Over the past 3 months of travelling, everyone I have met who has been going in the opposite direction to me has ranted and raved about how amazing Rio is so we decided to leave an entire week to spend their at the end of the trip and I can safely say that it 100% lived up to expectation. The only blip was that the weather wasn't quite as beautiful as we had hoped but it didn't stop us doing anything.
I was slightly worried about how our hostel was going to turn out as it was in a not very popular area and had available space when we were booking the night before, unlike most places! However, I was very pleasantly surprised when we turned up and it was spotlessly clean, simple but spacious and clean rooms, a well-equipped kitchen, hot showers and good wifi and having now been here for 7 nights it almost feels like home.
On our first morning we went on a tour of the second largest favela (slum) in Rio. It was definitely an eye opener and I was shocked by the close conditions that everyone was living in and also horrified by the stigma that surrounds the favela and how water and electricity and rubbish companies won't provide their services to all the homes, just those along the main street. It was definitely changed my view of what a slum is like as the people of the favela are a community just like any other area in the city, if not more so as they are drawn together by their lack of money. I found it very clever that in the school system they have the first 5 hours of the day for Primary school level children, then 5 hours in the afternoon for secondary kids and then 5 hours in the evening for college age and adults to learn making as much use of time and space as possible. There were also various initiatives set up to entertain the kids whilst they weren't in school such as a graffiti school to encourage people to express their emotion through art and try and squash the stereotype that favela people are any different or worse than normal people. We were also given a little performance and dancing lesson in Capoeira which is like a dancing martial arts with all sorts of back flips and handstands and things. The guys doing it were all volunteers about my age and they teach the martial arts as a form of self defense and self respect to the local children in the afternoons when they aren't in school. They attempted to teach us some of the dance and also some samba steps but it was pretty unsuccessful, we were much better at doing the clapping and singing sounds to accompany their dancing. I loved the whole thing because I really enjoy seeing the true culture of a country like that rather than the pretend culture that we often see as tourists travelling around. In the afternoon we headed to the praia (portuguese for beach) and strolled along the beach front of Ipanema and then the infamous Copacabana beach and got rather wind swept along as the clouds came in. That night we headed 'out on the town' with a group of other people from our hostel which was great fun especially as the night started with samba in the club and there were a few guys there teaching people. I can tell you, I cannot samba to save my life as there is too much coordination of moving feet and hip wiggling and hand movement all at the same time...but that doesn't stop me trying. In the club that night there was also an artist who was doing neon, swirly, sparkly face paint on people for free so obviously I jumped at the opportunity and felt like I was a carnival girl for the rest of the night.
I woke up the next morning and the face paint was still perfectly intact on the right side of my face so I was very sad to take it off when I showered! Friday was a beautiful, clear blue-skied day in Rio so we took advantage of that and headed up to visit Jesus on the hill. There's not much to say about this day apart from that we spent most of the day stood around in extremely long queues which I think were particularly bad because it had been rainy for the last couple of days and was due to be wet again over the weekend so everyone was making the most of the clear day. We eventually made it to the top having queued for a bus to the bus ticket office, then a bus to the ticket office, then to buy the ticket, then to catch another bus up to the actual statue. It was so worth all the waiting around though as being up there stood by one of the Wonders of the World was amazing and the views over Rio from so high were incredible. It was very entertaining squeezing through the crowds of people at the top as there were numerous people laying on their back on the floor trying to get pictures of others in front of the enormous white statue of Christ the Redeemer. Once we had descended (yet more queues) we headed straight for the Sugarloaf which is a mountain jutting out into the sea from which you can see pretty much all of Rio. Our plan had been to get up there for sunset, however, this was also everyone else's plan so we didn't actually make it up on the cable car until after it was dark due to more excessive queues but it was still beautiful to see the shining lights of Rio de Janeiro during the night. It being Friday night, we obviously had to go out for Round 2 in Rio to the famous Lapa district which is where all the parties happen at the weekend. It was basically one big massive party in the street with people everywhere buying alcohol from little men walking around selling bottles of whatever you wanted - mainly vodka and energy drink - accompanied by music from the surrounding bars and clubs. We had bought a ticket for the Lapa Loca club which was so much fun, again starting the evening with a bit of samba and a live Brazilian funk band who were awesome. We also bumped in to one of the guys who had given as the dance show in the favela so he continued to try and teach us to dance, unsuccessfully which was highlighted when a girl came up to me and said 'are you English' and when I told her I was, she said should could tell by my dancing - how embarrassing! By the end of the night we were exhausted from all the hip wiggling and had absolutely filthy feet from being stood on in flip flops so caught the bus home at 4 am.
