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The 24 hour bus journey from Iguazu was not as bad as expected, apart from the minor panic from Rich thinking he was going to have to endure a 24 hour bus journey with no food, luckily he didnt otherwise it was going to be a long 24 hours for Shelly! We arrived in Rio de Janeiro to glorious sunshine and a ridiculous heat, not that we were complaining as a certain wedding was nearing and we were distinctly lacking any kind of tan as all of our events had kept us out of the sun! We headed to the beach house hostel where we were staying in a ridiculously posh area or Rio called Ipanema. Within half an hour we had dumped our bags and we heading for the beach where there was many a sight to be seen! Bums and boobs galore...and not just the women! Everything and anything was on show...we felt overdressed! After an afternoon of soaking up some well needed sun and taking in the 'the sights' we grabbed some food and beer as we sat outside at 10 o'clock with the temperature still reaching 29 degrees!
The next day we were up early to stock up on some Havaianas (has to be done in Brazil, although I think we did take it to the extreme!) and then we were off on a tour of the Favelas. These are communities of thousands of people that live in 'shanty town' like conditions. This particular one, rocihna, is the biggest in the whole of latin America with 200,000 people living within 2 square Kilometers. They are run by drug dealers and recently a few tourists have been allowed to enter with very limited camera use in exchange for the tour company that takes you there providing help and supplies for the people within the favelas. It was the most amazing tour we'd been on yet, we all got out of the minibus and onto the back of motorbikes to get us up to the top of the favela built of national park up a huge steep hill...after clinging on for dear life as we flew up the side of the hill we all regrouped to put away our cameras and pass by the watchers at the entrance to the favelas....these are drug dealers who look out for police or trouble, if they see any they light a firework to signal to the gang members inside! The gang that ran this favela were called ADA (which means friends of friends in Englsh) and as it turns out they were actually doing a pretty good job of running the show! There was no crime inside the favelas, as they put it 'you dont want to s*** on your own doorstep', as people came into the favela to buy drugs for big money they need to be safe to do so or they will not come, therefore it turns out your probably safer inside the favela than in copacobana! (Well unless your not known then your in trouble!) The main problem was when the police came, they had come two weeks previous and 7 of the gang leaders security had been killed and a 13 year old girl shot in the crossfire (it is that cramped there is nowhere to run or hide)...we got told that 80 people a month are killed in Brazil due to 'stray bullets'! We spent 2 hours walking back down the hill to the bottom of the favelas through the narrow streets of 4/5 story houses on top of each other with rubbish and sewerage all over the paths and running down the hill. There were sooo many children, many of them not even registered so people will live and die and the state will be non the wiser! It was such an 'eye opener' as we chatted to the locals and saw their way of life.
When we got back from the favelas we managed to grab the last few hours of sunshine before watching the spectacular sunset on Ipanema beach. Rich gave body boarding a go but the 8ft waves proved tricky as every wave seemed to gobble him up and spit him out! As we were on a tanning mission we were back in the sun by 9 the next day but only had a few hours as we were off to see the Christ Redeemer, Sugar loaf mountains and some other sights around the city. First stop was the christ from which the views were unbelievable, we could see over the whole city for miles around. Unfortunately christ himself was suffering due to some lightening that had hit a few months ago so to our disappointment we found him covered head to toe in scaffolding! Although we were gutted about the christ it was still a spectacular sight and the amazing views continued as we headed up sugar loaf mountain. We climbed to the top via two cable cars (to Richards delight as he's slightly scared of heights!) and arrived to a spectacular sunset over the city! After a few more sights of the cathedral and carnival street (with the obligitory dance moves) we headed back to make the most of our last night travelling! We started with the most amazing italian restaurant which was a massive treat considering our bank balances, and then headed to one of the many cool street bars to have some last beers in Rio!
The final day!!! Well we did what anybody has to do on their last day in Rio, we headed to the beach to top up our tan one final time! And top up our tan we did from 10-5!!! After buying a few more pairs of havaianas (as if we hadn't already got enough to cram into our bags) we couldnt believe it as the time had come to pack up our bags one more time and head to the airport!
Our whole travelling trip was more amazing than we ever hoped, dolphin swimming, climbing the great wall of china, helicopter rides, white water rafting and climbing sydney harbour bridge were just some of the unforgettable memories we have over the last 7 months in 15 countries! We couldnt believe how quick it had gone, we've seen the spectacular and the disgusting and knew this was only the start of our travels, the more places we saw the more we wanted to see...lets see where our next trip takes us!!!
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carol davoren hi there have followed your travels since thailand with sean, your trip has been amazing, iv loved reading your blog and seeing the pictures. thank you for sharing your adventure with us carol.