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Published: March 10th 2009
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Adios Rio! We’ve now left Rio and we’re on the tropical Island of Ilha Grande(think Lost and you’re there - it’s amazing) but we’ll tell you about that in another blog - there’s lots more to update you on from Rio. If we had to sum Rio up in 5 words -, HOT, EXPENSIVE, COOL, THONGS and SKETCHY.I leave sketchy till last as this is probably the one we’ll remember Rio for being!!
After I last wrote we went to the Maracana (girls this is the biggest football stadium in Brazil and holds 100k people). Not much to say about this - it was a football match and not a particularly good one at that - I was bored!!! This was on Thursday night and on Friday we went to the biggie - Christ the Redeemer or Christo Redentor for the locals, and he certainly didn’t disappoint - he’s a big boy! Something I think for both of summed up Brazil and Rio before we arrived. We were so lucky with the weather and had a really clear day so the whole thing was pretty spectacular, Steve being himself managed to get us told off by guards for climbing on
the railing for ‘the perfect picture’!!
That night (and here comes the sketchy part) we decided to go to a ‘Carnival hangover’ street party in a place called Lapa - samba, capirinhas (Brazilian cocktails of loveliness) and good times were expected. We met some really lovely people in our hostel so in the end about 9 of us headed there. As we drove up in the taxi I think we all started to feel a little nervous - I didn’t take a camera and the wallet for the night was my bra, and is was a good thing too because as soon as we got out the taxi people were patting down Steve’s pockets to see what they could pick (which we’d been warned about)! We then went to get a drink and some street kid popped a pack of sweets in to Matt’s (a guy we were with) hand. When Matt tried to give it back the kid was having none of it and in the end Matt put it on the floor. Well that was it...the kid went psycho! Chasing Matt, pushing him, hitting him and basically going insane throwing a teenage tantrum beyond anything a Chav
may be able to pull off. It was getting totally out the hand so Steve threw some money at him and he finally left. We were all pretty upset and we’d only just arrived - we all knew that the situation could have been much worse - this kid wouldn’t have been on his own!!! The streets were heaving with people drinking and dancing - we attempted to samba under the arches of a bridge to a local samba group who were amazing! That part was really good, just locals, teaching us to samba (I think they took pity on my speeded up funky chicken style dance) and no hassles! We walked around a while but us girlies started getting freaked by all the people grabbing us. We then started chatting to an Aussie guy and out of nowhere this huge local guy came flying at him shouting all sorts in Portugese. We all just stood there crapping it and told the guy to run - the Brazilian followed him!! It was scary! At this point we all just wanted to go home, the atmosphere was tense and we didn’t feel safe. We bumped in it to a couple we
met earlier in the week and asked them if they were having a good time - their reply; “ Bit BLOODY SKETCHY”! So there you go - Lapa street parties make you fear for your life!! We look back now and still swear a lot at the whole thing!
We needed to chill out in the nice areas of Rio the next day so hit the beach and Steve managed to get a surf in, we also went to Copacabana for a better look - it’s a stunning beach!
So after a night sharing a room with a guy with a sleep disorder (never seen or heard anything like it!) we checked out and headed on the bus to a ferry port 3 hours south of Rio and after the local ferry we’ve arrived in paradise and we no favela kids in sight!
STEVE
Well the football was a bit of a let down. Fluminese 3 vs Nacional 0. Considering Fluminense are one of Brazil’s best teams, I think Plymouth Argyle would give them a damn good run for their money!!
Anyway, onto the important stuff. I surfed a lovely head high shorebreak at Ipanema, bodyboard
only option, so I hired a dodgy odd pair of fins, and a board that had a bit of twine for a leash. A few hefty closeouts later, and a nose full of sand, I discovered why the Brazilians never go on the first wave of a set. Damn good kicking, then the next one did the same (lost my watch and nearly my arm with the piece of twine wrapped around it!!)
Oh the God damn street party!!! If I see the word “Bohemians” in our guide book ever again...let’s put it this was “I won’t be going”. Union Street on steroids wouldn’t even come close. So many pickpockets and angro!! Samba was fun, though shortlived.
Christo was cool and damn hot. Imagine a piece of concrete that has been sat in the sun for 100 years and we were there at Midday when the weather below was 38oC. God damn security told me off, but to be fair I was standing on a wall with a million foot drop the other side. Good photo though (no tourists in my photo...yeah you 😉
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Chris
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You crazy people
Hmmm not sure it's safe for the two of you to be in Brazil - come home at once! Also not sure you're s'posed to kiss in front of Christ - you may well go to hell :( Damn the man Steve - you get up on those railings!