Christ looking out for Rio
Well, we tried to wait a whole week to update this, but its just too lovely!
Arrived yesterday to a bit of bother with the usual ripping off from the taxi driver. But the Hostel, at least, did exist! It's pretty cool, tho our room is more of a cell than a boudoire and has a climbing wall outside the balcony so Nick can´t prance around naked!
Went to Copacabana on our first day, was gorgeous! Nick was disapointed with the lack of nudity from the sexier women...it seemed it was only the OAPs in their thongs! We were probably and quite comically the most startlingly white people on the beach!
After, we joined a carnival parade that was meant to start at 3pm, but at five it still hadnt started so, beaten by the heat, we gave up in favour of a cold shower.
Second day we got up early and made our way to Sugarloaf mountain before the queues. We just managed to beat the American tourist bus up there and saw spectacular views of Rio, and were lucky enough to see eagles circling the mountain. Was so beautiful. We did a bit of exploring too and found some rare lion-faced monkeys that live on the hills.
Mum (West) you would have loved the cable car up there!!!
Later, we broke up the hottest part of the day with an ice cool Brahma in a local bar!
Later we went back to Copacabana for dinner and had pizza for the 2nd night running (its the only thing we recognise on the menu/can afford!).
Copacabana is just as busy at night as it is during the day. It has a great atmosphere with people selling anything and everything! The food smells are amazing, we reckon you could have a full meal just walking up and down sampling all the different food! (which we plan to do!). The beach is policed well too so you feel really safe in the evening. Actually, everywhere seems to be policed well.
Updated 22.2.2007
Firstly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GANGER!!!
On monday we managed to navigate our way on Rio´s bus system. Was a bit of a mission, but we found everyone so helpful. One couple, who sent us off in the wrong direction, ran after us up a whole street to show us the correct way!
It took us 2 hours however, to get up to Pargue Nacional da Tijuca. Its basically a rainforest within Rio and is gorgeous. We walked up to a waterfall (Nick`s first ever!), which was huge! On the way down Nick was savaged by an enormous 2cm spikey caterpillar that had attached itself to his shorts. He was very brave, there was no tears! We also saw a 3 foot lizard and some strange creature things that looked like a cross between an ant eater and a monkey!
Managed to get the bus back in half the time...easy when you know how!
Monday night we managed to get some fairly cheap carnival tickets for the Sambadromo (the main part of the action), and went on the metro with a group from our hostel.
It was absolutely fantastic!!! You just cant imagine the scale of it until you see it! Each samba school parades for an hour and the parades go on til 5am. Each float just gets bigger and better than the last. One of the last floats we saw had to be lowered to get under the bridge.
On top of that the crowds are just going mad chanting and singing, waving flags, pounding samba drums etc. Its just absolutely fantastic!
Tuesday we didnt really do a lot apart from lounge on Copacabana beach, recovering from the carnival.
In the evening we were moved to a studio flat right on Copacabana beach! Basically they couldnt find our booking and the room was double booked. But I think we got the better deal as we have a whole flat on the beach for the same price! Result!
Wednesday 21st, being the pro´s we now are with Rio´s busses, we easily caught the bus to Corcavado (the mountain Christ stands on). From there we joined the other tourists on the very steep cog train to the top. As with Sugarloaf, there were amazing views of Rio, But the highlight is of course Christ himself. He´s enormous!
We did all the typical tourist stuff, photos with outstreched arms etc, then went and had a beer underneath him overlooking Rio...a view that rivalled those seem from The Crown rooftop garden!
In the evening we went to the Maracana football stadium to see Flamengo (one of Rio´s local teams) v Marcaibo (boooo!).
It was pretty manic, people screaming, smashing drums, lighting flares and a giant shirt that covered everyone whenever Flamengo scored... and they did 3-1.
For anyone that follows footie, Juninho (who just looked like a small boy to me, though Nick said he was special!) came on for the last 20 minutes. Nick was willing him to score, but sadly he did not.
I was just happy when the other team finally got a goal, as I felt bad them comming all that way to lose so badly!
The tube home wasn`t much quieter, it was packed with supporters banging the roofs, floors and windows, literally rocking the whole carraige. Good job we won!
Today we wandered round Central Rio and caught the ferry over to Niterio. We both expected a tropical island, but instead we found another Rio! So we had a bit of a walk, then got the ferry back again!
We did queue for an hour for a tram to St. Teresa to see the nuns, only to be stopped just as we got there!
Our last day in Rio was spent exploring Ipanema and it´s beaches. We did consider doing a favela tour but it seemed a little wrong making the poor a tourist attraction, so thats why we beached it instead!
Ipanema is probably the nicest part of Rio, definitely the cleanest beach we´ve seen.You can also tell it is a richer area as all the buildings are newer and better kept.
In the evening we had another chilled out evening on Copacabana, soaking up the atmosphere with a beer. Nick amused several homeless children with his bald head...not deliberately, they all just seemed to be drawn to it and kept stroking it! Waspretty cute really!
Will be sadtoleave Rio....
Will update pics soon xxx