Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Country: Brazil

City: Rio de Janeiro

Duration: 3 days 

Accommodation: Harmonia Hostel, Ipanema

Rio de Janeiro was our first stop on our two month trip of South America. It is called 'The Marvelous City' and is well know for its white sand beaches, Rio Carnival, samba dancing and of course that giant statue of Christ the Redeemer looking down on the entire city. It was the perfect place to start our travels.

Day 1:

The first thing on our list was 'Corcovado' where we got to see the 38m high statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). The view from the foot of the statue was incredible with 360 degree views of the city, Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Guanabara Bay and the many mountains, including Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain) 

Next up was the world famous Copacabana beach. We walked half the length of the beach (it's 4 km long!) to 'Arpoador', a rocky headland between Copacabana beach and Ipanema beach. Here we watched surfers enjoying the waves and took in the beautiful scenery in front of us. We then strolled on Ipanema beach drinking fresh coconuts before heading home. (We were still a bit jet-lagged!)

Day 2:

Today we saw another side to Rio. We visited its slums, or favelas, where a fifth of Rio's population lives, high up in the hills. We took a tour of Rocinha (one of the largest favelas in Rio) which is now considered 'pacified'. This is when the police get involved and remove all drug traffickers and weapons. The houses in the favelas were on top of each other and the streets were narrow and unstructured. The whole place felt really cramped. The contrast to how the poor and the rich neighbourhoods live here, literally side by side, was hard hard believe.

After lunch we made our way to Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain) where we took a cable car up to two different peaks. The scenery from up there was incredible, an even better view than Corcovado. 

We headed into Centro and had a late dinner in Lapa. We needed to be a little bit more streetwise in the city centre and I did feel a little unsafe here at night. This was mainly due to the fact that we got lost and stumbled into a rough neighbourhood. Survival tip: Look like you know where you are going and walk with confidence! 

Day 3:

The last day in Rio de Janeiro was spent relaxing on Ipanema beach. We lay out, read, swam and walked on the beach. We also organised our accommodation and transportation to the next destination – Iguacu Falls! (It was only 24 hours away by bus!!)