Posted by: Jenn
Before I write about Rio, I would like to thank my dad for selling my car for me! After two months of him tyring, it finally sold. Now Jonathan and I can travel a little longer :-) Thanks dad - I really appreciate you doing that for me!
Secondly, Ms. Williams I hope you had a great birthday and we are excited about seeing you in December!
And lastly, happy birthday Mr. Williams!!! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I wish we were there to celebrate with you.
The bus ride to Rio was quick and overpriced, a feature we have yet to grow accustomed to in Brazil after leaving a place as cheap as Bolivia. Nonetheless, I slept as usual and Jonathan read about what to do in Rio. I'm not sure if I have narcolepsy or if I am just tired from always being on the move, but Jonathan is blown away with how easy I can fall asleep almost anywhere. Unfortunately, because of my lack of ability to keep my eyes open, I missed us driving right through the center of a favela (a slum) on the way into Rio. He couldn't even explain to me what he was seeing - a sea of tin roofs, people sleeping all along the graffitied cement walls, and poverty beyond what you could imagine. He was so astounded by what he was witnessing, he couldn't pull his eyes away long enough to snap a photo. I woke up right after we left the favela and about ten minutes later we arrived at the bus station. I'm assuming this is why most travel books recommend to not walk anywhere in Rio but to take a cab or bus because you are never far from a favela where people will do anything for money. Therefore, we grabbed our bags from under the bus and walked to the corner to try to snag a city bus to our hostel. Across the street we saw several favela kids with filthy wash rags trying to make a few cents by smearing the dirt from their rags onto car windshields. We're not sure what spurred the events that happened next but we saw one kid pick up a huge chunk of concrete and throw it on the ground to break into smaller, throwable pieces. He held one piece in each hand as he walked around screaming, while being chased off by security at the bus station. One local man, waiting with us for the bus, saw how vulnerable we looked with everything we owned on our backs and ushered us behind him so that he was between us and what was going on. The bus arrived shortly thereafter and we quickly hopped on. Wow, our first ten minutes in Rio were quite the experience! Unsure of where the bus would drop us off, we spoke to the bus driver and he informed us that he would let us know. So we took the seat behind him and waited for his cue. We rode for about 45 minutes and thought that we should have arrived so we checked our map and sure enough we were long past our hostel. The bus driver apologized for forgetting and told us that we could ride the circuit again, for free, and he would not forget to tell us. Jonathan was pulling for the free ride (45 minutes back, then another 45 minutes to where we needed off), I on the other hand voted that we get off and walk or catch a cab. Although he hated to pass up something free, he opted for the walk with me. Half an hour later, with all our bags on our backs, we arrived at our hostel to find that the door was barely wide enough for us, much less us with our bags. We must have looked like quite the spectacle...two engineers trying multiple times to fit through half of a doorway before realizing that it might be best if we remove the bags and pass them through separately... It had been a long day. Not really up for much exploring, we walked next door to the eight story mall to catch a view of Sugar Loaf at sunset. On the way up the eight stories we passed some very high end shops along with a Starbucks and I think I was probably as excited as I would have been had I won a million dollars. Starbucks was oh so good and so was the view from the eighth floor.
Before I write about Rio, I would like to thank my dad for selling my car for me! After two months of him tyring, it finally sold. Now Jonathan and I can travel a little longer :-) Thanks dad - I really appreciate you doing that for me!
Secondly, Ms. Williams I hope you had a great birthday and we are excited about seeing you in December!
And lastly, happy birthday Mr. Williams!!! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I wish we were there to celebrate with you.
The bus ride to Rio was quick and overpriced, a feature we have yet to grow accustomed to in Brazil after leaving a place as cheap as Bolivia. Nonetheless, I slept as usual and Jonathan read about what to do in Rio. I'm not sure if I have narcolepsy or if I am just tired from always being on the move, but Jonathan is blown away with how easy I can fall asleep almost anywhere. Unfortunately, because of my lack of ability to keep my eyes open, I missed us driving right through the center of a favela (a slum) on the way into Rio. He couldn't even explain to me what he was seeing - a sea of tin roofs, people sleeping all along the graffitied cement walls, and poverty beyond what you could imagine. He was so astounded by what he was witnessing, he couldn't pull his eyes away long enough to snap a photo. I woke up right after we left the favela and about ten minutes later we arrived at the bus station. I'm assuming this is why most travel books recommend to not walk anywhere in Rio but to take a cab or bus because you are never far from a favela where people will do anything for money. Therefore, we grabbed our bags from under the bus and walked to the corner to try to snag a city bus to our hostel. Across the street we saw several favela kids with filthy wash rags trying to make a few cents by smearing the dirt from their rags onto car windshields. We're not sure what spurred the events that happened next but we saw one kid pick up a huge chunk of concrete and throw it on the ground to break into smaller, throwable pieces. He held one piece in each hand as he walked around screaming, while being chased off by security at the bus station. One local man, waiting with us for the bus, saw how vulnerable we looked with everything we owned on our backs and ushered us behind him so that he was between us and what was going on. The bus arrived shortly thereafter and we quickly hopped on. Wow, our first ten minutes in Rio were quite the experience! Unsure of where the bus would drop us off, we spoke to the bus driver and he informed us that he would let us know. So we took the seat behind him and waited for his cue. We rode for about 45 minutes and thought that we should have arrived so we checked our map and sure enough we were long past our hostel. The bus driver apologized for forgetting and told us that we could ride the circuit again, for free, and he would not forget to tell us. Jonathan was pulling for the free ride (45 minutes back, then another 45 minutes to where we needed off), I on the other hand voted that we get off and walk or catch a cab. Although he hated to pass up something free, he opted for the walk with me. Half an hour later, with all our bags on our backs, we arrived at our hostel to find that the door was barely wide enough for us, much less us with our bags. We must have looked like quite the spectacle...two engineers trying multiple times to fit through half of a doorway before realizing that it might be best if we remove the bags and pass them through separately... It had been a long day. Not really up for much exploring, we walked next door to the eight story mall to catch a view of Sugar Loaf at sunset. On the way up the eight stories we passed some very high end shops along with a Starbucks and I think I was probably as excited as I would have been had I won a million dollars. Starbucks was oh so good and so was the view from the eighth floor.
