Rio days 3 & 4

It's now our third day in Rio and I think we can both say it has definitely surpassed our expectations.
The hostel we are in (Lighthouse) is so lovely - we are glad we took the recommendation off Jemma's brother.
The hostel is the smallest I have ever stayed in but this is good because it means we know everyone here and the staff are so friendly, one of whom is German, which made me very happy :)

'A monkey in the wild'

Yesterday we went to sugarloaf mountain and that more or less took up the full day. We travelled to the bottom by bus and the guy who works in our hostel (Enrique, like Iglesias) had told us we could trek up the first peak on foot through the rainforest, so we wanted to give this a go. We made our way along a little trail through the natural park, and Jemma was delighted to see her first ever 'monkey in the wild'. However, after about 40 mins of walking we came accross a sign telling us we couldnt go any further unless we had a guide so we decided to walk back and get the cable car all the way to the top.


The views from the cable car were outstanding, as were the views from the first peak. When we got to the first peak we treated ourselves to our first caipirinha before getting the next cable car to the second peak.

Well, it was so windy at the top, it was impossible to enjoy the views and I was very annoyed, when Jemma, who had borrowed my headscarf for the day, let it blow off her head down the mountain! Luckily some work men half way down caught it and we got it back lol. I then stalked a German tour around for a few minutes to get the history and the background info to Sugarloaf.

View from the first peak

After Sugarloaf, we got a bus to copacabana beach but were too scared to stay there for too long after all the horror stories we had heard. The guy in our hostel told us about one tourist who was kidnapped at knifepoint and taken off to a favela (the slums of Rio) and then taken round various cash points and made to withdraw all of his money. Anyway, we were scared and the sun was starting to set, so we sped walked our way back to our hostel. When we got back we went out to try and find some cheap food and then went back to the hostel. We have met some really nice people already including a kiwi called Aiden who is here to volunteer and live in a favela.

Today (Thursday) was probably my best day in Rio. We headed off to the selaron steps in the morning (made famous by various films and music videos - e.g. snoop dogg and farel).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MQhk53ayeI

We saw the guy who made the steps and took a few photos.

On the Selaron steps

After this, we had a dilemma, because I really wanted to go and visit a favela but Jemma did not.
The reason for this is that some people have strong views about visiting favelas - its a kind of voyeuristic tourism - rich people visiting where poor people live as if its disney land. Both of us don't really agree with this in theory, however, curiosity got the better of me, and I persuaded Jemma to take a tour to Rochina, which is meant to be the nicest favela in Rio. We paid to go on a tour, which is meant to put money back into the favela community and works on projects with the locals, building schools and daycare centres etc. Anyway, it was such an interesting experience, I am really glad we went for it. At the start of the tour, you have to get on the back of a motorbike with a random man from the favela who drives you up to the top of the mountain. This was without a doubt the scariest experience of my life and the closest to death I have ever come. The bikes race eachother to the top, you don't have a helmet and as you drive up, there are various cars and vans speeding around the corner. Once at the top, we went on a guided tour of the favela (slums) and heard all about how the community is run (ruled by the drug lords). We were told when we could and couldn't take pictures and warned not to take any pictures of the men holding the AK47 guns or of the druglords. There were wild dogs and cats running around, which made me thankful I had paid for a rabies jab and little kids playing samba. It was a terrifying but brilliant experience and I am really glad we did it. But our mums should know - we wont be doing anything that risky again. 

Jemma making friends with the locals

View of part of Rochina

Tomorrow is our last day in Rio and we are catching a bus at midday that will take us to Iguazu falls. The journey is 24hours so I'd better get off the netbook now and charge it for the journey. I think we might watch City of God on the coach to remind us of our stay in Rio :) 


(p.s I have added some more photos to the album on facebook  that I posted the link for the other day).


Oh and i also bought a lovely pair of havaianas. I hope I will still have them by the end of the trip!