Churrascaria? Don't mind if I do!!

Right, so, following on from the Favela tour Kate and I thought the sensible thing would be to organise our life for the next two weeks and attempt to book some bus tickets out of Rio.  We got dropped off at the back end of Copacabana and headed to the Information centre to find out where to buy bus ticket; no help!! So we pretty much try 12 travel agents along the way who only book tours and flights... and it was only after about an hour that we were given an address for a bus ticket company.

Result!!  With a small sense of achievement it is definitely time for a beer!!! (still yet to buy the tickets).  So we found a small Brazilian cafe with probably the worst toilet so far and most likely Cockroaches all over the place.  However; it turned out to be the most entertaining lunch that we’d had so far as it involved a game of charades to order:

Griff: ‘How do you say “eggs” in Portuguese?’

Me: ‘erm... eggs??’

This was then followed by 2 minutes of chicken noises, oval shapes and pretty much looking like idiots while the every other Brazilian in the place was having a good old laugh at the tourists.  Although, success!! We managed to get everything that we wanted along with a litre bottle of Skol to wash it all down with.

Another hour down and the bus tickets were purchased for the next morning.  So, the plan: bus to Ilha Grande; which is a small island off of the coast South of Rio, stay there for 3 days and then a boat and bus to paraty (small town further south) for a night and then a mammoth bus ride to Foz da Iguazu on the Argentina/Brazil/Paraguay border.

Time for some beach action!!  Took the bus to Ipanema; however the clouds had well and truly rolled in, so we chilled out for a couple of hours with a beer, watching a load of Brazilian kids playing beach football and realised that after doing nothing for a few hours it was time to eat again!!  Where else to take Kate for a slap up meal in Rio?? Churrascaria!!  After about half an hour it was pretty much physically impossible to eat anything else, so took an easy walk back to the hostel, had a bit of a nap and got ready to meet up with Gui for a night in Lapa.

Got to Lapa with a couple of guys from the hostel and headed to ‘Casa da Cachacas’.  Dirty looking Brazilian bar with a list of over 50 different cachacas; and absolutely dirt cheap!  Met up with Gui and a few of his amigos and after a quick catch-up headed across to the road to another bar with about 20 pool tables crammed inside.  A few hours, few games of pool and several beers later, Kate and I had to leave as we had an early bus booked for the morning; although we were very close to the point of no return and should have bit the bullet, sunk another beer and powered through!!

There’s always next time!!!!

x

Favela Chic...

Let’s start by rewinding 12 hours... Kate and I sat in the lounge of the hostel about to book a tour for the morning to one of the Favelas of Rio and a short trip into the Jungle, speaking to one of the guys – Jason – from last night and signing him up to come along with us in the morning, when the girl from last night – Suzie – piped up that she was going to book it as well; Bring on the trumpets!!!

Santa Marta Favela; ‘reasonably safe’ – according to the guide – is the latest of the Favelas to become ‘Pacified’; meaning that the Policia now control the Favela instead of the drug dealers and gang leaders.  The four of us arrived at the base of the Favela and was taken to the top by a rickety ‘new’ train system that has been built by the council in a bid to help the people within the community from having to walk 45minutes + to get to the top.

It may be a good time now to tell you that the main reason that the Favelas are becoming pacified is due to the forthcoming World Cup within Brazil and the Olympic games within Rio; in an attempt to depict the city as a wealthy, community based place.

So... at the top of the Favela there is a small church, a small astro-turfed football and a large Police station.  Oh, and the most amazing views of the city possible apart from Cristo and Sugar Loaf.  At the top is also the poorest part of the Favela.  Families move from poorer parts of Brazil to live within the Favela to obtain a job within the city and to attempt to progress and save enough money to move onwards.  The Favelas are always expanding where families are bringing in relatives from their local town.  The initial house will be made out of wood and as money is saved, the house will b re-built from bricks.  Once there is enough money saved, a relative will join the community and will take over that house and the residents will expand and build a newer, bigger house on top of the old.

The spirit within the Favela was very positive and all of the people that we met were very friendly and welcoming.  The influence of the Police within the Favela we were told was met with mixed views from the residents.  They like the structure, the presence and the security; however, with the drug dealers and gangs running the areas they almost felt safer and there was a greater sense of community.  Pre-police, the gangs/dealers didn’t want any trouble within the Favela which would draw attention to themselves; therefore there were no robberies, muggings, violence etc... and the dealers also kept the residents sweet by paying for medicine etc... to stop them telling the police what was really happening.

