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Published: September 19th 2012
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Our final stop of our round the world adventure was in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. Rio was literally a carnival for us from non-stop rain to the winding alleys of the favelas, to the sun bronzed beaches, the crazy surfers, the contrasting neighbourhoods, the tourist traps and the engagement!
We booked into a hotel as a treat for our last few nights of our adventure. The hotel was just off the famous 5km long Copacabana beach and the views of the sweeping arc of the beach as seen from the rooftop were spectacular. We also started the day with a stomach expanding buffet each day! Very luxurious in comparison to our recent digs all around South America!
The weather wasn’t too kind to us and we really only had about 3 scorching days out of the 7. The rest meant that we were drenched as we walked the streets! And yes Rio is a different city if it’s raining. When the sun is out so are all those beautiful people. The beaches are lined with palm trees, volleyball nets, outdoor gym equipment, peachy bottoms of women in thongs and people doing every kind of exercise possible
be it rollerblading, skateboarding, running or cycling. The beaches are funny places because they each have their own identity in the pavements. They are made in a mosaic style but where one may have wave like patterns along the length of the beach, the other may have squares. The other thing we quickly noticed that unlike typical European beach resorts there are little or no bars or restaurants on the strip but these are usually further back a block or two. So the beach front is very much where the rich have their homes in high rise apartment blocks. This does take away from the feel of the beach a bit but I suppose it has its positives as it removes the tack!
The beaches are the heart of Rio and its where people from different walks of life collide. From street kids or favela dwellers or the affluent, the beach is the place to do some people watching. The thing that stood out was that people are loud and proud about their bodies here and I’m not just talking about those typical Brazilian men and women who have the perfect beach bodies. Here you are accepted if you
are a large male with an overhanging belly that wants to play volleyball in the tightest shorts possible or if you have cellulite ridden bum cheeks and you want to stick on a thong. So there were definitely some sights to be seen (or to avoid)!!
The poorer of society are usually found selling things along the beach and although the collision occurs here it is obvious that those with money overall have taken an ignorant stance to those less well-off here. This can only be seen best in the Favelas (shanty towns) of the city. Most of them are built along the sides of hills with envious views of the bay along the city’s edge. So the rich live right next to them in their lavish million dollar apartments but they do not cross the barbed wire fences. There was even an American school literally at the entrance of one favela. The students here pay €3000 a month to go to school but those in the favela live with basic infrastructure just feet away!!! Although many of them are now under government control there are still plenty which are run by drug lords. There are about 700 in
Rio and really anywhere you look they can be seen! Until recent times most of the favelas were inaccessible to those outside of the town. There were no services such as sanitation, clean water, electricity and the like. We did a tour to visit two favelas which are now in a better place and have been given infrastructure since been taken over by the law. Before this the favela of Rocina was a drug gang’s haven but the crime inside there was minimal. This was because they didn’t want the cops to come into the town so the citizens (75,000 people live in this one favela alone) couldn’t put a foot out of line. Our guide gave us an idea how strict the drug lords were by explaining that the first bank to be set up in the favelas was robbed. The police came in to investigate but the money was found in the houses of two locals. The money was returned in full by the DRUG LORDS to the bank so that there was no fuss. Of course they turned in the two locals to the cops because they wanted no more investigation on their turf!
We visited
a smaller favela called Villa Canoas that was set up by a family and hasn’t had any drug involvement. It seems to have been a guinea pig by the government and has had lots of support to help clean it up. Here we had the opportunity to walk through the little alleyways that are distinctive in many of the favelas. It was so interesting. Little paths winding down among buildings with doors into houses here and there, the buildings are crooked and mismatched from all the different additions here and there to the homes. Up steps, down steps, an underground river below houses. It really is a different world. Kids were running here and there and you turn a corner and there is another secret courtyard surrounded by wonky structures. At the end one of the locals has a little bar set up so we had the Brazilian classic Caprinihia. For a few Reals each we had a strong cocktail to finish the tour with the locals wandering around saying hi and going on with their day. If you go to Rio, visiting the favelas is a must. It really demonstrates how the rich and poor live side by side.
We visited the infamous Christ the Redeemer statue and the attraction itself impressed but my oh my, the views from up there were breath-taking. Rio has wound itself around a bay that has islands dotted here and there, enclosed lagoons, hill jutting up randomly and when you are 750metres above the city of colour and celebration you can see why it is such a popular tourist destination. Oh and all the tourists here remind you of it too. I can safely say all the tourist attractions before here are well behind in the visitors stakes. The queues here were long, drawn out and there was little system to them. When we finally got to the top (to avoid yet another queue we decided to walk the last 3.5km to the top) you could barely move with people lying on the ground to take photos of the statue or people stopping randomly in front of each other to get that perfect snap! I took a minute to watch it all and by god we are a vain race!!!! The poses and shenanigans when taking photos really was an eye opener. We even caught one fella closing his eyes until the
last minute so that his pupils were as wide as possible in the photo!!!! Pure madness!! Of course I did a few poses too but sure if you can’t beat them join them!
We had a few nights out to make sure we really knew what Rio was about. The place to be is called Lapa we were told so we combined sightseeing during the day in the suburbs of artsy Santa Teresa and a visit to the Escadaria Selaron (200 steps made from tiles from all over the world by a Chilean artist) with a night taking in the Samba clubs and lively nightlife. We didn’t go into a live samba club because if I was honest we felt it was too expensive for what it was so instead we did our backpacking side street bar thing and had a great night laughing and taking it all in. Then we found a gem of a place that would just be dangerous in Ireland!! An open front off licence. Basically you can just order what you want and stand in the street drinking it!!!
Our other big night out was on our last night!! And yes it was
a night of romance and excitement because John popped the question on iPanema beach at sunset and it was just perfect. We went for a fabulous dinner and drinks and took it all in; we are now going home to start a new adventure!
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