We stayed in a hostel called Walk on the Beach which we were really excited about because it had 91% on hostel world. We were shown to our room and were met with three tier bunks and a shitty ceiling fan which barely cooled the top bunks let alone the bottom. The people staying at the hostel were so different to people we had met previously as there were less travellers and more holiday makers. We met a guy from Newport (bless) on our first night and he came for dinner with us. I wasn't feeling too good so I just had a coke, Becky had a burger and he ordered chicken and rice but when it came out he was appalled with his dish and refused to eat it. I'm not sure what exactly he was expecting when he ordered his chicken and rice, but after clucking like a chicken to order his food, I think he deserved a minging meal.
Carnaval in Brazil involved lots of street parties called 'blocos' which were rather hit and miss, elaborate costumes, lots of dancing and shows in the Sambadrome. Unfortunately we didn't get tickets to the parades because they were so expensive but we did as much as we could. We went to some amazing blocos like one in Ipanema where everyone got merry whilst samba-ing down the street before heading on to the beach which turned into a night club with djs and flashing lights. Kim, Kanye and Will Smith were allegedly watching this blocko but I didn't see them. Can't imagine drinking beers bought of the street and queuing for port-a-loos is seen as very glamorous.
Brazilian culture is much more male dominant and as 'gringos', Becky and I got a lot of attention. It was like Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, boys would grab your arm, use some sort of variation of 'you're beautiful', 'I love your eyes' etc and then ask you for a kiss. I don't understand when that would ever work for them. If a guy in the UK vice-gripped my arm and demanded a kiss I'd laugh in their face. Some of the not so good blocos we encountered when we met up with Adriana and her brother, with our roommate Dave. it involved following a bus with five old men warbling the same song over and over again amongst a crowd of pensioners.
We had some weird experiences some nights. One night I was convinced there was a Japanese man in our room and couldn't get my head round why no one else saw him. Earlier that night I'd had a funny five minutes where I could see loads of myself and couldn't hear anything. Similar things involving a lion and an identical twin happened to Becky too. Only when we googled cachaca (the main ingredient in caipirinhas) did we realise that it was an hallucinogenic and they were trying to make it illegal in America. Turns out you're meant to have one or two and not binge drink like Brits drinking pitchers of woo woo in Spoons.
One of the days, a big group of us from the hostel went on a boat trip leaving from Marina de Gloria. We all jumped in taxis and unlucky for us, Dave, Becky and I got in the dud one. He drove the wrong way about three times, crossed a dual carriage way going in the opposite direction, hit another car and dropped us nowhere near where we needed to go. A 45 minute walk later in the blistering heat we arrived at the boat twenty minutes late. The first hour meant free drinks for girls and two for one drinks for boys. In true Brazilian style there was one guy manning a bar serving about thirty girls so we ended up swarming and pouring our own drinks. As people got more tipsy the fun began. Everyone was dancing to old school rnb (my guilty pleasure), having dance offs and chatting to anyone and everyone. Becky got hit on my two different lesbians (one of which had sideburns) and didn't know to do with herself. When the boat stopped we all jumped in as the bouncers frantically tried to keep people from jumping off the top deck. All in all a good day!
On the last night of carnaval, we played some drinking games in the hostel before heading in to Lapa which was where the main parties were. Bryan, a guy we met in Florianopolis, joined us and we all crammed into a mini bus full of about 30 people and headed to Lapa. It was so good! There was live music, lots of samba-ing and too many drinks. Becky became Brazilian for the night and samba-ed away like a pro with her boy Bryan. Becky likes to think that their moves rivalled Anton Du Bec, I however am not convinced. Events of that night still remain blurry- probably for the best given the telling offs from the security guards.
Whilst in Rio we decided we needed to get some actual cultural stuff done so we booked a one day tour and blitzed the city. There ended up being about ten of us including 4 people from the Philippines who took more photos than I ever thought possible. First we went to Lapa steps which were created by a Chilean artist. Lapa is the party area so is usually swamped with beer cans, wine bottles and the like. In the sober light of day it is quite run down and there's a lot of poverty so the Chilean artist began creating a sort of mosaic on the steps. There were tiles from all over the world including a picture of Princess Diana and a map of London. The artist tragically burned himself to death on these steps earlier this year.
Next we headed to the Cathedral which is shaped like a pyramid. I sang the biggest fan of it because I thought the grey stone made it look quite dismal. However inside was beautiful. There were four stained glass windows that shone in different colours depending on the position of the sun.
After the Cathedral, we headed to see Christ the Redeemer. It stands on a hill 300m above sea-level and, as generic as it sounds, it is something to behold. We were lucky that the sky was really clear so we could see the whole of Rio. The same applied at our next stop which was Sugar Loaf Mountain. We took the gondolas all the way to the top, and from an even higher height than Christ the Redeemer, the view was even better. The strangest thing happened while we were there though, a guy was just casually wandering around dressed as Jesus. It was so surreal!
The tour we went on made us feel better about our week in Rio because we hadn't wasted the whole time alternating between being drunk/hungover. Our guide was so awkward though, he kept making really inappropriate jokes. For example, he showed us his tour guide ID (no one asked to see it, he was clearly really proud of it) and started laughing and said 'haha I look like a terrorist, let's hope there are no Americans on board or they'll panic'. There were two guys from LA sat right behind us. Tumbleweed.
I loved my week in Rio but would love to go back when Carnaval isn't on because although it was an unforgettable experience, it wasn't Rio under normal circumstances.
Note: lack of pics is because we didn't want to get our cameras stolen.
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