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My plans for Rio were satisfied, aside from the sun part, which chose only to appear for a full day on Christmas day. I'd not realised that the Christmas period is always the rainiest time of the year, and neither had anyone else who turned up. Still, it didn't stop us having fun.
My hostel was in Ipanema down a gated side alley with 6 or 7 other hostels, very close to the gay section of the beach (which I managed to spend 2 afternoons at before realising why there were so many muscled men with tiny speedos on). The alley was a very sociable place, although the no loitering after 10 rule was strictly enforced by big brazilian guys waving signs. Even though the hostel was a little run down, it was nice and chilled out, with a great group of people who had similar plans for Rio. Of the 2 weeks I was there, I had only 2 quiet nights in, I've developed a bit of a love of samba.
This was the first year I've been away for Christmas, it was strange not to be with my family, but we made the most of it as a hostel. In the morning myself and a few other went down to the beach to give surfing a go, it was fun trying, but problems with poor waves and a complete lack of skill caused us to give up. Next we decided to make a sandman, tricky with the dry sand and baking sun, but we enlisted the help of some confused brazilian lads to give us a hand fetching water to keep it damp. A very squat looking fellow was the result, but complete with coal eyes, a carrot coloured bottle cap for a nose, christmas hat and sunglasses, a respectable effort. The day before a group of us had gone to the supermarket to buy food for a feast for 20 people, and in the evening everyone chipped in to help prepare the meal. It was kind of like a family away from home, and although a lot of people had to change hostels before the New Year (no reservations), we kept meeting up. In the evening there was a free concert on Copacabana beach attended by roughly 1 million people by someone called Roberto Carlos, he was a bit like a brazilian Barry Manilow and the old ladies loved him, I quite enjoyed the guest acts he had with him though.
New Years eve was also a night of free music starting around 6pm, with 4 stages set up along the beach. We decided to stick around the hostel drinking until late and then get down to the end of the beach for midnight, where we watched the fireworks over the bay, a beautiful sight. I think some kind of religious cult originally started dressing all in white for the New Year, but now it has become the fashion, so practically everyone (including us) followed it. I danced away on the beach to a variety of music until it stopped, and the following day spent about 10 minutes pouring sand from my trainers.
My favorite night by far was when a group of us went to the huge restaurant/bar/club called Rio Scenarium in the main nightlife area Lapa. The place was extremely popular, I'd tried to get in the night before, but arrived to find a queue of people several hundred deep. After a good meal and a few drinks, a samba group started playing, and from a slow start, built up to some really cool samba songs with some awesome drumming.
Aside from the relaxing and the night life, I didn't do a great deal. I'd been to Rio on my last trip, and had done a lot of the touristy things. This time I only explored a couple of the older neighbourhoods, the centre, and a modern art gallery. I didn't feel the need to do more in my final 2 weeks, and really enjoyed the place again.
- comments
Ren Great stuff mate. Looking forward to getting out there one day.