Jen, Jess, and I left our hotel at 5 am to arrive at the airport at 5:30. We had a smooth morning in terms of purchasing our tickets (we only had reservations prior to arriving), security, boarding the plane, and arriving in the city. The flight was only about an hour long. We also figured out transportation once we arrived very easily (a bus called "Real" that cost only R$6.50).
It seemed almost miraculous how easily we found our hostel. We stayed at a hostel called Che Lagarto in Ipanema, less than two blocks from the beach. The hostel was extremely clean, with a bar and lounge on the first floor. The street was filled with upscaled hotels and restaurants and lined with lush trees.
Upon arrival, we checked in and dropped our luggage off and went off to explore the neighborhood. We found an awesome fresh food cafe about 4 blocks away and then walked down to the beach to grab some drinks from one of the many stands that line the boardwalk. After a few moments sitting and enjoying our drinks it was evident that the apparently gloomy weather was quickly turning into a storm so we headed back to the hostel to formulate a new game plan for the day (this is around 11 am). Once we got back to the hostel, we grabbed some drinks and decided to play cards on the deck of the lounge and wait out the storm. View from our the front deck at our hostel:
So we played cards. And we played. And the rain only got heavier and heavier. Rummy 500 and capirinhas were how we spent our first afternoon in Rio!! It was the only option, it was practically a monsoon. After a while we decided a nap was in order so we went upstairs and didn't emerge back downstairs until around 8 oclock at night (the time when the barbeque downstairs was going on). It was still raining so we just resigned to hanging out in the bar of the hostel. Fortunately we had great company! We met an Irish backpacker named Will who had been almost everywhere in South America and told us about his travels. Then we met a rugby team from New York - which was exciting because they all spoke English! Among the team was a New Zealander, a Puerto Rican, some Brits and I think some Irish as well as good old fashioned American boys. The rugby team was a blast as they taught us a new game to play at the bar!! Later in the evening we all went out together to a club called Katmandu - fun times.
Jess with the Rugby team
The next morning we woke around 10, just in time for a typical Brazillian breakfast at the hostel. Then we got dressed and walked over to Praia Ipanema - the beach, and walked around. There we ran into some friends from the Rugby team who recommended plenty of things for us to check out. We grabbed a cab and rode over to Copacabana beach - near the 9th post. We sat at a little cafe and had drinks and snacks and took in the beach. A good tip for visiting Copacabana - don't bring anything with you! Anything that you need, you can buy on the beach from the traveling vendors that will approach you and try to sell you things. We were approached by no less than ten venders in the hour we were there. After a while we decided to explore the city area of Copacabana which we loved because of the lush streets and the mountains peaking out from behind the buildings. Eventually we cabbed back to the hostel and then walked towards a botanical garden that we saw on a map. I dont think we ever actually found it but we did find a big horse racing place and an awesome neighborhood with outdoor cafes. We were hungry from walking so we sat at a restaurant and had, what we refer to, as a Brazillian barbeque. Basically they bring out a tray with a flame lit underneath a metal sheet with two slabs of sliced beef on it. You pull a small slice of meat off and lay it flat on the tray to cook it. MUITO BON. So good.
After eating, we cabbed back to the hostel. After a bit of a nap we got ready for the night out in a neighborhood called Lapa, which is supposed to be a hip bohemian area. We were hanging out downstairs when a few young Brazillian gentlemen who were also staying at the hostel asked us what our plans were for the night. When we mentioned Lapa they agreed that the locals had told them that Lapa is the place to be on Saturday night and that they knew a great place to go. So we all went together in a few cabs to the neighborhood and waited in line to get into this mysterious club called Rio Scenarium. Immediately upon walking in, the girls and I agreed that this was the most amazing club we had ever been to. Three stories, with live samba, and popular music on the second floor, a great mix of people of all ages dancing and having fun - and best of all was the decor. It was decorated like a beautiful quirky old mansion with antique furniture juxtaposed with wild color painted walls. There was one wall completely covered with antique clocks, another with antique mirrors, there was a model T Ford in the foyer, a room with antique bicycles hanging from the ceiling. Here, the Brazillian boys we arrived with attempted to teach us samba but we weren't that great so they gave up on us, and we eventually got disconnected from them but we had a wonderful time there.
