There is something about Rio that's hard to describe, I don't like to say vibe as that sounds a bit wank. But it did meet my expectations, excluding the weather bit as that was pants. I think also having previously travelled through amazing but poor countries, made its brazillian coolness, laid back way of life, rich culture and party ambience stand out even more. And for this reason it received the 'our favourite destination so far' accolade.
We arrived off the bus at 1am into the dodgy bit of town, but were greeted by a friendly taxi driver who helped us work out where the hell we were staying. We had arranged to stay in some couple's spare room but it was all very last minute and she hadn't replied in time with her address. All we had was a phone number, we ructantly used our mobile to call it but the bloke who answered didn't speak English, so after a 2 min call and £10 of credit we were none the wiser. Our taxi man friend pulled out his mobile and called for us so eventually we were being taken through the streets of Rio to our new home in Copacabana for the next few nights. We started getting excited when the taxi driver pointed out a dark Copacabana beach, but this was soon replaced with apprehension as we pulled into a rough looking road guarded by a police car with it's lights flashing. After passing a group of young men hanging out on the corner the driver announced 'aqui' and stopped. We asked him to wait as Greg checked it out, but there waiting for us at the top of a long flight of concrete steps was Veronica who seemed friendly and not a nutter, so we stepped inside ( i actually tripped inside struggling trying to carry the backpack and managed to right myself my head 1cm away from nuzzling into her breasts, very embarrassing) and were shown to our room. It was big and clean so we felt relieved. We also met George, Veronicas older and Portuguese speaking husband, who was to later bond with Greg over Vodka and Cachaca. Feeling quite pleased with ourselves at not just settling for a regular hostel and too excited to go straight to bed, we ventured back down the steps to the dodgy road for a celebratory cigarette, 90 seconds later we were hurriedly going back up the steps, after being hasseled by some old scary looking bloke for a cigarette.
We had a list of things to do in Rio, but again we had to make selections as Brazil and more so Rio is so expensive. When people usually go on holiday they say oh it was really expensive, but they just mean 'expensive for abroad' maybe it dates back to when the British Empire and the pound was at it strongest, so when you went abroad it was always cheaper than at home. So when people told me Brazil would be expensive I just thought expensive for abroad. I was wrong. Because of it's diverse and amazingly rich countryside, Brazil has the fastest growing GDP in the world, a lot if it at the expense of some of the beautiful rainforest. So for us: a 50g bag of standard crisps is £1.50 (and this is from the supermarket not an inflated corner shop), a chopp of beer (half pint) in a standard pub is £2.50 and a spaghetti Bol in a pizza express equivalent is £10! The havianas were the only cheaper thing, even a medium big mac meal was £6.50. So we had to be very choosy about which excursions to do.
We spent the first day walking from nice but not as cool Leme, along worthily infamous Copacabana, round the corner to supposably beautiful people hang out and more cooler Ipanema, through to very posh kings road esk Leblon at the end and back again. About 7k one way. The sun was shinning, it was Saturday, the red umbrellas adorned the sand, the beach was packed with thonged women and budgie smuggling men, the muscle marys were on the beach side gyms, Carioca (rio dwellers) were sipping on ciparinias and green coconuts at the beach side kiosks and I experienced my Brazillian Hollywood (although couldn't manage to persuade Greg).... It was fucking brilliant.
It rained for the next 5 days....
It wasnt all bad, it just took the shine off a bit. But before the rain started and after our day strolling along the famous beaches we decided a bottle of vodka and a night out was in order. And it was a big night out. We got home at 5am just as the sky opened and a storm broke, which was pretty cool itself. I also had 3 email addresses, a acai world promotion business proposition, an offer of a flash apartment to stay in in Ipanema, a detailed plan of where else to visit in Brazil and a drunk Greg. I can't say Greg had quite as much fun, we stayed all night in a gay bar with a table of lesbians, it shattered his fantasies when he realised they weren't particularly interested in talking to him. He was cheered up a bit when he got chatted up by a 40 yr old grey haired Brazilian man, who rather weirdly looked like an older, tanned Greg. The poor man wasn't too happy either when Greg gave him the cold shoulder.
The next couple of days were a wash out but we went into central Rio and walked round Santa Teresa which was very wet but full of beautiful historic houses and cobbled streets. The sun put it's hat on every now and then and we managed to get an Ipanema sunset on the beach whilst I sipped a caiparinia and Greg chugged on a can of skol (it seems to be the favourite beer over here above Brahma maybe cause it's 5.4% it's better value). We waited the weather out for a clear day to go and see Christo and his views and we got lucky eventually. It was busy but the cog train up was cool and the views across Rio and it's beaches were amazing. Christo was smaller than I thought he'd be, he was about the same as the angel if the north I reckon, but like Machu picchu it's the setting that made it more special.
In the guidebooks it goes on about Copacabana having been replaced by the cooler Ipanema as Copacabanas hay day was the 60s. However in Foxy's guidebook I say Copacabana is much better, the beaches are whiter and cleaner, there are some cool oldschool restaurants and bars playing jazz and it's not as poncy, more down to earth.
We got speaking to a local one night and we asked about the police car at the end of our road which was stationed 24hrs a day. She said it because our road is the start of one of the favelas and the police are there to protect and also give early warning to the station if there's any trouble. Quite reassuring but worrying at the same time really. Turns out the police have cleaned up a lot if the favelas. So despite City of God being one of my favourite films, we weren't going to see any action. She warned us if you see flares or fireworks and there's no carnival then it's best to get out as that's the police warning sign, we kept our ears and eyes peeled...
We reluctantly packed our bags after a week as we were getting itchy feet, and headed with a rough idea to the bus station headed for Paraty. However we left Rio with a heavy heart and even agreed it's on the list of places we'd like to live. Although I have my suspicions that the 40+ degree summer heat may change Greg's mind.
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