Rio de Janeiro

Final Destination - Rio de Janeiro

After Iguazu we border-hopped into Brazil the next day and flew from Puerto Igassu to Rio. It would be the first flight of our trip since Quito to Galapagos way back in June. It would also be our last journey of our travels.

Nowhere could be a finer place to finish such a massive amount of travelling than Rio de Janeiro- “The Marvelous City”. We arrived on a Wednesday night. The three hour flight had saved us an 18 hour bus journey and we were both bloody relieved of it. As soon as the door on the plane opened and I walked out onto the tarmac, I felt like it was something of a homecoming from our travels! We had arrived in a place that had weather only similar to Ireland- wet and blustery. The bus journey to Copacabana beach was dark and dreary. This didn’t seem like the city of endless beaches and beautiful weather. Where the hell were we?

Raining down on Copcabana Beach

We arrived into our hostel after hailing down a taxi from the beach front where our bus had dropped us. Our taxi driver had a little trouble finding our hostel. The Leme neighborhood was not your normal part of town. It was unbelievably close to Copacabana beach but when I looked at the streets on the map, all I could see was a large green space. I thought to myself, there can’t be this much undeveloped land located so close to Copacabana beach. When the taxi started climbing this street I only realized we were ascending into a favela. The hostel was located just on the outskirts of a favela in the city. But the favela never appeared on the map. The thousands of people who lived up here didn’t make it onto a map.

Before coming here we had fortuitously found out that our travel amigos from way back in March who we had studied Spanish with in Guatemala: Elaine and Dan would be sharing the city of our final departure. They had also given us the name of our hostel Lisetonga and despite my initial misgivings, this turned out to be a great call. As we hauled our backpacks out of the taxi boot who appeared out of the hostel but Elaine and Dan. We had held them back from going to a Flamengo game because of our flight being delayed but after the flight I couldn’t summon up enough enthusiasm to rally for a game on a wet weeknight. They headed off to the game. Thanks for waiting for us guys again and I hope you will forgive us for delaying ye! 

Kicking off the afternoon with a monster Caipirinhas

We got to know Niles who was a Dutch lad sharing our dorm and had a drink with him. And after the game we caught up with Elaine and Dan and agreed to spend the next day, which proved to be another wash out, going in and out of museums in the centre of Rio. We went to the fine arts museum that proved to be a disappointment if only for the contemporary art exhibition upstairs saving its hide. After this we were all in need of some local nourishment. Our only conclusions for such a miserable wet day was to while away the hours in and out of Rio’s finest drinking establishments. Liz and Elaine ordered what I can only describe as the largest Caipirinhas I have ever seen. Soon enough the whole table were drinking them and debate was raging over Russell Brand’s call for revolution and Dan’s permanent absence from the Ohio voting booth. This was only 3 in the afternoon.

The day turned to night and we found ourselves in the center of the Brazilian night scene in Lapa. This proved to be a mighty lively spot. The drinking culture here involved everyone heading out onto the streets and drinking, as it was legal to do so. The atmosphere was akin to the Galway races except for one discernible fact…we were in Rio.

Where else would we finish a night in Rio but in an Irish bar. Here we were introduced to Rudy, an Irish barman from Rathfarnham with an Italian mother. He seemed to be enjoying the best Rio could offer both sides of the bar. We ended up catching a live band who were churning out some Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd numbers. After the band finished the clearout of the bar began and we were left with ourselves and Rudy and a few of his Brazilian mates. His Brazilian mates broke into a very spontaneous piece of breakdancing. After this Niles and myself tackled the iPod and I let a plethora of U2 numbers rip. We went out on “Walk On”….this seemed to strike a chord. We were all walking on, leaving this path behind.

The following day we all climbed aboard a coach for a tour of the city. It was Elaine and Dan’s last day in the city. They would be able to see all the major sights of the city in one tour. And most importantly the famous sun of Rio had appeared. The tour took us to the landing spot for the hand gliders on the sand of Copacabana beach. This was Brazil. Four kilometres of a beautiful sunny beach.

 We climbed back into the bus and Liz was starting to show some semblance of life. The person showing the most amount of energy at this stage was thankfully our tour guide: Lou. She was a native of Botofoga, a community squeezed between Ipanema and Copacabana. She was very informative and friendly. We ventured onwards towards Tijuca National Park which is right in the city. Its most famous resident is right at the top of the mountain…Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). When we fought through the touristy crowds here we were able to bask in the size of this statue. The views from up here were absolutely breath taking. Rio really began to shine and it struck me like no other city in the world. Where else was there this amount of beautiful beaches to be found right in the heart of a city. I would make the most of these later.

 

Prior to lunch we enjoyed the splendor of the famous Escadaria Selaron of Rio de Janeiro. This was a set of steps that a Chilean artist decorated with tiles that were sent to him from all over the world. It was an amazing monument to a life’s work. A notable inclusion was a Guinness tile for Ireland. Just around the corner from here we enjoyed some traditional Brazilian food, which consisted of beans and rice and some rather suspect meat.

