Samba City!

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Well we finally made it to big bad Rio! We found it so hard to believe we were here after a year long build up but we were determined to make the most of it. After a looooonnnng 22 hour bus journey we arrived in the bus terminal of Rio De Janeiro cluthing our rucksacks and looking out for potential thieves, none to be seen so we jumped in a taxi and made our way to Santa Teresa where we would be staying for the next couple of nights.

At first glance Santa Teresa seemed really beautiful. It's one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city, previously home to many of the poor but in recent times has become quite an trendy 'arty' area and the focus of many postcards of Rio due to the beautiful white arches on top of which the tram into the city centre travels regularly. Our taxi man wove his way up the cobbled streets until we were quite high up and had amazing views of the city. Thinking we couldn't really have gone much higher we were 'delighted' to see a multitude of steps which led to the hostel door. We never get tired of lugging around the ol' rucksacks!

Karen made another attempt to sleep but then decided she was hungry so we picked up a boy called Neil from the hostel and the 3 of us went for food. This was our first experience of having to deal with a bit of Portuguese and we were at the mercy of the waiter who recommended something we could share. Being too tired to argue we decided to take a chance on it. Surprisingly it didn't turn out too bad. We had a fairly traditional Brasilan meal which consisted of rice, chips, black bean soup and various types of meat and poultry. Quite delicious actually. We also took this opportunity to try the ínfamous Brasilian drink - caipirinhas. These are made by pounding a load of limes, mixing it with a lot of sugar and adding even more local rum! Pretty toxic but....interesting blend of flavours.

After lunch we took a quick walking tour of the city centre and saw some pretty cool old buildings and generally tried to get a feel for the city. Many of the street vendors were selling carnival accessories and there was definitely a feeling that the party was coming soon! We were excited!

Next day we thought we would soak up some more of the city's great culture but before that we had to get a pedicure - it was so cheap it would have been wrong not too - and then we had to eat and then we had to go back to the hostel and get ready to go out. We found a great samba bar which was an antique shop by day! It was a very cool place and plenty of locals around who were more than willing to give you a few samba lessons. We went along with some people from our hostel and another guy that we had met on the bus from Iguazu. It was a great night and a great introduction to samba!

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Photos

Christ the Redeemer
Just wow. Can´t believe we are here and he is watching over us every day

Cap night
Enjoying Caipirinha´s, the local vodka and crushed lime drink with Neil on the hostel terrace

Carnaval Dress
Getting in costume for the folie

Ipanema
The view from Corcovado and our Brasilian home

Comments

[Arnab]

nice trip! extremely pretty!!