New Years in Rio
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2007
1
19
26
Trip End
Jan 30, 2008
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Thursday, December 27, 2007
First day and we head down to Copacabana beach which is 7 km stretch of soft sand rammed to the limit full of people. Its the most lively and active beach I have every been on, you have to be very careful when you go in the sea, firstly because there are so many people in the water and secondly its easy to lose where your friends are. Traders constantly walk up and down the beach selling food, drinks and clothes; there is a really buzz to the place. Now to clear up myth about Rio, the model- like women wearing skimpy bikinis (not that I would notice being a married man) do not exist here, MacDonalds has had a major impact on these parts and I would have preferred thongs to be banned. To make matters worse there are lots of muscle men in speedos, fortunately Cat only likes tall, skinny, pale men or so she tells me.
We do the typical tourist sites e.g. Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer; wonderful views of Rio but packed with tourists. For New Years Eve we hang around Copacabana beach, which is full of people, the majority of which are dressed in white, milling around the various temporary beach stalls selling food and drinks. Dinner that night was a mixed bag of tough skewered beef/dog, corn on the cob and just to show our class a donna kebab, nice! At midnight there is a massive 20 minute firework display which we watch from the beach drinking champagne (didn't taste so good with the donna kebabs).Cat makes the mistake of getting stuck into local cocktails and after two has to be retired hurt from action.
Near our apartment is a dodgy night club called appropriately 'Help', renowned for prostitutes. We spend half an hour, outside the club, watching middle/old aged men lingering outside as they psych themselves up to go into the club, and then the men sheepishly coming out of the club with distinctly younger women on their arms, off no doubt to discuss politics or the economy.
The next day after a little more beach action, Cat and Neil go on a hang gliding trip; Mr Freeman is given the pleasure of photography duties. The views are apparently great although Neil's landing was somewhat ungraceful and involved falling over in the sand, pilots error apparently. Slightly concerning was the fact that after their flights the hospital helicopter was seen flying around the take- off zone..... apparently Cats pilot said one of the paragliders has crashed after takeoff, a monthly event he said, I guess we will give that trip a miss.
Time to leave Rio, surprisingly with our wallets, perhaps the "Preying Mantis" is known in these parts as well as central America, next stop a little island off the coast around 3 hours from Rio
