Rio de Janeiro

The time had finally come for my final destination in South America. I couldn’t quite believe how almost 3 months had gone by so quickly since I first landed in Ecuador! I have to admit I really did save the best until last - Rio you certainly didn’t disappoint! 

I spent a total of 7 nights in Rio with a 2 night break in Cabo Frio in between (there is another post all about Cabo Frio!). Rio is such a large city so I wanted to make sure I had enough time to explore and see most of the sites. 

I did 2 tours on 2 of the days which were both organised through G Adventures - the first was a half day tour to the favellas, also known as the slumbs or chanti town of Rio. A large amount of Rio is actually filled with favellas and I remember learning all about them when I did Geography at school so I was looking forward to visiting them. They do say some of the favellas are not safe and you shouldn’t go alone which is why I did the tour. We were taken around by a local guide who lives in the favellas - the one we were visiting was called Vidigal and it was in the south of Rio near Ipanema beach. We were taken around the favellas and visited 4 local projects supported by G Adventures - a music group, an eco garden, a dance studio and a brewery with a rooftop bar. Sadly the afternoon we went on the favella tour it was raining so we couldn’t make the most of the rooftop bar or the views but we did try the beer and it was good! 

The second tour I did was to the main sites of Rio which included - the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral in Lapa, Santa Teresa and the famous Escadarian Selaron steps, Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain. Again, unfortunately it was raining the day I did the tour so I did all the sites but Sugar Loaf - I decided as I had more time I would go back another day and do this when the weather was better. 

Thankfully I only saw rain twice in Rio and it happened to be on the 2 days I had tours booked! Considering it was rainy reason I was pretty lucky. One other day a group of us went to the ... de telefargo which is best known as the hanging rock - it was a nearly 1 and a half hour drive from Rio via Uber then a brutal 1 hour uphill hike in the 38 degree heat! But it was really worth the climb as the view was amazing.

Of course I spent a lot of time on the beaches in Rio, mainly Copacabana beach as that was about a 5 minute walk from my hostel but I also did visit Ipanema beach too. Both beaches were packed, especially on weekends! There are so many street sellers on all the beaches selling anything from drinks to food to clothes! I particularly liked the caprihinas and the açai bowls. 

I also went to the botanical garden, the museum of tomorrow (didn’t actually go in the museum - just went to see the building which is worth a visit just from the outside!) and the Olympic avenue with the longest street art painting in the world! I took a wonder through Lapa which is best known for its nightlife and went back to the Escadarian Selaron steps when it wasn’t raining! 

And of course I need to mention the nightlife in Rio - it for sure lived up to expectations! I had 6 nights out and spent 2 weekends in Rio. I did a boat party one evening, then went out in lapa twice, I also went to 2 street party’s - one was called Pedro so Sal which was on a Monday night and the other one I went to I can’t remember the name of but it went on for like 12 hours and was a new year carnival warm up party! I didn’t stay the whole 12 hours but I did see the sunrise on Copacabana beach was pretty special. 

And just like that my time in South America has come to an end - I am going home for 10 days for Christmas before setting off to travel to India and South East Asia!