First thing to note: I can't believe we've only been here for 2 weeks! We've only seen a tiny fraction of Brazil (largely because it's so massive) but still I feel like we've done so much! This bodes well for all the stuff we still want to fit in before April...
So, Rio. We had a really nice stay there but I didn't fall in love with the city. We only spent 3.5 days in the end and it was enough. We stayed in a hostel in Ipanema which was really nice, 2 blocks back from the beach and right next to post 9 which is apparently where the beautiful people hang out (though in our experience this was not exclusive!)
The first day we arrived we headed straight for the beach to watch the surfers and the sunset. Next day we hired a tandem bike and cycled around the lake which was a lot of fun - I've not tried a tandem before and it felt kind of odd giving over control of steering and braking to Gerard but given his Dutch roots I had to concede that, between the two of us, he was the more qualified cyclist. We also whiled away a few hours in Jardim Botanico which was really peaceful, quite a contrast to the rest of the city. We had caipirinhas in a kiosk on Copacabana beach while the sun went down and we inadvertently ate in the restaurant where the song "Girl from Ipanema" was written, only discovering that fact when we asked the waiter why everyone was taking photos of a particular wall. We spent an evening in Lapa after asking the English guy at the hostel reception (undoubtedly on a gap yaar) whether it was worth the trip on a Tuesday - he proceeded to talk himself into it over the course of about 5 mins, starting with "I wouldn't bother", through "there might be some people" all the way to "you should definitely go". We were glad we did bother, the samba was limited but we found a cute little place with live jazz and did get a brief glimpse of some ladies in carnival garb shaking their stuff. It was late by the time we decided to head home so we thought we'd be sensible and take the safer option of getting a taxi back. As it turned out I think I would have felt more comfortable on the bus; we got in, no seatbelts, our crazy driver established that we could not speak Portuguese so instead started showing us pictures of Paul Walker on his phone. It did not instil massive confidence in his driving abilities.
Since we didn't spend so long in Rio, we decided to do a city tour which covered all the tourist hotspots in one day. We really enjoyed it, the guide was super enthusiastic (despite the fact he'd been doing the same tour for years) and sometimes it's nice to just be herded around and not have to think about what bus you need and where to get off etc. We checked off the Lapa steps (which I hadn't heard of before the tour but were a definite highlight - evidently the Dutch were particularly generous with their tile donations since there was Delft blue and windmills all over the place), the Christ of course, and even had a brief sojourn into the Tijuca forest where we spotted Harvey Keitel on location for a film about Rio. We finished off at the Sugar Loaf and hung around to watch the sunset which was stunning and surprisingly not that busy.
My first dorm room experience was a good one, everyone was really considerate and quiet at night so we slept pretty well. It was not quite what I'd expected, I'd thought there would be a vague sense of community but actually it was not that different to staying in a hotel. We chatted to people, mostly at breakfast, and they were generally friendly but I was surprised how much the solo travellers were happy to keep to themselves. Having said that, we seem to be in a minority by going clockwise around South America so most people we spoke to were getting towards the end of their trips and I suppose after a few months of having the same conversations with strangers, perhaps you lose enthusiasm. You can always count on Americans for enthusiasm though and we got some really helpful travel tips from a lovely couple that happened to be on the city tour with us - and coincidentally also happened to be on a maxi-moon (Gerard's chosen term for long-term honeymooning).
Aside from seeing the sights, we've mostly been eating and drinking. Perhaps not more so in Rio than the rest of Brazil, but there is a ridiculous amount of meat everywhere! I'm pretty sure vegetarianism is illegal here. One evening I ordered a sandwich thinking it would be a healthier option (the other options were steak- or burger-based) but it turned out to be stuffed with about 3 inches of beef with some sausage thrown in for good measure - there's no escaping it! On the drinking front, beer is cheaper than pretty much everything else on the menu (including water) in most places so has been the beverage of choice thus far. Looking forward to getting to Argentina and hopefully finding some affordable wine!
Speaking of which, we're now in Foz do Iguacu following a 26 hour (rather than the advertised 23) bus journey which sadly claimed Gerard's only pair of jeans - making sure you have all your belongings with you is more of a challenge after an entire day on public transport. This is our last stop in Brazil...tomorrow falls, the next day Argentina!