Olá amigos!!
Hope all is good! Ma and Pa, hope you've enjoyed your break and had fun at smells. Vic, I'm jealous of your quiz and hope little A behaved and was not too needy! Congratulations on your 5 year anniversary! Can't believe it's been that long, but glad you've had fun and enjoyed Bury! Grandad and Maggie, good to hear from you and yeah the weeks are flying by!! Paul, hope your gym classes are going well, it seems like a lifetime ago that I was there doing all the classes. But I certainly realise how lucky I am!
So the rest of Tuesday was spent in bed- felt so rough! The headache is the worst part and I admit googling malaria symptoms. A nice Irish girl in my room offered to go to the shop for me and fussed a bit which is always nice.
Wednesday:
Feeling a hundred times better! So I had breakfast and then headed out to explore Rio! The weather was still really warm but cloudy and throughout the day we had a few little showers. I done the free walking tour for a few hours in the morning. Learnt a lot about the history of Brazil and Rio- particularly the Portuguese colony. We visited the big cathedral which is one of the ugliest buildings- it looks like a Dalek! Also visited the Selaron staircase, which is all mosaic and made up of various tiles including ones donated from all the over the world. The artist was found dead at the bottom of the staircase a couple of years ago, doused in petrol and set alight. Not the best free walking tour, but worth doing. My hostel was in Copacabana and so I spent the afternoon walking the famous Copacabana beach! No wonder Barry thought he'd sing about it. It is pretty impressive! 4.5km curve of pure sand beach with sugar loaf at one end and all the tower blocks of the city behind overlooked by more lush green mountains including the one with Christ de Redeemer looking down over the city. Plus, a few little islands out to sea. The beach wasn't busy as it was cloudy, but loads of people running along and every 500m is a little gym station. Lots of street vendors and little cafés on the beach. I walked back paddling in the water.
Back in the hostel I got chatting to the Irish girl Gilly, whose name I never knew til we parted and she said about adding her on Facebook. She said about going for some dinner so we headed out for a walk and ended up back on the beach where we got fish nuggets and chips. Not much going on in the hostel so wasn't a late night.
Thursday:
I'd booked a favela tour for this morning. It is one of those things that I had to see while I was here although it is a bit like tourism of peoples poverty. Gilly also booked to come on it, so we were picked up at 10.30 and it was only us! Our guide drove us to Rocinha- the biggest favela in South America, home to about 200,000 people! It is also one of the most developed. We drove to the top where there was a viewpoint over the whole favela and also some of the city, however, it was unfortunately really cloudy so we couldn't appreciate it at it's best. There were lots of local favela artists there selling there work and we both bought a piece- it was really good and I thought it could go on my wall beside my Thailand picture. We then drove through and stopped again for a wander through the maze that is tiny streets and alleys surrounded by 3-4 storey high buildings where they all live. The lampposts have about 100 wires coming off each one as they get their electricity illegally from them. But it was certainly more civilised and developed than I'd imagined! There were 100s of shops and stalls, selling things cheaper than in the city. The locals certainly didn't look hungry (rather large). But the site is all illegally built and has been built on a large part of one of the national parks. They are building up now and if they need money they sell the top of their house for people to build another floor. However, there is a public hospital and couple of state schools there. We visited a nursery where the state pays half and parents pay the other half to look after their kids while they work. Most of them work in low skilled jobs in the city. We also visited a samba school where they were making their costumes for the carnival! Each one was so intricate and a woman sat gluing on 100s of individual beads.
The favela was pacified by police a couple of years ago who now control it. However, prior to that it was dominated by drug gangs and a lot more dangerous.
We got dropped off back at the hostel and said farewell to Gilly as I was moving hostels. I got the metro to my new hostel which is a bit more lively and friendly. Although it has triple bunks and I am at the top! The receptionist gave me and two Irish (so many Irish relative to their small population) who'd just arrived a talk about the city and what to do. Ivan and Katie, the Irish, were heading to a market so I joined them as the weather still isn't great- cloudy and drizzly. It turns out Katie is an occupational therapist! So that was interesting! We got the metro there and it was huge, but a lot of tat! Plastic statue of the Eiffel Tower anyone? Although the Havianas are amazing!!!! Every possible colour and pattern you could imagine and they are about £5-10 a pair! I would of got some, but it means carrying them. We headed back and I went out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hostel. It was one of the buffets where you pay per kilo- really popular here! But the food was great- so many veg, salad and fish. Not cheap though- over £10! But then Rio is really expensive! The tours and everything are pricey! I mooched back and got acai for dessert. At the hostel I sat chilling with Ivan and Katie and quite a few people were cooking a big thanksgiving dinner so it was a good atmosphere. I also saw Laura and Peter who are also staying here!
