I said my goodbye to the family on the morning of Wednesday 10th October dad gave me a lift to Heathrow. Unlike the first trip I was early this time! At check in I was told the flight was overbooked and asked if I would volunteer to take the same flight but the following day. For my inconvenience they offered me lunch dinner a hotel then breakfast and lunch the following day, along with £500! I jumped at the chance and two hours later learned they would be moving me. So that day I enjoyed the free food and a few beers at my hotel, put the £500 in to my bank and got a good night sleep before heading back to the airport the next day!
On Thursday I boarded my plane, watched many a film and enjoyed the free beer then got in to Rio at 8pm. I managed to organise a taxi to my hostel and got there at 10pm. This was 2am on my body clock so I hit the sack!
On Friday I set out for a wonder to get my bearings of Rio. I was staying in a place called Lapa which was about a 30 minute bus ride from Copacabana. This wasn't a touristy area as such and was more of a local place to stay. After getting my bearings I found a pub that was showing the England game and settled in there for the afternoon with some beers! The way they decide what a good beer is in Brazil is by how cold they can get it, which is a bit of luck as the beer isn't the best so when it's ice cold it takes most of the flavour away! That evening I met a few guys from the hostel and we headed out to a couple of the local pubs, taking in the Samba dancing at the street parties!
The hostel I was in was fully booked on the Saturday so I headed about 2 miles down the road to another, where I would spend the rest of my time in Rio. This was a bit further in to the 'ghetto' or the 'real Rio' as the guy running the place called it! On arrival I was made a caprihiana, a famous Brazilian drink, and signed up to go and watch a football game that evening. One other guy from the hostel was also going and at 5pm we got picked up and headed to the Maracana stadium to watch flamenaese v gremio. The stadium and the atmosphere were fantastic and the game finished 1-1. On returning to the hostel we met up with some other people and the drinking games got underway. Later that evening we headed up in to Lapa where we went to a theme park then danced in the streets at the street parties till the early hours where small bands were playing in different areas around the famous Lapa steps.
Sunday morning we were a bit hungover but found out it was gay pride on Copacabana beach and thought hair of the dog was the best medicine! So around mid day we headed down stopping off for some supplies and spent the afternoon drinking and dancing with the parade in the sun, an awesome day! We also got interviewed live on MTV Brazil!
That evening we got back to the hostel and had a BBQ out on the street as black sabbath were playing in the outdoor stadium which was quite literally next door to us! So again the beers carried on flowing!
Monday morning I was up quite early and headed out on a city tour, quite amazingly with no hangover! The tour took in all the sights, starting with Christ redeemer, a stunning statue and view, then on to the Maracana football ground. Here we learned how the stadium had recently been developed. This was meant to cost 200 million real, but ended up costing 1 billion real! The contractor was a friend of the governor and the whole deal was corrupt. We were then told about all the corruption in Brazil, which is quite shocking! The next stop was lunch for an all you can eat lunch, then on to the Lapa steps, the stunning Rio cathedral and then finished off at sugarloaf mountain for sunset. The view from up there was amazing, you could see over the whole of rio with the Christ redeemer lite up in the back ground!
That evening we had a quieter night and just headed out to a pub for a couple of beers.
On the Tuesday I headed down to the other famous Brazilian beach, Ipanema. I had a wonder around the area, went to the beach then found an English pub to watch the final qualifier in. Luckily enough England won this and I got interviewed (again!) by the BBC about Rio and if fans should feel safe coming over next year! Tuesday evening was spent in the hostel playing more drinking games involving cashaca, which is a very cheap disgusting Brazilian spirit!
On Wednesday the last few days had caught up with me and I was very hungover! I didn't do to much apart from watch a bit of tv, eat and do my washing! Wednesday night was one of the girls in the hostel last night, so even though I was still feeling a bit worse for wear, I got persuaded to go to a club with them in Copacabana! This actually turned in to a really good night and we came stumbling back in to the hostel at 7am Thursday morning!
I didn't wake up till 1pm Thursday and then didn't do to much in the afternoon! I felt very lazy in the evening so managed to find a gym and sweated out all the alcohol from the past week!
Friday morning I was up early and went on a tour up in to the favelas. I was a bit worried about this tour prior to going as the only real thing I had seen to do with favelas was the film 'city of god' so imagined there to just be gangs, crime and drugs. How wrong I was... The Brazilian police have been going in to the favelas after the past few years and clearing out the drugs and the gangs, purifying them as they call it, then setting up small local police forces in each favela. So now they are very safe places to live, with businesses, banks etc going in and setting up stores and people previously living in the city going in to the favelas as the rent is cheaper. The government are also putting money in to them moving people from houses that are in danger of being taken out by mud slides, to safer areas. The view over rio some of these places have being on the hills is also spectacular!
Friday afternoon I was back in the gym and then Friday evening we did another street BBQ as Aerosmith were playing right next door this time! Friday night then turned in to Saturday morning where we carried on drinking through to the early hours in Lapa again!
Everyone in the hostel was feeling a bit worse for wear Saturday morning so the guy that ran the hostel took us to a famous cemetery where many famous brazilians are buried. On this particular day it would have been the 100th birthday of Antonio Carlos Jobin, the guy that wrote the girl from Ipanema. The graveyard was amazing, the graves were mostly big blocks built of marble with the coffin and statues inside.
After this we decided to go for a drink in the bar where the Girl from Ipanema was wrote, then headed down to Copacabana beach for the remainder of the day. Saturday evening was quite chilled just watching tv in the hostel.
Sunday morning I checked out of my hostel and headed to the bus station to make my way down to Ilha Grande. A four hour bus drive and 1 hour boat ride later I was on the beautiful island of Ilha grande. After checking in to my hostel I headed out along the beach, had some lunch then had a walk around the little village. This island is what I imagine koh phi phi was like maybe ten years ago before it became very commercial.
Sunday evening was spent drinking beers out on the decking with 2 English guys who were in my dorm room.
There is a very famous beach on Ilha Grande called Lopez Mendez. You get a boat to and from here as it's on the other side of the island, however on the Monday morning we decided to walk it as it was 10k. We soon realised this wasn't an easy 10k walking along a flat path though, and in 35 degrees heat we trekked up through a jungle some bits of which were near vertical! It was all worth it though when we got there, as this beach was just stunning, quite possibly the best I have seen on my travels. We spent the afternoon in the crystal clear sea surfing the waves in. We opted to get the boat back instead of the hike!
Monday evening we headed in to the small town centre and had some dinner with a few beers.
Tuesday we hired some snorkels and headed to another beach, bout half an hour walk away and spent the day snorkelling with sting rays and turtles! Awesome!
Tuesday evening we found a pub that was showing the football, watched that with a few beers then headed to the hostel next door to ours for dinner and then drank beers and capirinhas out on their decking to the early hours!
Today is Wednesday and I am currently on the boat back to the mainland. From there I will catch a bus further down the coast to my next destination, Paraty before heading to São Paulo, Floronapolis, and on to Iguazu Falls where I'll be meeting up with Finch! Speak soon! x