Ola from Rio de Janeiro!
Trip Start
Mar 28, 2008
1
2
98
Trip End
Mar 27, 2009
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Having a great time, the weather averages 26 to 31 degrees everyday - Heaven!
On Sunday we visited a favelo (the slums), built between 2 mountains - 150,000 people crammed in. There are 70 favelos in Rio where the majority of the population live - definately an eye opener. Our tour guide told us we walked past 4 people with guns which we didnīt realise! The police donīt go into the faveloīs, only on the edges but because of legal reasons there is one community police man who is bribed by the drug dealers to ignore the dealings in front of his hut!
If you live in a favelo and you do something wrong, the police donīt get involved, the local mafia courts deal with you but our tour leader never told us what happened to you if you were found guilty!
A nice view!
!We visited Copacabana beach and mastered the metro (subway) - weīre getting good at this portuguese lark (not!). The only thing we are not mastering is where our hotel is, it keeps moving!!!!!!
We managed to find a supermarket, where we bought a bottle of vodka for 2 pounds and cans of Sol for 20p each!!!! (Wilko you should come here!!!)
On Monday, the clearest day of the year so far and the day we chose to go hang-gliding!
We got picked up by our pilot in a two seater sports car and there were 4 people in total! We had to sit on the cushioned boot hanging on for dear life!! White knuckle ride is an understatement - we would of paid money for this ride at home!!!
We got to the top in one piece and our take off site was situated in the largest urban forest in the world - Tijuca National Park. At the top we soon realised physical exercise was required - this wasnīt in the small print!. We had to practice running in front of everyone, how stupid did we feel
A view of Rio
! We then got harnessed up and spent 10 minutes watching everyone else run off the platform before our turn - it was stomach churning!!!Itīs pretty scary thinking youīre voluntarily running to your death, hoping the harness is attached correctly but then you take off and the views are phenomenal! A fantastic experience - I would recommend to anyone but I (Julie) did get quesy after turning in cirlces for a while!!!
We landed on Copacabana beach and managed not to break a bone! Later that day we went to Corovado Mountain which supports the great statue of Christ the Redeemer, the 2nd largest structure in the World after the Statue of Liberty. A fantastic site (except for the radio antenaes on the ridge next to it!) The Views were fantastic.
We then went to Lapa to see the famous stairs made of tiles from around the world as featured on a Snoop Dogg Video apparantly! The idea was of a chilean man 40 years ago and heīs still doing it today and we met him! Because of this the area has improved dramatically and is a reason for the tourists to go visit.
Today, we have gone to Pao de Acucar (sugar loaf mountain) to have a ride on two cable cars (394m high)
Cable Car on Sugar Loaf
. You get amazing veiws of all of Rio and also of the airport runways, which we didnīt realise were so short!! We have just spent the afternoon on Copacabana beach enjoying Caipirinha (thanks Cathy for getting me on to them!)We start our official tour tomorrow and meet our group and leader tonight.
It still feels like weīre on holiday and not on a year away.
We hope you are all well.
Take care
Julie and Claire xx
Comments
chiv's on tour!
Hi girlies! Just picked up your email from work. Sounds like you're having an amazing time whilst the rest of us rot away in offices ha ha! Your adventure so far sounds fab and am looking forward to hearing all about it as you jet set around the world!
Take care and look after each other (I sound like Jerry Springer!)
Lots of Love Emma xxxx