For example:
Tall and tanned and young and lovely,
the girl from Ipanema goes walking,
and when she passes,
each man she passes,
goes Aaah!
And:
When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio
De Janeiro, my-oh-me-oh
I go wild and then I have to do the Samba
And, of course for Ian:
Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And I dare say that there are more.......
Mark 7/4: It´s my birthday, going to party like its my birthday, going to drink a caprihina like its my birthday....
Usual wakeup with the great brekkie at our Posada Argentino & then off to the bus station for the 4hr 30min drive up to Rio. Caught a taxi from the main station, and here is a tip for people coming into Rio Nova Rodavido, all the stands give you different prices for the fixed fare cab, but then you just join the same line to actually catch them so after knocking back a couple of joints we got one for 33% cheaper than first quoted. Go us.
We struck our first problem as the place that we were meant to be staying, Ipanema Bed & Breakfast, which is a lovely family run place 2 blocks from Ipanema main beach had made an error in the booking process and it meant that we were roomless despite having a confirmed booking (both their rooms were full), they did invite us in for cake and coffee and fruit and were very apologetic about it all though and booked us into a place around the corner. Unfortunately that was Crab Hostel Ipanema and it turned out to be a complete dump and a bit weird so we dumped our bags there and searched for another place and ended up at Hotel San Marco which is basically the cheapest around there at $100 USD a night (way way over a 5 month travelling budget and will be looking to save some of that cash when we hit Bolivia & Peru). We were suffering a bit from the humidity and carrying heavy backpacts around (we are like a travelling library at the moment as we have 11 books between us, 3 travel guides, 2 languages guides and then 6 novels that I have finished but Becs hasnt read yet) so a cold beer and a shower was in order before our welcome drink in the bar downstairs, naturally a Caiprinha which at first sip was pretty rough but by the time halfway through it was just fine. Becs´one that she coulnt have was even nicer than the first! Becs got a vodka and dash of coke and we got a recommendation from the nice barman for a good restaurant for dinner http://www.porcaous.com/newyork.html, (this is the New York restaurant one because the Rio one is in Portugeuse, and I wont go into how difficult that is). Basically they sit you at a table and give you a token with a little piggy on it, green on one side is for go (bring me more) & red is for stop (still digesting) and then they bring plate after plate of meat on a skewer which they cut off on to the plate. It was awesome. We left a hell of a lot heavier than when we arrived but quite satisfied food wise. Coronary to follow.....
Mark 8/4:
Took a bit of time walking around Ipanema & Leblon, some of the nicer neighbourhoods in Rio and also booked a tour for tomorrow. We walked along the beach for a bit & then turned for home about 4ish as Becs was starting to feel a little "delicate", quiet night in watching movies with takeaway pizza.
Becs 8/4:
Our first good look at Rio, as the night before was full of finding somewhere stay after our reservation mix up. We wondered out of our hotel which was on the main street of Ipanema, fantastic location and could only be topped by a beach side hotel but the backpacker budget sure doesn't cover that! There were so many fantastic shoe and hangbag shops I could of brought up big, unfortunately the backpack just wont fit it all in which Mark kept reminding me of. But I did buy a cheeky pair of bling gold thongs (flip flops), had to have a Brazil souvnier!
We strolled past all the shops from Ipanema to Leblon then back along the beach. Nice beach and some pretty good sights in the way of male physiques which was quite funny as Mark was pretty excited about checking out the Brazilian girls in their extra extra small bikinis but there were so many more guys than girls out there struting their stuff that Mark was happy to head back to the shops. Maybe they'll be out on the beach tomorrow he hoped!
Mark 9/4:
We organised a taxi driver, Junior, to take us around the main sights of Rio for the day, he was a good dude and spoke very good English. We hit the main sights starting off with Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer) which had a bit of cloud cover meaning that we couldn't quite oversee all the city, then down into the Saint Theresa neighbourhood & downtown to the main Church (St. Sebastian) which was very different from the European churches that we have been used to over the past couple of years. Its in a modern style that is like a cone with the alter in the middle. We then drove through downtown and hit the Sambadrome where the Carnaval parade goes through on the way in to town. After that it was across to Pao de Azucar or Sugarloaf mountain. That was a real highlight for 70BRL ($50USD). If you are into getting a real close up view of clouds & nothing else. And it had been clear all day and as soon as the cable car touched down up there it clouded over for the 30 mins we took for "lunch" (beer and a pack of chips at 4pm). We called it quits and headed down just for it to clear up a bit. Nice. We drove back via Copacabana beach and that was our touristy bit of Rio. It was then that I needed to get to the bar where the guys that wrote Girl from Ipanema actually penned it so headed down there for a Caiprinhia (they are getting better as the trip goes on!). Had dinner at a microbrewery/come bar across the road that was pretty good & called it a night.
Becs 9/4:
Tour with Junior was great, nice being able to pick and chose what we wanted to see of Rio and get some great history about Rio from a local (Junior is a born and breed Cariocas). Unfortunately for us, as Mark said, we lucked out with the weather not getting a great view from the Christ statue and no view at all from Sugar Loaf. But we did get to see where the Carnival is held each year at the Sambadrome. They have a little tourist shop there which shows videos of the carnival and has a costume display. The costumes are fantastic, so much work has gone into them. If you're pretty handy with a needle and thread then you can get a job 3/4 months before Carnival time making these costumes. You can also try on the costumes and have your photo taken, if I wasn't feeling sick that day I would have for sure. Also anyone can join one of the Samba schools that are in the carnival a few months before and actually take part..........now I just need to save my pennies and practice the samba so I can come back to Rio for the Carnival!
Becs 10/4:
Last day in Rio and we of course had to spend that on Ipanema beach. Mark tried his best to take on the dumper waves with his body surfing which was entertaining, but not nearly as much as the pale, skinny English guy who looked like it was his first time confronting waves! The poor guy got battered every which way by pretty much all the ways and provided a good hours entertainement to both foreigners and locals.
Day went by too quickly and we were back at the airport ready to depart to Bolivia, not to mention the dramas of getting to the airport. Yesterday we had organised Junior our taxi driver to pick us up and take us to the airport for what he said would only be a 35mins drive. We half an hour after he was suppose to pick us up her was nowhere to be seen so we hailed down a cab off the street. So already running late, we discover that the drive to the airport is more like 1hr and 20mins, it was a nervous nail biting trip but luckily made it in time to but not enough time to change out of our beach gear! Not the relaxing way to begin our 16 hr trip with 4 flights and sleeping in Santiago airport that I had imagined but at least we were on our way.
Mark 10/4:
After conquering the surf at Ipanema it was time to head off from Rio without even getting a juice from one of the many juice bars that are on each corner. Bugger. As we cut the taxi run a little fine the stress levels were getting up and it was my turn to tell Becs off for chewing her fingernails. But we made it. And our time in Brazil came to a close.
14 votes 
