There's no place I've dreamed of more. For the past seven years my travel bucket list has only been one bullet point long. Christ the Redeemer. I'm not sure why I've felt so drawn to this city and the statue of Christo on the hill, but as I arrived into the city on a grey and miserable day I quietly hoped that Rio wouldn't let me down.
I had originally planned on spending Christmas and New Years in Brazil but after balking at the cost of a dorm bed over the holiday period ($120 a night!) I changed my flights and arrived into the city at the end of November. I had ten days until I flew out to Colombia and I was unsure to spend them all in Rio or spend a few days down the coast as well. I had only booked five nights in Copacabana initially, to delay the decision. The hostel I booked into was a perfect find as it was a small social place and I met some really cool people.
On my first full day I did a free walking tour of the Centro area, an area I wouldn't have probably explored had no one told me abut this tour. It was definitely worth it though and I was finding out fast that Rio is not just about the beaches. The tour finished in famous Lapa, so we got to see the Lapa Arches and the steps before having a traditional Brazilian lunch of feijoada.
The Lapa steps, or Escadaria Selaron, are 250 steps which run from the bottom of the hill suburb Santa Theresa, to Lapa and were the dream and work of Chilean born artist Jorge Selaron. In the early 90's he had wanted to add colour to the derelict area outside his house so he started adding tiles. Over the next two decades this became his life and people also began donating tiles from all around the world. There are now over 2000 tiles from 60 countries including a cute little kiwi one. The steps are a huge tourist attraction and I've always wanted to check them out ever since seeing them on Snoop Dogs video clip Beautiful.
I had originally planned on spending Christmas and New Years in Brazil but after balking at the cost of a dorm bed over the holiday period ($120 a night!) I changed my flights and arrived into the city at the end of November. I had ten days until I flew out to Colombia and I was unsure to spend them all in Rio or spend a few days down the coast as well. I had only booked five nights in Copacabana initially, to delay the decision. The hostel I booked into was a perfect find as it was a small social place and I met some really cool people.
On my first full day I did a free walking tour of the Centro area, an area I wouldn't have probably explored had no one told me abut this tour. It was definitely worth it though and I was finding out fast that Rio is not just about the beaches. The tour finished in famous Lapa, so we got to see the Lapa Arches and the steps before having a traditional Brazilian lunch of feijoada.
The Lapa steps, or Escadaria Selaron, are 250 steps which run from the bottom of the hill suburb Santa Theresa, to Lapa and were the dream and work of Chilean born artist Jorge Selaron. In the early 90's he had wanted to add colour to the derelict area outside his house so he started adding tiles. Over the next two decades this became his life and people also began donating tiles from all around the world. There are now over 2000 tiles from 60 countries including a cute little kiwi one. The steps are a huge tourist attraction and I've always wanted to check them out ever since seeing them on Snoop Dogs video clip Beautiful.
I met a great bunch of girls on the walking tour and a couple of us decided to meet up in the late afternoon to watch the sunset from Sugarloaf Mountain. This was stunning, and a good way to spend my second evening in Rio.
Because the weather was raining and grey when I arrived on the Tuesday I told myself that on the first sunny day forecast I was going to get up early to head to Christ the Redeemer. There was no way I was going to have cloudy pics! This was the best decision I made and by the time I left the hostel I could make the first train up to the top of the Corcovado mountain at 8:30. I was one of the first people up there and was so thankful for the ten minutes I had before the hoards of tourists started arriving.
There have been many moments on my holiday where I have been thankful about my ability to take this trip. This moment was the most special. I moved to Melbourne seven years ago and have been dreaming about this adventure ever since. On the top of this hill I found a quiet spot, looked at the big dude and I reflected on the last seven years. I was thankful, for the good and bad, for this journey.
That afternoon, pleased with how Rio was treating me, I went on a Favela tour. There are over 700 favelas, or slums, in Rio and they are home to over one million people which is roughly 20% of the cities population. The areas were mostly controlled by drug lords but a couple of years ago the government began programs to pacify the favelas and some 200 are now, in the words of one local, not run by drug lords anymore, but corrupt cops instead. The guy who took us on the tour of Rocinha, Rios biggest slum, had been doing the tours for nine years. We felt safe in his hands as he took us from the top of the hill, down the narrow "Street 1" to the very bottom. We visited an artists studio, supported kids playing in a funk band, tried the best sweets from the local bakery and visited a daycare where the kids were obsessed with giving us high fives. At the bottom of the hill our guide told us he would only ever walk Street 1. It was crazy, standing on a bridge at the bottom of the tour with the favela on the hillside and apartments worth minimum a million dollars on the beach side. I know who has the better view.