Walking through the Favela was very morbid at points.  Open sewers are throughout and the conditions within the houses look very bleak.  The area was however heavily promoted several years ago by Michael Jackson who filmed the video for ‘They don’t care about us’ within the Favela and there is now a large monument and statue dedicated to him.

Following on from the Favela tour was a very very brief trip to the Tijuca national park Rainforest.   We drove to a viewpoint high over the Jungle and the city to take in the views, shortly followed by a trip to a small waterfall; that happened to be full of Brazilians who looked as if they were having a bath...

Happy days!!

x

 

 

Cristo Part II & Ipanema Lagoa

Nice early morning; up at 7.30 and straight out for 8am to grab the bus to the Crocovado mountain to take Kate up to Cristo Redeemer.  Another absolutely blazing hot day, sun high in the sky, sweat dripping from everywhere...

The views were obviously the same as last time; however the sun was on the other side of the mountain due to the time of day, so a managed to get a different perspective of the statue.  The ride down from the top inside the cog train was very entertaining this time round as there was now a samba band squeezed into the front carriage who were blasting some nice samba and jazz songs to make the decent a lot more enjoyable.

Back to the hostel for a quick change and a re-charge; stopped off to get some bread, cheese, ham and the most amazing Watermelon ever!!  After this we spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what to do for the afternoon and decided on getting a bus to the next beach along – Ipanema – and to have a walk along the beach and to hire some bicycles to ride around the Lagoon which is situated between the beach and the mountains.  The lagoon is pretty huge!! It’s 7.2km long and took about an hour for us amateurs to ride around; with about 3 stops along the way for refreshments...  Probably not the best day to do this as the temperature was about 33°C at 5pm.  However; all in all a great day!! A lot of culture and exercise covering.

On the night we went for dinner with a couple of nice guys from the hostel and a girl who was quite possibly one of the most irritating people... Really uninteresting, not the best to look at... and pretty much anything that did come out of her mouth was pretty damn odd...  So, most of the conversations were without her – which suited me and Kate down to the ground.  On the other side, the other two were interesting and good guys; 1 being an American pilot and the other guy from North England and worked as an aerospace engineer... didn’t quite get the same enthusiasm back when I told him what I used to work as.

Nice early night ready for a packed day full of fun and culture the next day; and our last day in Rio!!!

x

Pão de Açúcar

After James being with me for the past 10 days it was time for him to slip back into reality and head on back to England.  His flight wasn't until quite late at night, so we decided to make it a slightly productive day.  After getting up reasonably early, packing up and checking out, we left the bags in reception and headed to a small region just past Copacabana and Botafogo called Urca which houses 'Pão de Açúcar' (Sugar Loaf Mountain).
 
To get to the top of Sugar Loaf there are two cable cars which hang precariously over the dense Rainforest part of Urca.  The first car travels to a small peak with great views over the North and East of Rio and it looks directly over the Domestic airport where planes were continuously taking off and landing.
 
The second cable car journey is a lot longer and a lot steeper to get the main peak of Sugar Loaf; however definitely worth it as the views from the top were amazing and in a way slightly better than those at Cristo Redentor as the peak is not as high; therefore there is less of a haze across the city from the sun.  From the peak of Sugar Load there are great photo opportunities across the Copacabana with Cristo setting the back drop high above.
 
Culture out of the way, it was time to get a bit more sun just in case it begun to fade; so we headed to the pool to chill out and for Kate and I to plan the movement for the next few days.
Gun and games out of the way, it was now time to hit the reality of traveling by checking into the first hostel of the tour...
 
'El Misti House' was located on one of Copacabana's side streets fairly close to the hotel; so we were pretty clued up on the area.  The room wasn't the worst that I've seen: 6 bed dorm; however for the first two nights there was nobody else in there so managed to et a few decent hours of sleep.
Facilities were basic and one of the staff ran a pretty tight ship; scrutinising everyone and not allowing use of the kitchen during parts of the day.  Other than that, can't complain.  The main reception guy - Freddie - was cool and gave us some good tips on where to go and what to do.  When asking do you where "Casa da chasca" is, he just laughed and said 'of course!! I live off of the stuff'.
 
Before piling James into a taxi the three of us took a last walk along the Copa at Sunset and then found a small bar on the front for a few Caiparinhas.
 
x