Copacana, Favela, Old Rio.

Rio de Janieiro is mental. And that´s it. Partyville. We arrived at our quietish hostel in Copacabana around the 7th of July and stayed there for 5 nights. We were all scared about being outside the hostel after dark because of the fear mongery that is the Lonely Planet book warnings. The Copacabana beach is class. Very long and the sand is nice. We went to a stall where the guy gets a big machete and butchers a coconut and puts a straw in it and you can drink the milk. It´s brilliant stuff for a hangover. I´ll craving one every weekend when I get home. I might plant a coconut tree or two in Navan. And buy a machete. In Centra.

Another deadly thing about the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are the waves. They are perfect for surfing because they are huge only 10 metres off the shore. So you don´t have to paddle miles out and get eaten by a shark in order to get a good wave. Gooooood.


A downfall is that you can´t go at night because you might get mugged or chloroformed for your money or valuables... Another downfall is when you are lying on the beach in the sun you get about 25 people coming up to you per hour offering you necklaces, bracelets, drinks, scarves, flags and other crap. I felt really sorry for them when I turned them away though. It killed me to see them move along with all their stuff to try sell to the next person.

On our first full day we went up to the Sugarloaf mountain on a cable car. Epic enough. Then a cathedral yoke, and then the ´Christ The Redeemer´ monument that overlooks Rio. It is a great big Jesus lad on a mountain. I´m sure you know it. It is not as big as you would think but it´s way better than one I could do anyway. There we saw a sunset and I took a few award winning photos. (Queue Elaine saying ´Self praise is no praise, Brendan.´)


We met a 19 year old European who has been travelling a long time and while he was in a jungle in Mexico he married a 24 year old lady with a child. They got giant matching tattoos instead of wedding rings. And his parents don´t know he did that yet. They didn´t even know he was in Rio. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling he is a bit of a fool. It was funny when he fell from the top of a triple bunk bed in the middle of the night with a giant ´THUD´ and then got up really quickly so no one would know what happened.

We did the Favela tour. This is a tour of a slum area of Rio. It is the one where City of God is based. I did not want to go at first because I felt it would be patronizing of me to be visiting all the poor people and looking at them being poor. I was wrong to think this. It was a very interesting and non dangerous experience. And 60% of what we paid for the trip goes to a nursery and school in the Favela. And it is rare for money to be paid into a Favela that is not drug related.

The Favela had internet cafes, bakeries, and all the normal stuff a town would have. I dont think I´d want to live there though. It´s awfully filthy and cluttered. Houses are all built on top of each other. The drug lord and head of the Favela is only 23 years of age and this is the normal life expectancy for the head of a favela. He will probably be dead within a year or 2 and the next person will take over. They start in the drug and guns business at the age of 7 or 8. There was a night club in the favelas aswell but we didnt go and i heard it was just full of kids with guns and also a bit of a sausagefest. So no deal.

If I was to recommend one place to go out in Rio, its Lapa. It´s a giant street party with samba music, dancing, and food and drink stalls. Needless to say the lockedness was immense. We stayed out until about 5am which is actually an early time to be going home. When we were waiting for a bus, I felt a sudden pushing and shoving and I looked around and a lad was going through my pockets. I shouted NO loads of times and started pushing him away and Elaine exclaims ´Brendan stop you are being searched!!´ True enough a cop with a machine gun on his back was checking if I had any drugs on me. No officer I´m fine for the old drugs. 15 cans will do me fine.