After our last (yes, I said LAST! YAY!) night
bus in South America from Florianopolis to Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, we met up
with my friend Casey who had come over from New Zealand at our hostel in the
suburb of Botofogo. We had booked a 4 person dorm months ago and it was still a
ridiculous $60 US EACH per night!!! However, people who had left booking
accommodation for the Carnival period to the last minute were paying $100+ for
a 14 bed dorm… so we didn’t do all that badly. It’s still painful paying hotel
prices for a hostel though, especially as the bed mattress’s were like those
hard thick mats you get in gym class at school, the room was the size of a
closet (I had hoped to unpack for a while, yeah right!), and the gender split
showers didn’t have cubicles, it was all open for everyone to get
friendly… On the plus side, we had air
conditioning at night which was fantastic given every day was hitting around
the 33-35 degree Celsius mark. Very hot but thankfully not too humid, so it was
bearable.
We took it easy for the rest of the day. Casey
and I enjoyed catching up. We must’ve seemed like complete nanas to our young
gorgeous Swedish roommate. She successfully went out 9 out of 11 nights,
usually coming back around sunrise, once not even coming back at all until
night fall. She was a trooper! On the odd occasion that she did come back at
the reasonable hour of around 4am, she snored and kept us awake. Our room was
right next to the reception and the bar though so the constant party kept us up
a lot anyway. Especially an annoying young British group partying it up on
mummy and daddy’s money!
10 days in Rio:
DAY ONE (13th Feb): The obligatory
supermarket shopping to keep costs down…. Then we went on a Favela Tour. I felt
a bit bad gawking at the way these people live their lives like they were some
kind of zoo animals, but on the most part they were curious and happy to see
us. The money from tourists that go on the tours through their neighborhood
goes back into the community. It started off with each of us jumping on the
back of a motorbike (moto-taxi) with a helmet that was 10 sizes too large and
hanging onto the driver as he wound his way up a steep and curvy street, taking
over any vehicle in his way and constantly beeping on his horn. Having survived
that excitement, we walked with our guide and a group of fellow tourists
through concrete buildings with tin roofs all piled up on one another and
crumbling. They were all so tightly packed together that there were no roads,
only little pathways covered in rubbish and in parts, even sewage. Bullet holes
lined the walls, policemen pushed past with machine guns, children ran around
in bare feet with no adult supervision, teenage boys drummed on tin cans, sick
looking animals scavenged for food, graffiti marked the broken walls and a
tangle of wires lead from building to building from people trying to leach free
phone lines, power and internet.
We saw those who looked extremely wasted and
forlorn, and those that were in business suits; one extreme to the other.
69,000 people lived in this particular favela, whole family’s sometimes sharing
only one room - it’s the biggest favela in South America. Through the open
doors of these decrepit shacks, we saw people enjoying plasma TVs, laptops and
large stereos. It was bizarre! The whole place is so corrupt but slowly, they
are being cleaned up which is why it is now safe for tourists to have a nosy.
If you ventured there yourself however, you most likely would not enjoy the
outcome…
It is very eye opening seeing the way some
people are forced to live their lives. Some of them are content, but on the
most part, they are suffering. If one house collapses, many would die, not to
mention the drug crime, rape and unhygienic conditions. A lot of them don’t
bother working in the city, even though it’s only a small car distance away.
For them, it can take up to an hour to walk out of the alleyways to an actual
road, and most of them can’t afford the public transport every day, let alone
owning a car. Many of them work in the favela’s themselves in little cramped
shops and supermarkets that are set up in many cubby holes.
In other countries such as Peru, we saw people
living in little make shift shacks without running water or power, living off
their farming and animals. Yet they are happy, they are living the simple life
and it’s normal to them. They’re not all living on top of one another, it can
be miles before the next families land. They still struggle, yes, and beg from
tourists… but in Rio its quite western, so these people can see wealth every
day and they know what they’re missing out on.
DAY TWO (14th Feb): Decided to
tackle the major tourist sites before the craziness of Carnival really kicked
in. We got a local bus to the train that lugs tourists up the 710m tall
Corcovado mountain (meaning ‘hunchback’) to the famous Christ the Redeemer
Statue – now dubbed one of the 7 manmade wonders of the world - only to
discover that we were arriving at the same time as bus loads of tour groups… we
had to wait an hour and a half to get on the train along with what it seemed
like, an astronomical amount of middle aged Europeans. The view from the top
over the city was incredible and we got some very god like pictures of the
statue being shined on majestically by the sun, but we stayed all of 15 min and
got the hell out of there due to the masses of pushing and shoving happy
snappers.
