a photojournal of rio...pt.2

Friday night night in Lapa, Rio at 3am

Rochina Favela, Rio

Casa Rosa's on a Sunday night in Rio. 25 reals for huge plate of feijoda and entrance to listen to live samba and to see capieora...god times!

On the way to Christ the Redeemer

Jay on top of the Christ of Redeemer

Lazy days in Bahia.....

Just waking up to a view of the ocean from the 10th floor of our penthouse apartment. Since it is low season or just about to start high season here in Brazil, we were able to rent this penthouse out for a little over 100 usd a night. There is an outside shower that allows you to look down on the town of Barra, the lighthouse, and the ocean, not too bad of a way to wake up. The owner is actually selling this unit plus the neighboring 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment for 1.2million reals, which is a little over 650k usd. Not too bad of a deal.

Life in Salvador, Bahia has been very, very relaxed. Pretty much the days in Bahia been started with a decent sized breakfast served up by Lou or Jay, read or rest, hit one of the two beaches that are no more then a 10 minute walk from the apartment, come back and rest/read, dinner, and then a late night til about 3ish.

We originally only had the penthouse for 4 nights in which we would then go to an island called Morro de Sau Paulo and then comeback to a different apartment. The other apartment got booked as we failed to put down our deposit on time, so after Morro we came back to the penthouse. It actually worked out nice since we did not have to move our stuff and just leave our big bags here at the penthouse. Morro de Sao Paulo is a island about 2 hours southeast of Salvador. So on saturday we took the bus to the dock and headed off, we were warned about how the boat ride is rough but going there it was a breeze. The two hour boat ride was the express route, as others we met took the long route which is a combination of two boat rides and a us ride which can take up to 5 hours. It is also about half the price. Again since its low season, were able o easily find a pausada (similar to asian guest houses) for about 55 reals for the night. The island was nice, no cars allowed, and its pretty much and all sand island so you often see the porters carrying bags and kids around in wheelbarrows. Had a nice seafood lunch on the beach after arriving, and then progressed to the beach. Sunday was spent on the beach in Morro and then took the boat back at 3pm. The boat ride back wsa a rough one, I almost got sick, as others on the boat did. It wasa long 2 hours back to Salvador.

Back to savlador now, Jay left this morning at 5:30 am to catch his 8am flight back to Miami and then SF. Felt bad as all we really did last night was have a decent seafood dinner, as sunday nights in salvador are pretty quiet.

So that now leaves lou and I with about 2.5 days until getting back into reality...ughh, not looking forward to it!

a photojournal of rio

Waking up to this view every morning from our little studio apartment in Botafogo was not too tough. The view is of sugarloaf mountain, which we climbed the first mountain and took a tram to the second.

A view of the street in front of the studio.

This is a view from the favela where silent bob and his friend took us. As you can see, the favelas have some of the best views of Rio.

Some of the graffiti art in rio, some of the best in the world!

Taking the bonde down from the favela with silent bob, it's free as long as you hang on and dont sit down. The kid here ends of losing his sandle, as the kids often like to play games while riding down.

Silent bob and his brazilian friend that took us to our first favela, holding on going down on the bonde.

A classic photo of silent bob and his friend holding a kid from the favela.

A group photo on top of the favela. Good times!

Here is when we first met silent bob and his friend, as they roamed the streets of Lapa holding up this map of Brazil.

Not sure of the beach name, but this shot was taken from the top of the first peak of sugarloaf.

Taken on the way to hike Sugarloaf.

Ipanema beach with the sun coming down. Has to be the worlds greatest beach!

A packed metro in Rio during rush hour. Almost as packed as those in Tokyo.


More to come............

Rochina....

