20/4/09 Our flight to Rio today, via Sao Paulo. The flight to Sao Paulo went well, apart from at the luggage check-in when Dave realised he'd lost the tourist card which you get on arrival and have to fill in and give back on departure. The woman took pity on him in the end and gave him another one to fill in and give to the other people. In the shops near the boarding lounges Dave bought himself an engraved Chilean copper ring and a bookmark, but I didn't buy anything. On arrival at the airport, we walked through seemingly endless corridors before having our daybags put through x-ray, and then when we asked where we had to go to wait for the connecting flight to Rio, we were told to go to 'International connecting flights'. We were confused, because Rio and Sao Paulo are both in Brazil so surely we should have gone to the domestic area; but we went where they showed us, and it was where they had said. We had to wait for about three hours in the waiting area, but to pass the time we watched some indoors 5-a-side football which was showing on some screens, and looked round the shops. We couldn't buy anything, though, because we didn't have any Brazilian Real and there weren't any ATMs to get any out.
I was starving by this time, and hoped that although the flight to Rio was short (only 55 minutes), we'd still get some food, but we didn't. When we landed at Rio it was 10.30 pm, so although this time I did have a window seat, it was too dark outside to get any photos. There were no problems with Immigration and Customs, but after that we had to spend ages looking for an ATM. The airport seemed almost deserted apart from the staff, and the facilities were rather lacking. After going up and down in lifts and scouring three floors for an ATM, we asked at the info desk. They pointed us in the right direction, but when we finally got there, none of the six ATMs would take Dave's visacard. I tried my other card, and luckily that did work. I got out about 20 pounds worth of Real, hoping that it would be enough for travel to city centre and enough food and drinks for the next couple of days.
We asked at the info desk about buses, but they told us that the buses to the city centre had stopped at 11 pm (it was now about 20 past) and that a taxi was our only option. We had noticed the prices for this at some kiosks on the ground floor and had hoped to avoid it, for they cost 60 real (about 20 pounds.) The main guy at the info desk said that if he went out with us to the taxi stand, he would stop us getting ripped off by the drivers, and get us a journey for 50-55 real, so we did this. The taxi driver had never heard of our hostel or the street it was on, and couldn't speak a word of English. He stopped and asked people on the way for directions, and spoke to his bosses into a sort of radio that looked like a microphone. He was obviously asking them for directions too, because once he held it out to us and I had to bellow the name of the hostel down it about three times in a row ('El Misti hostel. EL MIS-TI HOS-TEL!') Eventually he found it, and we handed over our 60 real, expecting 5 real change; but he just took it as if thanking us, jabbered away in Spanish when we asked about the change, and then got back in the car and drove away.
When we checked in we asked where the nearest ATMs were, so we could get out some more Real, only to be told that they are all in banks and close at 11 pm. We considered going out and trying to find one anyway, but decided not to in case something else went wrong. We were very annoyed by the taxi business, as well as being absolutely knackered, starving and thirsty; we couldn't drink the water yet couldn't buy any drinks or food, and then we got even more annoyed, because we saw on the hostel flyer that they do free airport pickups! Yet when we booked the hostel at the STA Travel in Auckland, they never mentioned this!

