6 Feb 2012 – Arrival in South America
Delayed arrival at International Airport in Rio de Janeiro! Free transfer bus left, no buses to the city centre, took a taxi to the hostel! Not the best but cheap and better than sleeping under the bridge, especially in Rio. I got a real Brazilian Caipirinha as welcome drink at the bar. With white sugar – it was great!
7 Feb 2012 – A Hungary Day at Copacabana
In the morning I met some Hungarian Guys in the Hostel. They invited my to join them for the day, but I have to know, that they drink “Schnaps”. “Could be worse”, I thought and went with them to Copacabana Beach. At least 35 °C, beautiful girls in Brazilian bikinis, I felt like in paradise. On the way the Hungarian bought some Rum and Coke. At the beach we drank some Rum-Cola and beers, got sunburn and had great hours. In the evening we went to the Sugar Loaf to see the sunset behind Rio de Janeiro, Could there have been a better start for travelling?!
8 Feb 2012 – In da Citay
With too much sunburn I wouldn’t go to the beach again. So I decided to go to the city centre and walk around. At the metro station I met the Canadian brothers. We walked around the city together, furthermore we went to the Sambadromo and the Maracna stadium, which is a construction site at the moment for the World Cup 2014 in Rio. We had a great tour. In the evening a Brazilian girl invited me to a pre-carnival party. Unfortunately the party was already over when we arrived. I didn’t take any photos in this quarter, I was too scared of getting robbed.
9 Feb 2012 – Two other sides of Rio
At breakfast, Maria, a German girl travelling trough Latin America, told me that she would do the Favela-Tour today. The Favela-Tour was offered by the Hostel and there were places available. I made the tour and it was amazing, I never thought of having a tour like this.
We drove up the hill by motorcycle taxi and walked down a small path in the middle of the favelas. Our guide was great. He told us a lot about the favelas and showed us the most important things. It was the biggest favela in Brazil, where we have been to. Around 69.000 people living there. In total there are 1020 favelas in Rio de Janeiro, counted in 2010. 20 % of the over 6 million inhabitants of Rio live in favelas.
In the afternoon I went to the Botanical Garden of Rio and Ipanema Beach with John and Stan from Belgium.
Next stop Foz do Iguazu…