Saturday was a cloudier day again so we headed back to Lapa to visit the 'Lapa steps' which are a load of stone steps that have been decorated with red, green and blue tiles for the main part and then 2000 artistically painted tiles from over 60 different countries. The effect was amazing and I particularly loved the imperfection of it with the rugged, uneven edges of the tiles and different sized steps...it just seemed to complete the image. We then headed to Jardim Botanico (the botanical gardens), which are apparently the most diverse in the world, to enjoy a bit of nature. I particularly enjoyed the orchid garden and the cactus greenhouses with all the oddly shaped plants. By the time we had finished wandering around the gardens we were dead on our feet so decided to head back to the hostel and have a little snooze for a couple of hours to re-energise ourselves for another night out. Round 3 involved going to another hostel in Ipanema to meet 2 guys that we had met on the first night who worked there and live in Rio so know loads of things to do. We sat and chatted away with them there for a couple of hours over a few caipirinhas, mainly talking about Carnival which Phoebe and I have now made a pact that we are going to come back for together in the searingly hot Brazilian summer and learning that the Brazilians say 'facey-bookey' for facebook and 'Bradgey-Pitgey' for Brad Pitt which had me in hysterics! We then headed out with them to the same club that we went to on Thursday night as this time it was free entry (because Lucas and Gaspa knew the owner) and free drinks all night. The only downside was that the music was rubbish so we stayed for about an hour and then left to go to another bar in Copacabana - where I witnessed an entertaining but pretty violent brawl between 2 drunk girls - and stood outside sipping on beers until my tired legs could handle it no longer and we headed for home.
Sunday was a designated shopping day as again the weather wasn't great so we headed firstly to Ipanema where they have a big Sunday hippy market and spent a couple of hours browsing there, buying a few things for ourselves, including the stereotypical 'I love Rio' top, and some presents. We had a quick lunch at a cafe that had been recommended to us by Gaspa and relished in drinking chai tea (a very Indian thing). We then headed for copacabana on a havaiana hunt however things shut early as it was a sunday so we were unsuccessful on that front. Decided to take a night off on Sunday night so went out for dinner to a kebab place (which are actually more like burritos here) and then came back for a much needed early night and longer than 5 hours sleep.
Monday was a slightly nicer day so we continued our havaiana flip flop hunt, much more successfully...so much so that I am now 7 pairs richer - not all for me, I promise! We then spent the afternoon on the beach before grabbing a McDonalds and heading back to the hostel to prepare for Round 4 in Rio, the boat party. Again, we went with a group of people from our hostel down to the marina and boarded the boat which had a bar at one ended, then a dance floor, then a thin walkway along to the front and a chilling out area (which turned into a 'passed out area'). For the first hour it was free drinks for ladies (this kind of thing happens a lot here, free or significantly cheaper stuff for girls, a little bit sexist but it works in my favour so I don't mind) and then we spent the rest of the night dancing/swaying around on the dance floor. There were moments where the boat was swaying a lot, even though it didn't move very much resulting in people littering the floor. The lights of the shore line were beautiful to see from out in the bay on the boat and it was generally a really good night and great way to spend our last night in Rio together.
