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Published: June 17th 2009
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I don’t think I’ve ever given a city an introduction quite like this before but Rio isn’t just another city. I agonized whether to go or not since I’d vowed to myself I’d never go. If I was nervous going to Sao Paulo I was scared witless going to Rio.
Travellers had been very animated talking about Rio to me and they always said one of two things; either ‘it’s the most amazing place you’ll go’ or ‘I was mugged’. Like the rest of Brazil, Rio brought out tales of first-hand experiences rather than third or fourth hand accounts of crime. I had also spoken to a Brazilian man who lived in Rio when I was in Hanoi. He told me (pointing to my £10 ASDA watch) and I quote, “you can’t wear that in Rio, they would happily kill you for that watch”. I spoke to a lovely Brazilian doctor too in Lima on a city tour who hated going to Rio (and I quote again), “It’s far too dangerous for me to be able to relax at all there. I have to take off any jewellery for fear of being mugged.” The reason for the endemic street crime
is that the shantytowns (the favelas) are directly beside the middle and upper income neighbourhoods. At Copacabana for example, where many tourists stay, the favelas start just three streets back from the beach. Rich and poor live side by side.
From Wikipedia: “Rio has high crime rates, especially homicide, in poor areas dominated by drug lords, primarily in the North Zone. As of 2007, the homicide rate of the greater metropolitan area stood at nearly 30 victims per week, with the majority of victims falling to mugging, stray bullets or narcoterrorism. In 2006, 2,273 people were murdered in the city giving it a murder rate of 37.7 cases for every 100,000 people. According to federal government research,the city itself ranks 206th in the list of the 5,565 most violent cities in Brazil and first in total number of firearm-related deaths. Between 1978 and 2000, 49,900 people were killed in Rio.The Urban Warfare involves drug-traffic battle with police fighting against outlaws, or even corrupt policemen on their side. Rio de Janeiro's low paid and ill-equipped police are violent as well, it has been said. In 2007, the police allegedly killed 1,330 people in the state,an increase of 25 percent over
2006 when 1,063 people were killed, in 2003 that number plateaued at 1,195. In comparison the American police killed only 347 people in whole of the United States during 2006.The average Rio policeman earns only R$874 a month or R$10,488 (around US$6,000) a year.”
The other response Rio elicits is unbridled enthusiasm for the place. The natural beauty of the city for starters; the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain, the sweeping wide sandy hotel lined beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema with “Dois Irmãos” (the two brothers mountain) framing the view and of course Christ the Redeemer, with his outstretched arms, looking out protectively over the city from the cliff top (recently voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World). Then we come to the world famous Carnival and the samba. Rio is the place to party Brazilian style with dancing feet matching the samba rhythms into the early hours. It sounds enticing doesn’t it?
With all of this running round in my head I found myself on the bus to Rio. Not long into the journey I could feel a strange sensation coming on. I had the onset of Manilow-it is. The words to “Copacabana” were constantly in
my head. By the time I got off the bus and into a taxi my excitement at being in Rio was bubbling over. I still knew to be cautious and careful but hey…I was in Rio baby!
I booked a city tour for my first day proper in Rio and luckily the weather was lovely, the sun was shining and the skies were blue. The mini bus took our small group, of mostly Brazilians, through the choking traffic and around the main sights. First on the list was the Christ Redeemer atop Corcovado Mountain. We drove along the winding road through the forest and up the side of the hill, almost to the top. A lift and an outdoor escalator took me the last few steps and I was standing in front of the imposing figure craning my neck to see it. At 120ft tall it’s an impressive sight. The view out over Rio that the Christ the Redeemer has (and I now had) was incredible; Sugarloaf Mountain, arcs of golden beach, hills rippling out to the deep blue sea, islands in the distance, white city apartment blocks and jumbles of favelas. One of the most spectacular city-scapes I’ve
seen.
Before lunch we ticked off the Maracana Stadium opened for the World Cup in 1950. At that time it held just short of 200,000 people and was the largest stadium in the world. Now the capacity is a mere 89,000 but it’s still the largest in South America. We also stopped for the aqueduct in Lapa, built in the 18th century, and the tiled street stairway just blocks away. Brazil has been a bit of a concrete jungle for me. The metro in Sao Paulo is a concrete warren and many of the buildings are uninspired concrete creations. Rio, however, has a concrete Cathedral, Catedral Sao Sebastiao, which was the only piece of concrete architecture that perked my interest. The building is conical, with curved pews to seat 20,000 worshipers. It has four almost floor to ceiling stained glass windows meeting at the apex in a clear glass cross. A highly unusual building.
Lunch was in a kilo restaurant, a buffet style restaurant where you pay by the kilo for the amount of food you pile on your plate. This one, as most are, was pretty nice. It served typical Brazilian dishes, rice, beans, stews of meats
and grilled fish along with salad dishes and vegetable accompaniments. I was eager to get to the main attraction of the afternoon, Sugarloaf Mountain. We had arrived just before sunset. The first cable car took us up Urca Mountain for my first views of the city at sunset. It was stunning; Christ the Redeemer set in silhouette against a red sky and the boast settled in the shimmering harbour. After soaking in the view I took the second cable car to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. As the car approached the mountain I spotted two climbers making their own way to the top, up the side of the rock itself. The view from here was even more beautiful. The beach of Copacabana stretched out before me up the coast. I stood here watching the sun set behind the hills pinching myself…I was in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Rio de Janeiro (and I hadn’t been mugged yet either! Bonus!).
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