Rio de Janeiro

I say Rio and you think beach, half naked women (at least I do!), the statue of the Christ, Copacabana, beach football, carnival, endless parties and favelas. And you would be right. Rio is nicknamed "Cidade Maravilhosa"  (Marvelous City) and it is well deserved. 

Photos of Rio de Janeiro

The Christ emerging from the clouds - very symbolic

You might not think of rain though but when we arrived in Rio it was pouring and you know how it is in big busy cities with warm climates when it rains: it's hell. There are puddles, more traffic jams and generally more commotion.  We managed to get to our hostel which was at the end of Copacabana beach (yippie!) but just at the entrance of a Favela (oh oh!). But they say it is a "pacified" favela which makes it safer... at least that's the theory.

Astounding views of one of Rio's bays from the Sugar Loaf

And the Sugar Loaf taken from the Christ Redeemer

At first glance it looked good, there was a police car at the entrance, and another one 400 metres up the very steep hill. Right opposite our hostel was a community centre and the police, we were told, stay there 24/7. The hostel looked very nice (Lisetonga Hostel), nice open space, friendly staff, good size TV room, clean kitchen and bathrooms and a central patio where breakfast is served weather permitting. It used to be a mansion but with the expansion of favelas in the 50's and 60's many of the wealthy people living in such mansions moved somewhere else. We were supposed to move to another hostel for the last 2 nights in Rio but we immediately decided to extend our stay here and cancel the other one. Experience had taught us to grab a good hostel when we found one.

We had a lot on our plates for this city.

What we did

Birthday Party

Beautiful decor

Where best to celebrate my birthday than Rio? After all this is the place to party. After extensive research on the Internet, we decided to go to the Rio Scenarium downtown. The neighbourhood is called Lapa and that's where many of the trendy bars, restaurants and night clubs are. Rio Scenarium opens at 8pm on Saturdays but when we got there at 7.40pm there was already a queue of about 50 people to get in!!! Unbelievable. It starts as a nice bar which also serves food. Then it features live music from 8.30pm to 11pm on the ground floor while there is a live DJ in the extension. It is huge (3 floors + the extension) and each section is differently decorated. It is a great place to spend a birthday.

Archanna and William came that evening and we started getting the Caipirinias in. We ordered some snacks and caught up on the gossip. Then we went to the live music and the DJ section. By then the floors were very crowded with locals and tourists of all ages. It was an excellent night out and we went back home tipsy and knackered.

Enjoying the party

Favela Tour

The little kids having fun in the streets

It always seemed odd to me to actually do a Favela tour. What is the point of it? To go out there to see some poor people and houses with no running water nor electricity that were illegally constructed? How dare I do this? But the truth is that much of what we think about Favelas is only part of the big picture and there is a lot of stigma associated with favelas. We met this American guy in our hostel who actually lives in a Favela (recently pacified) and who said he would bring us there for us to make our own opinion.

We followed him into the favela named Vidigal and took a moto-taxi deep into the favela. These moto-taxi bring people up and down the huge hill for 2 Reals. When we got there, first thing that catches your eyes is the number of satellite dishes on roof tops. The main street up the hill was properly built apparently with the drug barons’ money. We then had a snack in one of the small eating places and enjoyed an amazing view of Ipanema Bay. The view was amazing.

We also saw some kids with a football and started to play with them. The youngest of them had great skills and was dribbling and doing all kinds of tricks with the ball. These Brazilians do live up to their reputation. We were also explained what a pacified Favela means. Basically the authorities announce that they are going to come into the favela on a given day to "clean up". The drugs and arms barons either move out or fight. When the day comes, the army and police actually moves in with tanks, helicopters, elite strike forces and take the favela. After that they post a specially trained police division in the favela to make sure law and order is respected.

The thing is that in all those favela the overwhelming majority are simple honest hardworkers. But it is true that some of the worst organised crimes are also run from them. All in all it was an eye opening visit and we were glad to have done it.

  

Carnival rehearsal

First school getting ready to parade - 800 participants!

