I flew from
Belém to Rio via São Paulo. It was during my stopover in São Paulo that I
suddenly felt a little out of place in my casual attire, which in the north had
been fine. Due to the heat in the Amazon region most people wear board shorts,
vests and flip flops. For the first time in almost a month I was surrounded by
people in suits and more cosmopolitan clothes.
I must admit
that during my first day in Rio I had a little culture shock as after being in
smallish cities and towns for the best part of a month I found it a little
overwhelming being somewhere so much bigger.
I arrived at
the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio and took a taxi to the Bossa in Rio Hostel,
which is in the Santa Teresa district and close to Lapa.
Santa Teresa
is a neighbourhood on a hill overlooking the city centre. It is full of large colonial buildings and it is where the well-off Carioca
moved to in the 19th century because of the cooler temperatures and lack of yellow fever carrying mosquitoes, which were a problem in the lower lying parts of the city.
A bed in a 10
bed dorm cost 32 Reals per night and included breakfast.
As I only had
a limited time in Rio, I opted to book a tour of the main sites in the city. A
half day tour with Q!Beleza Tours cost 190 Reals.
The tour was
good, but we didn't get an awful lot of time in each place. Our first stop was
at Christ the Redeemer and it was here that my camera batteries decided to die
and none of the shops leading up to the statue only had AAA ones so I had to go
all the way back to the start and get a security guard to buy some for me from
the shop just the other side of the barrier This lost me time, but I still
managed to appreciate the views and take some photos of the iconic figure.
The
Sambódromo was the next stop, where the parades during Carnaval are held. It
was a bit eerie seeing it so empty and I can only imagine the atmosphere there
when it is full.
After this we
went to the Escadaria de Selarón in Lapa. The stairs featured in Snopp Dogg's
video for Beautfiul. Artist, Jorge Selearón created the stairs as a tribute to
the Brazilian people. There are more than 2,000 tiles covering the steps from
more than 60 countries. The UK ones depict London and Princess Di.
The final
stop of the day was the Pão de Azucar (Sugarloaf). We were at the top just as
the sun set and the view of the city all lit up was beautiful.
When I was on
Ilha de Marajó I met a lovely Brazilian woman called Carla, who lives in Rio
and she said I should get in touch when I was in the city. On a Friday night I
went with Carla and her boyfriend to Pedra do Sal (Rock of Salt) in the Saudé
neighbourhood. This area is popular for open air free samba performances in the
small plaza.
The
atmosphere was great with everyone out on the street drinking and having fun.
On my final
day in Rio I went to Copacabana beach. To get there from where I was staying I
caught a bus from near the Arcos da Lapa.
Despite there
being a keen breeze there were still lots of people out on the beach and during
my wandering I stopped to watch one of the many football matches going on. It
seemed to get quite intense at one point with a lot of shouting.
Rio is
somewhere I will have to come back to as although I saw everything I wanted to,
I don't feel in three days I really experienced the city.
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