Do do do, da da da da, the girl from Ipanema
Trip Start
Sep 06, 2006
1
4
36
Trip End
Sep 01, 2007
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Rio De Janeiro,
Brazil
Saturday, September 16, 2006
So what did we get up to in Rio?
We stayed in Rio for about a week, it took us a couple of days to get used to the city, how to work out the buses and all that. It wasn´t until we had done some of the touristy hotspots and Cath had stopped looking over her shoulder ever minute did we relax into the Rio groove. The Big Jesus on top of the hill was pretty cool with its amazing views across the city. After that we went to some mountain made of sugar loaf, where we went up by cable car to see the sun set which was quite romantic like init! So i don´t waffle on, here is a list of other cool things we did in Rio.
We went on the old rickety Bonde tram which flies high on a bridge over Lapa,an old part of Rio. If you sit down you have to pay but if you hang off the side its freeeee. In order to have enough money to get a beer at the other end, we hung on - I nearly got my foot caught going over the bridge but hey, this was fun! All the kids run along side jumping on and off kicking parked cars as we past, so much fun i nearlly joined in, must have been the beer!
Near the tram stop, or at the begining (depends where you start!) there was a big cathedral, fairly modern building, ugly as on the outside, looking like a giant darlek but amazing on the inside with 4 huge 15 storey´s high stained glass windows. Check out the photos.
Other memories of Rio are walking the streets and seeing people passing by dressed in their speedo trunks (who named them trunks!) or in bikini´s (i liked this look - N) or with surf boards under arm, it just seemed a little strange, i don´t think people felt the need to change after the beach, so i tried to fit in we began to do the same but not unfortunatly in tight trunks!
We went to watch a football game at the Macarana Stadium, we were picked up from our hostel in a van.
and todays weather is......scorchio!
Written on the side was a big sign: Don´be a gringo! tours! hhhmmmmmmm thats it, blending in well there! Apart from being in a tour group it was an Ok game and although the stadium was half full there was a good atmosphere, i think the beer helped too! We were trying to avoid going on tours like this because they charge you double what you would have spent if you had gone yourself, but they try and scare you by saying its not safe, blah di blah blah, Porky pies me thinks! Another tour that hostels plug and loads of tourists seem to do is the`Favela Tour` and the `Favela Funk Party`. We ummmd and arrrrrrhd about these two tours. It wasnt that we were scared of going into a Favela, although some are pretty god damn crazy and run by drug lords, its just we didnt feel exactly happy about going on a tour to stare in wonder at these amazing people who live in poor conditions and take picture postcard photos of it all. Favelas are strange and one of the paradoxes of Rio, Brazil. I`m sure most of you know they are mostly perched on the hills around Rio, right next to some of the wealthiest areas. We met a guy who worked on community projects in some of the favelas and he told us that all these tours are fake, just for tourists but instead invited us with him to meet a friend who owned a bar in a favela, so we could see the amazing view instead of peering in through peoples windows like in a zoo. Unfortunately he had to work late and we didn`t get to go anyway. We were still getting used to hostel life in Rio.
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We stayed in a really nice place called The LightHouse a hostel/small candle factory staying in bunk beds with 6 others including a 60 year old Irish man called jim (i know i thought it was a YOUTH hostel too). He was quite quiet for an Irish person and would always say "heelllooooo" in true lepricorn style. He didn´t belive in washing and would always wear his mouldy addidas vest top, which would sag nicely to display his nipples. A couple of times we thought he was dead as he when he slept he looked as he was in so much pain, maybe he couldn´t take the smell of himself either!Just one last thing about Rio, the Caipirinha´s are strong here! We went out with some crazy dutch dudes in Lapa, where the streets are ramed full of people, you buy your drinks off street vendors, nice and cheap and strong! Then once you´ve had a couple (thats all you need) you start to line up to get in to a club, the time is half midnight (bed time for us british but the party hasn´t even started yet). The club was cool with live music and salsa bands, although just when i fancied abit of a dance Cath decided to loose ability to speak and stand. When the live music finally did stop, at 5am everyone, in an orderly fashion, started to form a queue by lining up chairs which circled downstairs, up the stairs round the first floor, up the stairs and round the second floor. This queue was to pay for your drinks tab. It took nearly 2 hours to get out of the club and noone seemed to mind, apart from our crazy dutch freinds who tried to sneek out but got sent to the back! However, we resurfaced just in time to leg it to see the sunrise on Copacobana, or was it Ipanema! Damn those Caipirinha´s!
