayed throughout the crowd. When Fluminense scored everyone erupted with joy, fans came and hugged us and everyone jumped around for the next five minutes. Fluminense won 2-0 but the football was terrible, I have seen my cousin Tom´s team TIBS (aged 12) play much better football. The Fluminense number 10, Carlos Eduardo couldn´t hit a cows backside with a banjo, missing two open goals and a one on one. It had been a great day and both Damon and myself were shattered from all the dancing, jumping and singing. We grabbed a pizza and headed back to our hostel. The others were in the bar playing ring of fire. We obviously got involved and drank the night away.

Christ Redeemer statue + samba = perfect recipe for a great day
I began the day by meeting up with Hans and heading up a mountain to the world famous Christ statue that towers over the city. We got there and unfortunately the statue was covered in scafolding due to it being cleaned and making the structure more secure. The views from the mountain however were phenomenal and easily made up for the statue's incapacities. You could see a 360' view of Rio, it felt like you had a real life size map in front of you... with the Sugar loaf mountain, Favelas, Ipanema, Copacabana and the Maracana stadium easy to locate, the beautiful clear day was also a blessing. Standing on his lonesome, a french guy wearing a Lyon football shirt was snapping away at the statue. I asked him if he would like a picture, with himself in it. He said he didn't speak much English but with a quick game of charades I managed to explain what I meant. When it came to football, we understood each other clearly, as we both shared this passion. We discussed how Lyon knocked Real Madrid out of the champions league the previous night and ended up talking for ages! His name was Michel and it turned out he was also staying at the Mellow Yellow hostel, the same as mself and Hans. We ravelled back together and from that moment to the end of my trip Michel and myself were inseperable, 'mon frere et le famille' as he would describe us.

Copacabana beach
The next day, Mayer met with us just after breakfast and our Mellow Yellow gang got together, taking the short walk via the amazing fruit smoothie corner shop to the world reknown Copacabana beach. As we approached it, I turned around to see I was standing in the shadow of the Copacabana palace. It looked so posh and you could see the draw for Marilyn Monroe in the 50's and more recently why Paris Hilton and Beyoncé, who had stayed there two weeks previously. It was about R$1000 for a room a night, way out of my league! We walked across the road and stepped onto the copacabana boardwalk and then onto the hot, golden sand. The beach was very nice and the latino tanned women wandering around, wearing next to nothing was impossible to keep your eyes away from. We sun bathed here for most of the day, but chose to stay away from the sea as it looked quite polluted. I found myself showering off the sand with the beautiful background of sugar loaf mountain, the boardwalk and the palace. A sight I can picture, every time I close my eyes.

Via Show Funk club
That night we met with Junior and Mayer at our hostel bar and we jumped into a taxi bus to the funk club 'Via Show'. This place was crazy, everyone was packed in like sardines and many different coloured lights shot across the giant hall like room. As we arrived it didn't seem like anyone was dancing so we visited the bar and made the most of the unbelievably cheap drinks. A few minutes later, I asked Mayer 'where's the Brazilian dancing you talked of?', he said just wait. A moment later, Mayer gave me a look and said 'its about to drop now!' and it did, with a legendary on stage video and with a big introduction in portugese. The tune was called 'é o pet' and is the one song that will always remind me of Rio forever... 'PETCHO, PETCHO, PETCHO'. We danced the night away, imitating the local dance of dry humping the air and continuously moving their arses a lot! It was great, even though I felt like a bit of a muppet, dancing the way we were.

Copacabana beach round 2, new friends and the street party in Lapa
We met with the usual group and headed down to Copacabana beach for the second time, we sunbathed and I was introduced to two Chileans, Fabian and Sebastian, a canadian called Nick, a dutch girl named Malu and the gorgeous swiss model/dancer, Jolanda. They were also staying in our hostel and our group grew from six to eleven. We all got on so well, with great banter and from that day I knew we would always stay in touch. Junior turned up with two friends late afternoon and in a group of five we showed off our football skills by playing keepy uppys and me attempting a few bicycle kicks. An american guy tried for a bit but was a disgrace. After 10 minutes he decided to stick to basketball and baseball and gave up. Haha! By now everyone knew everyone in our hostel and I felt at home, loving every minute of each day. We spent that day socialising, then we met with Junior and a few locals for the street party in the Lapa area of Rio. This was known as a great weekly event we began dancing amongst the crowds in the street, but it felt a bit dangerous as the streets were jam-packed and it was difficult to stay in our group. I decided to head home after an hour with Jolanda, we asked the taxi driver to drop us off at the Copacabana palace as we didnt know the exact address of our hostel. The taxi driver drove right up to the big spinning doors at the entrance of the palace and we got out feeling very special that the taxi driver thought we could afford a room here, especially as we were all wearing flip-flops. We pretended to walk in, then chickened out and ran off back towards our hostel.

