Rio!

After a 21 hour busride from Iguazu, I finally made it to Brasil! We arrived in Rio in the late morning on friday. Weather was really nice. I met a guy from Amsterdam on the bus. I decided to join him and find a hostel together with him. We shared a taxi with an american guy and two girls from Israel. We went to look for a hostel in the surroundings of the beach near Copacobana.

We found ourselves a dorm for 40 reals, which is roughly 16 euros. The most expensive room I have had so far. People already warned me Brasil was not going to be cheap. The room was really crappy and breakfast was not included either.. Not the best deal in town I suppose. That afternoon I went to the beah together with the dutch guy. The beaches are very beautiful. What they say about brasilians is true, they all like to play football. Its crazy to see how many people are playing with balls on the beach.. just amazing

That night we went out for a few drinks in a neighbourhood called Lappa. It was a crazy happening. People everywhere trying to sell drinks on the street. People everywhere We decided to search for a nice bar. We ended up in a salsa bar where they had never heard of air conditioning. It was boiling in there and it took only a few minutes before you started to sweat like crazy. We spent a few hours in the bar. Then the two girls from isreal felt liike going home. I had had it myself too, so I decided to share a cab with them.

The next day the two girls from israel asked me whether I wanted to join them with a friend of theirs to a part a bit outside of Rio, which happened to be much more beautiful. I decided to join them. It took almost 2 hours to get there by bus, but I had to admit, the beah was amazing. Later on we went to a very high point to watch the sunset over Rio. It was a good day. That night I was really tired. We had a few drinks in a bar, but soon I went to bed as I was really tired.

The next day I signed up to go and watch a footbal match in the stadium of Rio. It happened to be a semi-final, and a derby as well. To rival teams were going to compete against each other; the flamengoes vs. vasco. The match was pretty nice and the crowd amazing to see. They live for footbal around here.

That night we went out for some pizza. After dinner we went back to the hostel. As soon as I got there I fell asleep, it was a very tiring day. The next day I woke up fairly early. We decided to switch hostels, as this hostel was just too crappy to stay at. We found another one around the corner which seemed much better. After checkin we went to see the big statue called Christ Redeemer. The weather wasnt all that great, but it was still good enough to go and check out the statue. We got a taxi all the way up to the statue, as this was even cheaper than going by the little tram that goes up all the way to the top. Later on we went to the city center, as the two girls from isreal wanted to do some shopping. I went to have a look around the center together with the isrealic friend of theirs. Later on I went back to my hostel to write this story..

I am planning to do a Favella tour tomorrow. Its a guided tour into the poorest neighbourhoods of Rio. On your own you are not even able to get into these neighbourhoods, and even if you do, you probably wont make it out there in once piece. So its definitely a good idea to go there in a tour… More news soon!