The last few days up here in Rio have been great! The day after the footbal match I went on this tour with the guy working here at the hostel to the favelas, aka the ghetto´s of Rio. It was an amazing experience. The favela we went to was considered quite safe so that was good. The guy doing the tour had been working as a volunteer down there for a year, so he knew the people in there. It was an amzing experience. To get into the favelas, which are built on the mountains, we had to get a motorbike. The people living in the favelas are really poor and find initiutive ways to earn money. One of these ways is giving people rides into the favelas on the back of their motorbikes. For 2 reals they bring you all the way to the top. It was a cool experience, although it was a crazy ride going between all this traffic up the mountain. And obviously no protection what-so-ever. Once we arrived at the top of the favela, we started to walk back down. Our guide thaught us a lot of things about how life really is within these ghettos. Basicly the police does not have anything to say within these ghetto´s. They are run by gangsters who sell drugs to make a living. The boss of the favela is protected by at least 10 gangsters, wearing granates, shotguns and pistols. Unfortunately we didnt get to see them at the time, but its supposed to be really impressive to see them walking through the streets there. The people in there dont pay for telephone, electricity or water. They just steal electricity and telephone by hooking a cable on to the electricity cable somewhere. Its a city within a city. I was able to take a lot of photos which was good too.
The next day I had an appointment with a friend I met back in New Zealand last year. Apparently she happened to be here in Rio as well. We set the appointment in front of her hostel in Copacabana, but for some reason after 40 minutes of waiting, she never showed up. I decided to go to the beach on my own. Unfortunate for me I fell asleep and woke up truly sunburned. I decided to go back to the hostel. There I met a brazilian girl who was in Rio to do a course in acting. She told me all these stories about how she used to work for a local television company and how she had been doing some modeling as well. We went out for dinner later which was really fun.
The next day I decided to go and check out the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Its a big rock from where you can overlook all over Rio. Theres a cable cart going all the way to the top. Very touristy, but obviously I had to do it. I must admit it was a nice view all the way from the top. I took some nice photos of Rio. Later on I went back to my hostel where i met a guy form Isreal. He asked me to join him to rent a bicycle. I decided to join him. We rented a bike for 2 hours and had been driving around Rio in the late afternoon. It was absolutely a brilliant experience. Brazilians are very health consience, juice bars and gyms everywhere, so we were definitely not the only one biking along the lake in the middle of Rio. Later on that night we cooked ourselves a traditional Isrealic dish with vegetables and egg. It wasnt bad I must say, although shoarma is a much better isrealic dish I must say.
Tomorrow I am leaving for Sao Paolo, where I am going to visit some friends I have met back in Buenos Aires. It should be great to see them again after this last month. I am able to stay at their place, which will save me on accomodation as well. So its all good.
More news soon from Sao Paolo!
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