An adventure in Rio

As Carnvial is about to start, we could only get accomodation in Rio for two nights (plus we decided to spend more time at the beach). However, we managed to maximise our time in Rio by spending one night at a Samba School. The Samba Schools perform during Carnivale, so the week before Carnival they invite people to come and watch their final rehearsals. We really enjoyed the night of dancing and music but were both exhausted by the end.












The following day we decided to go and visit a few of the sights in Rio. Deciding to avoid a tour group and save ourselves some money, we caught the bus system around town. This is not easy when you don't speak Portuguese and don't know where you are going. However, everyone we met that day were so friendly and so helpful. We visited Christa Redeemer which towers on a mountain overlooking Rio. It is equivalent to 13 stories high. We then wanted to visit Sainta Teresa, a small colonial style suburb set on a hillside overlooking the city. Not knowing how to get there we got very lucky when we bought some sweet corn for a snack. The vendor asked us where we were going and then told us the bus number. Some teenage girls waiting (in bizzare carnival party costumes) also got on our bus and walked us to our next stop at the other end. We ended up in a small bus climbing up the hill to Sainta Teresa. We sat in the bus a tad too long and ended up at a favela guarded by military but don't worry parents, the bus driver took us straight back to where we needed to be. Somehow we ended up at a great coffee shop eating dulche de leche cake with what Ed describes as the best coffee in South America. We were then given written desciptions to find our way back home. We jumped on a cable car to get down to town and the driver moved everyone around so we had front row seats and he could then instruct us exactly where to go. Although it doesn't sound like we saw a lot, we met some very kind Brazillians, saw a lot of the city and had a very happy day.






It was great to see Rio in the lead up to Carnival. There were huge block parties being held (parties on the street) just because it was only a week until Carnival. I cannot imagine how crazy it will be in a weeks time.



Next stop: London