Hey folks,
Can't believe I'm in Brazil nearly two weeks already, I figure it's time to let you in on some of the fun I've been having since leaving the homeland.
After a quick stopover for some tinto verano, tapas and salsa in Madrid with Pamela I landed in Rio de Janeiro. And it was raining!!! Soon got over that though....
My home for most of my trip so far has been a really friendly little hostel-guesthouse in Santa Teresa with amazing views of JC himself (who has been renamed SuperJesus thanks to the scaffolding surrounding him resembling a cape), the Sugarloaf and all of Rio.
So far everything has been great. Met lots of cool people, all the Irish I've met are here courtesy of the 'the current economic climate'. I've covered most of Rio's must visit sites like the Sugarloaf, Ipanema, Santa Teresa, etc but what Rio de Janeiro has really got going for it is its nightlife - love it!!
My home for most of my trip so far has been a really friendly little hostel-guesthouse in Santa Teresa with amazing views of JC himself (who has been renamed SuperJesus thanks to the scaffolding surrounding him resembling a cape), the Sugarloaf and all of Rio.
So far everything has been great. Met lots of cool people, all the Irish I've met are here courtesy of the 'the current economic climate'. I've covered most of Rio's must visit sites like the Sugarloaf, Ipanema, Santa Teresa, etc but what Rio de Janeiro has really got going for it is its nightlife - love it!!I've been to two favela funk parties so far, one was in a place called Tijuca, in a big hall with one wall covered in speakers and everyone just dancing like crazy. The second was in a favela called Rio das Pedras and we went with an organised tour. I was afraid we might just be shoved into a gringos only area and not be able to mix but it was grand, got to dance away with everyone else and watch the gringos vs locals dance off.
We had planned
another big night out in Lapa, Rio's hotspot for nightlife, for Satuday night but a big storm hit and getting back to our hostel was just about all we could handle. It went a little something like this..ran to the metro stop in the torrential rain, got off at our metro stop only to discover the road had become a river, got to another metro stop, walked for ages trying to avoid all the floods, nearly got mugged, walked through the floods some more, eventually got an overcrowded kombi bus home - madness! Better luck at last Friday nights street party though, got there around midnight and by 4 am we had danced to samba, forro, reggae, funk, house and even U2, sang with the buskers and somehow ended up in a dance-off.
Balance is the key of course so we've had plenty of relaxing beach days too. We spent a few days in Ilha Grande, beautiful island with miles of white sand beaches a few hours from Rio. And last weekend we went to Buzios for a night which was lovely too, apparently it's the StTropez of Brazil so we obviously fitted right in.
We had planned
another big night out in Lapa, Rio's hotspot for nightlife, for Satuday night but a big storm hit and getting back to our hostel was just about all we could handle. It went a little something like this..ran to the metro stop in the torrential rain, got off at our metro stop only to discover the road had become a river, got to another metro stop, walked for ages trying to avoid all the floods, nearly got mugged, walked through the floods some more, eventually got an overcrowded kombi bus home - madness! Better luck at last Friday nights street party though, got there around midnight and by 4 am we had danced to samba, forro, reggae, funk, house and even U2, sang with the buskers and somehow ended up in a dance-off.Balance is the key of course so we've had plenty of relaxing beach days too. We spent a few days in Ilha Grande, beautiful island with miles of white sand beaches a few hours from Rio. And last weekend we went to Buzios for a night which was lovely too, apparently it's the StTropez of Brazil so we obviously fitted right in.
Just back from a day hiking to waterfalls in Tijuca National Park and looking forward to our Irish pub crawl tomorrow in honour of good old Paddy.
And of course no report home would be complete without a rundown on the weather of course.....cloudy the first few days but warm and then there was a massive storm and since then the sun has been transforming my pasty Irish skin into a mix of white and red stripes with a tiny hint of a tan and a decent spattering of mosquito bites thrown in for good measure too.
That's all for now, hope everyone's well and Happy St Patrick's Day!
Elaine
xx