Had a very lazy day yesterday as Phoebe was flying home in the afternoon so we spent the morning slobbing about and packing her stuff off then said a tearful goodbye as she headed for the airport and I headed to the beach. Lay on the beach for a couple of hours until a woman came over and started ranting at me in Portuguese. I repeatedly told her in my limited Portuguese that I didn't understand and didn't speak her language and just as I thought she was leaving she grabbed my anklet and yanked it from around my ankle, then walked off. I was feeling very shakey so quickly pulled on my clothes, grabbed my clothes and walked away whilst some guy try to make her give it back to me, I really wasn't that bothered and just wanted her to leave but I had no way of saying that. It definitely shook me up a bit but I am just grateful she only chose to take my 20p Indian anklet rather than my kindle which I had in my hand. After that altercation I headed back to the hostel and chilled out for the rest of the evening for an early night.
I am currently finishing up packing my stuff (for the last time, that I am not sorry about!) at the hostel and will head off to the airport in 2 hours which is absolutely crazy and I cannot believe that it is finally time to go home for good - it definitely hasn't sunk in yet! The things I am most excited for back home are seeing my family, friends and doggy, sleeping in my own bed, using a proper towel rather than a travel one, being able to throw toilet paper down the toilet rather than put it in a bin, not living out of a backpack unpacking and repacking every couple of days, having more variety in clothes to wear rather than just the 3 shorts, 1 pair of leggings and 4 tops I have left and of course my mummy's cooking!
I have had the most amazing 3 months travelling around South America, visiting 6 different countries and meeting so many lovely people along the way who I have shared great memories with (particularly all the inspiring volunteers in Lima, my aunty Ali, Catherine and Vicki in Bolivia, Gordon, Lucas and Sophie and Sam who let me latch on to them for over 2 weeks and finally Phoebe who flew out to join me for the last 3 weeks and has been the best travelling companion). It has been the perfect end to an amazing year of adventures having covered 3 different continents, 8 different countries in a total of 9 months. As much as I am sad for this year to end, I am also so excited to head up to Manchester in September and enjoy the new experience of being a medical student for the next 5 years....
I hope you have enjoyed reading my gap yah blog over the last year. See you soon England!!!!
Loads of love xxxxxxx
I was slightly worried about how our hostel was going to turn out as it was in a not very popular area and had available space when we were booking the night before, unlike most places! However, I was very pleasantly surprised when we turned up and it was spotlessly clean, simple but spacious and clean rooms, a well-equipped kitchen, hot showers and good wifi and having now been here for 7 nights it almost feels like home.
On our first morning we went on a tour of the second largest favela (slum) in Rio. It was definitely an eye opener and I was shocked by the close conditions that everyone was living in and also horrified by the stigma that surrounds the favela and how water and electricity and rubbish companies won't provide their services to all the homes, just those along the main street. It was definitely changed my view of what a slum is like as the people of the favela are a community just like any other area in the city, if not more so as they are drawn together by their lack of money. I found it very clever that in the school system they have the first 5 hours of the day for Primary school level children, then 5 hours in the afternoon for secondary kids and then 5 hours in the evening for college age and adults to learn making as much use of time and space as possible. There were also various initiatives set up to entertain the kids whilst they weren't in school such as a graffiti school to encourage people to express their emotion through art and try and squash the stereotype that favela people are any different or worse than normal people. We were also given a little performance and dancing lesson in Capoeira which is like a dancing martial arts with all sorts of back flips and handstands and things. The guys doing it were all volunteers about my age and they teach the martial arts as a form of self defense and self respect to the local children in the afternoons when they aren't in school. They attempted to teach us some of the dance and also some samba steps but it was pretty unsuccessful, we were much better at doing the clapping and singing sounds to accompany their dancing. I loved the whole thing because I really enjoy seeing the true culture of a country like that rather than the pretend culture that we often see as tourists travelling around. In the afternoon we headed to the praia (portuguese for beach) and strolled along the beach front of Ipanema and then the infamous Copacabana beach and got rather wind swept along as the clouds came in. That night we headed 'out on the town' with a group of other people from our hostel which was great fun especially as the night started with samba in the club and there were a few guys there teaching people. I can tell you, I cannot samba to save my life as there is too much coordination of moving feet and hip wiggling and hand movement all at the same time...but that doesn't stop me trying. In the club that night there was also an artist who was doing neon, swirly, sparkly face paint on people for free so obviously I jumped at the opportunity and felt like I was a carnival girl for the rest of the night.
