I arrived in Rio in the afternoon and was surprised by the beauty of the drive to my hostel. It was a maze at first to get an Uber because the Airport Wifi wasn't working and I had to ask many times if I could go back and use the other Wifi from the store inside to find where the Uber was. After 30 minutes, I was finally in the Uber, who didn't speak any Spanish or English so it was off to a great start haha. Arrived at my hostel and checked in, the vibe very punk, interesting and quiet and there was some construction going on so I wasn't amused. The girl checking my thankfully spoke a little English and I paid for my room and got taken to my room. She informed me of the free Caparinas at 8 and so I decided I would take a quick nap and get dinner then go get a Caparina. The room next to me was loud, with girls chatting on the porch and very loud, I tried to sleep but it wasn't working so I went to ask if I could change rooms because I knew I wanted to sleep early and it would probably still be loud. Thankfully she was nice enough to switch my room to a quieter room and she also let me borrow her adapter for the different outlet, that I had no idea was a thing here (they use European outlets in Brazil). I went to get dinner at this fancy restaurant that I didn't realize was fancy from the reviews, but it was fancy and a bit expensive for Brazil but got some sausage and rice dish and tried a cerveza. It was yummy, and then went to get my free Caparina. Thankfully the same girl who checked me in was the bartender that night and she Mae me my first one, it wasn't like anything I was expecting and very different than anything I've ever tried. I sat alone on my phone and there were other guys around but they only spoke Portugese. Then these two girls walked in and ordered Caparinas. Thankfully one of them spoke English, her name Chantel from Holland. We talked for a bit about our travels and smoked a cig and realized we were both going to Iguazu Waterfalls around the same time so that was exciting because she was switching hostels the next night. She also saiid she would come on the walking tour with me if she wasn't out too late, she was going out with the other girl from Colombia. I went to bed around 10pm finally, after a long 24 hours of traveling (3 flights from Bolivia). Woke up the next morning to a nice buffet breakfast and Chantel and I got an uber to the walking tour. It was a nice walking tour, we walked around the downtown area for 3 hours and saw the main attractions from streets, restaurants, stairs, and churches. Then I had booked a ticket to Christ the Redeemer that afternoon so we parted ways as she went to her other hostel which was an hour away and I went to Christ the Redeemer. Met this couple from Australia in a Starbucks and talked to them about where I should go and such. Then it was a lonely yet nice train ride up to Christ the Redeemer. Very touristy and a lot of people trying to get the same pictures. I stayed until it got dark, watched the sunset there and got the last train back. My phone was about to die and there was no Wifi at the bottom so I couldn't order an Uber. I got a taxi instead and then went to get something quick to eat, such as those cheese puffs, and acai. I was planning to go to bed early but Chantel wanted to go out and she said a group was going to Lapa, which is this hipster neighborhood so I decided to rally and go out. I'm really happy I did because it was a really fun time. We got to get a taste of what carnival is like with the drums in the middle of the street, drinking caipirinhas and walked around. Thankfully one of the girl's had worked at this bar/club so she got us in for free and we danced inside and they sang happy birthday to Chantel. The streets were packed with many young people, and there were trapeze dancing in an open window bar. One of the guys (I think gay) was carrying around a bottle of vodka and liter of orange juice and had weed with him so we smoked and chatted a bit. Then we walked to another place but I was getting super tired so decided to go home around 2am. I slept in and skipped breakfast, was pretty hungover and had snacks with me, went to Sugarloaf Mountain and had lunch at the top of the second cable car with the most beautiful views of Rio. It took a lot longer than expecting, I was planning to go to the beach earlier and meet up with Dev, a Canadian guy I had met with the group of people from Chantel's hostel when we went out in Lapa the night before. So we met up around 4pm at Copacabana beach and chilled there, got in the water, which was a bit cold and then some homeless guy wouldn't leave us alone and actually got up all of a sudden and touched Dev's leg so we moved to another point on the beach. It was really strange and scary but also very funny at the same time - didn't feel in danger but just weirded out. Once it got dark we went to get sushi at this really nice place and then back to my hostel to get the free caipirinhas There was a disco night going on but no one really partying yet, solely guys on their phones. I went to change/shower and then we met up with Dev's friend he was visiting with who he knew from Vancouver for 10 years to this area called Flamingo. We ended up meeting a gay couple and lesbian couple who invited us to their apt and had a drink there before heading to a gay club. It was really packed and crowded, but a cool experience to see. Played Lady Gaga most of the time and after about an hour we were ready to leave. Slept in really late and barely had time to go to the beach that day but the weather was s***ty so got some pizza and sat and watched some beach volleyball until it started to rain. Decided to go on a run and realized one side of the street was closed so that worked out because everyone was running and biking and skating and roller blading on the street so it was motivating. Had a really nice run along the beach and went to this point with a big rock with cactus and a nice view of Copacabana beach. After my run, I showered and met up with Chantel for dinner. We both got a nice burger with sweet potato fries and were both so tired so I packed up and went to bed early. The next day I had an 11am day bus to Sao Paulo so I checked out and was on my way, sad to leave Sao Paulo.