Rio de Janero

It means January River in Portugese, as they were thinking when they arrived it was a river. They were wrong, but Rio is still wonderful.

We arrived safely into Rio on Tuesday after a rather delightful (if things can be) 19 hour bus ride. We have been staying at Sun Rio Hostel, which is okay. The booking for our hostel confused the front desk people and so they switched rooms on us. Somehow, they let Mike and I sleep in the all girls room.

We have done EVERYTHING! We got to take the cable cars up to Sugar Loaf and see beautiful vistas of the city. We saw the Flamanigos (a team from Rio) play Boa Vista at the big soccer.... err... futball stadium the Mercado. We went to the national musuem (it sucked). We visited Copacabanna and Ipenemia beaches. We loooved Ipenemia and Copacabanna was okay. We adventured to see Christ the Redeemer (my first of the new 7 wonders of the world). From the top of the hill that the Christ statue is on, you can see all the beaches and everything. It was wonderful. The statue itself is neat to look at and when you see how far up it is, its hard to imagine them hauling everything up there.

We have made lots of friends since we have been in Rio for so long. We made friends with a wonderfully nice portugese guy who led us to a samba school rehersal in the sambadome. This is where carnival will go all nuts starting on Friday. Mike and I cant afford to stay (a package is like 1,000 usd for 6 days) but we got to see it all. We met the mayor of Rio, the King, Queen, & Princesses of Carnival, and saw the rehershal from the samba school. It lasted hours. The first school was all blue and white and I think had about 1,000 people. They didnt have their full on costumes, but it was amazing and energizing. Everyone was joyful and sang their heart out the entire time. They started with a few songs and then when the procession started into the sambadome, it was the same song continously. Each school has an anthem of sorts and they just sang it out the whole time and danced to the music. The first school lasted probably about 2 hours and we were just hooked the entire time. There was a reasonable break and then a second school started in. They were a smaller group but still entertained us for another hour or so. Their colors were green and yellow/gold. It was so exciting and when we departed to catch another bus home, people were still singing on the buses. Even though it was 1 am when we got back to the hostel, it took awhile to settle because it was so much fun and so much happy energy you couldnt help but take it with you.

It was rainy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday so we had some extra time to kill and were a bit meloncholy. We decided to tour the favella. It seems sort of wierd to take a tour of the slums, but several people told us it was really interesting. As it was rainy and we couldnt lay on the beach like we wanted, we went ahead and did it. The slums of Rio are incredible. We went into the largest one with a guide, of course. We took a crazy motorcycle ride up the hill (no helmet, zig zagging through traffic, take turns at an unbelieveable pace) that was thrilling. I think we got our moneys worth in just that bit. Then our guide gave us a little bit of information and told us to put the cameras away, there is a guy whos job is to watch at the enterance to the favella and we shouldnt take any pictures because the drug lords get upset. Our guide Daniel knew everyone and we felt completly safe. Every corner we turned he said hello to the people we passed. I believe he takes his groups on the same route every single day, so that it is part of what the slums look like but also a bit nicer than most parts. We saw some neat graffiti (pictures in the brazil album in the previous post) and met the artists. The streets of the favella are very narrow and you can tell there was no clear plan. They have open sewers, so at the top of the hill it is okay but at the bottom it is grungy and nasty. We went to a day care center and the children were adorable. They are clean and fully clothed, so you know they are being treated well. It was just an amazing experience.

*i have uploaded a few pics for your enjoyment to the same album*