Rio de Janeiro

*Apologies to Yike for some questionable photos on this blog post, but it's her own fault for being so hilarious*

Feb 2023

The road to Rio! 

If you tuned in to our latest blog post, you would know that we left off driving 120km from Conceicao de Jacarei to Rio de Janeiro, aboard a dodgy Pedro with an undiagnosed oily problem. Our friend, Yike, was still visiting and we distracted ourselves with a singalong and made it 100km before needing to stop for a wee. After the stop, Pedro was reluctant to start again, but eventually, he obeyed, and we made our way to Rio. Our Airbnb host was called Robson, and he became something of a legend. We had been messaging him before we even left the UK as we’d booked the Airbnb months in advance to avoid carnival prices and unavailability. As it wasn’t easy to park in Copacabana with a vehicle over 2m high, Robson had kindly offered for us to park at his apartment complex just out of the city while we were staying in his apartment in Copacabana. We’d also been messaging him in the last few days, and he’d recommended a garage near his house which could work on Pedro’s problem while we were staying in Rio. We arrived at Robson’s apartment complex, which was a fancy, gated community and Robson was at the entrance on his little moped to guide us past security. We parked in his parking space and packed a bag for our time in Rio. As it was Carnival, the garage was closed for the next two days, so Justin arranged to meet Robson at his apartment again in a few days’ time and he would escort him to the garage. 

We tried to order an Uber and there was some confusion about the taxi entering the apartment complex. While we were running around with our luggage trying to find the car, a friendly family approached and offered to help. They were very good at English and communicated with the Uber in Portuguese for us to arrange our pickup. We ended up chatting with them for 20 minutes and Leo and his family kindly gave us their phone number and told us to WhatsApp him if we had any questions while we were in Rio. 

We finally arrived at the apartment in a nice building in Copacabana, a 5 minute walk from the beach. We went to a local grill restaurant, ordered chicken and salmon and all the trimmings, then had a wander down the beachfront, which was in full carnival swing, with lots of street vendors selling colourful outfits and caipirinhas.

After some pastel del natas and iced coffees from our favourite pretentious, overpriced coffee shop, we caught an Uber to buy tickets for the tram up to Christ the Redeemer, which Yike had affectionately re-named Chris, the reindeer. While we were waiting for our allotted time, we visited Largo do Boticario, a square of dilapidated 1920s mansions, which has since been turned into a hostel, Jo&Joe, maintaining the grand façade. We caught the tram up the mountain to Christ the Redeemer, and as we got onto the tram, there were only 3 seats left. Weirdly, 4 Brazilian men had decided to spread out over 3 sets of 2 seats so we all had to split up, and Yike sat in between two of these guys. Eventually, after some funny looks, Em asked if they would move so we could sit together. One guy was adamant he wasn’t moving (weirdo) so Justin just got up and stood in the aisle. The guy gestured as if to say “No, I can’t swap seats with you because I have knees.” OK. 

At the top, it was more chaotic crowds of tourists desperately trying to get photos of themselves with Christ the Redeemer, to the extreme of climbing on top of the walls (with an enormous drop next to them) to the astonishment of the staff. Chris the Reindeer was cool, but the experience was sort of ruined by all the idiots. Something we’ve noticed at all touristy places in Rio is, they take one of those posed photos of everyone with a fake background and then print every single one out and try and sell you them when you leave. Once down, we went to another disappointing block party, where the lead singer of the band was completely tone-deaf. Exhausted, we opted for another takeaway dinner, this time sushi from a small Japanese restaurant, but the food took over an hour while we just sat on the pavement waiting.

Our penultimate day in Rio was an exciting one. We had bought last minute tickets online to the Fluminese vs Portuguesa football game at the Maracana (£8 each). However, arriving at the stadium in the blistering heat, we discovered buying a ticket online was pointless and we joined the queue with everyone buying a ticket on the day to pick up ours. It was a huge snaking queue that took forever and when we eventually got to the front, we were greeted by someone behind a tiny window who could barely hear us. We had already missed the first 20 minutes of the game so as soon as we had our tickets in our hand, we ran over to the entrance gate, had a brief frisk down by security and entered the stadium. Although we thought we’d bought seated tickets, there was no such thing, and we squeezed our way past people to sit down under the beating sun and started sweating. Just before half time, Em and Yike opted to beat the queues and go in search of beer and food. They managed to order 3 beers and 3 hot dogs in little plastic bags. Surprisingly satisfying. The game finished 3-0 to Fluminese, the better team, and after experiencing football in a truly iconic stadium, we were spat out into the street more than a little tipsy. 

Next up on the agenda was the Carnival show at the Sambadrome! We got a taxi straight there from the stadium, but because all the roads around the Sambadrome were closed, we got dropped off in the middle of a highway and told to walk down the hard shoulder the rest of the way. We had been warned to arrive early to get a seat in the bleachers, but we were REALLY early. We sat down on the hard concrete and slipped into our party wear. It was still boiling and the toilets had the back of all the aircon units going straight into them so it was like a sauna - you had to pee like lightning to not expire. 

This was the last day of Carnival. All the competitions were over and this was a winner's parade where we got to see the top 6 samba schools perform. We watched the floats parade slowly down the Sambadrome and thought we’d seen them all in the first hour and a half. We knew it went on until 5 am so we were a little confused, until we realised that the last hour and a half we’d watched was all one school. Each school had 12 floats with hundreds of dancers all dressed in elaborate costumes. We managed one more school before our butts were numb and the sweat had become too much. While walking away from the Sambadrome to find our Uber back to our sweet, sweet beds and air-conditioned apartment, we witnessed the backstage of Carnival – hundreds of other dancers already in their massive costumes like sitting chickens waiting on the closed highway….some until 5 am! 

Our last (thankfully, hangover-free) day in Rio was spent soaking up the last of Copacabana beach and watching Man Utd win the League Cup Final in a bar on the beach!

March 2023

Cabo Frio and Buzios Part 2

Now just the two of us, and reunited with Pedro, we drove back up the coast and went to Arail do Cabo. We hiked to Praia do Pontal do Atalaia and saw an Orca splashing around in the sea off the coast. We went for a quick swim at the beach of Gruta do Amor and Justin got stung by a jellyfish. 

We carried on up the coast and spent a few more days in Buzios, exploring more of the town and watching street performers on the pedestrianised cobbled streets lined with restaurants and bars. We stayed for 3 nights on the side of a lake, Lago do Ferradurah, with caimans, capybaras, and lots of birds to keep us occupied. Our first day there was Justin's birthday and we spent the day sitting in coffee shops, drinking beers on the beach, and Justin went for a surfing lesson.