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We arrived in Rio as the sun was setting, after a longer than expected journey as there was traffic due to it being a holiday weekend for Brazil's independence day (9 hours rather than 6). Our hostel (Vidigalbergue) is situated on the edge of Vidigal favela but we'd been assured it was a safe area, which we realised ourselves when we arrived as there were several police watching the road outside. We were welcomed straight away with Caipirinha's (Brazil's signature cocktail) and live music from one of the hostel's staff. After a few more Caipirinha's and a large pizza we headed to the main bar area Lapa with Michael, Sheridan, Alistair and Sarah. The bars and streets were heaving with people and stalls selling food and drink. It was mostly Brazilian tourists for the long weekend to celebrate Independence day. We spent a fair amount of time drinking outside rather than in bars, enjoying the atmosphere and cheaper drinks.
The following day we explored the area nearby and relaxed on the local beach at Vidigal. It's a lot smaller than the main beaches of Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana and slightly further away from these central beaches which was good for us as it meant it was quieter and easy to find a spot. We had a wander along the sea front through Leblon and Ipanema, the beaches full with hardly a free patch of sand. Nonetheless we enjoyed strolling along as there was a lot going on such as beach volleyball, football, body boarding, surfing, huge sand sculptures and so on.
In the evening we had been informed by the hostel of a punk party in Rocinha favela, which we headed over to but it turned out not to be on (we later found out it was the next day). Not wanting to waste the evening and the taxi ride over we searched for another bar to go to, aware that we shouldn't stray too much from the main streets. The bar we found was very small and looked like an old garage, with a man singing and playing the electric piano and a couple dancing samba. Drinks were cheap and the locals were friendly, but at the point where one man fell off his stool flat on his back we decided it was time to move on. It was an experience drinking in a favela but we weren't in a hurry to return to that bar!
On Sunday the 9th we went with Sheridan, David, Tracy and Michael to the top of Vidigal favela as we'd heard the views of Rio were incredible. We decided to venture without a tour guide, and walked quite steeply uphill through the favela before reaching the dirt track through the woods which would lead us to the top. We all came badly prepared, each one of us wearing flip flops which made the climb extremely difficult as the path was steep and slippery. This along with the heat meant the walk was quite tough and we arrived to the top exhausted, hot and sweaty with very dirty feet - but the views made it worth it. The first stop was over Rocinha favela where you could also see sugarloaf mountain. At the very top you could see all the main beaches and towns, and with it being such a clear day it really was impressive. After the walk down (more like a slide down in our flip flops) we treated ourselves to açai, local berries made into an ice smoothie/ yoghurt with banana blended in and granola on top. Yum!
As the day got hotter the sea was highly inviting and we passed the rest of the day on Vidigal beach before heading to Urca for dinner. The sun was setting over the water as we arrived which looked beautiful with the boats and mountains in the background. We had a look around the night market in Copacabana on our way home.
On the 11th we had a packed day, managing to see the Botanical Gardens, Sugarloaf mountain and the Christ Redentor. The gardens were beautiful and we saw a lot of monkeys, squirrels, lizards, various different coloured birds and some huge fish as well as all the exotic trees and plants.
The day started to cloud over and by the time we took the cable car to the top of Sugarloaf moutain the view was hazey. After the incredible view from Vidigal on a bright, clear day we were a little disappointed. It started to brighten up later on so we decided to risk visiting the Christ statue aswell, which turned out to be a good decision as it was blue skies when we arrived and we also stayed for sunset and took the last train down.
Having seen all we wanted to see in Rio, we spent wednesday relaxing on Copacabana beach, taking in as much sun as possible for our last full day in Rio. Unfortunately it was slightly cloudy but we both still managed to get burnt falling asleep on the beach. In the evening we went to watch a football match, Vasco v Palmieras. The stadium wasn't very full but the crowd that were present were full of energy, and the score ended 3-1 to Vasco (the local team). We then headed to Lapa with Eoin, an English guy we had met in the hostel. We were surprised how busy it was for a wednesday and found a lively bar with live music- which was accompanied by a drunk guy passionately playing along with a flute which was highly amusing.
13th September: our last day travelling! We spent the morning packing up and then explored Santa Teresa, a quieter area with a lot of character filled with older buildings of different colours, street art and various art and gift shops. At this point we realised how lucky we had been with the weather, as it was raining all day - and it was only the second or third time we'd had rain the whole time travelling.
At 5pm we left for the airport, a surreal feeling as the time has flown by yet we have managed to pack a lot in to seven weeks. We felt that we'd been exceptionally lucky in that we hadn't had any robberies, accidents or trouble throughout the whole time, despite hearing stories before and during our travels of theft and other incidents. There are places that we would definitely return to and others that we didn't have time to visit that we have heard great things about but for the amount of time we had we were more than happy with what we managed to see and do. It has been an incredible summer and definitely one of a lifetime that we will never forget. Over and out!
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