Rio de Janeiro - Cidade Maravilhosa

They say that the setting of Rio de Janeiro is gorgeous, and they don’t lie. Golden beaches, green hills of dense rainforest, all lying in the shadow of the iconic statue of Chirst with his arms spread wide. But our first views were of the shanty towns on the outskirts and the traffic, traffic and more traffic.

It was a short day bus from Paraty into the city. Upon reaching the downtown bus terminal we boarded a taxi and made for Leblon beach which would be our base for a couple of days. The area seemed nice and quite upmarket, with lots of bars and restaurants dotted along the few streets around our hostel. And then there was the beach!

Very inviting

Located just one block away, across a busy highway, was a long band of beautifully golden sand. The beaches in Rio are full of life with swimmers, surfers, beachbums and people selling food and drink and anything you could need. 

While in Rio we of course had to visit Christ the Redeemer (“Christo Redentor”) who towers above the city and has become a symbol of the city itself. We took a long local bus to the base of the mountain on which he stands. Then it was into a cute little tram and up the hill we went. While onboard we were treated to some samba music from a lively band as the panoramic views of the city flew by. Once off the train the heat was stifling, but after climbing a few steps we got the first glimpse of Jesus, albeit from behind.

The boss

The statue is impressive, 130ft tall and nearly 100ft wide. It was very busy at the top as everyone struggled to get the best snap they could. Cue everyone stupidly standing with their arms outstretched! Another reason to visit the statue is the great view of the city spread below. Straight ahead you could see the sprawling golden beaches, behind these a blue lagoon and all around green hills, often with colourful favelas clinging to them.

Rio from above

Another typical tour in Rio is into one of these favelas, so we opted to take one with our hostel. In hindsight maybe we should have researched a different tour, as afterwards we felt the tour we had was favela-lite. Interesting, but not as gritty as I expected a favela to be. The place we visited is called Rocinha and has been completely pacified, mainly due to the addition of a police station two years ago. Now it is quite safe, and I’d have no problem wandering around there alone. There was a main street and branching off from this, lots of alleyways and steps where houses are clustered, built on top of each other, all clinging to a really steep hill.

Slummin it (well, kinda)

After two days on the beach we moved to Santa Teresa, in the old part of the city, known to be a little more edgier than the suburban beaches, but with better nightlife and a lot of the cultural sights. 

Famous steps of Lapa

Famous arches of Lapa, lots of famous stuff in Lapa!

After settling in in a new “hostel” (which turned out to be a room in someone’s house!) we hit Lapa, five minutes away and renowned for its crazy nightlife. Crazy doesn’t even cover it! There were hoards of people everywhere, the streets were closed and every bar was spilling over with people. Lots of little stalls selling food and drink were set up underneath the famous arches (once an aqueduct) and the atmosphere was electric, if a little intimidating! After one stiff caipirinha we relaxed and had a great night, listening and dancing to samba music and watching the eclectic group of people roaming the streets.

€2 for a streetside cocktail, don't mind if I do!

The next day we felt horrendous, but after a healthy juice and sandwich (Brazil does amazing and inexpensive juices), we were ready for a day shopping. Later on, on the advice of our hosts we took a taxi out to a samba school rehearsal. In the run up to carnaval all the samba schools (basically samba clubs) have practice sessions of the music and dancing that they will showcase at the upcoming carnaval. 

They know how to party

They are cheap to attend and give people who will miss carnaval (sniff) a taste of what’s involved. We arrived at 11.30pm which seemed to be dead early as nothing had started yet! After a while the drums started pounding and the rousing samba music filled the air, just making you want to move your feet! Then the ladies and gents in their colourful sparkly outfits appeared and began to shake their booties at incredible speed. By this stage the hall had filled up and everyone was joining in with the dancing. It was really fun to be a part of and also gave you the feeling of how samba is a such a community thing in Rio, bringing people together, and it is a serious business! We left at all hours again but the party was still in full swing. It must be hard to be the last man standing in Brazil!

Damien gets lucky

No visit to this city would be complete without a day soaking up the sun and people watching on the beautiful and famous Copacabana beach. We went on slightly cloudy Sunday and it was probably a little quieter than usual. The main beach side road was closed so we rented a vehicle to explore.

1

I get 60 miles to the gallon on this thing!

The 5km beach is split into different sections, which are frequented by different groups of people. Of course you can go wherever you like, but if you're gay you'll probably head for a certain spot, families opt for another spot and so on. There are loads of beachside stalls and bars and a real mix of people strolling around. Rio is a great place for people watching!

Sunny Sunday

On our last night we wanted to go for a special meal so in true Brazilian style we opted for an all you can eat! Well a posh one at least. The type of restaurant is called a churrascaria and there is a salad and seafood buffet and then a little army of waiters doing the rounds with different cuts of meat. If you want some they come to your table and slice it off for you.

Nom nom

The food was delicious but we both over-indulged and waddled back to Lapa to have our final caipirihna of the trip.

We had all of the next day free before our late night flight so we fit in a little more sightseeing. There is a conical shaped mountain on the coast of Rio called the Sugarloaf and there has been a cable car running up to its peak for a hundred years. It has even been featured in a Bond movie! We took the car up to the top in the baking heat and were rewarded with even more stunning views than from Christ the Redeemer. It was the hottest day yet, but beautifully clear and you could stay for hours watching the bustling city below. 