Rochina is one of the 700 favelas in Rio. We went on a so called tour of this favela on saturday the day that Jay arrived. The favelas in rio are known for being the slums and where poor people, drug dealers, gangs, and all of that resides in rio. The funny thing about the favelas in rio is that they actually have some of the best views of the city as thye are often built on the hillside. Most middle to upper class people in rio do not visit the favelas as there is usually no reason to unless to buy drugs. Before the trip, Jay and I actually met and spent time with Zenzhino from coushsurfing who is half brazilian half america, was raised in Rochina (the largest favela in rio with over 300k people), and is currently in SF until december. Jay and I actually spent 3 hours talking to him about his favels that he is truly passionate about and he arranged a tour for the 3 of us to take us through the maze of the rochina favela. The tour started around 2pm with Nildo meeting us at out apartment in Botofoga. The reason we decided to do a guided tour was to meet the locals, be taken through the different maze of alleys, and to attend a local baile funk party in the favela. We take the local van up and over the Rochina favela hill and start a walking tour at the bottom of the hill. At the bottom of the hill we start by grabbing a pastery from the local spot which is ran by chinese. Of course they try to speak to me in chinese but our guide has to translate to them in portugese that I dont speak mandarin. We continue the tour and are told where and where not to take pictures. Certain streets and allies are drug and gang patrolled and pictures are restricted, Nildo is sure to let us know exactly those streets. We walk continue the tour and stop at Nildos sister in laws house and check the views from her roof, kind of chat but she doesn´t speak portugese soe we get by with some sign language and spansih, have a beer and popcorn and then head up the hill. We see the occasional traffickers caring around guns and what not while walking up, which is just a bit surreal since guys are able to just carry them like its not a thing. We head up and take in the views from the top of the hill, which are some of the best. After that we head to a local far called Rosies and grab beers and appetizers until midnight and then head to the baile funk party. The party was just in the middle of the street with various vendors selling drinks and a wall of speakers. The party never really got going as Nildo said another party in a different favela may have been the reason. So we headed back to Botafogo around 2:30ish. Rochina being the largest favela was like another town inside of rio. It was great to see it and meet some locals.

hi salvador

We arrived into Salvador last night around 5, took a taxi to the apartement which is a penhouse in the barra area overlooking the beach. It´s a few steps up from what we have been staying at. Tuesday nights in Salvador are the big party nights, the town square was packed with people and lots of different music venues from reggae, to samba, to salsa. It was a good first night in Salvador. The weather is also much more consistent here, about 20-33 celcius and no rain....off to the beach!!

bye rio....

The last few hours in Rio before heading up to Salvador. It´s been great and has actually reminded me of the bay area and australia, as there is a mixing pot of people from all backgrounds and cultures. The people are nice and the weather has been great, even in the end of winter (except for the occasional rain). We did not get to do everything we had planned for but that just means I will have to come back, with Jenn next time of course. Things to never forget about this first leg of this trip in Brazil....

• The great bus and metro lines, and only having to hop into 4 cabs during the whole 9 days
• Ipanema beach on a sunny day
  
• The churros filled with duce de leite, out of this world.
• The hots dogs topped with everything you can think of.
• The acai smoothies
• The warm and open CS group in rio
• The streets filled with people in lapa at 3:30 in the morning
  

Off to Salvador......

Last days in Rio

I have been off of the internet for the last few days which has been actually nice. Not having a blackberry has also been nice as well, as Jenn knows I am always giving it much attention. So what has been going on over the last few days....So last thursday or friday (honestly forget since days and time just kind of go by when you travel) Lou and I hiked the highest peak in Rio. It has been trying at times but always great traveling with Lou. Heknows how to test the boundries with people but is never afraid to ask questions on how to get places or things like that. Since we don´t speak portugese and since the brazilians are always pretty open to help, things have been ok. We actually have only taken 4 taxi rides thus far and have been able to utilize the excellent bus and metro system. The hike was nice, it took about 2 hours to get to the top, which is actually the highest point in rio. The weather sucked that day, so we did not have much of a view of rio. Enjoyed whatever views would peak thru the clouds and then headed back down for to make it to the weekly CS rio meetup. It was a nice turn out, probably about 40 or so couchsurfers from all over the world. Met others from colombia, france, germany, and the US. Always nice to sync up with like minded folks. Friday was spent apartment/hostel hunting as my old roomate from college Jay would be coming in to Rio on saturday and the current place was just a bit too small for the three of us. We basically ended up spending most of the day in the beach town of Ipanema looking for a place. Found a hostel where an american was working and ended up chatting for over 2 hours about Rio and Bahai, our next stop after Rio. Friday night in Lapa was supposedly the place to be. We went with a couchsurfer from Philly and the area was packed with people. Streets closed off and tons of people everywhere. Walking around we ended up running into more couchsurfers, having drinks with them and then grabbing food and then going into some club with a live band. It was a good night out when heading home a little after 3, the streets were still packed. Saturday morning Jay arrived....to be continued....

