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"If you go to toilet, I come too....with your blonde hair, they will get you! We are friends, we stick together!!!!"
Dans new Brazilian friend 'Alan' takes care of him at the street party.
When you only have seven days in Brazil, the last thing you need is a seven hour connecting flight delay in Chile on your way there. So, as you can imagine, when we did finally arrive at our hostel in Rio, 36 hours after leaving Auckland, it goes without saying that we were both tired and jetlagged. Ironically, our malfunctioning body clocks only helped us in getting into the samba swing, as our week in Rio was mainly spent sleeping all day and partying all night.
The more traveller friendly economy of Brazil helped to release us from the restraints of our New Zealand tinned food diet and we wasted no time at all nose diving into as many fresh salads, vegetables, steaks, fish and seafoods as we possibly could - from day one it was clear that we were going to love our time in Rio.
Our hostel, in the heart of the legendary Copacabana, was just two blocks from the famous beach itself and within easy reach of all Rio's main sights and hotspots. The beach itself is far from idyllic, in fact beacause of the number of high rise hotels which stretch along its length, it is put entirely in the shade by 5pm each day. This doesn't deter the thousands of locals who flock here day after day and create a unique beach culture that we've actually not seen anywhere else. In every direction you look something different is happening along the sands, be it beach volley ball, football, sunsoakers, fishermen, souvenier sellers or drinks vendors. There is never a dull moment day or night and the ever present samba sound constantly rings through the air.
If beach life is one reflection of Rio then the other has to be football - the truly beautiful game. No trip to the city or indeed the country would be complete without a trip to the Brazilian home of futebol - The Maracana. We were lucky enough to be in the city for the state final and gladly took our place amongst the 80,000 mad men in the ground and waited for the Brazilians to show us how it was done. The atmosphere at the match was incredible, as good, if not better than anything back home, but it has to be said that the standard of football was disappointing. The Brazilian philosophy of "it doesn't matter how many you concede, as long you score more than them" is certainly true to what we saw. A memorable night non the less especially in Dan's case, as for LJ, 'scary' is a word more suited to the experience.
NB: Flamengo 4 - 1 Madureira (we were supporting Flamengo!)
The next day we took the opportunity to visit the more beautiful neighbouring beach of Ipanema, before visiting the third James Bond location of the trip - Pao de Acucar - Sugar Loaf Mountain, scene of the spectacular cable car fight between Roger Moore and Jaws back in the 1979 classic 'Moonraker'..... another treat for Miss Drury.
The views from the top of the mountain offer stunningly perfect views of the whole of Rio under the watchful eyes of 'Christ the Redeemer' on the opposite side of the city. If you take the trip late in the afternoon as we did, you can watch the beautiful sunset and see the nocturnal side of the marvellous city come to life before your eyes - after all, the night is what makes this place tick.
With the great mix of people we met at our hostel, we found ourselves out most nights, at clubs, bars and one night at the weekly street party in the neighboring district of Lapa. This was everything you'd imagine a party in Rio to be - cocktails, caiprinha and dancing literally until the sun came up. Fantastic. It's absolutely true that you can't get a feel for a place until you go where the locals go and do what the locals do and we'll always remember this night as our true introduction into the city of Rio.
We can't say enough good things about the place and we'd be lying if we said we were ready to leave when the time came. Of course Rio has it's problems, and you constantly hear stories from other travellers about muggings and robberies and we did witness a police shoot out across the highway on our way back from the footbal, but these kinds of places are the ones that make us want to travel. These are the reasons you leave home, in search of things you've never experienced, in search of new cultures. Rio fitted into all of the above. One day we must return to South America.
Next on the agenda however, was our final destination, a place that could truly test our metal. A place we all have an opinion of, a place similar, yet totally different from home. We were heading to the States.
Will update again as soon as poss.
Love lots, Danny & LJ xxxx
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