21/4/09 Got up early for the free breakfast, which was pretty good; cereal, milk, melon, cake (!), slices of something a bit like creme caramel, rolls, cheese, ham and hot drinks, including hot chocolate (yay!) They had overbooked the 18-bed dorm we were supposed to be in last night, so today we had to move from where they had put us last night into our original one. Check-out time was 11, so we went down at that time, only to be told to wait 10 minutes until they could tell us which room we were supposed to move our stuff into. Nearly an hour later, we were still there! They seemed to have completely forgotten we were there, despite the fact that we were sitting within sight of the reception desk. We felt more and more annoyed, and eventually we went back to the desk and asked them to tell us what room we were supposed to be in, because we'd been waiting for ages. It turned out that you can't move in until 12; nice for them to have told us (not) at the beginning! - and that they had thought we were just chilling until then. Hmmmmmmmph. Anyway, it ended OK because they upgraded us to a smaller 9-bed dorm; three three tier bunks! I took a top one because I thought it would be fun to sleep so high up.
Unfortunately it rained all day, but we did go out for a walk down to the beach. Our hostel was in the famous Copacabana district; now a bit worn round the edges and seedy in places, but still very full of life and with somewhat faded glamour. The beach is still fantastic, too, (though because it was raining we weren't seeing it at its best) and I loved the pavements, which are covered in black and white mosaics.
We went into a supermarket, and noticed that the food and drink was as cheap as in Chile. We got a couple of things for dinner, before walking back; we had to go through one of the tunnels which go through different mountains in Rio - and this is when my bag-snatching incident happened! Halfway through the tunnel we saw a couple of beggars ahead almost blocking the path - a teenage boy and someone else who was lying down. We squeezed past them, ignoring them, and after we did so the boy walked alongside Dave for a while (we were walking in single file because of the width of the path.) When Dave kept ignoring him he fell back and walked a bit behind my right shoulder. I suddenly suspected he might try to snatch our shopping bag from me, so I was just about to swap it to my other hand when he did snatch it from me and start running in the opposite direction. I turned and sprinted after him, catching him after about ten metres by grabbing his t-shirt; this forced him to hold the bag over the side barrier and then drop it onto the edge of the road. I could see there were no cars coming, plus it was on a hard shoulder, so I jumped through the barrier, picked up the shopping and walked back to Dave, who had only had time to turn round and run halfway to where I was (it had all happened so quickly.) The beggars didn't follow us as we left the tunnel, luckily. I felt a bit guilty afterwards because I realised that he probably wouldn't have snatched the bag if they hadn't been desperate for food. But I was chasing and catching him before I knew it, because it's such instinct to chase after something someone's just grabbed from you.
I was a little shaken after this. We didn't do that much for the rest of the day apart from go on the internet - we looked up other hostels to see if there were any cheaper. The computer we were on turned itself off and wouldn't start again properly, so they logged us onto another and said we didn't have to pay. We found another hostel which was about half the price, but after looking at reviews we saw that it was really dodgy, so we went for another instead which was the same price as our present one but is in a safer area (Botafogo) and looked nicer overall. We decided to book another night at our present one, because it would give us a full day to walk to our new hostel and check it out.

22/4/09 We didn't do much today apart from walk from Copacabana to Botafogo, to check out the other hostel. Although about the same size overall, it has more space inside and security is better. Also, it has quite an arty vibe which I particularly like - lots of paintings and a couple of murals on the walls, and random interesting paraphanalia about, and to cap it all, the internet is nearly half the price p/h than at our original hostel. Throw in the biggest TV screen I've ever seen in my life, a big bouncy ball to rest your feet on or sit on whilst watching TV or reading, and the fact that have free breakfast here as well, and you can see why we chose to move in here rather than stay on at our old place! Botafogo is a safer area than Copacabana too, the black and white mosaiced pavements continue, the streets are lined with trees, and you get fantastic views of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue), which looms over Botafogo from Corcovado mountain. We paid for a week in advance, and walked back whilst congratulating ourselves on our find!

23/4/09 A lazy day today apart from moving our stuff from El Misti hostel to our new one, which is Vila Carioca hostel. We uploaded the photos from Santiago, and updated the blog.

