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In Rio, I daringly used Couchsurfers as my accommodation and stayed with a nice Brazilian called Ian. He lived close to Ipanema. On the first day, I awoke and it was raining heavily. This didn´t dishearten me and I took the umbrella and the bus and went into Lapa, just next to the city center. Everything was closed! I couldn´t understand why the city was deserted.
All I wanted was to eat something and find an internet cafe in order to know the exchange rate! After looking around for 1.5 hours, I finally found a stall that was open and ate a very oily sandwich, since I was incapable of understanding what I was ordering. Not to mention that I couldn´t understand a s.i.n.g.l.e word of portuguese ... couldn´t ask for directions, could barely remember the word for thank you (which is Obrigada). I felt helpless for the first time since my trip started. Course, me being me, I was annoyed at not being able to pick up a new language and speak it fluently after 5 seconds. My confidence dropped to minus 20.
I heard that Rio is the most dangerous city in the world (? - is
this true?) so I spent the rest of the day perfecting my don´t-mess-with-me look. The police with big machine guns strapped across their chest like necklaces did not exactly make me feel more secure.
*Later on, Ian told me that it was a public holiday, and it is incredibly dangerous to go into town when it is deserted.*
Lying Planet in one hand, umbrella and a bottle of water in the other, I decided to walk from the city to Copacabana, which is not a good idea because it is miles away. More annoyingly I had to keep pulling my pants up since I´d put myself on a diet so as not to feel like a fat blob next to the supposed Brazilian beauties (I had put on weight on the Machu Pichu trail - and yes, mmm hmm, I put weight on whilst trekking.)
So I got to Copacabana, which is the more relaxed Ipanema. Comparing it to Australia, Ipanema=Noosa, Copacaban=Gold Coast. Ipanema is full of very hip, cool, trendy people, and the most expensive shops, and superior cafes and restaurants. Copacabana is more relaxed and a little tacky to be honest. Both have millions, and
millions of shops. On either beach, you will see middle aged women wearing too much makeup and jewellery, trying to look young. Young women wearing way too little, trying to look thin. And yes, boys, there are plenty of women with beautiful bodies, but they weren´t very pretty.
I spent most of my days commuting on foot between Copacabana and Ipanema, people watching and watching beach volleyball on the beach. In the evening, the bars with Samba music would come alive, and coconuts filled with alcohol, and many Caipirinhas! Also there are many people who go jogging in the evening, many good looking people come out at night.
On the last day, I decided to try hang-gliding. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to see the city, but very scary. You´re strapped to the instructor, and have to run off a cliff (!) on a mountain. That was the hardest part .... running off the cliff. Almost feels like you´re committing suicide! So you run off the cliff and that split second when the hang-glide first flies and you fall into the harness is very scary. The view was beautiful. I saw a lot
of the mansions from above, with their big gardens and swimming pools. We flew over the jungle of the hill we started on, and also could see many many islands of the archipelago off Rio. Halfway through the ride, my instructor Popo took out his mobile phone to make a few calls whilst guiding the hang-glide with his free hand. Okayyyy
(NB: Paragliding is more fun, because it lasts for longer)
I also spent a day going to the Christo Redeemer - that huuuuuge famous statue of Christ on the hill that Rio is famous for. It really is a huge statue, and the view of Rio from there is amazing. I had no idea how big Rio was until I saw it from there. Really breathtaking. Highly recommend it.
Song: clearly that ´Girl from Ipanema´ song which I had in my head the whole week.
Note: people are incredibly image conscious there ... the sugar on the tables are the no calories type, and everything is calorie counted and low fat.
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pablo valle
non-member comment
hi silvia... WOW!!! your really having a big trip... i knew it was going to be long, but now that i really see all your doing it suprises me more and more... i see your really having a great time, although it´s not always easy to manage in unknown places... i´m now here in mexico city, and this is really crazy because i got here and the flu epidemic had just started... now the city is in a complete paranoid state... i almost can´t go out from my girlfriend´s place... before this i visited monica in boston and that was really cool have a nice day and continue enojoying your stay in rio (if your still there) besos pablo