I woke up the next morning and the face paint was still perfectly intact on the right side of my face so I was very sad to take it off when I showered! Friday was a beautiful, clear blue-skied day in Rio so we took advantage of that and headed up to visit Jesus on the hill. There's not much to say about this day apart from that we spent most of the day stood around in extremely long queues which I think were particularly bad because it had been rainy for the last couple of days and was due to be wet again over the weekend so everyone was making the most of the clear day. We eventually made it to the top having queued for a bus to the bus ticket office, then a bus to the ticket office, then to buy the ticket, then to catch another bus up to the actual statue. It was so worth all the waiting around though as being up there stood by one of the Wonders of the World was amazing and the views over Rio from so high were incredible. It was very entertaining squeezing through the crowds of people at the top as there were numerous people laying on their back on the floor trying to get pictures of others in front of the enormous white statue of Christ the Redeemer. Once we had descended (yet more queues) we headed straight for the Sugarloaf which is a mountain jutting out into the sea from which you can see pretty much all of Rio. Our plan had been to get up there for sunset, however, this was also everyone else's plan so we didn't actually make it up on the cable car until after it was dark due to more excessive queues but it was still beautiful to see the shining lights of Rio de Janeiro during the night. It being Friday night, we obviously had to go out for Round 2 in Rio to the famous Lapa district which is where all the parties happen at the weekend. It was basically one big massive party in the street with people everywhere buying alcohol from little men walking around selling bottles of whatever you wanted - mainly vodka and energy drink - accompanied by music from the surrounding bars and clubs. We had bought a ticket for the Lapa Loca club which was so much fun, again starting the evening with a bit of samba and a live Brazilian funk band who were awesome. We also bumped in to one of the guys who had given as the dance show in the favela so he continued to try and teach us to dance, unsuccessfully which was highlighted when a girl came up to me and said 'are you English' and when I told her I was, she said should could tell by my dancing - how embarrassing! By the end of the night we were exhausted from all the hip wiggling and had absolutely filthy feet from being stood on in flip flops so caught the bus home at 4 am.
Saturday was a cloudier day again so we headed back to Lapa to visit the 'Lapa steps' which are a load of stone steps that have been decorated with red, green and blue tiles for the main part and then 2000 artistically painted tiles from over 60 different countries. The effect was amazing and I particularly loved the imperfection of it with the rugged, uneven edges of the tiles and different sized steps...it just seemed to complete the image. We then headed to Jardim Botanico (the botanical gardens), which are apparently the most diverse in the world, to enjoy a bit of nature. I particularly enjoyed the orchid garden and the cactus greenhouses with all the oddly shaped plants. By the time we had finished wandering around the gardens we were dead on our feet so decided to head back to the hostel and have a little snooze for a couple of hours to re-energise ourselves for another night out. Round 3 involved going to another hostel in Ipanema to meet 2 guys that we had met on the first night who worked there and live in Rio so know loads of things to do. We sat and chatted away with them there for a couple of hours over a few caipirinhas, mainly talking about Carnival which Phoebe and I have now made a pact that we are going to come back for together in the searingly hot Brazilian summer and learning that the Brazilians say 'facey-bookey' for facebook and 'Bradgey-Pitgey' for Brad Pitt which had me in hysterics! We then headed out with them to the same club that we went to on Thursday night as this time it was free entry (because Lucas and Gaspa knew the owner) and free drinks all night. The only downside was that the music was rubbish so we stayed for about an hour and then left to go to another bar in Copacabana - where I witnessed an entertaining but pretty violent brawl between 2 drunk girls - and stood outside sipping on beers until my tired legs could handle it no longer and we headed for home.
