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Published: November 20th 2006
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Copacabana Beach
From Sugar Loaf Mountain Our preconceptions of Rio de Janeiro were perhaps the most misplaced yet of our trip to South America. I'm sure that bad stuff happens here, and indeed some of our fellow travellers have first hand experience of this (the hold up of a local bus using a grenade is perhaps the most notible!) but its not as bad as the books and media make out. You just need to use your common sense i.e. don't walk around with your camera in view. Our time here was trouble free. Rio de Janiero is an amazing city and we loved it.
We stayed at a hostel called Mellow Yellow near Copacabana beach which was recommended to us. The website looks excellent as well. Unfortunately it failed to live up to expectations - it was in a bad state of repair and the staff were rude. The bloke behind the bar was so miserable we were all scared to order a drink......a bit liked a visit to 'The Horns' when John was the landlord (you need to be a Horn's regular to get that).
On our first night in Rio we went to what is known as a Churrascaria for dinner. Servers
come to your table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of meat. You select the bit you want and they carve it off. Excellent. Paul ate far too much but he was a happy man.
On the next day we were due to meet Vicki's sister in the evening who was flying in from London for a trip of her own so we didn't do much. It was raining unfortunately so plans to sit on Copacabana beach were thwarted. We had a long breakfast and then went to the cinema! In the evening Lizzie met us in the bar at Mellow Yellow and we tried to order some caipirinha's to celebrate. Typically the bar had run out of cachaça, the key ingredient. No where else in Brazil would they allow such a thing to happen.
On our first active day in Rio we caught the metro to the Centro and then caught the 'bonde' up to Santa Teresa. This a knackered old tram on which they pack far too many people. Good fun though. Santa Teresa itself was a bit of a disappointment. The area is really pretty - its the old colonial
Sugar Loaf Mountain
On the way up in the cable car part of the city - but there's not a great deal there. We tried to latch onto a tour group but they all disappeared into the tram museum. No thanks.
In the afternoon we caught a local bus to Sugar Loaf mountain and then caught the cable car up. From the top the view is amazing. You can see the affluent areas of the city down near Copacabana beach stretching back to the Favella's which climb up the sides of the mountains at the back and of course Christ the Redeemer sitting high on Corcovado mountain. Its a city of contrasts....rich and poor. It's the same throughout Brazil really, there's a massive poverty gap.
In the late evening we caught a taxi to an area of town called Lapa where we were promised street parties until the early morning. The street party was certainly going strong. We enjoyed a couple of beers outside a bar on the street before going to a place called Carioca da Gema where we partook in some Samba dancing over a few caipirinha's. Think we got home at 430am after an excellent night. And this was early by some standards.
The next
day was a write off. We spent most of it kipping on Copacabana in front of the huge waves that pound the beach. We also visited the hippy market near Ipanema beach which is great for present buying and art. Unfortunately we had no access to cash so couldnt buy the must have paintings of favellas or other nick naks! By the evening we had nearly recovered so we went to watch some Capoeira in the hostel bar. This is a Brazilian martial art developed initially by African slaves in Brazil. Its a fighting technique but is camouflaged as a dance. I think the idea was that the slaves had a means of defending themselves without their captors realising what they were up to while they were practising. Capoeira is featured on a BBC advert - the one where two men are 'dancing' on a roof top in London.
On our final day in Rio we went to a market at Urumbguara and brought yet more havaiana flip flops. Everybody here in Brazil wears them. We had a bit of a faff trying to find a cash point - Brazil is the most developed country we've been too in South America but for some reason they just don't do international banking. Its a nightmare getting cash.
Next stop is Paraty, supposedly a few hours south of Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately our bus driver managed to collide with a car in a petrol station car park on the way down. Good work. We spent the next hour on the bus while everybody - even our fellow passengers - stood around discussing the situation. I have no idea what they were talking about. How complicated can it be. Anyway we eventually made it and were greeted off the bus by the staff of our next hostel.
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