How slow does life get!
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2011
1
36
Trip End
Mar 09, 2012
Where I stayed
Saqua Hostel & Surf
Saquarema, Rio., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Saturday, February 25, 2012
We arrived after a brief 2 hour bus ride getting a cab in the midday sun, and it was hot. There are no real indications as to the hostels existence apart from a tiny sign outside, behind a 6ft wall the small house sits with a hammock in the sandy garden and a little patio to sit at. A small black and white dog and the very relaxed Jose greeted us upon our arrival, we later discovered the dog was a rescued street dog called Jolietta.
Vanessa was going to join us later for her last couple of days on holiday before her return to the UK. After the usual settling in we headed to the beach we had read so much about with high hopes. For a change we weren't dissapointed and the beach was as white and wide as we had hoped, it was even quite clean, but it was very very busy, but thats weekends for you. There was a bar overlooking the beach attached to the local 'Posh' hotel, called Maasai Beach Hotel and Restaurant, as ever Neil had found his spot. A couple of hours of beach sun for Hannah and a few beers and back to the hostel to see if Vanessa was there.
We met a young Zimbabwa couple who were also staying called Ashley and Dave. They had been travelling for two years and also were at the end of their trip, having the same idea as us and a bit of chill time before returning to Jersey where they both now live. Within minutes Vanessa rocked up and regailed us of her exploits further north, were she had managed another dive or two.
Life at Saquarema continued in much the same vain for most of our stay there, mornings head to the beach, stay for lunch then mid afternoon head back for a siesta. Evenings we would set off to a restaurant, the first being a little Italian place where the waitress thought Hannah and Vanessa were sisters and was enthralled by them both. We also found a place to eat a bit further into town which rapidly became our favourite. Dave had decided one night that a BBQ was in order so we even managed a night in.
The area is host to lots and lots of animals from tiny Monkeys and Rattish Opposum like beasties to big colourful spiders and a huge variety of birdlife. One of the best things though was getting up in the morning to Jose's awesome coffee as well as the fresh breakfast and sitting outside on the porch with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach 500yds away.
Jolietta managed to cause a stir after she dug up a dead cat one morning and started to eat it! She was swiftly relieved of the stinking carcass and after a day of trying to hide it from her it was disposed of sucessfully, at which point she opted to vanish in a huff for 24hrs.
Vanessa left a few days after getting there and Ash and Dave a couple of days later leaving us alone for our last two nights. Quiet and calm and regenerated from Rio we headed back to the city after we had decided to have the last few days in a Posh Hotel in the Copacabana area of Rio.
The Hotel Astoria Copacabana was a stones throw from the main beach, in the famous part of town. We knew there was some building work going on, and that had made the prices affordable. Three stars but in Copacabana and with a pool, so not cheap anyway. We had a room on the 10th floor but not much of a view, but we had aircon ahhh bliss. The form for our stay was pretty much going to follow Saquarema, with beach time and a bit of sun soaking , or at least that was the plan.
We arrived the day before Ash and Dave were leaving so we arranged to meet up outside the Hotel and grab a quencher or two. They inevitably became a few and we swiftly arranged a night out before we all retired to our respective abodes to scrub up. We ended up in a most peculiar but quaint little club mainly attended by young faced individuals all proclaiming to be old enough, though the music was pretty good and the atmosphere much the same. The dangerous thing was you didn't have to pay anything until you left! Rio has this strange system in a lot of bars, restaurants and clubs where you are given a ticket on entering and every drink you order is marked down and you pay at the end of your night. Not such a good thing when you loose your ticket and are charged £80 no matter what.... luckily Hannah managed to retrive said lost ticket! We obviously had to party ourselves quite hard and didn't return to our digs until after 5 the next morning, ooohh dear hangovers will ensue...... As you can imagine the post sleep period was as activeless as could be, barely making it out for something dinner in the evening, good job the tv had a few films on.
Most of our remaining time was spent beach baking or pool roasting when the surf was a bit insane, although we managed to make it up Sugar loaf mountain again, only on foot this time. We had wanted to take a Helicopter ride as a final treat, but when we got to the top, the huge 'Christ the Redeemer' statue in the distance was shrouded in cloud, like some Turin relic, occaisionally visible. The helicopter firm said it was pretty much not going to improve, crestfallen we walked back down. Did a bit of retail therapy and decided we would try again the next day, our last in Rio and indeed South America! We also managed to make it to Ipenema a couple of times for dinner and discovered it is the 'posh' part of town. Full of high rise apartment blocks with huge atriums and doormen attired as though in the Ritz. The restaurants were pretty varied and all over the place, but the most bizzarre thing is the proximity of so many of the Favela's to such wealth, definately supporting the claim that South America is an anathama and full of quandaries.
We awoke pre packed on our final day, though Neil had done his usual of 'last night here better have a drinky poo' till 4am and was...... tired, or so he said. We made it outside and tried to catch a glimps of Christ, the weather was glorious and Sugar Loaf was in bright sun, though Christ the Redeemer was a bit harder to see, being behind so many 20 storey buildings. A swift wander up the beach road to find a vantage point. Two hours later we managed to discover the statue was also in clear skies (the view being from our closest metro stop 5 minutes away, not the opposite end of Copacabana beach!) We made it to the base of the hill and opted for a walk up again, mmmm maybe not so bright. By the time we reached the top we were as exhausted as the day before, but the staue was still in the clear, into the helicopter office and a quick check, next flight 45 minutes, mind you they only fly with a minimumof three passengers! Our luck was in as a young and somewhat camp Brazillian called Yury was on his own and wanted to fly, bless him he was so sweet, Hannah immediately wanted to mother him. Perfect we can chill and cool down then jump in a helicopter and have a quick wizz around Christ. While we sat and rested the clouds began to build around the statue, for pity's sake it was as though we were being punished for not doing it the first time we went up! However the clouds did part, very biblical, and he made himself available to us just before the flight. It was amazing, though maybe less for Hannah as she had never flown 'Copter' before so was considerably nervous, even so it truly made our last day one to remember for all the right reasons. Well we thought so.
Bags packed and check out of the not so bad Hotel we gat a taxi to the airport through the insanely busy streets. An hour later we reached the airport with a triumphant flourish 30 minutes early only to discover South America hadn't quite finished toying with us. Our flight had been delayed from 11pm to 5am the next day! Can't complain though, an extra 6 hours in Brazil, even if it was going to be in an airport.
Bye bye South America, we have had an experience that will do nothing short of live with us for the rest of our lives, and we are pretty sure influence us subtley, or not so. Not forgetting our family and friends, they'll get bored of the stories eventually.
Comments
Good to see you two are still galavanting around south america with not a single worry on your mind!! I have actually been avoiding reading your posts as they have been making me insanely jealous....although it was good to read this one about brazil as it put me on the beach for the briefest of moments - I even forgot I was sitting in my office!
Anyway, keep up the blogging and take care of yourselves!
Luke (Iguazu)