I dont really know where to start! My first 3 days in Brasil have been an explosion of colour, people, noise, humidity, panic and beauty. I have rebounded from sheer panic to sheer joy in the space of 2 minutes! Its crazy! I have always been fascinated by Rio (ever since watching ´City of God´) and I haven~t been disappointed by the things I have experienced so far.
Rio comes across in all its urban rawness - there are millions of people everywhere who come from all walks of life. The richest parts of Ipanema are just across the water from the poor favelas - and everyone frolicks and struts in the beach together - and I mean everybody! My mother told me to wear clothes approporiate for the localilities I visited. If she saw some of the clothes the women wore here, I think she would change her tune. :)
The airport on arrival was a bit of a disaster. We had to wait in lines for about 3 hours - but thats just the way things get done around here - slowly and a bit painfully. After our 30 hour planes rides we really wanted to get to our hotel to freshen up a bit. Because personal safety is such an issue here in Rio we were very careful to use our money belts and lock up our backpacks to the bed etc. I~m not sure if all the hype is warranted. Sure there are seedy looking ppl around - but everyone who we have enoucntered so far have been so friendly and helpful. They stop on the street and argue with each other about the best way for us to get where we want to go. They are such beautiful people!
The highlight of day 1 for me was the beach party that took place about 30 metres from our hotel. It was SO much fun! There were thousands and thousands of people and we met so many cariocas (people from Rio)!
Yesterday, we got a bus out of Rio to a beach town where we currently are staying. The town is called Buzios and looks exactly like the travel brochure i had been staring at all year! It has so much character! It seems to be a place where wealthy Brasilians holiday - but it has such a down-to-earth vibe to it. We spent most of today at the beach and exploring the town on foot. Our hostel is cute - although without electricity last night. But I guess you cant argue for $10 per night.
Tomorrow we leave for another town called Vittoria and then we finally get up to Salvador in time for next weekend. It has been a bit stressful catching buses from place to place knowing very little portugese. Rio bus station is in the seedy (and i really mean, seedy) part of town and we found it after 2 bus rides. But its really fine! Apart from the massive backpacks we´re carrying - i think we can get away for being locals. I think.
Anyway, i have probably forgotten to write about so many other things. Also, we are still testing the waters a bit regarding how safe it is to pull out our digital cameras. So there have been so many great photo opportunities that we thought were fantastic - but too risky to take. Sorry! I would have loved to share with you some images from our first few days! But I will put some on in the very near future!
That´s all for now! Keep in touch!
Love Tanya xoxo
Posted by Tanya at January 22, 2005 05:24 PM