Our final stop would be at the Sugar Loaf Mountain jutting out as a divider between two beaches. A good brisk climb uphill here lead us to another great sight of the city beaches. We sat at the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain and discussed our respective short term futures. Both with equal uncertainty but with absolute combined clarity on a wonderful few months spent travelling together. We parted ways one final time at our hostel as they both headed north on a flight to Venezuela. We would have two further days to enjoy the better forecasted weather in the city.

Kremlin monkey who was a resident of the Sugar Loaf mountain



 The next day we got up with one single plan in mind…. to hit the beach. I found Copacabana beach to be like no other beach I had been to. It was a mecca of every type of sport and each one as competitive as the next. It struck me that it wasn’t just simply people enjoying themselves, this wasn’t a one off these same people flocked to the beach every day. This was their office or their community centre/village park. Football volleyball, futsal, head-volley, tennis volley…..there was no end to the hybrid beach sports. After settling down on one of the deckchairs I think I sat there for three hours just watching beach life. This was a people watching bonanza. We had been warned plenty about the dangers on the beach and people getting robbed if they brought down any jewelry.  We found it to be very safe and relaxed.

Enjoying some coconut milk and electrolytes to replace

all the lost salts from the previous night!

Life's a beach!



Copacabana Palace...Lana del Rey was residing here during our stay



This Saturday night, ourselves and Niles had planned to head to the Estadio Mario Filho or more commonly known as the Maracana stadium. It was the footballing home of Brazilian football. And it was a fitting home for it. With only a few months out to the beginning of the 2014 World Cup finals, the stadium was impeccably pristine. So much so it looked almost futuristic. Also the staff preparation prior to the Brazilain league game we would attend felt almost like FIFA were watching. The lines of officials around the stadium could all speak perfect English and were very attentive and seemed to want to help every member of the small crowd present. The stadium was in definite pre-tournament dress rehearsal mode.

 Spaceship Maracana shot

 Liz sporting the Flamengo colours

Wow a full house!

Inside the Brazilian league game lacked the famed samba movement. A local Rio club Flamengo were playing Goias. And it was distinctly far removed from the national team’s skill and talent. Liz was delighted she had stumbled across wearing the Red and Black of Flamengo and seemed to really enjoy the samba beats coming from the stands.

Flamengo ended up finishing a poorly played out encounter 1-1 despite playing against 10 men for most of the game. The most impressive thing was the Flamengo fans trying to fill the massively empty national stadium with noise.

 Brazilian commemorative monument outside the Maracana to the consecutive World Cup

winning sides of 1958 and 1962

 Toasting our final night of the trip in Lapa

A return to Lapa could be the only destination on our final night. We embraced the local culture and bought cheap Brazilian beer and drank on the streets. The crowds of people spilled right out under the aqueduct arches of Rio and the city seemed to be more packed than ever as a concert had just finished in the city. We partied late into the night and toasted some more Caipirinhas to a fantastic 9 months travelling.

The Iguazu Falls

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

Our last stop out in Argentina was The Iguazu Falls. This is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. My parents had seen it a few years earlier and my Dad had spoken at length of how amazing the volume of water here was and how it churned out this massive line of waterfalls. I had also heard about endless accounts of how amazing the falls were from other backpackers.



Getting looked after well on the Argentinian buses



As it was coming to the last week of our travels, this was one of the final big things to see and I was really looking forward to it. We had just come to the end of our stay in the metropolis of Buenos Aires and the Argentinian back country would be a welcomed release from staring upwards at the Buenos Aires skylines and street names.

After close to nine months, you would think my appetite might have been flagging a bit for new major touristy sights but not so. Both of us ditched our bags in the hostel upon arrival that morning and headed off with a great hunger to see this massive cascade of water. The bus brought us right into the national park which is probably the most tourist friendly national park I had seen on my travels. Rubbish bins everywhere and heavily manicured paths. Even the squirrel like ant eaters called coaties that run along the handrail of the walkways were so tame. It was as if they had been giving lessons on welcoming tourists. The Argentinian government hadn’t spared any of its overinflated change in making sure tourists would be lured to their side of the falls and not the Brazilian side.



 Coaties litter the site

 And the handrail

You could choose various routes around The Falls but we had arrived early to see every inch of them as we would be giving the Brazilian side a miss. We walked down the short route which captures the water just dropping off the lip of the river into the ravine. As the water hits the river on the near side to our walkway it just turns into this white squall. It was immense and after getting some wide angled shots we moved close to capture the power of the water. As you get very close to the drop on the lower side you could almost step into the fall of water. The beauty and incredible power of the water was unreal and left me feeling invigorated. The power of the water also just makes you feel so small and insignificant. It is an amazing experience. We stood back and just let it all wash over us.

 Water water everywhere

 These are actually butterflies and were everywhere adding a whole

"land before time" feel to the place

I couldn’t help thinking where the hell does all this water come from and why is it all in such a rush! But that is the beauty of nature. It is amazingly surprising and incredibly breath-taking. I was in a waterfall trance. We went further up into the falls and took a trip right across into “The Devil’s Throat”. This is basically a whole surround of waterfall with a narrow strip of an opening. We would walk right out almost onto The Falls on one of the walkways. The spray was absolutely soaking everything here. But I didn’t care the sun was shining and all you could do was stand there getting soaked with an incredible feeling of satisfaction.