Rio - on the cheap !

It's another long bus trip from Iguazu to Rio. They play the movie "Up in the Air" for the 5th time, I think I know all the dialog ! I find that overnight a "Cama" seat is not quite as good as two "Semi-Camas" (if your lucky enough to get two free seats that is !) The Rio bus station is busy and fairly horrible but I find a bus to Catete, the cheapest accomodation area. But in Catete I can't find the hostel !! After 2 hours of padding about with a heavy pack, in the heat, and not wanting to get back on a local bus, I give up and go to a very cheap hotel. The "Hotel Oasis" is a men only hotel and it's very rough, but only R16 ($9) a night !! sort of a doss house really, but friendly enough.

Sunset from Ipanema beach

the lovely Hotel Oasis

After a shower I head off into Rio. I'm quite lucky as in my first few hours in Rio I see both Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. There is a glorious sunset over Ipanema beach. It's a Saturday and the beaches are busy, when the sun finally sets there is a loud cheer and applause ! After that it's back to my grotty room for a sweaty sleepless night. The next day I find that I can rent a fan for R3 a night! so I do that, it makes a big difference, but I find 2 nights at that place is quite enough. I relocate to an inexpensive spacious small hostel (Hostel Carioca) in Copacabana, 5 minutes from the beach, the small ones are best ! There is a nice set of people there, only problem is, it's run by a witch...

My first impressions of Rio are positive. I did not expect it to be so beautiful and so scenic. All around town the views impress, there are large steep sided rocky outcrops covered in tropical vegetation and the famous mountains "Big Jesus" (Corcovado) and Sugarloaf (Pan de Azúcar). It's seems so unique to use the super modern subway and emerge at a station just minutes from a fantastic tropical beach. There are office blocks right on the beach, what a quality of life ! Ships come and go, there are tankers, cruise liners and supply ships, oil rigs in transit, airliners taking off and landing, cable cars rising and descending, it's a Richard Scarry scene brought to life. Offshore there are islands and on the hillsides, Favelas creeping slowly upwards.

The main tourist attractions are expensive but with a little "google research" there seem to be other options. There are footpaths up both Corcovado and Pan de Azúcar. Next day, myself and Kieran, from the hostel, head up the footpath to Corcovado. The start of the footpath is at the back-right of "Parque Lage", a very pleasant park close to the botanical gardens. It's a 2 hour sweaty, jungly climb to the top, but a pleasant enough trek. We disturbed a naked batheing couple on the way up, at one of the natural pools, who scrambled for their towels. At the top we hit bureaucracy !!  At the car park they refuse to let us into the grounds of "Big Jesus", we can get a free ride to the bottom so we can buy a return ticket back up again !! It's a "swiz" of course, we refuse on principle. But the 8 or so security people eye us suspiciously in case we try and vault the fence, of course, we are tempted ! but we don't. From the car park we can see the views West and from a bit further down we can see the views East, we don't really lose out.

Next day two Hong Kong girls that I had met in B.A.  (same hostel), CiCi and Karina, turn up and we catch up over beers. That evening me and CiCi stay on Copacabana beach until long after it gets dark. Thanks to the floodlights and the warm humidity, beach life goes on into the evening (a far cry from the "dash for warmth" that occurs at the very moment the sun goes down in the UK !) I body surf in the largish waves, in the dark, it's lovely !!

As Keiran is busy I tackle the footpath right to the top of Sugarloaf, by myself. The start of this footpath is located at the end of the paved path called "Pista Cláudio Coutinho" at Urca beach, you go past the small concrete lighthouse at the end, skirt around the rock (at the same height) until you get to 5-6 small disused concrete blocks, turn left here and go up the steep path to the top. It's frankly a bit of a scramble, however, not far from the top, it became really hairey, I felt I had to turn around (as I was alone) which was disappointing as I was nearly there. Keiran later reported that he made it to the top with a friend, that it was indeed really hairey ! climbing gear is recommended ! He also went back to Corcovado and successfully vaulted the gate at the top and got in without trouble. I had to settle for walking up "small" sugarloaf instead, the midway cable car station, which is still free and still very scenic.

Rio with Sugarloaf at the back

The first time I wanted to go and watch Samba in Rio it rained the moment I put my foot outside the door. It then rained hard all that night and caused substantial flooding and mudslides to the North of Rio. So bad that it made the international media and I got a few concerned emails. In fact downtown Rio was completely unaffected. The second time I wanted to watch Samba I was sabotaged by my fellow Brits and the UK drinking habit. A British couple in the hostel suggested an aperitif before going out, homemade Capirinhas (the national cocktail of Brazil). We assembled three 1 litre bottles of Cachaça (a 45% proof, or more, spirit for just R4 ($2.5) a bottle ! ) and made them. We had plastic glasses, and there were only 7 of us. Alarm bells should have rung !!  Poor CiCi did not pay attention. As soon as our Taxi pulled up in the Samba district she was incredibly ill, as I knew her I best I had to take her back to the hostel, my last evening in tatters.

On arriving in Rio I booked my flight from Sao Paolo to Manaus (in the Amazon), directly on the TAM website. This was only £118 for a 4 hour flight which I thought was pretty good, booked just 7 days in advance. It's the first flight I've taken on this trip since arriving in Mexico in December 2009. So now I have to go to Sao Paolo on the bus. My last few hours in Rio are taken up with souvenir hunting and replacing a sun hat I left on a bus (I'll need it in the Amazon !). I'm sad to be leaving Rio, it's been one of the best city visits of my entire trip.