24/4/09 Very sunny and hot for the first time since we arrived here. We decided to walk from Botafogo down to Copacabana beach and along its entire length, taking lots of photos on our way. It's completely different to any beach we've ever seen! The beach is very wide, and about half of its width is taken up with football and beach volleyball pitches, all along the whole length of the beach. Games of these go on at practically any time of day, and continue on after dark, because the beach becomes floodlit at night. Chin-up bars and clumps of palm trees stand on the edge in some parts, and a wide black-and-white mosaiced walkway joins onto the edge of the sand. Next to this is a two lane path used by cyclists and joggers. In the space between the volleyball and football pitches and the sea, gazebos, parasols, flags and deckchairs abound. Hawkers of sarongs, towels, bikinis, soft drinks, icecream, watermelon, jewellery and many other things wander along the sand and the walkway, trying to get you to buy.
Nearly everybody was very, very deeply suntanned, and although we are still a bit, our tans faded somewhat over our time in New Zealand and now we felt distinctly pale beside everybody else. A lot of the famous Brazilian thong bikinis were on display, and also some quite skimpy male swimwear, and they were worn by all ages groups, up to the very old in some cases. Kiosks and cafes with chairs and tables outside are placed all along the edge, selling alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and food.
We walked all the way to Forte Copacabana, a fortress in the shape of half a sphere at one end of the beach. This was built in 1914 just before the outbreak of WWI. (It's been out of use now for decades though.) It's concrete walls are 12 metres thick, and we climbed some stairs onto the roof where some cannon still point out to sea before going next door to the Museu Histórico do Exercito, which was about the Brazil's periods of military rule, and its army. While we were on the roof of the fort, we had amazing views of the whole of Copacabana bay, the city skyscrapers, Sugar Loaf Mountain, and the islands out to sea. We didn't think we could go inside the fort, because a traffic cone had been placed in the middle of the open doorway, but when we went inside anyway, the guards at the entrance didn't stop us. It is massive underground, containing engine rooms, rooms full of shells and the huge metal ramrods for the cannons, the medical quarters, sleeping quarters, an office, the original officers' toilets, and rather incongruously, a roomful and corridors of modern paintings.
After this we walked off the headland and along the short road leading to Ipanema. The beach here is cleaner, though just as packed, and the area and shops are now considered more fashionable than Copacabana. We walked onto the headland there, from which people used to harpoon whales. From here the view was different to the one at Copacabana, but just as good; over all of Ipanama and Leblon beaches, the mountains to one side.... and the famous Corcovado mountain inland, with Cristo Redentor on the top.

25/4/09 Today we went back along the same route as yesterday, this time armed with towels and suncream but without the camera (you're warned against bringing anything valuable to the beach.) This time the beach was more crowded because it was the weekend, and a small plane flew past several time with an advertising banner behind it. We stopped at one of the kiosks at Copacabana and shared a Caipirinha cocktail, the unofficial drink of Brazil. It's made of cachaça (a local spirit made of sugar cane), crushed ice, sugar and lime. It was a lot stronger than we had expected, but finished it anyway.Then we moved on to Ipanema, where we put down our towels and took turns to go into the sea. It was refreshing but not cold, much warmer than at New Zealand, but the current swept sideways with a strength I've never met before. A lot of surfers were out. The waves were very large, and it was really fun to swim over the ones that didn't break before they got to you, and dive over the ones that did break but weren't large enough to sweep you away.
The tide was coming in, and the part of the beach where we were was quite narrow, so we decided to walk back to Copacabana and swim there before going home. By the time we got there, though, clouds started coming over, plus the sea looked quite dangerous (more so than Ipanema), so we just walked back home. It took a long time, and like yesterday, by the time we got back to Botafogo we were knackered. We had dinner as soon as we got back, and then went on the internet/watched films until bed.

26/4/09 Quite a lot of the museums in Rio (and Santiago) are free on Sundays, so as we have another two Sundays left anyway, we decided to just go to the Museu do Índio today as it's local, and explore the Botafogo area a bit more beforehand. This museum is about the lifestyles of the Amerindians of Brazil who live in the Amazon rainforest. Their exhibits were presented very well, and they had some very interesting videos on screens, showing a traditional dance/rite, weaving and carving techniques, and body painting. As well as normal exhibits, like glazed pots, weavings, art, spears and arrows, they had recent colour photographs showing the tribes going about their everyday businesses; it was all really interesting!
Before the museum, we walked to Botafogo beach and walked along it and around a headland to Flamengo beach. The sea is polluted at both places unfortunately, so no swimming, but the sun was out, there's lots of greenery (palm trees etc.), and the views of Sugar Loaf Mountain and the rest of the harbour are fabulous, so the walk was really pleasant. We ended up at a park where there was an outdoors gym with men lifting dumbells with concrete and stone on the ends, lots of park benches and trees, and stalls selling coconuts (they chop the top off with a machete and stick a straw in it for the customer to drink the milk), soft drinks and snacks.
We were knackered by the time we got back so didn't do much for the rest of the day apart from go on the internet and watch some TV.