We spent 2 weeks in Rio and have a fair amount to write... forgive us for the long post!
When we first arrived in Ipanema, we were completely surprised by how clean and safe the streets were. Walking around in most districts day or night was no problem at all. The city is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and possesses a coastline of beautiful white sand beaches. Even the favelas which are visible throughout the city add to its character. This combination gives Rio a stunningly distinct look.
The entire city was buzzing leading up to Carnaval and we were happy to have arrived before all of the other gringos joined the party to get an idea of what Rio is really like. It was great to have some time to relax on the beach before the crazyness took over!
In the lead up and during Carnaval, hundreds of unofficial blocos (street parties) began, some of which attacted crowds of 100,000 people!! Despite the crowds, heat and free flowing alcohol, party-goers were strangly well behaved with no drunken brawls, smashing of public property etc. The most rowdy thing we saw was a guy using a public phone as a drum!
Selecting our Carnaval accessories
Aside from partying, another thing the Brazilians do well is play football! We were truly lucky to be able to watch a final between Rio's most loved team (Flamengo) and Boa Vista. Flamengo won thanks to an incredible winning goal by newly signed Ronaldinho. The fanatical fans and attacking style of play made for a really entertaining match (which sure leaves our A-League for dead!)
A couple of days later, we visited the team's clubhouse for a press conference to see the new shirts being released. Ok, the truth is we didn't really care about the new shirts, but thought we might get a chance to see Ronaldinho! Although he was a no show, a few other players were there and it was interesting (at least for Ben).
We visited the Rio must-dos on our trip (Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf Mountain and Santa Teresa district) but were plagued by terrible weather. We had to laugh at our fortunes when we finally made it to the top of the mountain to only be able to see Christ's feet. I guess it was punishment for not going to church in a very long time : )
One of the more interesting landmarks in Rio is a famous staircase (thanks to various music videos) in the suburb of Lapa which has been completely tiled by a crazy artist called Selaron. He has been working on his 'project' since 1990 and spends all day working on his art. We met the man himself while he was sitting on the steps (he is a complete nut, but a friendly one!) and he signed one of his paintings that we purchased.
Rio is a city of contasts in many ways, there are SUPER rich Brazilians living in areas like Ipanema and Leblon in a little bubble with their fancy shopping centres, expensive gyms and restaurants. On the opposite end of the spectrum are people of the favelas (something like 20% of the population live in these areas) where it's like you're in a completely different city altogether. We were initially a little unsure about doing an organised Favela Tour but ended up finding one that promised not to treat the people who live there like some kind of spectacle so we decided to give it a go. It was interesting to see that the favelas are really improving in living standards with the government starting to flush out gangs across the city leading up to the Olympics and World Cup.
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