Sunday was a designated shopping day as again the weather wasn't great so we headed firstly to Ipanema where they have a big Sunday hippy market and spent a couple of hours browsing there, buying a few things for ourselves, including the stereotypical 'I love Rio' top, and some presents. We had a quick lunch at a cafe that had been recommended to us by Gaspa and relished in drinking chai tea (a very Indian thing). We then headed for copacabana on a havaiana hunt however things shut early as it was a sunday so we were unsuccessful on that front. Decided to take a night off on Sunday night so went out for dinner to a kebab place (which are actually more like burritos here) and then came back for a much needed early night and longer than 5 hours sleep.
Monday was a slightly nicer day so we continued our havaiana flip flop hunt, much more successfully...so much so that I am now 7 pairs richer - not all for me, I promise! We then spent the afternoon on the beach before grabbing a McDonalds and heading back to the hostel to prepare for Round 4 in Rio, the boat party. Again, we went with a group of people from our hostel down to the marina and boarded the boat which had a bar at one ended, then a dance floor, then a thin walkway along to the front and a chilling out area (which turned into a 'passed out area'). For the first hour it was free drinks for ladies (this kind of thing happens a lot here, free or significantly cheaper stuff for girls, a little bit sexist but it works in my favour so I don't mind) and then we spent the rest of the night dancing/swaying around on the dance floor. There were moments where the boat was swaying a lot, even though it didn't move very much resulting in people littering the floor. The lights of the shore line were beautiful to see from out in the bay on the boat and it was generally a really good night and great way to spend our last night in Rio together.
Had a very lazy day yesterday as Phoebe was flying home in the afternoon so we spent the morning slobbing about and packing her stuff off then said a tearful goodbye as she headed for the airport and I headed to the beach. Lay on the beach for a couple of hours until a woman came over and started ranting at me in Portuguese. I repeatedly told her in my limited Portuguese that I didn't understand and didn't speak her language and just as I thought she was leaving she grabbed my anklet and yanked it from around my ankle, then walked off. I was feeling very shakey so quickly pulled on my clothes, grabbed my clothes and walked away whilst some guy try to make her give it back to me, I really wasn't that bothered and just wanted her to leave but I had no way of saying that. It definitely shook me up a bit but I am just grateful she only chose to take my 20p Indian anklet rather than my kindle which I had in my hand. After that altercation I headed back to the hostel and chilled out for the rest of the evening for an early night.
I am currently finishing up packing my stuff (for the last time, that I am not sorry about!) at the hostel and will head off to the airport in 2 hours which is absolutely crazy and I cannot believe that it is finally time to go home for good - it definitely hasn't sunk in yet! The things I am most excited for back home are seeing my family, friends and doggy, sleeping in my own bed, using a proper towel rather than a travel one, being able to throw toilet paper down the toilet rather than put it in a bin, not living out of a backpack unpacking and repacking every couple of days, having more variety in clothes to wear rather than just the 3 shorts, 1 pair of leggings and 4 tops I have left and of course my mummy's cooking!
I have had the most amazing 3 months travelling around South America, visiting 6 different countries and meeting so many lovely people along the way who I have shared great memories with (particularly all the inspiring volunteers in Lima, my aunty Ali, Catherine and Vicki in Bolivia, Gordon, Lucas and Sophie and Sam who let me latch on to them for over 2 weeks and finally Phoebe who flew out to join me for the last 3 weeks and has been the best travelling companion). It has been the perfect end to an amazing year of adventures having covered 3 different continents, 8 different countries in a total of 9 months. As much as I am sad for this year to end, I am also so excited to head up to Manchester in September and enjoy the new experience of being a medical student for the next 5 years....
I hope you have enjoyed reading my gap yah blog over the last year. See you soon England!!!!
Loads of love xxxxxxx