The statue is said to be the 5th
largest of Jesus in the world and stands 39.6m tall. It was sculpted by a Frenchman
which took 9 years and was erected in 1931.
DAY THREE (15th Feb): Walked 20 min
to the 1299m high oval shaped mountain called sugarloaf sticking out by the
harbor and got the cable car up. Once again we suffered the attack of the tour
groups (I wonder how busy it would normally be without the attraction of Carnival..)
but there was a lot more space to enjoy the view at the top so we actually sat
down and experienced the beauty there. Rio is a huge city and with being a huge
city there is overpopulation, shoddy looking buildings and rubbish, but it is
still the most stunning city I’ve seen from above. The odd shaped rolling hills
are covered with lush tropical jungle, the city is surrounded by brilliant
sparkling blue water edged with miles of golden sand and the weather, more often
than not, awards clear blue skies and spectacular sunshine. Even from a
distance, the groups of favela’s crawling up the hills look quaint. The cable car was originally made in 1912 and
rebuilt in 1972 and 2008.
I was also rapt to see the cutest little
monkeys play fighting, completely unaware of the curious tourists hustling to
get photos of the adorable creatures.
DAY FOUR (16th Feb): Casey, Andrew
and I caught the metro into town to collect our Carnival tickets. It was an
interesting system consisting of us being given a collection time and date and
once we arrived, we were given a number and waited. Our number was called and
we were directed to a room set up like a class room where we once again waited
our turn. I guess given the fact that around 60,000 people per night go to the
Sambadrome to enjoy the show, they have to a good way of processing everyone! Carnival
in Rio attracted 4.9 million people in 2011, 400,000 of which were foreigners. Phew!
Afterwards we decided to check out the suburb
of Santa Teresa. We knew that it was included in day tours of Rio so we went to
check out why. After we walked up hill for over an hour we never really found
what it is they went to see… It’s a pretty suburb with cobbled streets that
used to have a cable car running up it until recently when a bad accident
stopped the service, but it wasn’t a particularly interesting place. If we had
stumbled upon it on our own we would’ve though – ‘oh what a nice area’, but
because we went in search of something excellent, we were a little discouraged.
We ventured into the centre city and got caught up in the crazy bustle of work
life. The population of Rio is roughly 6.3 million people so you can imagine
how busy it would be! Due to the heat, every building is equipped with air
conditioning units, so walking along the sidewalks you would get the tell tale
drips of water from the side of the buildings landing on you.
That night our friend Jeff that we met on the
Inca Trail in Peru, and Alex and Anna that we met in Argentina and travelled
with for 2 weeks, arrived. We had managed to convince them to come join us in
the Carnival festivities and they had booked into the same hostel. Had a few
drinks as a catch up. Yay!
DAY FIVE (17th Feb): Andrew and I
went on a mission to the downtown airport to buy flights to Salvador for the 29th.
We had tried booking it online but it is required that you have a Brazilian ID
so we were unable too. We managed to secure some flights that weren’t quite a
cheap as online but much cheaper than a travel agent. We had decided that
another 20 hours on a bus was not necessary, especially as it would’ve cost the
same as our flight. Definitely over long hauls now!!
Met up with the other 4 members of the dream
team and we headed to Copacabana Beach to enjoy the sun. Lots of people
watching – ahem, buff men in tiny speedos and women wearing g-string bikinis –
and discussing which of the women’s cup sizes were natural or surgically
assisted whilst we drank out of coconuts…
The beach was busier than any beach I had seen to date, but it was to
get much much worse! It was still a working day for many of the city’s
occupants but for Carnival they are awarded 2 public holidays tapped on to
their soon to come weekend. Also met some very good looking Brazilians who were
in the Carnival show at the Sambadrome as well.
That night the 6 of us put on a bit of sparkle,
drunk more than a few capriahnas (which basically consisted of straight white
rum, ice, lime and far too much sugar to be good for you!!) – with more loaded
into what looked like a large plastic fuel container strapped with rope over Alex’s
shoulder – and headed into the suburb of Lapa which on a Friday night is meant
to be the place to be. We were herded
by a newly acquired American friend called Nate and we happily followed him
through the party filled streets with the occasionally head count to make sure
no one was lost in the process. We had a system where you would throw up the
moa (holding your arm high above your head with your hand shaped as a moa’s
head searching above the crowd – learnt from my West Auckland friends) and
surprisingly it always worked to find each other! The streets were literally
filled with thousands of people dancing, talking and drinking. You could buy
booze from one of the many vendors on the street with their makeshift coolers
on wheels packed with ice – this would never be allowed back home! Most people
were in costume, some extremely impressive, and it made us wish we had gotten
more involved in the swing of things. Men seemed to have a fascination with
dressing as women… I swear a majority of them were in dresses and it’s supposed
to be a very macho population!
