Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

Finally in infamous Rio de Janeiro. Happy and tanned, ready to hit Copacabana. The weather didn't definitely give us our best, altho it was still around 30 degrees most of the days, the sun rarely showed and we got to witness some thunder and tropical storms. Then again even the occasional showers couldn't diminish the charm of Rio. It's such a vibrant, mystifying city I really didn't mind. 

With more than 6 million people and 1255 km² of area Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil and the third largest in Latin America. It combines natural attractions with a sprawling metropolis. Rio is one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere as it holds so many symbols and famous landmarks: starting from partying at the Sambadrome during the carnival or seeing the Maracanã Stadium (one of the world's largest football stadiums) that was just home to the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics and ending with hitting the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon or going on top of the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain or taking a cable car up to the Pao de Azucar.

Copacabana beach. Artists create these magnificent sand sculptures on the beach and then just chill there until they last. To take a picture of the sculpture a bypasser has to put a tip in the jar first. 

Leblon and Ipanema beaches

See, on a cloudy morning Copacabana beach can actually be empty! 

We did a free walking tour with 'Free Walker Tours' at Copacabana and Ipanema. It was fun, a small group, lots of walking on beaches and hearing some legends about the area. Most know the song "Girl from Ipanema". It's written about Heloise who caught the eye of composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese poet Vinicius de Moraes, who then together created one of the world's most recorded songs.

With the same 'Freewalkertours' we went on a pubcrawl in Lapa on a friday night as well. I've technically done quite lot of pub crawls with friends, but this one was officially the first. Lots of lovely people and a very vibrant Lapa. The area comes to life at night. Street food, cheap caipirinha booths and musicians near the famous Arcs of Lapa, quite a party on the streets. We went to a bar first and learned how to make caipirinhas from a local and then headed to two clubs. First one had a live band playing great latin rhythms. What's better than to dance the night away in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. 

I would advise people to be careful tho, especially when going out. Altho I found Rio superb, loved everything about it and would happily go back instantly, we heard before and got confirmation there that incidents do happen often. For example, that same night when we were out in Lapa six people from only the hostel that we were staying at got robbed either in Lapa or at Copacabana. A friend of ours told the next day that he had just met a couple who wanted to join us on that pubcrawl but got robbed at gunpoint while on the way there, so headed back home instead. A bit more amusing robbery tale came from a New Zealand dude whose phone got stolen one night on the street, when an attractive girl came out of nowhere, took off her shirt and forced the guys hands on her breasts, at the same second another girl appeared and grabbed his phone from his pocket. The two ladies then stepped into a taxi that was waiting for them and disappeared in a split second. 

I'd just say take as less things as possible with you when going out and keep them as invisible as possible. Leave the phones, creditcards and passports. Document was rarely asked anywhere in South-America, and if it was, the paperback copy worked just fine. 

Christ the Redeemer. It might be grey but there is a view. We heard stories how people get up there and it's that foggy that one can't see either the christ's head or the city properly.

The statue of Cristo Redentor is 30 metres tall, not including its 8-metre pedestal, and its arms stretch 28 metres wide. It sits atop the Corcovado mountain and can be seen basically from any point in Rio. Being up there one can take in the mountains, the bay, and the entire cityscape from the favelas to the skyscrapers. It is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. 

We found a pamphlet about a day-tour that takes you to the Christ, to the mountains near there to see some nature, then to the beaches and finishes up in Lapa and Santa Teresa after dropping people back to the hostels or to Sugarloaf. The tour guide was the weirdest lady ever, she craved for attention and being liked and became quite annoying forcing her opinions on everybody and wanting to be always right, but for that price the tour was really nice. 

The Santa Teresa tram has been running since 1859 and is the only remaining metropolitan system in South America, as well as the oldest in operation. All service on the line was suspended from August 2011, as a result of a serious accident, but limited service resumed in July 2015 with new tramcars.

Bohemian-looking Santa Teresa, the only barrio situated on the hill that is actually not a favela.

Favelas have become so much a feature of life in Rio that a visit to one of them is included on many tourist itineraries. Every barrio of Rio has a couple favelas. Rocinha (Little Farm) is the largest, first mentioned in the 1940s, and is now a busy anthill of narrow alleys, built on the side of a steep hill. Around 250,000 people live in Rocinha, most of them in shacks. All Brazilian cities have favelas, but those in Rio are the most visible. They sprang up as a response to the chaotic expansion of the city in early 1900's. Property prices exploded, making it impossible for poor families to pay rent downtown, but all the available work was in downtown, and it was too expensive for underpaid workers to take the two or three buses required to travel in from the cheaper suburbs every day. So, families began to build illegally on Rio’s steep hillsides.

The colourful stairs of Lapa - The Selaron Stairway –  this stairway is 125 meters long, has hundreds of steps, all painted different colors and motifs. The lead artist that constructed this stairway gathered contributions from artists all around the world.

Even when the stairs were seemingly finished Jorge Selaron continued working on them, constantly swapping tiles so that it was an ever evolving piece of art. As the popularity of the steps increased, visitors from all around the world began donating tiles and Selaron started using them instead. Today, the stairs boasts of being decorated with tiles from over 60 countries (Estonia included). Selaron was once quoted as saying, “This crazy and unique dream will only end on the day of my death". In 2013, Selaron was found mysteriously dead on the same famous steps he spent twenty years building.

Pão de Açúcar aka The Sugarloaf mountain. We visited it on our last day in Rio. It was a very hot and sunny Sunday with perfect views. Sugarloaf is a peak situated at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. It rises 396 m above the harbour, and the name comes from its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. Standing at its peak, the entire city truly unfolds below you.

Following the memorable morning we spent our last day with Keiu and Tino at the street market in Ipanema and on the beach until a heavy and unexpected thunderstorm made us run from the beach into a lovely street cafe in the area.

Until next time Rio! Taking (my new favorite cocktail) caipirinha with me, literally. Bought some locally super cheap cachaca to go. (a 1 litre bottle of 'Cachacha 51' at Copacabana beach, Rio = 3€, in Frankfurt airport 15€, in Estonia 24€).