Rio! (26-31/Oct/06)

Ouro Preto, Brazil

We love Rio. We have decided it's the best city in South America. Sorry Buenos Aires.

First day there we met up with Livia, a friend of Esther's parents, who immediately marched us up to the foot of the Corcovado, the mountain with the Christ the Redeemer. Went up the train and saw the whole city from above. What a sight! Tried to get to the Pao de Açucar (Sugarloaf) mountain as well but it was getting dark.

Next day we followed the Lonely Planet's "city walk" around the centre. Very nice, a bit of everything really: churches, skyscrapers, the weirdest cathedral in the world, street bazaars, squares and the really cool headquarters of the military fireman service.

The day after we had an outing to nearby Petropolis, which is where the old emperors used to have their summer retreat. There is a great museum in the old imperial palace, which you slide around in on slippers so as not to damage the floor. Then had a short walk around the village itself, which has an amazing collection of mansions of Rio's rich & famous. That night there was a party at the hostel, and since our room was next to the common area we were forced to join in.

Sunday morning started with a bit of a jolt. Apparently, after 4 days, the weather was perfect for hang-gliding. So off we went with another 3 guys from the hostel, jumped off a cliff (in tandem with the instructor), and hung around in the air for 10-15 minutes for one of the most amazing experiences (and views) ever. From there we had a walk along the beachfront from Copacabana to Ipanema and checked out the "hippy market" (which wasn't anything special). Rounded off the day going up the Pao de Açucar and stayed up it until the evening lights came on in the city.

Monday was a relaxing day at the beach. Ipanema is apparently the place to be, while Copacabana is supposed to be the old fogey's beach. However in our walk we noticed Copacabana was much nicer, so we joined all the grannies down there. Then in the afternoon we visited the botanical gardens, and celebrated with a large amount of beers in the evening.

Our last day in Rio Esther had arranged to go to the favela (slum/shantytown) with a guy from the hostel who was a volunteer there in one of the schools. A much better way to visit than by package tour. The favela in question wasn't Ciudad de Deus (in fact it was not much different from what we had seen in Bolivia) and I was a bit under the weather so Esther went alone (and later confirmed I hadn't missed much). We met up later to visit the Republic Museum in one of the most sumptuous palaces I've ever seen. After that we hitched a ride on a famous tram to a famous neighborhood (which I really liked) and then headed off to catch yet another night bus.

Oh, and we had the second round of elections here which resulted in a thumping victory for Lula.