Met a very nice guy from Chile and his girlfriend that were on their way to Ri for the long weekend. he gave me some helpful hints about Rio and also some safety tips and also some quick Portugese lessons. However, when I arrived at the hostel, what a shocker! Crummy little place and a misundertsanding on hostel world website, I thought I had booked for 2 people, but they gave me a one bed room, which was more like a prison. And my shared bathroom was also not that high tech. Litterally the shower was same place as the toilet..... So needless to say I was not going to sit up with this accomodation and it was a problem for 2 people to stay there. So I sat up till 3am that morning trying to look for new accomdoation until Thursday, when we would be going to Parati. This hostel room costs 85 real per nigth (so it is approx 60USD per nigth) and I can honestly say this was the worst place that i have ever slept in for that price. But I had to do it for one night.
Woke up at 6 in the morning, as the kitchen is basiclaly next to my "room". But very excited, as Stephanie was only a few hours away (I was like a little kid waiting to open his present). I unfortunatley had to take a shower in the toilet, while some people was eating in the kicthen, not cool! I was feeling very negative at that stage, as I was not happy with the hostel and I was struggling to find a place to stay at a reasonable price (everything was booked for that weekend). I managed to find accomodation in Copacana at Hotel Atlantico, which was in total only 85 USD more expensive over 3 nights that the hostel stay would have worked out, but the comparison in quality between the two could not be more different (like a Porsche and old skedonk - honestly)! But I had to wait for Stephanie to get to Rio before I could make the booking. What seemed like hours from the time that she told me she would land (it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes later) she arrived! Finally!!!! Wow, it was such a nice feeling and I was so glad to see her again after this long. I showed her the room, she had a good laucgh, and then we made the booking.
We just walked around on the stunning beaches of Copacabana and worked out our plans of sights to see and things to do in Rio (which there are quite a few). Topped off the evening by having a great dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse, which is basically all you can eat meat! The meat was off very good quaility and we both had quite a bit to eat. One thing to note thought that we very quickly realized, Rio is expensive!
31 October 2010
Woke up in hotel (lot better than the night before) and had a great breakfast (best one thus far on the trip). And yes, I was extremely happy with our update that we made! We decided on doing the Chist the Redeemer statue in the morning, and then head off to Flamengo Park and then to Sugarloaf Mountain (similiar to Table Mountain in Cape Town). Took a taxi to the base on the statue in the morning, and made use of the busses uop to the top (you can als use this railway vehicle). First stop was at a heli pad, which was a nice appetizr for the view that was about to come. Both of us were really looking forward to this, as both of us thought this would be one of the highlights of the trip! And I can honestly say that it was, the view from the statue is amazing and just the statue itself is also very nice. It is really one of those things that you just have to try and see if you possible can. Stunning!!!! One tricky thing was that it was quite difficult to get in a clear picture of the statue and yourself, without having other people in it!. It was also just nice to observe the view and take in the moment, so we styaed for a while (the statue probably had the best view possible if I can think of a few around the world). After that off to Flamengo Park, where we walked along the beach front to Sugarloaf, which ended up being a VERY long walk. It was however very nice, as you get a different view from Sugarloaf, which reminded me more and more about Table Mountain as we got closer and you can see the cable cars to the top. It takes 2 cars to get to teh top, but once there, again, the view is spectacular. The thing i enjoyed was that it gives you a very good indictaion of how Rio looks, as you get a view from the sea in towards the land area.We wanted to saty for sunset, but unfortauntey the weather did not play along. We did however see the city light up, as we satyed there at the top form 4 to 7 pm, and had a great beer at the top (with great company!). It was truley a fantastic day and one that i will remember for a very, very long time. And it was so nice to spend it with great company!
1 November 2010
We had the hanglgiding booked for 11 the morning, but the waether did not look very good. And later our fears were confirmed, as the hang glidign was cancelled for the day (and it is acually a pain, as we only heard the news very late, so we alreayd missed a whole morning). So we decided to do a Vavela tour instead, which is basically the slums of Rio (see the movie City of God, very good and you get a good idea of how live is in the Vavela). Still great having Stephanie with me, and I did not really mind the trips not working out as planned (or hoped). The Vavela tour in the afternoon was very interesting, as it reminded me a lot of back to home in South Africa (where you have this big devide between rich and poor). There was a number of similiarities between these here and those back home (although I do think the people here are better off than back home - not proud of it though!). We had a very good and informative guide, and we were also not allowed to pictures that were we wished (the people selling drugs think you are taking pictures of them). The tour included going to a good and bad Vavela. Some intertsing things that we were told, some being that people in the Vavela do nto have an adress, so the are quite imagantive in getting their post, their is a law in Brazil that states that if you live in a place for 5 years, soemone cannot kick you off that property, so you get living rights, but still not property rights. Afterwards we had some beers at one of the many seaside cafes in Copa that sell beer (although there was not a lot of poeple there because of the waether).
