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Published: July 10th 2006
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Cariocas
Arrived in Rio after a rather long flight, i think it was 14 hours including the stop off in Sao Paulo, which luckily we didnt have to leave the plane for. We also had the good fortune to be upgraded on the flight to ´world traveller plus´ which afforded us an extra 7 inches of leg room, which doesnt sound much, but when you are attempting to sleep for as much of it as possible its very much a welcome addition.
After leaving the plane experienced our first ripping off of the trip in the shape of an over charged taxi, which we paid outright at the airport to the tune of 72 Reals which is about 18 pounds. To be fair we didnt actually consider it a rip off until about a week later when we realised that if we had taken a metered taxi it would have been less than 50, also considering that the journey was about 40 minutes long - it was down right cheap compared to the UK. So no real complaints there.
The first few days we spent in the city were relatively quiet, firstly because we took a little time
to get acclimatised and recover from the flight, and also because we spent time with the Chris and Rob who arrived here a couple of days before us and were staying in a hostel around a mile away from ours. Also there was the small matter of the world cup, which on one particular day we had particularly high hopes of given that England and Brazil were playing on the same day. The day started well enough getting Taxis over to an area called Ipanema to a an English bar going by the name of ´Lord Jims´which was a 3 storey Tudor style building with a red British phone box outside the front door. The place was in good voice until of course the inevitable defeat by the penalties which we all know and love, needless to say the mood dropped quite rapidly and after the final 90% of the bar made a beeline for the exit. The only problem was that in every bar in Brazil you are issued with a receípt that acts like a tab which is paid on departure, the system usually works well enough as it means bars serve quickly and you dont have to
Rocinha
No photo can give the impression of what its like to be there fiddle with cash (although dont lose the receipt or you are hit with an astronomical fine), unfortunately in this particular case it created a long queue of English people who had to spend about an hour standing in a morose silence. Ever the optimists we tried to keep our spirits high as we still had our newly adopted country of Brazil to watch play against an underforming french side, as i´m sure you all know this optimism proved to be misplaced and all hopes of attending some victorious brazilian street parties were scuppered as Rio went into Mourning.
After the first few days of doing relatively little we realised that we better get a wriggle on an start seeing the things which we came to Rio to see. In order to aid this process we checked out of our original hostel and joined Chris, Rob, Sarah and Dave in theirs in Rua Santa Clara also in Copacobana. First on our list of sights to see was the Statue of Christ the Reedeemer (Corcovoda), which is something that i have always wanted to see. We all caught the bus over to it which cost us around 50 pence, then once there caught a train which was rather reminiscent of a swiss railway up to the summit. The statue is pretty impressive and the views over Rio also so, although i think that i was slightly a victim of my own expections, although i´m not sure exactly what those were. It was still very impressive though standing around 30 metres tall and watching over the city.
The next day we continued on the tourist trail visiting Rio´s second most famous landmark which is Sugar Loaf mountain, a bizzarre shaped rock near to the Botafogo region of Rio. To get to the summit you get two cable cars, firstly to an intermediate point on a different rock and then finally to the summit. Again the views were amazing - especially as we had a clear day for it, rather than the overcast we experienced when visiting christ. It was pretty impressive, but as with all touristy things it was largely a case of going up there taking a load of photos and then coming back down. I hope that the photos we did take match the experience of being up there though as it was stunning.
On our final day before departing we decided to take the favela tour, which is basically the term used in Brazil to describe an urbanised slum. The one which we looked round is called
Rocinha (click for more info) which has approximately 250,000 inhabitants in an area only the size of a small town. I must admit that prior to going i was very sceptical about it - firstly because it is one of the most notorious areas in the world, but also because it did seem a bit wrong and voyeuristic to attend such a tour. We were taken by minibus to the foot of the Favela, where we taken by motorbike at break neck speeds up a winding hill to the top of the favela. From here we were taken on a walk through all the little back passages of the area visiting an art studio a kids day care centre and local shops. I cant really get accross quite how amazing a trip it was, just the sheer amount of houses and shops there were down all the little streets. Given the reputation of the place i didnt feel intimidated at all, although my heart skipped a beat when i saw a boy of 14/15 walk round the corner with a huge gun slung over his shoulder. Theres so much more to say about the experience and i´m sure that i will be boring people senseless on our return. What i will say though is that it was one of the most amazing things that i have ever done, and that it didnt feel exploititive rather just observing a different way of life.
As it was our last night with the people of Kingston before we moved on and they returned back to the UK we decided that it would be a good idea to have a few farewell drinks, i think about 5.30 in the morning I decided that as our flight was at 10.30 the next day there was no point going to bed that evening and carried on the festivities before going down to Leblon Beach (Rio´s third behind Copacobanna and Ipanema) to watch the sun rise, which was again another amazing experience - although unfortunately one my body took reprisals against me for when on the plane the next day.
Tom
7/06
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Sheila
non-member comment
Sounds great
What an experience for you to have.