Rio is synonymous with Carnival. And it is a BIG deal here. There are several dozens of samba schools in Rio preparing all year round for the big party. These schools are even ranked in divisions and the best ones are featured in the famous Sambadrome during the carnival. Each school meticulously rehearse the songs, the choreography and each of their members (up to 800 people parade for each school during carnival) must know all the lyrics and moves very precisely. In the months leading to the event, the schools hold open rehearsals where you can dance all night. And as from December, proper technical rehearsals are held in the Sambadrome for the schools to have a chance to practise in the venue.

Some of the youngest participants looking their best

We went to one of those rehearsals and there were 3 schools that evening: 2 of them from a lower category and the 3rd one from the first division. The latter school was Salgueiro which is currently 4th in the Samba school ranking! The Sambadrome can hold up to 90.000 people during the carnival parades. For the technical rehearsals they open up only one side of the stands and an average of 35.000 spectators show up. Imagine, 35.000 people attending the rehearsals only, that's how big a deal it is here.

Even without the full package of chariots and lights the show was great and people were on fire. We spent the 4 hours there and had a glimpse of what Carnival in Rio is. We are not going to be there but in Recife for the Carnival which I'm sure is going to be amazing too.

This is how big the Sambadrome is - and this is only one side

A caipirinha vendor - they look yummie

Museums (Arte & Cachaca)

Cachaça labels on show

The two museums we went two could not be further from one another. The first one was the museum of modern arts in the city centre while the other one was the Cachaça museum in the boheme neighbourhood of Santa Teresa.

The latter one was more original for me as they explained the origin of this sugar cane spirit. I love the Portuguese classification for this type of drink: Aguardente which literally means Burning Water. They also had a special work on the different types of labels that have been used over time.

A depiction of an episode of Brazil's history

Escalera & Santa Teresa

It was a great outing despite the rain

In that same neighbourhood of Santa Teresa we climbed the superb Selaron stairs. Selaron is a Chilean artist. Those stairs were amazing and all the ceramics are either made by him or nowadays sent to him by people all over the world.

He then makes sure that each and every ceramic sent to him is inserted somewhere in the stairs. He is always replacing older ceramics with new ones which makes these stairs a perpetually evolving work of art.

Sugar Loaf

It was impressive especially on a clear day

The sugar loaf is this superb piece of rock standing in the the bay of Copacaba. Those of you who are James Bond fans will know that this is the rock from which Roger Moore glides down in Moonraker pursued by the villain Jaws.

We got up there by taking two cable cars that cost a lot (25€ per person). That afternoon the sky had cleared up and the view from up there was spectacular. We could see the whole of Copacabana and its beautiful bay.

Christ redeemer

The statue is humbling. 

The 30 metre statue of the Christ is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. It has been voted as one of the 7 new wonders of the world in 2007. We took the tram up there which is not as spectacular as people say. It goes through dense vegetation most of the time which makes it impossible to see anything of the bay. For a few extra Reals, prefer the car services that bring you up, and you’ll also avoid the long wait for the two-wagons tramvia.

The mysterious statue on a cloudy day

Botanical Garden

Giant Lily pads

This botanical garden was a pleasant surprise. It was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Set on 140 hactares this is one of the largest botanical gardens in the world and one of the most diverse. There are ponds with all kinds of fish and Japanese gardens, alleys lined with the famous Pau-Brazil tree (from which the country got its name) and a superb collection of Orchids. There also was a very interesting section on medicinal plants and their use in traditional medicine.

The orchids were fascinating

What we did not do

Maracana Stadium

We could not visit the legendary Maracana stadium which initially could hold 200.000 spectators and which later was transformed in an 84.000 all-seater. The reason was that extensive works are being done to get it ready for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Maracana is going to host the World Cup final game just like in 1950 (Uruguay  2- Brazil 1)

Favela Party

There are favela parties going on during week-ends where daredevils can go for high adrenaline very dangerous entertainment. Have you seen the shooting scene when they kill Benny in “City of Gods”? Well we prefered to see this in a movie! 

Boat tour in the bay

We missed the boat tour because unfortunately we did not have enough time.

Football game and horse racing

Off season – snif!