Rio de Janeiro
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2008
1
6
Trip End
Sep 17, 2009
Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Landed at about 10.30, and was at the hostel by 12 or so. The flight was alright (I saw Indiana Jones 4 and Speed Racer!!!), but the buses from the airport are IMPOSSIBLE to find. Of course, none of the taxi drivers would tell me where the stop is, so I ended up begrudgingly getting a cab. The driver was a total lunatic, drumming his hands on the wheel, asking taxi drivers for directions whilst driving full pelt down the motorway, singing along to songs he didnīt understand.... it was an experience.
Once I was settled into the hostel I visited Sugar Loaf mountain since itīs closeby. Well, in actual fact it looks close by on the maps, but is more like a 20-30 minute walk. Got the cable car up for R$44 (about 15 pounds), and the views were amazing. Behind the back of the 2nd hump thereīs a little trail that leads through bushes so saw some marmasettes (avec babies), vultures and some weird bird things. Took loads of photos before realising theyīd look like every other photo of Rio (so if you want to know what the view looks like, just check google).
19/09 (Fri) - Central, Lapa, Copacabana... + Lapa again
Decided to check out the centre of town, so got the metro to the `Centralī stop (logical huh?). Turns out like everything else on the maps of Rio, it was deceptive. The centre of town is Centro, which doesnīt even have a metro stop!!!! Central is just the boring CBD area with a few sky scrapers and colonial statues. But on the walk to Centro I did find a park with loads of agoutis, cats, ugly ducks and a few peacocks! Practically a zoo! Also saw the Metropolitan Cathedral (which actually has a bank inside it, so there are money lenders inside the temple afterall) and the arches of Lapa (even more mundane than they sound).
After being bored senseless in the so called centre of town I visited Copacabana. Find a weird drink with a fruit called Graviola, the english for it is Soursop (I prefer Graviola). Hereīs what wikipedia has to say:
īComparisons of its flavour range from strawberry and pineapple mixed together to sour citrus flavour notes contrasting with an underlying creamy roundness of flavour reminiscent of coconut or banana.ī
It tasted like custard with an aftertaste of apples, very odd but awesomely good. Some guy came up and started talking at me in broken english. We had a very awkward 5 minute conversation before he started writing ī20ī in the sand and a load of gobbledegook I didnīt understand. I assumed he was trying to sell something (although he had absolutely nothing in his hands and didnīt look like a hobo asking for money) so I made my excuses and left. The beach was pretty empty (26 degrees is cold for the average brazilian, wimps). Even found a freshly dropped coconut, so decided to get to the milk instead of buying one from the stalls. I had seen Ray Mears do it once so canīt be that hard. Half an hour later (with hands hurting and scratches all over my right arm) I managed to get it open and drank it in a haphazard way. About 5 sips in I remembered I hate the taste of coconut milk (especially coconut milk with sand in it) so left it.
In the evening met up with Fabi and headed for Lapa, the main area for clubbing for locals (Ipanema is full of stupid tourists, I donīt like to associate with them obviously). Went to a record store with a few weird synth playing people inside. The oddest thing about drinking in Rio is that the aim seems to be how far into the road the crowd can reach. The really popular bars reached all the way to the pavement on the other side of the road, even though inside they were all pretty empty. The people were friendly though. There was one french girl, one south african guy, one finnish guy (who looked like Beck) and a load of brazilians. Most knew pretty good english which was lucky. After a few hours we went to a īhouse partyīin Sant Teresa. The house had a massive bar! I donīt count anything with a bar in the backyard as a house, surely itīs a business? Beer was dirt cheap and I drank too much. Got a lift back to my hostel from a friend of a friend of a friend. The end.
20/09 - (Sat) - Botanic Gardens, Lage Park + Lagoa
Decided to walk towards the gardens today, which ended up taking a good 1.5-2 hours. Did buy lunch on the way though. Got 2 apples, another Graviola milkshake (theyīre like crack!) and some bread that looked nice and herby. The herby bread ended up being garlic bread... so after all that I felt more than a little ill. By the time I reached the gardens I was fine though. The gardens were nice, lots of tropical plants and whatnot, but a bit sterile and blergh for my liking. I like forests, not one of each type of tree planted in the ground along paths!!!
On the way back I entered Parque Lage, which was ammmmmmmmmmazing. It was a forest park thing with lots of paths around it. In the middle was the most depressing excuse for an aquarium Iīve ever seen (8 tanks and the fish barely moved), but there were also lots of man-made caves and ruins to climb over. Saw some more monkeys with babies too! Apparently there are sloths and tree porcupines in the park too, but I didnīt see any. Kinda put my monkeys to shame, I wanted tree porcupines!!!!