The night was hilariously entertaining with the
singles having a how-many-locals-can-you-kiss competition, Anna breaking a
rather big brazilian muscled man’s cooler lid and Alex doing pushups as apology (don’t
know how this made sense but it seemed too at the time!), talking to randoms,
getting cuddles from a big group of men dressed as pink fairies, Nate and Alex
trying to outdo some very professional gymnasts and having a drumming session
with some people playing on buckets and tin cans. The atmosphere was electric
and such a crazy thing to experience. I don’t remember seeing any police, they
seem to just leave you too it. There was one moment where things got a little
heated between some people and there were a few fights, but on the whole, I was
surprised at how safe I felt. The metro wasn’t running 24 hours at this point
but we managed to get a ride back to the hostel with some people in a van that
was charging their service for a small fee.
DAY SIX (18th Feb): Casey, Andrew
and I went to Ipanema Beach for a few hours. Being a weekend it was nuts, our
towels and umbrella were virtually touching other peoples… You couldn’t even
see the sand over the sea of umbrellas, it was ridiculous. It’s weird trying to
sunbathe with absolutely no personal space. People are walking over you trying
to sell you sarongs, food, drink, jewellery etc. On the plus side they weren’t
as pushy as those selling things on the beach in Mexico. I didn’t swim at
Copacabana beach as the waves broke very close to the beach and it was a bit
too powerful and intense for me, but I swam at Ipanema. The water was ice cold
that brought on shivers, but it was very refreshing. The water was very sneaky,
it would rush in further than expected and claimed people’s towels and books
that had been too close, it almost crept up on us at one point, Casey’s towel
was a victim!
That morning after 3 hours sleep, Jeff, Alex
and Anna met up with some of Jeff’s local friends to attend a Bloco street
party. Alex and Anna came back but night fall came and Jeff was still MIA. A
bloco is a moving van and band with blasting music that goes down a street or
around a block and people follow it. There are 10-50 blocos a day over roughly
a 3 week period surrounding carnival in suburbs all over Rio and it’s free to
join in. A small one went past our hostel so Casey and I ran down and grooved
with it for half an hour down the road.
DAY SEVEN (19th Feb): Due to Alex
and Anna arriving in Rio at a later date than us, they had a lot of sightseeing
and organizing catching up to do (with Jeff still MIA) so the 3 of us went to
the markets in Ipanema. It’s the first time Andrew and I have actually spent
money on gifts during our whole trip. Now that we’ve only got a few weeks to
go, we won’t have to cart things around for long. We walked along the decorated
footpaths by the beach marveling at the thousands of people packed onto the
sand and the buff men working out to impress the ladies. We saw a big group of
people screaming up at a hotel balcony and discovered that Jennifer Lopez was
waving down at them! Very cool to see her, but I’ve never understood the whole
craziness that people erupt into when seeing someone famous.
Back at the hostel we had a few drinks with
Alex and Anna before the 3 of us went out to the Sambadrome for the big Carnival
show. Anna and Alex had booked to go the following night but Jeff was meant to
come with us (although he was seated in another section) but he still hadn’t
turned up. Up until this point we figured he had been spending time with a lady
(which turns out he had) but we began to get worried when he skipped the show
as tickets weren’t cheap.
The Sambadrome was massive and we were sitting
in the allocated seating section right at the end. It was nice not having to
push and shove for a spot in amongst the thousands of people crammed into the
stands, but the downside was, we were at ground level and didn’t get the
looking down on the show perspective that the stands got. I had to stand on my
chair to even see the costumed people that weren’t on the big floats, and even
then I could only see their hats, which was disappointing, but the floats we
could see fine and we were pretty close to them. The detail and effort put into
the floats and costumes were spectacular and very very impressive. I expected
it to be a little more samba dancing focused but costumes were so large and
elaborate, they couldn’t really dance.