After a good nights rest in a dorm room with a sea of about 15 occupied bunk beds (quite an interesting way to sleep) we decided to go see some of Rio. We took a bus to a nearby beach to watch the waves roll in.
We eventually made our way to Ipanema Beach and people watched for a little while. Jonathan even got to get a work out in.
That night we met up with Tom at our hostel (tall Englishman we have been traveling with for a while), and Sam and Sophie (English couple we met at our hostel) and got spoofed up for a night on the town. If you spend a Friday night in Rio, it is obligatory that you go to Lapa and party in the streets while watching people Samba (Brazilian dance) and enjoying some Caipirinhas (Brazilian cocktail). Because we didn't want to spend a ton on drinks once we were out, we bought the ingredients and set up our own bar outside of our hostel for a little pre-gaming. The hostel owners had a strict rule about not bringing alcohol into the hostel, so we improvised.
Around 10:30 PM we caught the metro to Lapa. Because Lapa is also known for being a good place to get pick-pocketed, Oprah did not accompany us. She's quite bulky and because we are already down a camera we didn't want to risk it. Therefore, we don't have any photos of our crazy trip to Lapa. The night began by us just walking around for a bit. Lapa was insane...I had never experienced anything like it. All the samba clubs are quite expensive to get into and drinks are pricey as well. Therefore, the locals just party in the streets. There are food and drink stands set up for as far as the eye can see and the streets are overwhelmed with people enjoying the huge party. There were seven year old kids roaming around trying to sell candy in the midst of druggies trying to convince us that their marijauna was the best. It was quite the scene. The climax of our night however, occured when Jonathan decided that he needed to go relieve himself. He parted from our group and made his way to the bathroom. Not more than 30 seconds had passed when he came walking up behind me with a wrinkled, ripped shirt. Apparently, about 20 feet away from where we were standing, three favela kids surrounded him while one decided to swing at his head and ask for money. Unsure of what just hit him, Jonathan turned and swung at the kid knocking him down three steps in a quick effort to defend himself. The other two kids were surprised at Jonathans ability to punch really hard and backed off. Fortunately Jonathan was unscaved, other than his favorite shirt getting ripped, and the kids didn't get anything but one bruised face from him. After this little incident we decided it would be best to head back to the hostel so that's what we did.
The next day was spent fighting the Saturday crowd visiting the Christ Redeemer. Other than the insane amount of people pushing you over to get the perfect photo, the views were spectacular.
The next day was spent fighting the Saturday crowd visiting the Christ Redeemer. Other than the insane amount of people pushing you over to get the perfect photo, the views were spectacular.
That night we decided to go check out the sunset at Ipanema Beach. We didn't catch much of the sun due to the clouds, but the sky was beautiful and Jonathan snapped some good photos.
We also watched some surfers enjoy the waves after sunset. There was a stadium light right over the break and Jonathan would have been like a kid in a candy store but he couldn't find a surfboard to rent anywhere. It was so sad to watch him stare at the waves...so close but so far away...
Our final day in Rio was spent very wisely - so as to not waste any time, Jonathan stayed at the hostel to catch up on the internet and take care of sorting out some of our trip details. I would have stayed to help, but instead I went shopping. There was a huge hippie market that Sophie and Sam were going to so I decided to third wheel it for the day. There were some really neat handcrafts for sale and we enjoyed walking around to see what it had to offer.
Later that night we met up with Jonathan and Tom at the hostel and the five of us went to catch the sunset. It was a somber sunset, as we had to say goodbye to Tom, whom we had been traveling with for a while, because we were going our seperate ways. Maybe one day our paths will cross again...
Later that night we met up with Jonathan and Tom at the hostel and the five of us went to catch the sunset. It was a somber sunset, as we had to say goodbye to Tom, whom we had been traveling with for a while, because we were going our seperate ways. Maybe one day our paths will cross again...