Rio de Janeiro
Trip Start
Unknown
1
4
19
Trip End
Ongoing
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Friday, March 14, 2008
We passed a favela - shanty town. Jim wanted us to stay at a guesthouse in a favela but I wasn't convinced. Instead we decided to say at Ipanema beach house where Trish recommended us to stay. A couple of blocks away from the beach
and along a leafy street. Were staying in a 6-bedroom mixed dorm. The first day we arrived, there was an American-Chinese girl so I introduced myself
to her, she didn't respond. Later that night she was sharing her bed with a 40-sth year old tubby German. There was another American staying in the dorm
who didn't seem to talk to anyone. What's wrong with these Americans?! Last night he finally spoke, he's been ill with food poisoning for almost a week
now. That explains why he's been acting moody. Augustine - an Architect student from Sweden introduced himself with much enthusiasm. He seems like a nice guy
Finally, someone friendly in our dorm.
On the first day we arrived into Rio,we just wandered down to Ipanema beach. It's huge! The sand is fine and soft but is spoilt by some rubbish here
and there. The heat was scorching! 30 degrees, a stark contrast to the windy, cold, rainy London we left behind. There were some seriously brown bodies on that beach.
Yesterday we went to Centro and walked around exploring the city. We wandered into a couple of churches to rest our legs and to keep cool. I think I'm picking
up a bit of Portuguese. It's helpful knowing a bit of Spanish, it's all quite similar. We went to the Museum of Belle Artes. It was full of sculptures and paintings.
Some of the paintings used very dark colours, similar to that of early Spanish paintings. Others looked as though they dated back to the Renaissance period leading up
to the brash colours of the 1980s.
Once we stepped outside, the peacefulness of the gallery had disappeared and we were met by the noise and smells of the city.
Food!! Through trial and error we have learnt just to order one main course as the portions are huge, enough for two people. We came across a restaurant which serves
food per kilogram, it was the best meal we'd had. A lot of the food seems pretty unhealthy, fried and deep-fried. Similar to food in Peru.
Later on we went to the Cathedral Metropolitane. It looks like a gigantic Dalek from the outside. The best way to see the stained windows is by lying down
on the pews facing upwards. Something I discovered when I wanted to put my legs up for a rest. Afterwards we wandered into Lapa, an area which is meant to have
cafes and bars with Samba music. All we seemed to come across though were a lot of beggars. hmmmm... didn't seem like the best place to hang out at.
Instead we headed back to Ipanema for dinner.
Today is just rain,rain, rain. We'd been planning to see Christ the Redeemer and go up Sugarloaf mountain but that plan has been thwarted. We're just figuring out what to do,along with all the other guests here. We were thinking of heading north since it's raining all around Brazil this week and then heading back Rio when it got drier. There's just nothing that takes our fancy. Brazil is full of beaches but if it's just going to keep on raining, there's no point staying by the beach.