In the evening I was meant to meet up with Fabi again to go to an electro club, but having only had 5 hours sleep before + the jetlag is still lingering so I watched Urban Legends on tv (itīs twice as bad as I remember) and went to bed.
21/09 (Sun) - Flamengo
It rained... it was cold. Didnīt do much. Flamengo was just a residential part of town so came back just as fast as I had arrived (albeit considerably wetter). Bit of a nothing day really...
26/09 - Rochino Favela
Iīm still battling with jet lag (been waking up at 7am and feeling knackered by 8 or 9pm) so decided to force myself to stay up with this blogging malarkey (so I can stay up nice and late for Lapa tomorrow night!!). Today I went to the favellas, and tīwas cool.
The first bit of the trip is a ride on `motor taxis`up to the top of the mainstreet in the biggest, most developed and generally safest favella of Rio, Rocinhna. The taxis were motorbikes!!! Was kinda scary, the driver went at 50km/hr uphill, dodging in and out of buses and cars, while going round tight corners on roads with loads of pot holes. It was like a rollercoaster with a real chance of falling off and snapping my neck (Brazilians donīt seem to care for helmets...). Then we got to the top of a building near the top of the hill to see down over the favella and get a little geography lesson about socio-economic stuffs. Surprisingly, the most expensive flats in RIo (US$5mill per condo!) are right next to the favela, as are the upper-middle class condos and the middle class houses. Very odd. Then went to a special place and bought mum a present (figure itīs best to get that kinda thing sorted early before budget constraints kick in), but canīt spoil the surprise!
Then we walked through the side streets of the favelas (more like alleyways really). Was very strange, every house on ground level had its own service of one kind or another. The guide talked about the difference between the main street and the side roads... but his thick brazilian accent made it hard to catch the specifics. It was all very much like City of God though. Occassionally weīd walk past the gangsters with their walkie-talkies and M16s (which were disappointingly rare sight having seen Ross Kempīs most dangerous gangs, but saw a few!). Then we went to the bakers to be guilt tripped into buying food, but it was hella big slices of cake for R$2 each (50-60p), so not bad. I got some bread pudding, which is apparently what Lenny Kravitz bought when he visited the favella earlier in the year (the baker took great pride in cheering LENNY KRAVITZ CAKE! whenever someone ordered it, before pointing at a photo of Lenny in the bakery).
The favella was surprisingly well developed. Sure it wasnīt designed by architects and engineers, but itīs pretty much the same as anything a bunch of average joes could come up with. Lots of people had managed to build businesses within the favella micro-economy, so many of the houses had tile flooring and pretty damn secure concrete walls. They probably will never get enough money to totally rebuild, but thereīs lots of little (slightly illegal) improvements, such as everyone tapping into the local electricity pylons (it looks pretty frigging dangerous!!).
After that it was a walk further down. Met a few kids who had apparently lost their father a month ago due to 14 stabs from the kidsīstep father. The guide didnīt seem too shy or emotional about saying that, and the kid didnīt seem all that sad either, so how true that is I dunno. The tour ended at the community centre where a little girl of 3 or 4 loved shouting OI at me numerous times. So I shouted OI back and entered into an OI conversation. Cuteness.
The lesson of the day: The favella isnīt at all dangerous and is just another part of town. You donīt really need a tour guide to enter safely (and they reassured us that they never pay any protection money to the gangs), and certainly donīt need to worry about being mugged or pick pocketed. About the only way you can get shot is if you enter a house, and thereīs a gang member dealing drugs in the house, and a policeman enters the house, and a gunfight breaks out with you in the middle. Or you take a photo of someone with a walkie-talkie or gun, but thatīs only if your really unlucky. Why did Ross Kemp lie to me?!
PS: Yesterday I wandered off the hiking trail in Tijuca Forest and got lost for 2 hours. In the process I slipped down a 10 feet drop and cut the side of my finger. I should totally be on the next series of Ray Mears survival thingies! For those 2 hours I had no choice but to live on water and coconut cake. The drama!
PPS: Also went up Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer. It looked nice up, but the view of the city was kinda rubbish compared to up the Sugar Loaf and the Chinese Vista in Tijuca Forest. Christ is the best part of the view, so seems kinda pointless to look out onto the city with it a few metres behind you.
Paukyton signing out
