South America Part 26 - Rio De Janerio

After arriving in the delapated Rio Airport - Ant spent about 25 minutes searching for an ATM which would accept his card. Brasilian ATMs seem to have issues with reading international cards (hello Japan!) but after tracking down an HSBC machine - we had cash and were ready to go.

Taking LPs advice - we caught the ¨Real¨ bus into town. After being told that the trip to Copacobana would take an hour and that we couldn´t be dropped directly at our hotel (we´d be dropped off at the beach in an approximate location to our hotel - four blocks from the beach) - the bus took about 90 minutes (after trying to pick up as much passengers as possible).

The ride into town was interesting - after the non-impressive airport - there were some pretty sh##y roads leading out of the airport into the city. Next to the airport was a big bunch of flavelas (or slums) - City of God style. Rio´s geography is pretty simple in terms of getting around - it is long and narrow - and the touristy areas spread from Centro (or downtown) south to Copacobana and Ipanema (aka the tourist beaches). This all makes it easy to catch transport to and from each area.

After reading a bit of LP (see Rio´s Dangers and Annoyances section) - I was a bit worried about being dropped off by the bus in a place we hadn´t been to before and being targeted with all of our bags or something. But of course - nothing happened and we got to our hotel with no dramas.

We checked into the ¨Royalty Hotel¨- the most expensive hotel I´ve ever stayed at ($200AUD plus a night), although not the flashest. Every hotel has tourist¨NYE¨or ¨Carnvale¨pricing - whereby they take the normal room rate and triple it. The Royalty - a bit of a three and a half to four star hotel - was about the cheapest we could find (a month leading into NYE). Ipanema is even more expensive... Our room is nice - overlooking the hill behind the hotel and the location (despite LPs bit##hing about safety) - is quiet and non-touristy.

After dumping our stuff - we had dodgy hamburgers at a Hamburger chain across the road. Although Ant´s burger wasn´t too bad (looked very Aussie with egg and stuff) - mine had to be the worst burger of my life. Everyone in south america is obsessed with Mayo (in a bad way) - and combining that with coleslaw and bad fried chicken on a bun can be fatal in large doses.

After my near death hamburger experience - we wandered down to Copacobana beach. It is incredibly busy, touristy and not the cleanest beach I´ve been to - but it has a tonne of atmosphere and the view isn´t too bad. The beach is chock full of ¨tourist police¨and chock full of touts offering drugs. We were offered pot about 5 meters away from a cop... great!

Copacobana feels like a bit of a run-down Gold Coast (not in any bad way) - all of the hotels look original and haven´t been renovated since the 60s/70s and there is a lack of new buildings. The view is great - with Sugar Loaf to one side and the Christ de Redeemer to the west.

After ignoring LPs advice about not catching buses at night time - we caught a bus to Ipanema at night (ooh ahh!). Nothing happened (except for maybe a sore a$$ from the bad suspension and roads). We wandered around a bit trying to search for some dinner. We ate at a ¨cheap¨cafe and we continued our Rio tradition of Ant having a decent meal and me having an absolutely s### meal that gives Santiago a run for its money. I had ordered Spag Cabnorara (I feel like a full on fat dose every now and again) - but when it arrived - Spag here apparently means ¨2 minute noodles¨ (overcooked) and Cabanora sauce is made up of a few bits of over cooked fatty bacon and 2 litres of cream. Of course this was priced at the low low price of about $17 Reals.

After getting lost after dinner - we made it to the beach at Ipanema (again ignoring LPs advice of not going near beaches at night). Everything seemed a lot classier than Copa (but hey - we were too cheap to stay here).

Taking our lifes into our hands - we caught another night bus back to Copa - again nothing happened. According to LP - we should have been mugged at least 5 times by now.

LPs description of Copa is pretty funny - it is almost like one of thost nuclear fallout zones (eg - 1km from ground zero - burnt to a crisp, 5km from ground zero - 1st degree burns and so on). If you are at the beach - you will be pickpocketed, if you are one block away from the beach - you will be mugged, if you are two blocks away - you will be gang raped, and if you stay where we are staying (4 blocks away from the beach) - you will be murdered then raped. We tend to think maybe LP has seen City of God too many times.

Adios for now.