The night we attended had 7 schools performing,
each school took roughly an hour and a half and they all selected one song each
which was on repeat for the entire time they were performing which got a bit
annoying! Since we were at the end, it took a good half an hour from the
beginning of each school for them to reach us. The atmosphere was incredible
and it really blew me away to see how music and dancing is so ingrained into
the Brazilian culture. All the spectators were going nuts and getting into the
groove, even the men, it’s normal for them to dance as they are raised that
way, even the most macho of men. Finding an aussie or kiwi bloke that dances
unashamed and flamboyantly is a rare thing!
We only lasted watching 4 of the schools, we
left around 3.30am, but it continued on until 7am! On the metro back to the hostel,
loads of people who were in the show were ditching their large costumes in the
bin or on the streets. Would’ve been awesome to claim some but they’re so damn
big!!
DAY EIGHT (20th Feb): Met up with
John who we had met in Buenos Aires, and some of his friends and went out for
lunch. Later that afternoon Jeff finally turned up! Turned out that while he
was having some time alone with his lady friend, they had been watched by a
dodgy looking character. They went to leave and Jeff had accidently left his
money belt behind, he went back to get it and saw the man with it so Jeff
chased after him! Got into a bit of a scuffle, chipped his 2 front teeth, cut
open his nose, numerous bruises – but he got his stuff back! He had gone to the
police to make a report and that was why he had missed Carnival. He ended up buying another ticket and went
with Alex and Anna. Thank god he’s ok!! We had a few drinks with them before
they headed off to the Sambadrome.
DAY NINE (21st Feb): The 6 of us in
the dream team got all sparkled up and headed out to a day bloco by Flamengo
Beach. Loads of costumed people mulled around and all the drink vendors were
setting up shop on the sidelines. We followed the crowd to find where the music
was and stumbled into a 10,000 people strong party moving down the street! We
got swept up right in the middle of it and were squashed shoulder to shoulder
with big smiling party people grooving to the beat. It was extremely fun; id
never experienced anything like it, until it turned into a bit of a mosh pit.
The van was right behind us and there were people pushing forwards as it kept
moving resulting in it getting very very intense. Andrew and I ended up pushing
our way out (I’m only little after all!!) and getting up onto a bridge and
watching the craziness pass underneath us. Around the slow moving van was
security with ropes making sure the performing stilt walkers and those playing
instruments ahead of the van weren’t caught up in the mess.
Met up with the rest of the group back at the
hostel and debated whether we wanted to keep drinking and go out to hit the
nightlife but after all that excitement we had had enough. Jeff went out to see
his lady friend and Casey joined Nate at a beach party in Ipanema.
DAY TEN (22nd Feb): Casey and I
headed into the city to find the Lapa Steps that we had looked for that day in
Santa Teresa but couldn’t find. Turns out we had passed it only one street
away, doh! They are covered in beautiful tiles hand painted to represent things
from all over the world. It was very beautiful to see but unfortunately they were
covered in puke, broken bottles and rubbish due to the current festivities…
That afternoon completed some last minute
chores as it was our last day in Rio, applied for some jobs for NZ online and
did a phone interview with flight centre on skype. Unfortunately due to a
shoddy internet connection at the hostel, the call dropped off as we were
coming to the end of our conversation. Argh, hopefully it doesn’t ruin my
chances!
Afterwards the dream team got together for one
final celebration; we went out to dinner at a churrascaria. It was like the
restaurant Wildfire in NZ – all you can eat meat. You have a card that has
green on one side and red on the other, if you want the meat to keep coming,
you leave it with the green facing up. It was like a game and very fun; these
eager men with different types of meat on skewers would run up to you and cut
off big chunks onto your plate. The boys looked like it was Christmas and took
full advantage of what was on offer! There was also an all you can eat buffet
which I got a bit carried away on. Ahhh so good!! We left feeling the most full
we had felt in a long time - if we were wearing belts we would’ve had to undo a
few notches…! Sat at an outdoor bar afterwards and enjoyed watching the locals
scream and yell at a football game that was on TV, and then sadly we said our
goodbyes.
We had had an absolute crazy time in Rio filled
with great company, loads of excitement and epic entertainment. We had seen the
must see sights, enjoyed the mind blowing views over Rio, explored the conditions
of the favelas, sampled the overpopulated famous beaches with songs written
about them, watched the impressive show that is carnival and gotten in amongst
the insane party scene and blocos.
There were so many balls, parties and concerts
that were on offer, it was overwhelming how much choice you had for
entertainment. Carnival is one of the biggest festivals in the world and is
celebrated all over South America, with the most populated attendance going to
Rio, Sao Paulo and Salvador in Brazil – a must do experience. We couldn’t have asked
for a better time!