On Sunday we woke up with the dawn at 7 am in order to make our tour at 8. The bus picked us up and we were off. We saw Maracana and a cathedral (I dont remember the name, I might have been sleeping on the bus). I felt slightly sick and the weather was kind of bad so it wasn't the greatest morning in the world... However, we went to Sugarloaf - aka Pau de Azucar... Amazing. We rode these crazy cable cars up to the top of the morro, and then another to the top of Pau. It would have been quite a view if we weren't inside of a cloud. Oh, and we were inches away from little monkeys at one point! After this, the bus dropped us off at an all you can eat churrascaria which was included in the price of the tour! A little later, another guide came to pick us up but strongly reccomended that we reschedule the remainder of our tour for the following day as it was scheduled to go see the Christ the Redeemer at Corcovado - however the weather was slightly miserable at this point, and he told us it was doubtful we'd even be able to see the Christ. So we happily acquiesed and returned home for a nap.
Back at the ranch, I slept and recovered fully from the night before while the girls took off and took in a futbol game at Maracana. Slightly jealous - but I'm not a big sports fan anyway.
When the girls returned we started talking about what to do that evening and then got into a discussion with one of the girls sharing our hostel room with us. It turned out that she and one of her friends were Dutch, the other French, and that they were studying Spanish and International Business in Buenos Aires. I mentioned to her the fact that I was planning to study in Holland this coming fall and she informed me that one of her traveling companions is a student at the University of Amsterdam - where I'll be in the fall!! After a while of talking her two friends arrived in the room and we decided to grab some dinner at another nearby churrascaria. The girls were kind of full and tired so they went to another grill but I was curious about our new friends so I went to dinner with them. Number one, the restaurant was amazing. Unlimited sushi and amazing salads and bruschetta, all types of delicious delicacies - and of course unlimited types of all of the best cuts of meat. Amazing. Here I met Jasper from Holland who goes to school at UvA, Roman who is French who's father is a diplomat and has lived all over the world but never been to the states, Vivienne the Dutch girl from our hostel, another French kid who was planning a trip to Miami, and an Italian guy who had lived in New York for a few years. We had such fascinating conversation!! They asked me who I was supporting in the upcoming presidential election, and one of the guys even knew all of the words to the "Yes, we can!" speech and said it was the top played on his iPod!! Had a great time and made me so excited for my upcoming trip to Europe!
Monday morning we woke again at 7 to make it to our tour part 2. The bus picked us up close to the beach and it took about 1.5 hours to pick up everyone else - kind of irritating - but oh well. We got to the Tijuca forest and switched to a smaller bus in order to drive up the mountain. When we got to the top we ate some salgados (snacks) at the cafe and then walked up the stairs to the CHRIST!!! Holy moses, it was AMAZING. The weather was clear and beautiful and the place was full of people. INCLUDING (but not limited to) two very famous Brazilian soap stars filming a telenovela on the precipice!! So I can't even explain in words how amazing and massive the Christ statue and the view from the top of Corcovado are. This is something that everyone should see.
Gorgeous views from the top:
Maracana stadium:
After the Christ we got back on the tour and we were told that we had one more stop before the end - a beach that illustrated the gap between the poor and the rich - on one side of the divided highway a fashionable mall and multiple high rise buildings lined the beach, while on the other side was a massive favella on the hillside. We've been exposed to plenty of this by now so we were kind of like "egh, can we skip this part?" but of course we had to go along with the tour so we got off the bus at the beach and were confronted by many many many HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTORS!! We had wanted to do this from the beginning of the trip but the weather had been inclement until this point. Jess struck a deal with some of the instructors and before I even had a chance to think about it we were in one of their hatchbacks driving up this crazy steep mountain in the Tijuca forest (at like 60 mph I might add). At the top, the trick was to not look down. We got all geared up and "trained" - and then we jumped off the mountain!!! I went first. All it took was a run, a jump, and wooooooosh I was flying high aboe the Tijuca, the beach, mansions, water, buildings. It was so smooth and such an amazing powerful feeling. I could barely speak because I was in such awe of the view of God's creation. We were in the air about 15 minutes and then landed gently on the sandy beach as quickly as we took off. I hope I never forget the feeling of flying, it was incredible.
Don't look down!!!
After we got back to the beach the flight instructor took us back to the hostel, we got our luggage, and caught a bus to the airport. The flight back was smooth and everything is great!
Curitiba is cold and yesterday I walked through the rain for an hour, it was miserable. This weekend we go to Foz do Iguazu - bought the tickets today! Largest waterfall in the world, here I come!
If you want to see all of my photos of Rio and hang gliding you can check out my picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ElizabethLaurenButler
1 comment:
man, whatever.
tallahassee is way more beautiful than rio. i think frenchtown speaks for itself.
mehdi
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