Another big and beautiful South American city has stopped me in my tracks again. I have been in Rio 10 days now and I have to say that Sydney has been knocked of the top spot in my list of favourite cities.
What can I say, I love this place!
When I got to Rio I got a taxi to the hostel from the bus station and I just had a really good feeling about the city.
10minutes earlier tho, I was in a state of paranoia about getting robbed and went hiding in the toilets at the bus station so I could get ready for the wave of people ready to pounce on me and steal all my stuff :-)
Unfortunately Rio has a bad name as been unsafe but I have only witnessed one drive shooting, five muggings and a stabbing in the past 10 days which isn´t too bad I think.
I´m only joking, thankfully :-)
90% of the people I have talked to before coming here had some problems with pickpockets etc. So far I can only say good things about the people and the city and haven´t come across anything like some of the horror stories that some travellers experience.
I have been staying in a hostel 5 minutes walk from the famous Copacabana beach. Walking around the streets here is like reading a beauty magazine (they only make you feel ugly, so dont read them lol).
The beaches are flooded with beautiful people topping up their tans or working out on the beach. Its essential to have the perfect beach bod here especially now the summer is on the way.
There are so many things to see and do in Rio. I spent the last 10 days visiting all the sights like the Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer statue, strutting my new speedos on Copacabana, cycling around the city on the very well thought out cycle lanes as well as taking advantage of the nightlife.
Today we visited the tiled steps in the Santa Theresa area of the city. The guy has been tiling the steps for the past 18years (faster than some of the tilers back home almost)and as he recieves tiles from countries over the world he includes them in his masterpiece.
If anyone has seen the video to the song Beautiful by Snoop Dog and Pharrell Williams there are clips of them singing on the steps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfb_CwBma0 The artist has pictures of U2 and many other famous faces who have visited the 215 multi coloured tiled steps.
Sao Paulo is next on the cards. I am meeting some people that I met in Santiago on my first night in SA. I hope to get a ticket for the final Grand Prix of the season but I doubt it very much.
