From rain into paradise
After my rainy time in Paraty & Ilha Grande in the state of Rio de Janeiro, it was time to visit the city of the same name. And that should compensate for everything. A dream came true. Even though it's not far from my previous 2 stations, it never rained again during the week I stayed in Rio de Janeiro! Excellent!
I checked into the El Misti Hostel in the Ipanamea district. But I didn't like the hostel, it was too impersonal and had no real common rooms. I also had a couple of Irish girls in my room, who were nice but got so drunk on the night out that one of them threw up all over the place. I couldn't sleep much at all.
Beautiful long and wide beaches directly in the city
After one night I moved to the neighboring hostel in Copacabana, which I liked much better. Small and cosy. One of the few hostels with 3-storey beds. The atmosphere was good. Many Argentines here. It was also not far from the metro and the beach. I could walk to the beach just with my towel, which was ideal. On the beach of Rio there are many petty criminals, it is better not to take your valuables there. I witnessed some thefts in front of my eyes.
With pleasure I walked along the beach. I've never seen such beautiful beaches in a city. The beaches are so wide that you don't even notice the street noise. Also the atmosphere is wonderfully relaxed, everywhere the Brazilians play volleyball, football, do fitness exercises or just drink a capirinha in one of the many beach bars, even the prices are not that high.
Stunning sceneries - Rio has it all!
Rio de Janeiro is a uniquely beautiful city. It has a big city atmosphere, beautiful beaches, green mountains, great parties and also a relaxed atmosphere.
One my favorite places was the Pao de Acucar, the Sugarloaf Mountain, a 396 m high rock in front of the city that I visited with another German. I paid only half for the cable car ticket, because the cashier accepted my Mexican student ID card. Excellent! From the top you have a wonderful view of the beaches, the city and the surrounding mountains with the Jesus statue.
On the way back we had to take the metro which works very well, but the air conditioning there is so cold that you almost freeze.
In the evening I met my old Brazilian buddy Lucas, whom I met 2012 in Serbia during my exchange program. Meanwhile he was in wedding preparations and had started his master studies in Rio de Janeiro. We went to a craft beer bar.
Everyone wants to be Jesus!
The following day I visited another landmark of the city, the Jesus Statue on the Corcovado. A bus brings you there. It is recommended to take a bus, because the landmark is located near a favela. About a week before some Italians with motorcycles took the wrong turn and died in the hail of bullets, which "welcomed" them to the favela.
While I was thrilled by the sugar loaf, the opposite was the case here. The Jesus statue is overcrowded with tourists and everyone extends his arms to do the Jesus pose. Thereby the photographer lies down on the floor in such a way that he can see the statue and the person in the picture at once. Terribly annoying, you have to be careful not to trip over the people lying all over the floor. The view is nice, but in my opinion not as good as from the sugar loaf.
Colorful stairs and huge grafitis
The next day I met with Lucas and a Japanese woman. We sat down with a few beers near the Botafago coast and enjoyed the view of the harbour and the Jesus statue. On a photo, we were alluding to the 7-1 result of the football world cup semi-final 2014 between Germany and Brazil, which is still strongly in their minds.
For the following day I visited the colourful staircase of Rio, the Escadaria Selarón, which was designed by a Chilean artist. Me and a Japanese girl strolled further through the old town to the city centre, where there was not much going on at the moment because it was Sunday. Finally we went to the Olympic quarter with the huge ethnic graffiti of Eduardo Kobra. We also saw the futuristic building of the Museum of the Future but did not go inside.
The Maracana stadium
I also visited the Maracana Stadium, one of the famous football stadiums. 1950 Brazil lost here to Uruguay, one of the biggest defeats of their football history. Some Brazilians even jumped to their death in this stadium after it because they couldnt deal with this loss.
When I was there, some guys from a favela came running towards me and wanted money. There are many poor people around here as the stadium is close to a favela. Normally I don't give any, but this time I did. I already know why I don't give anything else. Because the same short time later they came back and wanted more money.
After that I met some Brazilian girl from Manaus for some beers in a local bar.
Visiting a samba party
In the evening I went with a Colombian and a German to a samba party in the district Lapa where I saw a Brazilian girl dancing samba in her traditional custom for the first time.
The next day I was chilling on the beach with my Chilean buddy from the hostel. It was going to be my last day in Rio de Janeiro after 1 week. In the evening my local buddy who just came back from a trip invited me for dinner. For once I ate fish to try the local specialty "pastel de bacalhau" which originates from Portugal. They are typically made from a mixture of potatoes, bacalhau (codfish), eggs, parsley, onion and sometimes a hint of nutmeg.
All in all, I had high expectations of the city and all that was fulfilled to the fullest! Sadly I had to leave the city and flew to Curitiba.