I was told by a local I had to have brunch at two spots: Parque Lage and the Forte of Copacabana. Done and Done. A friend from my hostel wanted to head to Parque Lage and was easily convinced to join me for breakfast in a gorgeous mansion which is now home to an art school.
It was (kind of but not really) bad planning on my part that even though I was in a Rio for ten days, (yep, I never did leave and explore somewhere else), I only had one weekend in the city. Friday night street parties are famous in Lapa so that was a no brainer and after a big night at the hostel bar a group of us headed there. Joining the hostel group was a lovely Irish couple and their friend from Dublin. Funnily enough I had met the couple over a month earlier in the North of Chile and then happened to be sitting next to them on the flight from Iguazu Falls to Rio. Such a small world considering the completely different areas we explored in that month between. It was great that I bumped into them though as they were in top form for a night out and were also up for a soccer match on the Saturday night.
Watching a soccer match at the Maracana was must do, no matter how big the hangover was. After arriving in the pouring rain and having issues finding tickets we took out seats among the popular local team Fluminense who were playing Atlético. The crowd was what you imagined at a Brazilian football match. Loud. And passionate. The game was so close too and I actually enjoyed soccer for once! When it was 2-1 to Fluminense Stephen whispered that he wouldn't mind if the other team scored another goal to make it more interesting. I quietly agreed and well when Atlético scored and we smiled with glee, we got told off by a angry woman behind. Scoring for the wrong team could kill you in some parts, woops.
Watching a soccer match at the Maracana was must do, no matter how big the hangover was. After arriving in the pouring rain and having issues finding tickets we took out seats among the popular local team Fluminense who were playing Atlético. The crowd was what you imagined at a Brazilian football match. Loud. And passionate. The game was so close too and I actually enjoyed soccer for once! When it was 2-1 to Fluminense Stephen whispered that he wouldn't mind if the other team scored another goal to make it more interesting. I quietly agreed and well when Atlético scored and we smiled with glee, we got told off by a angry woman behind. Scoring for the wrong team could kill you in some parts, woops.
After a weekend of rain the sunshine came out and I spent a couple of days hanging on both Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. By this stage I had decided to spend all the ten days in Rio instead of heading down the coast. I could go to a beach town in Colombia, Central America, Australia. But there is only one Rio de Janeiro.
To have a change of scenery and experience another part of town I moved to another hostel, this time in Ipanema. A block from the beach. Bliss.
To have a change of scenery and experience another part of town I moved to another hostel, this time in Ipanema. A block from the beach. Bliss.
Between August and Carnival in February Samba schools hold rehearsals on Saturday nights. These street party rehersals were a reason why I wish I had two Saturdays in the city. Alas, soccer won out but that was ok as by the time Wednesday came around the hostel was organising a night out to Salgueiro samba school who also did rehearsals mid week. It wasn't a steet party but it was a blast. I went with four others from the hostel and we danced away on the viewing platform to the samba song which went on for nearly two hours. Non stop. The energy, and dancing was incredible. I wish I could move like that! After the rehearsal finished none of us was wanting to head back home so we continued to Lapa where we danced to a band and drunk more caipirinhas. Those drinks give the best (or worst?) hangovers.
I've said before how I don't want to go home with any regrets. For a long time I've been thinking about taking a helicopter ride over Rio. Not reeeeeeally in a backpackers budget but on my last day I knew I had to do it. Needed to....? One helicopter pad was at the Laguna behind Ipanema so on my last morning I wandered down there and asked about a ride to Christo. You need to have a minimum of three people so I just waited until two British ladies showed up and convinced them to do the Christo route. I will have to admit we didn't get as close to JC as I would have liked, but due to the fact the pilot had us in the wrong position (or something else, I have no idea) our 7 minute helicopter ride to Christ the Redeemer was more like a 15 minute ride to Christo and Ipanema with views of the beaches I didn't think we would see. What a great finish to my time in Rio as from the front seat I could see Rocinha, both beaches I had stayed at, the Maracana, the Sugarloaf, Christo and even the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the lagoon.
That night I went back to the lagoon to watch the sunset and to see the tree light up. There were hundreds of people out doing the same thing. It was now December and the Christmas season had definitely began in Brazil.
Ten days in Rio wasn't enough. Of all the places I've been to in South America this is the one place I could live. It was a city that surprised me. I didn't think past the beaches and sunshine so with that Rio gave me rain and botanical gardens, a lagoon and a city centre worth exploring. I met the best people here, struggled with Portuguese, cheered for two soccer teams (one right, one wrong), drank too many caipirinhas, fell in love with the sound of samba drums and felt safe in a infamous favela. And then there were those two hours, on top of Corcovado, feeling like the most blessed girl in the world.