Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Sunday 17 January – Weds 20th January

After a busy final couple of weeks in London we left Heathrow on Sunday the 17th of January feeling a little worse for wear. A few bloody mary’s in the BA lounge soon fixed that, and before we knew it we were boarding our flight to Rio de Janeiro! The flight was one of the worser ones we’ve had….quite feral actually. There was one drunk guy who were giving the air hostesses a hard time, and at one stage he actually came up behind me while I was waiting for the toilets and asked me what my problem was. He was soon escorted back to his seat.

We arrived in Rio around midnight and had a friendly Brazilian driver greet us holding a sign with my name on it. We drove through a few police blocades in the dodgy parts of town (near the ‘favelas’ which are shanty towns) then went on through to Leblon where we were staying (the posh area). The guy showed us to our apartment block and gave us the key etc. After trying the key for a while in apartment 1306 then having a Brazilian guy actually opening the door from the inside and asking us what we were doing, we realized that whilst we had the right apartment we had the wrong block of apartments. So off we went to block B and finally found the correct apartment 1306. Apartment was quite decent, and we cranked the air con in the bedroom as soon as we got there as it was about 30 degrees (at 1am).

So the next day we had the agent coming at 12:30 to receive the security deposit etc so we went for a walk to the supermarket to get some supplies before waiting around for her. She eventually arrived and as she was there the power cut out. Turned out the owner had forgotten to pay a power bill and it couldn’t get switched back on for 24 hours. They said they’d get back to us later in the day with a solution so we went off to check out the beach for the arvo. Went down to Leblon beach which is set below the massive Sugarloaf mountain.

Clint just told me I’m writing too much detail so will give some dot point highlights from now on – otherwise you guys will get totally bored with reading this! And it will take me half the day.

So we chilled out on Leblon beach for afternoon, then found out we were being moved to apartment in Ipanema for the night so we had air con. Happy with this as wanted to stay in Ipanema originally.

Went out in Ipanema that night to a bar/restaurant called Devassa where they brew their own beer. Very nice blonde beer. Had some Brazilian food for dinner which included chunks of Cassava (like potato) and shredded crispy bits of corned beef with hot sauce (yum). You will notice that a lot of the points to come will be detailed descriptions of the food.

Next day had empanadas for breakfast at a café then headed to Ipanema beach for a few hours. Hired an umbrella and chairs and went swimming. The beach was a lot more packed than the day before. Very eclectic mix of people. Noone cares about body image either and you’ll see all sorts of sizes showing all sorts of flesh you may not want to see. Blokes love their speedo’s too.

Found out the air-con in Leblon apartment was back on so after having a couple of drinks on foreshore we headed back there.

Went out in Leblon for dinner. Stopped in sushi place closeby apartment as the rain started coming down. When the rain comes down in Rio you are soaked in seconds. However luckily it didn’t last too long (although was probably the annual rainfall of SA in half an hour) so we went on to another place for a few snacks (plate of fried cassava with parmesan, and some weird spicy sausage dish that I don’t think we ordered but was tasty nontheless).

Last full day in Rio we did trip up to O Cristo Redentor (Christ the redeemer) – the massive statue of Christ up on the mountain. We picked the only cab driver in Rio that didn’t know where it was and had to ask other cabbies for directions 3 times. Got up there and had to wait 2 hours for train up to top. Was about 40 degrees and the train ride was pretty stifling. Got up there and all the crowd was standing under the shadow that the statue cast. Great views though.

Back down to Leblon and out for a few Caprinha’s before dinner. Wandered to the main eating street and ate dinner at a fancy restaurant as a bit of a treat (I had a yummy steak and Clint had tuna I think). Then somehow got chatting to some people near us and we ended up going drinking with them until 3am. An Irish guy and Canadian chick who was a TV news presenter. Fun times.