Leaving Argentina a day later than planned due to a bout of food poisoning we headed by long haul bus (22 hours) to the magical city of Rio de Janerio.
Arriving in Santa Teresa where we had pre-booked a hostel, we were pleased to find that it was a really cool old part of the city with lots of character and really good transport links including a very old rustic tram.
Don’t look down! The view from the tram where the local kids hang off the sides for a free ride
Our first full day in Rio we awoke to brilliant blue skies and sunshine so we headed to the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, which certainly lived up to expectations. The huge stretches of sand curved around the bay with high rise buildings stretching as far as the eye could see. The beautiful people of Brazil were busy sunning themselves both on the beach and whilst exercising on the allotted bike/roller-blading/ jogging pavement running alongside the beach.
Yes, even the oldies got their bodies out
The sea was refreshingly cool so we took a dip, unlike many of the locals who preferred to stay in the sun to maximize their tans. Marc decided that the Brazilian girls were far more attractive than the Argentinian ones which was clear for all to see with their tiny thong-clad bottoms! The men weren’t bad either, although a little too aware of themselves for my taste. It doesn’t matter whether you are big or small, young or old, ALL Brazilian women without exception wear thong bikinis.
There was even some surf and some pretty decent surfers and bodyboarders
We cruised around the city using the various forms of transport which were all relatively cheap compared to everything else in Rio. Eating out was particularly expensive, even compared to London.
Beatles and camper vans were a common sight.
We wandered the city admiring the buildings which were an architectural mix of old and new, and were quite breathtakingly beautiful.
A paradise island just off the coast of Rio?
The city was so lively and fun, parties non-stop and the people really friendly for such a large place. We did see lots of very poor homeless people even though we didn’t venture into any of the furvelas (Brazillian slums). As a tourist you can pay to do a tour of a furvela but we felt like we would be treating the people that lived there like animals in a zoo if we did a tour.
One day we visited the beautiful Christ the Redeemer where we had fantastic views of the whole city. We didn’t go up to Sugarloaf mountain but did admire the view of it from here.
Admiring the views
Sugarloaf mountain shrouded in cloud
The owner of the hostel where we stayed was an English guy so we ended up having a couple of nights drinking the local specialty with him; the famous and very pungent (as Marc was to discover) Caphrini.
Breakfast on the balcony
We’d love to head back to Rio again one day, it’s such a cool city, but next time we’ll do it with money.
This is our last blog post as we are now back in Austria staying with Marc’s family and head back to England next week.
Our journey was amazing, something we will never, ever forget. We learnt so much about the culture, history, languages and religions of the countries we visited, not to mention a lot about ourselves, including how easily we take for granted some of the things we don’t even regard as luxuries in life such as a good clean bed and a shower with hot water.
We visited museums, galleries, religious monuments, war sites, mountains, lakes, seas, national parks and cities.
We went trekking in the snow and through the jungle, scuba-diving with fish as large as us, mountain biking down ‘death’ roads, surfing, whale-watching, kayaking, horse riding, paragliding, white-water rafting and elephant trekking, to name but a few of our adventures. And of course we got married!
We ate foods from all over the world and are hoping to recreate some of the better meals now we are home; Marc has a great food diary.
Now we just need to edit the thousands of photographs we took and bore all of our friends and family with them.
Thanks to all of those that viewed the blog and kept in touch whilst we were away; it was always so fantastic to hear from home. Hope to see you all soon.
The Rinagls
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