Wickham Market to Rio de Janiero...

Bom dia from Rio! After 17 hours of flying, a sprint around JFK airport and a particularly frantic taxi ride around the humid streets of the city to get to the hostel, we have finally started our travels.

And one week in, after an eventful few days in Rio, followed by an incredibly relaxing but computer-free  stay on Ilha Grande, I have finally manged to get my fingers to a keyboard to update you all! Sorry it has been so long in the making, but after having my card details scammed within 2 hours of arriving, drinking caparinhas on the beach and having every single pair of underwear I own stolen, I hope you will understand why!

But anyway, after spending the best part of a day 38,000 feet in the air, we are in Rio. And having a great time! So far we have drank Caiprihnas and eaten epanadas on Copacabana beach, been to the Hippy market (which turned out to be less hippy, and more hideous statues of plastic birds perched on giant pieces of crystal..) sunbathed on Praia do Diablo, watching the surfers ride the waves as the sun set and marvelled at the commanding figure of Christ the Redeemer that watches over the city day and night.

After the slight inconvenience of having my card details taken within our first few hours of being here, and after a well needed siesta, we began to explore the city, trying to find at least some of our bearings. After an evening stroll on the beautiful Copacobana beach, and buying our first obligatory braided bracelet, we can now we can fully get into the swing of this travelling malarky.

On our second day of being in Rio, after browsing the aforementioed plastic parrots and charming pairs of leather dungarees (in this weather??) at the hippy market, we went to a lively, authentic Brazillian buffet restaurant. After piling our plates at the salad bar (which was like a slightly more upmarket version of the Pizza Hut one), the waiters came to our table with giant skewers of every meat you can imagine, just waiting to be carved on to your plate. There was chicken, amazing steak, ribs, and something that rather resembled mouse, but that we were assured was chicken heart (slightly better than mouse but still not quite my cup of tea!)

After stuffing ourselves silly, it was off to the Favella party. Piled in to a minibus, we hit the winding road up to the favella. The party was absolutely nothing as I imagined. The only thing that I could compare it to would be a school disco, just on a much bigger scale, with a lot more bottom wiggling and music loud enough to leave your ears ringing for 3 days straight. But it was actually brilliant, we drank caparinhas and watched the crowds dance some amazing Samba.

The favella party actually summed up what I thought about Rio. The city is nothing like my year 9 geography lessons had led me to expect. While, of course, you could tell that poverty is a big problem in the city, the centre actually reminded me a lot of European cities, and it was a lot cleaner than many of the cities in the UK (cough, Ipswich, cough...) And the people were lovely, they went out of their way to point us in the right direction on the many occasions that we were looking lost, and were quick to give you a helping hand when we got stuck in the revolving ticket gate on the bus, or got in some other pickle. It was nowhere near the big, scary city that I first imagined, and I absolutely loved the way that the streets bustled with people and stalls selling every kind of snack you could imagine; fresh corn on the cob, acai berry sorbet with granola, dulce de leche popcorn. And if you know how much I love to eat, this was perfect!

After samba-ing our way thorough the favella, we decided that it was time to actually see some of the famous sights of Rio. However, the cloud rather ruined our fun. On our second attempt at seeing the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer, we decided that we had to make the trip to his feet, despite the somewhat overcast weather. We optomistically caught the train up the steep, jungle clad mountainside, entertained by a very cheery samba band along the way.

However, we weren´t quite so full of the party spirit when we reached the top and discovered that we could barely see 3 feet in front of us, let alone his face, and definitely not any views of the city. So, we waited, and were eventualy rewarded for our patience with around a 2 minute glimpse of the man himself, during which time everyne scrambled to get a photo, picking their way through the crowd to get their shot. Unfortuntely the city never appeared from the clouds, and we left pleased that we had been but dissapointed that the majority of what we had seen was cloud.

After hot-footing it over to the Bohemian area of Santa Theresa for lunch, we decided to make another attempt at getting a good view of the city. As the sun was coming down, we ascended the cable car to the top of Sugarloaf mountain. Luckily we got there just as the sun was still peeking over the mountains, and the views of the city at sunset were stunning.
And that, after  few more Caparinhas, was our last day in the sweaty, bustling city of Rio. Despite it being a million miles away from what I expected. I loved the city and only wished that, firstly, we had been able to stay longer and, secondly, that I was leaving with as many pairs of knickers as I had arrived with.

But now it is on to Ilha Grande, an island with no roads or cars, what a contrast that will be!

C xxx