Hola Rio!

Rio de Janeiro. The city of glorious sunshine, stunning blue-sky days and expansive, pristine beaches. A city where the favourite pastime of the locals - also known as cariocas - is heading down to the beach and spending all hours of the day and night soaking up the sunshine and just hanging out. A city that Jay and I couldn't wait to get amongst for these very reasons. 

The colourful streets of Rio.

This is precisely how we spent our first full day in Rio. Excited by the prospect of spending a few mindless hours relaxing in the sun, we donned on our bathers to spend the afternoon lapping it up at Copacabana beach. And what a stunning setting it was! Aside from the glittering blue waters and striking mountainous terrain lining the horizon, it was a fantastic place for people-watching. People of all colours and sizes graced the beach-front, from buff men working out on the exercise equipment lining the boardwalk, to beachside vendors selling everything from sunglasses to skewered prawns to cocktails, to g-string-clad women sun-baking on the beach. 

Ipanema - another stunning beach of Rio. Little did we know that this was about all the sunshine we'd get during our visit.

Unfortunately for Jay and I we were only privy to a small amount of indulging. Barely an hour later, gusty, cold winds replaced the warm sunshine, and we had no choice but to pack up our umbrellas and chairs to seek shelter from the ensuing storm. It turns out the weather gods stubbornly thought this was how they'd treat us for the rest of the trip, as four more rainy days of weather followed. But I'll get to more of that in a moment.

Where's everyone gone!?

Driving into Rio from the airport (after a 30+ hour journey from Melbourne where, I must add, an air hostess split red wine all over Jay's jeans within the first few hours of the trip), I couldn't help but notice the inevitable chaotic buzz that pulsates densely populated cities such as Rio. Traffic was a-shambles, with cars cutting each other off and driving scarily close to one another; people were standing in the middle of the freeway selling snacks and beverages to any driver willing to purchase their goods; and the freeway itself was bordered by the infamous favelas (slums) that speckle many of the inner, hilly regions of Rio. Huge mountains loomed over the city, making a beautiful contrast with the strikingly picturesque coastline. We drove past Cristo Redentor, the infamous Art Deco statue of Christ that towers over the city, not realising that this would be the clearest view of the statue we'd have all trip despite it looming 700m high above the city.

Some favelas on the outskirts of Rio.

Which leads me back to discussing the weather we experienced in Rio. Prior to our arrival I had seen that the forecast was rainy for most of the days during our stay. But there's a certain form of naive optimism that comes with being a traveller, where you assume that everything will be OK because you're away on holidays and things will just work out. Sometimes this naive optimism can be a good thing because you end up being a lot more patient in situations where you may otherwise lose your cool, like when you can't work out which bus to take to your next destination. Unfortunately this optimism can also blind you from making pragmatic decisions in the face of blatant, contradictory-to-what-you-were-hoping-for facts, such as weather forecasts. And it is because of this naive optimism that I insisted we visit Cristo Redentor despite knowing, and being told, that there was no visibility on top of the mountain. At least we weren't the only people who did this!

Yes that's us in front of Cristo Redentor despite the poor visibility!

Despite the setbacks with the weather, we still got a fantastic flavour for Rio. It forced us to check out neighbourhoods and sites we mightn't have visited otherwise. It also led us to meeting Diogo, a carioca we befriended who showed us around Rio and gave us a great insight into local life. So we've left Rio with a sense that we scratched the surface of this incredibly dynamic and exciting city and hope that we'll get the chance to visit it again one day with hopefully a bit more sunshine!

Jay at the infamous Maracana stadium.

Other points:

- Food: Surprisingly we were able to find some veg options, though we quickly learnt that the lack of meat is heavily substituted with copious amounts of cheese. Don't get me wrong, we've been super happy to find veg options because we'd been led to believe it would be near impossible, it's just that large amounts of dairy is not so appetising for us when we don't eat much in our normal day-to-day lives. 

- Transport: Buses are the main way to get around in Rio, and boy are there plenty to service the city. I've never seen so many buses on city roads before! Getting on them is an experience in itself too, where, once you've punched your ticket, you have to get through a clunky, narrow rotating gate-way which can prove to be challenging for anyone who is more than your average weight. And the ride itself is incredibly bumpy and rough, where you're likely to get injured if you don't secure a seat ASAP.

I was hoping to get a better example of the large amount of buses in Rio, which I didn't get. So just imagine this picture with 4X the amount of buses on it at the one time, and you'll hopefully get the picture.

- Language: Portuguese has been a super tricky language for us to learn, particularly when we'd mainly been focusing on Spanish in the lead-up to the trip. But one of my favourite pastimes when visiting non-English speaking countries is to ask someone a question (such as how much something costs) in the local language, only to have no idea what their response means because they've also answered you in their language. The ensuing confusion of then communicating I have no idea what the person has said is quite comical, and I'm looking forward to being continually amused by this throughout the trip.

- Jay-walking is completely acceptable.

At Estrada Selaron, steps that Chilean artist Jorge Selaron created from broken tiles and mirrors as a tribute to Brazil. Sadly his body was found dead at the bottom of the steps in 2013, presumably from setting fire to himself. In retrospect perhaps we shouldn't have been so smiley in this picture.