Flamengo versus Vasco de Gama
It felt like I had been awaiting this moment my entire life. A big group of us bought tickets from the hostel and jumped in taxi buses towards the stadium, firstly we had to stop off at a bar, for a pre-game beverage with my friends: Clint (Aussie), Anthony (American); Nacho (Argentine) and the usual lot (Michel, Hans, Jolanda, Malu, Katie, Karen, Fabian and Sebastian). As we headed back to our taxis it began to rain and by the time we were dropped off at the stadium it was truly raining cats and dogs, unlike anything I had seen before! A few bought bags to use as rain coats from locals as we stepped off the bus, I chose to take the running approach in hope I would dodge the rain. With each and every step towards the stands I could feel the excitement growing within myself. We stepped out into the stands and the rain continued to pour, adding to the incredible atmosphere. 15ft flags were all over the stadium, wearing my Flamengo shirt we were fortunately surrounded by the Flamengo fans who easily out numbered that of the opposition. Flamengo were known as the thieves of Rio and Vasco were known as the rats that would sell their own mothers to prostitution. They take no prisoners in terms of insults to fans in this country! The game began and I felt amazing to be experiencing my dream with such a lovely group of friends. The fans from my section sang and danced their hearts out and I lived for every single moment. Ten minutes into the game, Vasco were awarded a penalty, they stepped up and the Flamengo goal keeper Bruno dived to his right to save it brilliantly, the Flamengo fans erupted into dance and song. It was like they had won the Premier league, FA cup and Champions league all in one. For me this moment captured my entire travelling experience perfectly: A dream come true! I pinched myself and filled up with emotion. I joined in with the jumping and began chanting noise that sounded similar to that in Portugese that was being screamed out by the other Flamengo fans. It sounded something similar to:
'Dally, dalleeee, dalleeeey-oooooo!'
The football was a big improvement on that of the mid week game I had watched, with a few step overs and a faster tempo. The passing wasn't great but the players were playing in extreme rain conditions, which I am sure they are not use to, playing in the Brazilian league. By half time as well as the rain, lightning began to strike in the distance, it lit up the mountains in the backdrop of the stadium and for a brief second you could see an outline of the Christ redeemer statue. Amazing! The second half began and before we knew it, a Flamengo defender had gifted Vasco with another penalty, this was a nerve-racking time and unbelievably Bruno saved once again... world class keeper, united sign him up! The fans went ballistic, 'Dally, dalleeee, dalleeeey-oooooo!'. Vasco had definately been the team on top so far, but Flamengo began to pull it together after 60 mins and played a much better passing game. This eventually resulted in Adriano being brought down horrendously in the box and finally we had a penalty decision gone our way. After what felt like forever, with a lot of shaky hands by the Flamengo fans around us, Adriano slotted the ball into the bottom right corner. We had taken the lead, I reached over and gave a local a hug before going crazy with my friends. The game finished 1-0 and we waited around the stadium, with my shirt circulating my friends as we took pictures. What an experience, we got back in the taxis dodging the rain and headed back to our hostel bar where we saw in the rest of the night.

Copacabana footy match, Frankie nickname and Ipanema with the locals
We travelled to copacabana beach where we met with our now enormous group of friends from the mellow yellow hostel, Sebastian had decided I looked like Frank Lampard and gave me the nickname 'Frankie', which soon spread round our hostel to the point I was introducing myself with it. His brother Fabian would pretend to be shocked every day he saw me, asking me to sign whatever he had on him and constantly shaking my hand. We sun bathed on the beach during the day and drank the brazilian soft drink 'Guarana' (yum, so refreshing!) and attempted playing a football game, but it was too hot, instead we returned to some sun bathing. As the day got cooler we challenged a group of lads playing footy to a four a-side match, we were playing directly in front of copacabana palace and this was mine and Michel's dream. The sand trapped every step I took, making it very difficult to run, especially considering the amount of alcohol we had drunk over the last few days! I cut inside a player and ping-ed a beauty into the bottom left corner past the keeper, I turned to Michel in defence and he dropped down onto his left knee, I ran over to him and he pretended to clean my invisible boots (an infamous brasilian goal celebration). This was the best celebration of my life, something I would never forget. We won that game 3-2, I scored a hat-trick. We socialised in our big group that night and Junior also came along, he managed to drag myself out to Ipanema with his friends, where we had a round of Flamino Absinto (shots of absinthe on fire through a straw). This warmed up the evening, we stopped at a supermarket on the way home and we grabbed a few beers and I explained to Junior's friend, Marcio (who didn't speak a word of English) what a ping-pong show was, mainly using actions.

The end is nearing
We said goodbye to Hans, Nacho, Fabian and Sebastian as they headed to Buzios in southern Brazil. My last day was a depressing one rain pouring. I wrote a postcard to Michel, Karen, Katie, Malu and Jolanda and hid it amongst their bags. All my remaining friends came to the bar to have one final drink with me and signed my Flamengo shirt.

After almost missing my flight, secretly trying to extend my travelling experience I flew home with the very british, British Airways and met with my mum to an emotional return home. It felt like I had arrived in the coldest place in the world! I called my best friend Matt whilst I was still on the plane, waiting to get off and was interested to see what had changed over the last few months, I was too suprised to hear nothing much had.

The end of the travelling dream
What a trip, so many highlights with Rio de Janeiro as you have just read definately being one of them. The perfect trip in my eyes. I have met so many amazing people and learnt a lot about who I am. In just four months I had experienced so much and travelled all the way round the globe. I hope to visit such places again in the not so distant future. To all those that made my travelling experience unforgettable, THANK YOU!!

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