I wont bore you with the intricacies of our journey across the Atlantic, but after 15 hours, 5 films (including Eat, Pray, Love which although not a patch on the book definitely whetted my appetite for travel, and pasta), a very dodgy roast beef aeroplane meal and a tantalising glimpse of Christ the Redeemer, we finally arrived at Rio Hostel.
Arriving at night after a long day in travel purgatory is always slightly disconcerting but a Canadian called Todd, who became an invaluable source of not only helpful information and advice but fun and frolics too, pointed us in the direction of some food. Our first meal in Rio can hardly be called traditional but wary of heading into the scary street party in Lapa and being forced to samba, we snuck in to a Japanese bar and shared a plate of very expensive Yakisoba before trudging back up the hill to the hostel and collapsing in to bed.
It wasn't until the morning that we fully appreciated the beauty of our surroundings. Rio Hostel is situated in the hills of Santa Teresa, and waking up in the morning with views over the city was pretty breathtaking. After a quick breakfast, and a little explore around the hostel to get our bearings, we got the bus down to Leblon where we walked the length of the beach from Leblon to the start of Copacabana, stopping only to pretend that we could do pull-ups on the workout stations situated along the sidewalk. We stumbled across a food and flower market in Ipanema, and although the fresh mango we sampled was beautiful, I was handed various herbs and spices to smell under the watchful eye of the stallholder and he was so encouraging that I didn't want to appear rude and consequently ended up with marjoram up my nose and practically coming out of my eyes. Not a nice experience.
A long day in the sun took its toll on poor Forrest who was to learn a valuable lesson in the preventative properties of a good sun hat. The next two days were spent out of the sun and in the cool of the air conditioned room constantly having cold showers and applying aloe vera cream. As you can imagine I was entirely sympathetic and not a bit ungracious at the prospect of sitting in the room on BBC Sport, and was even more thrilled at the purchase of an emergency hat that even Shaun Ryder would have turned his nose up at in his heroin-fuelled heyday. The blue flowery plastic hat has since been replaced with a much more suitable panama hat.
While Forrest tended to his dehydration and burns, I did a very daring and exciting thing on my own - went to Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil, and met up with Rogerio Rodrigues from CrossFit Rocinha. I am in the process of writing a separate blog post about my trip to Rocinha for the CrossFit Clitheroe website, and once this is done I will post a link to this for anyone interested! It was an eye-opening experience and unfortunately Rogerio was catching a plane to Sao Paulo so I was unable to do a W.O.D with him (phew!)
Touristy highlights of Rio included:
*Sugar Loaf Mountain at sunset. We took beers and homemade caiprinhas up with us and got a little tipsy whilst admiring the stunning views.
*Seleron Steps in Lapa, as seen in the Snoop Dogg and Pharell video for Beautiful
We met the artist who asked us to send him a Manchester Utd tile to add to the ever evolving steps - so please keep your eyes peeled incase such a thing exists.
*Having starring roles ('Couple in Cafe') in an Italian film whilst having a drink in a Cafe-Bookstore in Santa Teresa.
*Caiprinhas & Caipivodkas with passionfruit and pineapple respectively.
*Christ the Redeemer definitely deserves a mention too, although very hot and very busy with lots of annoying tourists, the views from up at the top were unparalleled and the statue itself is pretty awe-inspiring (as was the shade it creates!)
We also spent a few days on Ilha Grande, a beautiful tropical island south of Rio. For those who remember the 'Great Atlas Mountain Hike in FlipFlop' debacle of the Morocco Hike, you'll recall that our choice of footwear for walking is not always the most sensible. Choosing to hike across the jungle, after heavy rain, in flip flops was not our finest three hours and after slipping and sliding and falling about in bare feet and broken flipflops, we finally arrived at the beach before the beach we were destined for and gave up and had a beer.
The next day we went on a boat trip around the island which included snorkelling, but the experience was slightly disappointing as the visibility wasn't great and it was very crowded. Overall though it was a lovely day, and topped off wonderfully with cocktails on the beach at sunset with some great Swedish girls from the hostel.
It was then back to Rio for a couple of days to wait for our flight to Manaus, which is where I am writing this blog from. Tomorrow we are going on an Amazon Jungle Tour, please keep your fingers crossed that we see pink river dolphins and don't get massacred too much by mosquitos! For anyone interested, you can see our trip itinerary here Amazon Antonio Jungle Tours
Photos to follow on facebook soon, and if you're a skyper then add me [beatricecross], you must be missing us terribly by now.
Love Bea xxx
Forrest's Final Thought:
Our very limited Spanish has been absolutely no use whatsoever here in Portuguese Brazil, however I have found speaking very loud and slow, and using the ubiquitous phrase "Nao Compreendo" is all you need really.