Friday-
A good breakfast! But I had run out of things to do in the miserable weather- overcast and showery! There is no point doing Christ de Redeemer or Sugar Loaf as they are engulfed by cloud and mist so you can't really see anything. And it's not beach weather! I have been lucky with the weather so far on my trip so I can't really complain. I'm lucky I have time to hang around as most of the others are flying out of here in the next day or two. So I must admit to having a day chilling- I don't really know where the time went. I went to the supermarket and bought a few veg and pasta and cooked dinner and I talked to various different people in the hostel. It was quite nice to have a day chilling as your always on the go when travelling, although I feel guilty when I'm in such a marvellous city! In the evening a big group of us in the hostel all planned to go to the Lapa district in Rio where on Friday nights they have big street parties. So everyone started drinking in the hostel and it was fun watching the drinking games. Then at about 11.30pm we all walked the short distance to Lapa and it was crazy! A fantastic experience! The streets were lined with stalls selling drinks. I gave in and had a caprihiana and to be fair it was so strong I felt pretty tipsy! But the atmosphere was amazing and it was so strange as the streets are just full of people standing round drinking! There was a big group with the huge drums playing some really cool beats and so lots of people were dancing. You can only begin to imagine how electric the place would be during carnival! There was about 20 of us from the hostel, including Katie, Ivan, Laura and Peter, and everyone was really friendly! At about 3.30am we went into a club and had a good dance! Got back about 5.30am.
Saturday:
Just about made it up for breakfast and a good catch up of all the dramas from last night. Arranged with Katie, Ivan, Laura and Peter to go get football tickets and go up Sugar Loaf mountain. However, the weather today was still really cloudy but no rain. We all got the metro and managed to navigate our way to where we could buy tickets but it was shut! So we got the bus to sugar loaf and met with a NZ couple and Philippine guy from our hostel. We got the cable car to Urca- the first mountain. There were walkways and viewing points so we mooched and got some pics. The views were good over the city and beaches, although it was too cloudy to see Christ de redeemer! We got the cable car up to sugar loaf and again walked around. It was really beautiful as we were there for the sunset- great colours over the city! We all got the bus back and a couple of us went out to get food- just quick and easy pizza from a nearby shop. We were all pretty knackered after last night! So it wasn't a late one!
Sunday:
Breakfast and then we were on a mission to get the football tickets. We went back and managed to get the tickets- only about £7.50 to go to the Maracana, where the World Cup final was, to watch Fluminese- a team from Rio and the Corinthians- a team from São Paolo. We all went to go up Christ de Redeemer, but was told it was too cloudy so you wouldn't see anything. Laura and Peter went up anyway as they were leaving. The rest of us went to the Ipanema district where they have a big hippy market on a Sunday! We walked around and it was a good atmosphere and some cool arty bits! But I didn't buy anything. We then walked to Ipanema beach and walked along the front- a nice but slightly smaller beach than Copacabana. We walked round to Copacabana for a bit before getting the metro back to meet Laura and Peter and go to the football which started at 5.
The stadium is huge! It holds 90000 and so there was attendance of about 30000 but it still seemed quite empty. We sat in with the Fluminese fans behind a goal. They had their drums and huge flags and it was a good atmosphere! The game was an interesting one! 7 goals, 3 penalties and 2 red cards! But Fluminese won 5-2 so our fans were happy! A bit of a rush and squeeze on the metro to get back- worse than London at rush hour! Me and Katie fancied something healthy to eat so we walked for a while and I got vegetables and a Greek rice and she told me what to expect from Occupational Therapy. We come back to the hostel and all sat round for a while. Bid Laura and Peter farewell as they are flying to Colombia now so no more bumping into them.
Monday:
Breakfast and trying to decide what to do next. I need to get to Manaus, but Brazil is so big! It costs about £400 to fly there, but then I think it would end up almost as much to bus and take several days. Decisions!
On a brighter note, the weather was glorious today!! Blue skies, sun and 35c!
Me, Ivan and Katie got the metro to where we could get a van up to Christ de Redeemer. A minibus took us up to the top and we walked around the base of the huge, infamous statue that proudly overlooks the city. Great views over the city and nice to see it while it was sunny, as when we were up sugar loaf it was cloudy. Busy though! We got the van down and got the metro to the beach. Great to spend a few hours relaxing on the legendary Copacabana! The beach is covered in soft, white sands and some pretty impressive waves!! 100s of people walking along selling everything from drinks to bikinis to jewellery. It was a scorcher! Ivan and Katie left to go to sort out some bank stuff. I laid on the beach another hour or so and left about 4.30 as I didn't want to risk getting burnt!
So that's about it for now! I only have 2 months left :( I think it is my first year advent calendar free, but I'm not in the slightest bothered. But enjoy your Christmas shopping and the cold! Keep me updated! Love reading your messages!