Rio de Janeiro

On Saturday (14th June) it was a nice sunny day so I went on a day trip/tour with an Australian couple from Alice Springs and Harriet from London/Costa Rica who had been staying at the hostel. The tour was a good price at $55 Reais ($45 NZD). We started off at about 1pm and picked up a few more people from other hostels in Rio. First major stop was Cristo Redentor, another one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. That´s two I can tick off my bucket list.

We drove up there on the mini-van, then changed to another (official) mini-van to go the final distance. The views from the top are amazing. I hope to stitch 3 or so photos together in Photoshop to make a nice panorama.

Then we visited a massive cathedral and went to where they have the Carnival in February. We tried on some of the costumes .

Then the 3 I came with left to go back to the hostel. I decided to stay and visit the famous sugarloaf as it was only another $40 Reais ($33 NZD). We took the gondola to the first hill and watched the sunset and it was amazing.

Then we took the second gondola from the first hill to the sugarloaf. By this time it was dark and we got amazing 360 degree views of the city at night.



Later that night at 9pm we went out to the markets for dinner. That was a bit of an experience jumping on these random mini buses to the middle of nowhere. But had a good look around and some nice Brazilian cuisine. We got a mini-bus ride half the way home to Copacabana which is rather dodgy at night. The Aussies were keen to catch a standard bus back to the hostel from there - standard buses are even more dangerous after 9pm. These same Aussies had their gear including passports and money stolen while in Egypt and they´d only been traveling for 2 weeks, so yeah as if I´d be letting them decide my fate! I convinced them it would be better to jump in an official yellow cab. So we got back safely and only paid $9 Reais ($7.30 NZD), cheaper than the bus too which is $2.60 Reais each.

Anyway Sunday (15th June) I went to the renowned Copacabana Beach with some people from the hostel. We went for a few swims, sunbathing and souvenir shopping at the beach market. Apparently if you´re a tourist you´re not even supposed to go to Copacabana beach in the day as it´s dangerous. But if you´re in a big group and someone stays to watch your stuff while you go swimming I think it´s fine. They say to go to Ipanema beach instead. Might go there one afternoon this week if I can.

This week (Monday 16th) I started my Portuguese classes in town and will continue for the rest of the week. Trying to suss out my trip down to Iguazu Falls/Buenos Aires for next week, then I´ll be heading back to Wellington a few weeks early unfortunately.