01/02/13 Starting the trip
Went to the airport with my folks, excited but strangely relaxed, that was until I went to check my bags and they checked our details. Rigel's Brazil visa was fine but they told me I needed proof of onwards travel from Brazil in the form of a flight! After some running and stressing I got my agent to book a refundable flight that kept them happy! Nothing like a bit of drama to get things started! On to Rio (via Rome).
02/02/13 Arriving to the party
We were really lucky to be staying amongst some of the best street parties in Rio. The streets packed with both locals and tourists dancing, singing and drinking. Most with a band and samba drummers. We met some really funny and friendly locals!
La fiesta en Rio es una mezcla entre carnaval y Semana Santa en Mazatlán, me sentí en casa.
We saw many Cariocas (Rio locals) eating hotdogs so we tried one only to find that they put in sweetcorn, peas, little quail eggs and raisins. So weird!!! Es una combinación extraña, una comida que te sabe a gloria después de unas cuantas bebidas coquetas.
First day in Rio street party in Ipanema
Went to the airport with my folks, excited but strangely relaxed, that was until I went to check my bags and they checked our details. Rigel's Brazil visa was fine but they told me I needed proof of onwards travel from Brazil in the form of a flight! After some running and stressing I got my agent to book a refundable flight that kept them happy! Nothing like a bit of drama to get things started! On to Rio (via Rome).
02/02/13 Arriving to the party
We were really lucky to be staying amongst some of the best street parties in Rio. The streets packed with both locals and tourists dancing, singing and drinking. Most with a band and samba drummers. We met some really funny and friendly locals!
La fiesta en Rio es una mezcla entre carnaval y Semana Santa en Mazatlán, me sentí en casa.
We saw many Cariocas (Rio locals) eating hotdogs so we tried one only to find that they put in sweetcorn, peas, little quail eggs and raisins. So weird!!! Es una combinación extraña, una comida que te sabe a gloria después de unas cuantas bebidas coquetas.
First day in Rio street party in Ipanema
03/02/13 Corcovado, Cristo redentor y mas fiesta
After a five hour wait including a really tasty lunch, a church service and playing in a children's playground! We took the old train up through the jungle to see the big Jesus, although it was pouring and the visibility was bad, there was something peaceful about this place above the clouds.
04/02/13 Lion man place and copacabana beach
Caminamos por la playa de Ipanema y copacabana, en donde se unen las dos playas hay un lugar para reflexionar “piedra do arpoador”, al verlo me imaginé la piedra del rey león.
05/02 Downtown, cathedral, lapa, arch, maracana and botanic garden
Lapa has seen better days but after staying in Ipanema with the posh people, it was good to see how the normal people live! Like everywhere in Rio we found the locals to be friendly and fun. We went on to visit the Maracana stadium to find they are still renovating it for Rio 2014 in time for England's world cup final win against Mexico! Noooooooot Disculpen a Iain no sabe lo que dice.
Los arcos en Lapa están un poco descuidados pero aún así son imponentes. Catedral es distinta, tiene forma de pirámide, al estar dentro de la iglesia sientes buena vibra y paz interior. Por último visitamos el jardín bótanico, puedes pasar todo un día viendo las diferentes especies de flores, árboles y mas.
Un poco de grafitti estilo brasileño
Catedral en Rio
Arcos de Lapa
Estadio Maracaná en obras para la copa del mundo
Favelas by the stadium
En el jardín botánico
The weather was much better the day we went up in the cable cars to Sugarloaf mountain. The views were great and we ate lunch up there surrounded by monkeys, lizzards and butterflies.
La vista desde pan de azúcar es bella, hicimos un pequeño picnic alrededor de un fascinante escenario.
Naturaleza desde las alturas
Desde el teleférico
07, 08, 09/02/13
We had now done all the major touristy things we wanted, so the next 3 days were spent on the beaches, exploring Rio and more street parties. One of which was spent with some hilarious overly camp Brazilians! Somehow we forgot to take any pictures with them.
On one of the beach days, a large killer whale came really close to shore and did some showing off!
Después de varios días comiendo atún y sandwich, encontramos un local bueno, bonito y barato donde comer, cabe destacar que arroz y frijol nunca faltan en los platillos brasileños.
Las fiestas en la calle o desfiles estan llenos de alegría, locura, alcohol y samba, una banda recorre varias calles y la gente baila alrededor. Pudimos estar en la mayoría de fiestas en Ipanema, muy buen ambiente, lo mejor de todo es que no nos sentimos como turistas, eramos parte de la gran fiesta junto a los cariocas.
Camelpack getting good use (thanks Adam)
10/02/13 Carnival sambadromo!!!
We had been looking forward to this day for ages, the main parade in the Sambadromo and it wasn't a dissapointment! A very busy metro stopped off in slightly scary area and we followed the crowds to the stadium. The athmosphere was fantastic, music, colours, dancing, fireworks and amazingly creative floats. A real spectical and one ticked off the bucket list! Each day it lasts from 8pm to 8am, we didn't make it to the end but we gave it a good go!
Iain no pudo describirlo mejor, colores, música, gente, algo simplemente espectacular, todos bailando, nos sentimos parte del desfile, según nosotros bailamos samba como expertos.
Rigel and Iain Carnival style
11/02 crazy bus 4 hours and corn in leblon, bitten by cats and bugs
Decidimos tomar un camión que recorre la mayoría de las playas, a pesar de que un recorrido de 40 min se volvió de casi 3 horas, fue divertido ver como la gente de Rio canta y baila dentro del transporte público.
After messing up our dates and needing another nights accommodation which isn't easy to find at carnival time, the lady we stayed with let us stay on her floor, we shared the floor with all her cats and got bitten by mozzies! We went to go buy our bus tickets and a 40 minute bus ride took 3 hours because of all the street parties. Sharing the bus with loads to of crazy drunk people singing and some trying to pole dance!
12/02 Walk copacabana, crazy stoned guys, no tickets, bus station night
Nuestro último día en Rio caminamos en Copacabana, comimos rico y bebimos un par de cervezas, buscamos lugares un poco alejados de la playa para reducir costos. Fue nuestra primera noche en una estación de autobuses a la espera de nuestra próxima aventura.
We had a great time in Rio but it felt like time to move on and time for the real adventures to start.......
