Being touristy in Rio
Trip Start
Nov 24, 2005
1
9
25
Trip End
Nov 24, 2006
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Friday, January 20, 2006
So we sadly farewelled Ilha Do Mel and after catching a boat, local bus and overnight bus were back in Rio after 20 hours of travelling! We arrived early on a Sunday morning and coz we hadn`t had enough of buses, decided to get the local bus to Copacabana! He he! The things one does on a budget! Anyway, the local bus proved to be an experience in itself. The Rio buses have turnstiles at the front that are tiny so we literally could not get our two surf boards, backpacks, day packs and the many plastic bags that I like to carry, through the stile
01. Ipanema on a Sunday
. After much confusion the conductor let us stand/sit in the front area, which was a balancing act! The bus started to fill up because everyone heads to the beach on a Sunday. We have heard since then that the beach in Rio is the one place where everyone is equal, and wealth, or lack of it, does not stand out as everyone can afford to be there. Nice! So I was perched on this seat with an old lady who started chatting to me and through gestures, smiles, broken English and Portguese we told her where we were heading. She immediately started waving to the driver to stop the bus and we surmised that we were in the place we wanted to be. Getting off was even harder than getting on! Pauley and I had a system of passing the boards out and were going back for the bags when suddenly the old lady appeared before us with my day pack (which weighs a ton) and Pauleys backpack...man she was a strong lady, she wouldn`t give them to us and proceeded to throw them on the curb and started to grab my plastic bags and threw them down too, saying that she liked the exercise! He he! So after a recon mission to find a hostel we ended up in one that was way too expensive and really strange...we were in a tiny eight bed dorm with no fan and a light that you could only turn on from the next room..basically they had taken a large room and partitioned it off with a slab of wood not thinking about the electrical logistics..at least the breakky was tasty
02. Katie on the Santa Teresa tram
! So we moved the next day to a suburb called Catete, which we grew to feel very at home in. We stayed in a cheap and friendly hotel which was run by two funny old men and was full of Israeli travellers. We had our favourite juice bar on the corner, our local chopp (draft beer by the glass) bar and went to the movies a few times coz it was so cheap and I hadn`t been in ten months! We also did all the touristy things during the day, starting with a visit to the Hippie markets in Ipanema. We also went to check out the beach and I have never seen so many people crowded onto such a small strip of beach, everyone was having a great time but the water was freezing! The next thing on our tourist list was the legendary tram ride to the bohemian suburb of Santa Teresa. The tram has been operating since the late 1800`s and was an interesting ride through the old wealthy suburbs of Rio, which are now more bohemian in feel and are surrounded by favelas. The wealthy in Rio now live away from town, in guarded complexes along the beaches to the south of the city. We wandered around and were told by three different people to be careful, which was a shame coz it was such a beautiful part of town to walk around with all the old houses and shops lining the cobble stone streets. We found a lovely restaurant and decided to try the Feijoada Completo, a traditional Brazilian dish that found it`s roots in the old slave kitchens
03. Santa Teresa Lunch...
. It is made with left over meat and beans and boiled down into a broth and served with rice, farofa and slices of orange. It was delicious and very filling, although I avoided eating the cow`s hoof that was settled on the bottom of the pot! The next day we visited the Christ Redeemer, such an awesome view of the city from up where he is and a remarkable sight to see! My favourite part of being there was the school group who burst into song and made the whole place resonate with their voices! Beautiful! That night we ventured to Sugar Loaf mountain. The two cable car rides to get there were scary to me, who is getting more and more scared of heights as I get older. Fortunately the sunset and night view of the city were definitely worth it! The next few days were spent hanging at the beach and visiting various museums. We went to the Modern Art Gallery and saw a brilliant Carmem Miranda exhibition, along with some interesting art work!
Basically the more time I spend in Rio, the more I found to love about the city! But the surf is calling us so next stop Saquarema! xo
