Rio de Janeiro, from the sugarloaf. Big Jesus visible on the right
God created Rio on the 7th day, and to be fair, he did a bloody good job.
Neither of us speak any Portuguese, so we are having to get by with the limited Spanish we have picked up, throwing in lots of "Obrigados". I was initially confused by all the shouts of "Oi", but it turns out this is just the sound of people saying hello to one another...
We discovered that Kerry has been blessed with a pattern of freckles on her right thigh in the shape of the southern cross..
Staying in the Botafogo district at a El Misti, until we were kicked out and moved 2 doors down to the Alpha hostel (old rule applied again - much nicer, cheaper place NOT in the guide book). Backpacker accommodation in Rio is relatively expensive (remember, this IS South America). A double room, with shared bathroom is around 20 quid, although some places we tried wanted 50! Botafogo is a nice place, with good views of the sugerloaf across the bay. We took the cable car up to the top for our first taste of what makes Rio so special - the spectacular setting. The mountains and sea remind us a little of Cape Town, although on a much grander scale.
A day on Ipanema beach
We enjoyed some of the beach life Rio has to offer, especially the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema a little further around the coast - areas with some highest population densities in the world. Ipanema is famous for being home to the yearly carnival. All the prices go up by about 500%! So far, I have to award a pretty low score on the tits and bums front. It is winter here, but it is still a good 30 degrees here in the sun. Not a patch on the scenery when we visited the beach town of Florianopolis a few years ago. Kerry is pretty happy with the Brazilian men however (she is at pains to point out).
Sunday seems to be the day to go to the beach if you are a local here. The main road is closed to traffic, and there are people everywhere. Everybody and their dog (complete with knitted doggy boots - very hip in Rio at the moment) descends upon Copacabana beach. It is true what they say about the Brazilians - what they have they like to flaunt, but it is what they haven't got that they flaunt the most - meaning a lot of the old fat ones come to the beach in g-strings and tiny pink speedos. It is great to see such self confidence, but you have to be careful where you rest your eyes.
The sugerloaf
We scouted out the best way to ascent the Corcovada ("hunch back peak"), home to the 38m high status of Christ the Redeemer (or "The Big J") - this turned out to be with our hostels pet taxi driver. Even the public train would have cost us more. We were there on a Saturday morning, and a catholic church service was in full swing at the very top; Even with the swarming Japanese tourists and the fact that we didnt understand a word of it, the service and music, at 710m and overlooking all or the city was very moving. These were certainly many teary faces in the crowd. The statue was completed in 1931 and is pretty special. Its certainly the best art-deco Jesus I have ever seen.
On our last day we saw "Homem Aranha 3" at the local cinema - Peter Parker doing his best Brian Molko impression to much laughter from the audience.
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