Her name is Rio and she dances.......
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2007
1
12
15
Trip End
Feb 17, 2008
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
This had to be one of the highlights of our entire trip. Not only was it Carnival, but a beautiful and magical city.
Things did not start off so great though, when we arrived after travelling for 24hours from Cusco-Lima-Sao Paulo-Rio), we were surprised to find that our favelha hostel accomodation was not quite as boutique has we had hoped for. Dont get me wrong, it wasnt dangerous, the favelha was semi cleaned up, (for those not in the know, the favelhas are basically the shanty towns of Rio, usually ruled by Baron drug lords, and very dangerous places for tourists to venture!!!) it was the fact that the family running the hostel, seemed to have forgotten they were actually running one anymore, and the first morning we woke to screaming mum, kids, along with gangster rap, banging, stomping, and stray dogs growling at us...
Guy and I on Copacobana Beach
. forgot to mention, the night before we had to run home through darkened alleys to reach the ´hostel´. Anyway, so first night over, we decided we should take our lives in our own hands, and make a speedy exit - quick! Thankfully Kev and Sumi saved the day by arranging for a mattress to be put in their humungous room at their beautiful colonial hostel, with swimming pool! Things looked up big time from this point onwards.So, what to say about carnival - Several Blocõs were on every day in the streets around Rio (these were local samba carnivals, that could mean a promotion in to the formal carnival if chosen). We went to an awesome one in Santa Theresa, where we chanted a 15 line song for about 6 hours, and tried to dance samba behind a small float whilst swigging beers and caipirinhas along the way. We ended up out partying to 4am every morning, waking up by 12pm to start over again.
We scalped tickets for the famous Sambadrome on the third night (this is the second night of the professional samba schools). Oh my god, you have never seen floats, costumes and dancers like this... and it went on from 9pm until 6am. After watching this for 6 hours, we were floated out, and just couldn´t believe that there was even more to come after we left.
Kev - Exhausted, after 5 days of partying!!
Also, managed to squeeze in the local football derby between Botafogo v. Vasco Da Gama at the famous Maracena stadium which ended up being a cracker of a game with Botafogo narrowly winning 3-2 with a last minute penalty, and 2 sendings off to add. The chanting and banners and enthusiasm of the supporters was insane - puts the english to shame (besides the Kop of course!!).We were so sad to say goodbye to kev, sumi and mike on the last night, and it was so great to get a chance to meet up with kev and sumi on their around the world tour.
Oh yeah, forgot to say Ipanema beach rocks too, it was totally safe, except for the mad crashing waves! We were so overwarned about the dangers of Rio, and did not witness a thing! luck maybe, but as you will see we´ve attached no photos, as we left everything at the hostel before going out (Guy being anal safety man that he is - thanks Vaughan). Hopefully will get photos to post from the others in the near future.
ok, off to Iguazu falls now - 24 hour bus ride here we come!!
Guy and Fee xx
Comments
... on the sand!
Sweet! So I take it, better than Notting Hill carnival!! lol!