Copa beach from the sugarloaf

Alas we had a flight to catch, and we picked up our stuff from the hostel and waited for our cab to arrive… and that’s when things started to go wrong. Firstly the cab was late. Then we had expected about a 45minute taxi to the airport (as per our hostel owner) but as soon as we hit the highway we were greeted by bumper to bumper traffic as far as the eye could see. That’s when we started to panic. The taxi driver spoke little English but every time we asked him how long it would take, he answered one hour. SHITE!! Anxiously checking our watches and getting more a more panicky the driver picked up on our worry and tried his best to get on the fastest lane, but nothing was moving. We kicked ourselves for being so stupid, traffic in Rio is mental and usually we are much better at building in contingency time. Feeling sick we watched the meter tick up and the time tick away. Then finally FINALLY we turned off the main road into a much less congested road and our excellent driver put his foot down and got us in one piece to the terminal. We threw him the fare plus a handsome tip and ran as fast as we could to the Lufthansa desk. Thankfully they hadn’t closed the flight and we successfully checked in and made it through to the gate. Then we had a well deserved beer!

We didn't miss the flight, yey!

With all the stress we hadn’t really had a chance to take in the fact that we were now going home and sitting waiting to board it began to sink in. We had had four fantastic months of adventure, fun and incredible experiences. South America is such a diverse and interesting continent and I feel so privileged to have been there. AND in true actuarial style, Damien has done the numbers...

42,681	distance in kms
15,489	distance in kms by road
124	days
36	hostels
12	night buses
12	border crossings
9	flights
6	countries
5	cockroaches
3	homestays
2	hotels
1	hell of a trip!

Thanks for reading!

Iguazu falls and hola Brazil!

Although we were sorry to leave Buenos Aires after a fantastic week, it was exciting to arrive in the tropical town of Puerto Igauzu with the prospect of the falls ahead of us. The series of waterfalls straddle both Argentina and Brazil, but Argentina has the lion’s share, so we based ourselves there.

The hostel we were staying in seemed fine, until the cockroaches started to appear, first in the bathroom.. and then in the kitchen when we were cooking, yuck!

We set off for the falls early in the morning to try and arrive ahead of the crowds. The weather had been really changeable so when we saw beautiful sunshine on arrival we made our way straight towards the Devil’s throat, the famous epicentre of the park where several waterfalls converge. After two train trips and a short walk across a series of rivers we began to approach the throat. 

Choo choo

The first thing apparent was the noise, a cacophony of crashing water. Next came the spray, soaking us before we had even gotten close. Then finally the waterfalls came into view, magnificent and huge, and absolutely deserving of all the hype!

Devil's throat

After standing enjoying the show for a while we were absolutely drenched, so we took off to explore the rest of the park. Even though the Devil’s throat is the highlight, there were many other waterfalls to enjoy and admire. 

Water water everywhere

Also there were butterflies everywhere! All of different shapes, sizes and colours. Despite the humidity and blood hungry mosquitoes it was again a privilege to stand before nature in all her glory, and the beauty of the falls will stay with me for a long time.

Very pwetty

From Puerto Iguazu it was a short hop skip and jump across the border into Brazil. Brazil was the least planned part of our itinerary and feeling a little tired so close to the end of our time in South America we decided to just check out three places, Florianopolis, Paraty and of course Rio.

From the off it was evident we were now reduced to hapless tourists due to having about two words of Portuguese between us. Cue a lot of pointing, miming and speaking Spanish with a funny accent (which doesn't work). Our two first impressions of Brazil were that it seemed prosperous, more so even than Argentina and that the Brazilians were very helpful, with people stopping us on the street to ask did we need directions and generally being very obliging.

Unfortunately the buses in Brazil do not match their Argentinean counterparts and our first bus journey was horrendous. Picture spending the night on a Bus Eireann coach – yup that bad. Half way though the journey the luggage on the bus was subjected to the most intensive drug search we have seen in South America. Coming from a three way border (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) I suppose it was inevitable, but still a little scary. I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of those guys!

Florianopolis consists of a city and an island called Santa Caterina, which has an abundance of beaches with a backdrop of lush tropical forest. We stayed in a hostel on the island right beside the beach and had a relaxing five days enjoying the sunshine (me), the surf (Damien) and the per kilo restaurant and ice cream shop (both of us, to our detriment). 

There also may have been one too many caipirinhas with some very fun Chilean guys!

Very chilled out, we hopped on another overnight bus to Sao Paulo (a bit better this time) from where we caught a connection up to Paraty, further up the coast. We skipped staying in Sao Paulo as it's a monster of a city (about 19million inhabitants) and we really just couldn't be bothered.

Paraty is a gorgeous little colonial town which developed as an export port for gold bound for Rio de Janeiro and from there on to Portugal. The centre is a maze of cobbled streets and white buildings with colourful doors and shutters. We arrived on a Saturday and the main square was hopping, so we let our hair down for the night!

Cocktail time!

The cocktail of choice in Brazil is called a caipirinha which is made from limes, sugar, ice and 39% proof cachaca (sugar cane rum).  They are delicious but deadly!

On one of our days in Paraty we rented some bicycles and cycled out to a waterfall about 7km from town. Here the locals slide down on their bums/feet/whatever and crash into the pool at the bottom. Some nice Brazilians showed us how to get in under a waterfall there, but it kind of freaked me out, very claustrophobic! 

Wheeeeee!!

We also took a boat trip to see some of Paraty's amazing beaches. This was a gorgeous day of jumping off the boat into warm clear water and enjoying deserted golden sandy beaches.

Superman

After a very short but thoroughly enjoyable introduction to South Brazil we made our way towards Rio de Janeiro, final exotic exciting stop on an amazing four month adventure.