Silent Bob

Weds night in Rio and finally getting into the so called travel mode with lou. It took a few days but I think todays adventure kind of kicked it into gear. As I know very little portugese, the brazilians seem pretty warm and open if you at least attempt to speak to them in their language plus the few years of spansih actually are helping since the two languages are somewhat similar. We had a few beers at the local brewery called Devessa which the landlord of the apartment we are renting from pointed us to as she is belgium, the obvious topic of beer was brought up. Most beer here in Rio has been very light but the beer at Devessa actually had some taste to it. About 5 beers and a pizza with actually tapicoa on the crust for about 25 usd, not bad. The tapioca is not the typical tapioca we in america are used to. Its hard to describe but it is good in all ways I have had it, tapioca pancake with banana and duce de leite, tapioca pizza crusts. Today we walked around Lapa an area we metup with other couchsurfers the night before, to check it out during the day. While walking down the street we see two guys walking down the street holding up a map of brazil. Lou then runs back to take a picture of them and then calls me to take a picture of the three of them. One of them happens to be from Ventura and living in brazil on and off for a few years now. The topic of the favela comes up and there is one just up the hill from where we are. The views are supposedly amazing but the favelas are dangerous esepecially if you don´t speak. We head up and take in the views but are only allowed to take photos of certain areas as the are protective of their favela. A bit surreal as guys openly walk around with guns up there. After a few beers and enjoying the scene, we head down on the bondone or cable car which is funny as it´s free if you hang on or 2 realis if you want to sit. We of course take the cheap way out and hang on, the pictures are too funny of Lou, Silent Bob and his friend! After that adventure we head in to Santa Teresa to eat Feijoda the brazilian national dish which is a pork stew with black beans, another food coma. We walk it off by Lou knowing this old house that was turned into a museum with somemore great views of Rio.

Sugarloaf....

Trying to keep up with the updates, as we don´t have internet in the apartment it´s tough to write in the internet cafes. On Tues we took about an hour walk to the base of Sugarloaf mountain which we can see from our apartment window. We heard you can hike all the way up but the second part requires climbing gear and is just a bit out of our leauge. The first half is supposedly the easier half so we did that. It was nice steep hike that took about 30 minutes, pretty intense at times but we got through it. From there we paid our 22 realis to get to the top of sugarloaf by tram. Beautiful views of Copacabana, Ipanemea, Botafoga, and Flamengo. Later that night the local Couchsurfing group in rio was meeting up to listen to some samba music and then fooja in Lapa. The samba was pretty amazing and the fooja was not really my cup of tea, it started to pour half way through the night so we waited it out and headed back by bus. The public transport here in rio is amazing, as you can easily catch a bus at hour in the morning.

RDJ...

So I finally got situated in Rio and it has been nothing but great times so far. Kind of reminds me a little of Australia, the beach life and mixing pot of cultures. Before getting it much more details I just wanted to wish the best to my sister and brother in-law as they make it through this tough time in life. I hope all is going well back home and please know that I am thinking about you while travelling! My heart goes out to you from Rio....

So back to what life has been like for first few days here in rio...

The food...
has been excellent so far. We started with supposedly the best restaurant in rio called Parquao which is an all you can eat brazilian bbq. Pretty much like Espetus in SF but much bigger with much more types of meat, sushi, and pretty much a meat coma an hour and a half after eating. Today we enjoyed the classis feijoda dish which is black beans and pork in a gravy with rice, veggies, and deep fried pork skin. It was also very filling! Besides that, the street food has benn great as well. The hot dogs which is much different then an american hot dog as they put all kinds of stuff on it like corn, tomatoes, mayo, ketchup, and much more. The corn on the cob on ipanema was interesting first. The fresh churros on the streets are insanlely good, as they fill them with your choice of chocolate, duce de letie, or other fillings. The fresh juices are great and the ascai smoothies that lou turned me on to are also very refreshing.

The beach....
Ipanema beach is insane when the sun comes out. The first day we got here we headed to the beach but it started to rain so we went to the market and just laid low. Monday the sun was shining and we went back out to the popular post 9 and found a spot. As it was the independence day for Brazil and the sun was out, the brazilians headed out to the beach. One reason I can see myself living here one day.

Life in Rio has been great so far, the people here for the most part have been very friendly and people seem to just enjoy life. A little different then the day to day rat race that I am so use back home.

First trip to south america

finally made it to rio. After a 3.5 hour flight to houston and a 10 hour red eye to rio we made it. We have a small apartment here for the week. Its in a town called botofoga which is a north of the famous copacabana and ipanenema beaches. It actually is a bay and our room has a nice view of it. It rained a little bit which kept us away from the beach today and we just headed to the market, caught up on sleep and then hitup a brazilian bbq spot. I guess its the famous one here and everyone knew about it. It was straight up meat coma, with plenty of sides that reminded me of eating korean food when the table is just full of sides. Still getting adjusted to being in ´travel´ mode and the fact that everyone speaks portugese to us...ughh...we will struggle through it with hand signals i guess.