2 November 2010
Woke up early to pack for Parati and also so that we could do the hang gliding in the morning. Again, the waether did not look to good, but this time it was a go ahead. The guy collected us at 10am sharp, and then off to the top of the mountain.... (apperantly the wind direction was perfect for hang gliding in the morning, but because it was quite cloudy and a bit of fog, the view not that great). But this our last chance to do it, so we were not left with much of a choice. We aslo wanted to go to Centro afterwards (centre of the city), but because itr was a public holiday, we were advised not to go (street kids smoke crack and get very high and agressive). The jump was great! Stephanie went first and I was second. I had a very good instructor which was one of those crazy guys (he had been in SA surfing the garden route). The initial view from the ramp where you take off was very foggy, and unfortunately not good, but once you clear that, it was stunning! I could see the whole beach line. Probably sounds stupid, but yes, I felt like a bird! I think my instructor was better than Stephanie°s, because mine was a lot more focussed on getting good pcitures while we were hang gliding, where as Stephanie ended up with very very few pictures (and she was not happy about that). The only thing that was not that good was the price, which ended up with pics and video at 390 real - ouch! We had the bus trip in the afternoon to Parati, with Stephanie almost sleeping the whole way. Arrived at nice hostel, Che Lagarto, and ended up going to a very nice restaurant the evening and having a very good pizza (which would serve as lunch for the next day as well).
3 November 2010
Parati is a town on the coast of Brazil, west of Rio (about 4 hours with the bus and very nice scenic route along the coast). We decided that we would just have a chill day, and not do any excursions, but rather just walk around and see the old part of the city, which has been coppled stone streets (reminds me a lot about Antigua in Gautemala). We were basically just walking around the town trying to take some pictures and now and then have the occsional beer (why not, we are on holdiay!). We also brought some nice souvenirs.It was also a very special day for the two of us, as we have now been going out for 6 months! Yay!!!!!!!! We ended up going to a restaurant, and went for the slightly cheaper option for food, just becasue Rio really put us back a bit, but in the end, the dinner was actually ddissapoitning (soemtimes you do get what you pay for when tryin gto go down a slighly cheaper route). In all, it is a pleasant town and you only need one full day to see everything (exlcluding doing any excursions).
4 November 2010
Took the bus back to Rio in the morning, and we actually realised the busses on Rio run on a very strict timeframe (we were a few minutes late, and the bus was actually on time, so we missed our bus and had to wait for the next one, although when it arrived, we thought it was stil our initial bus!). Lesson learnt in Brazil and busses. Arrived back in Rio in aftrenoon and tyhis time we stayed in Ipanema beach (hostel Karisma). We spent the afternoon just wlaking around the beach, with more people being on it because of the nice waether. Walked to the edge of Copa and Ipanema, which is like a corner, where there was quite a few people that was looking at the sunset (which was fanstastic). It felt very nice being back in the city again and Ipanema definately has more restaurants and bars than Copa does. We had some cold ones at one of the beach shops and whached some people play volleyball. Also had a very nice and cheaper dinner that evening, baby chicken in a garlic sauce. We were also luckly because we got an upgrade at our hostel, because of a leak in the floor, we were put in a 4 bed room, but only the two of us were staying in it (so it is bigger - nice!).
5 November 2010
Last full day in Rio. Decided we would go to Centro (middle of city) for a walk around town. We used the metro, which was very easy, cheap and convenient to use. It is a pretty new metro.We also went to the supermarket the previous evening and made a nice lunch for ourselve. We actually got off at the wrong station (bioth of us were not concentrating were to get off), so we ended up having to do quite a bit of wlaking to get to the pleces where we wanted to start off at. There were some old buildings in the city, but nothing really that stood out for us. But you do get the feeling walking through the city that it is not a place to walk around after dark. Also wnet to Santa Theresa (section of Rio), which is best viewed from a little tram (ala San Francisco) that you take. Going up on the tram does offer some very nice views and luckily there was also a French guide witha tour group that helped us a bit as well (she knew exactly were we were going, were to get off etc). The tram could not go all the way to the end, because of some electricity problems. We also had a littel mini breakdown, and if it was not for that lady, both of us would not have known what was going on. She was kind enough to show us the get off stop for the famous stairs in Rio, Escadaria Selaron. Long line of steps with tiles of various forms and patterns on, and it makes for some really pretty photos. Afterwards we headed back to Ipanema, as boit of us wanted to spend more time on the beach again.
We walked to Lebon in the afternoon, and both of us had some great frozen yogart. Walked in the streets looking at some shops (Stepahnei bought some earbells etc at one of the shops), and the along the beach back (this time in the water, wanted to get a feel for the temperature of the sea water). What amazed us both was the number of people on the beach, all locals, on a Friday, but around 4pm. Does nobody work around here? And it is very apparent that Brazillians love games involving balls, as all along the beach, you would see people with balls (football, volleyball, bat and ball etc). You can also see why they are so good in football if I look at some of the people skills.... We whatched the beach for a few hours, and it is very nice to see how tailored the beaches are fro sport, with playing facilities being provided all over (nets etc). The people of Rio live a very healty lifestyle. The evening we spent going to a great Mexican restaurant, and we decided that we would not go to the locals hotspot, Lapa, becasue of the time that the bus would go there and also having to make our flight the next day. We also had to move back to ourt first room ,which was very small.
6 November 2010
Our flight to BA was delayed from the morning to the afternoon, and our Iguazu Falls flight for the same day cancelled. So we would have to stay overnigth in BA, and then fly the Sundaty from BA to Iguazu. Not great, but at least our travel dates allowed us a little flexibility and also we got some very nice vouchers from the airline, Aerolienas Arhentinas. Free buffet lunch (great!) and free accomodation in BA for the night, with transport and dinner paid for as well! But Rio was great, and a fanstastic city to visit. One can easily see why it is the most visited city in the Southern Hemisphere! It does have the wow factor!
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