22nd December 2003. Nothing prepared us for the bedlam at Foz do Iguacu bus station! We knew a lot of people would be heading home to Rio for Christmas but we never expected anything like the total chaos we were confronted with. Not only were there locals and holidaymakers, but groups of market traders with phenomenal amounts of goods they’d bought cheaply in Paraguay and were hoping to smuggle over the border into Rio State. They were really shady characters. What they’d basically done to ensure the luggage space for all their goods was buy up all the remaining seats on the bus so the hold was only maybe a quarter full. This meant more seat space for us, but we felt really uncomfortable the whole journey. It soon became evident just how illegal what they were doing was, at every police check along the route to Rio they collected money from each other to bribe the police officers, also the driver to keep his mouth shut. I couldn’t believe what was going on. The police were obviously wise to the whole thing and held the coach at each check point, sometimes for over two hours, to get more money from the traders. Our 22 hour coach journey soon accrued an extra 5 hours and we were still only in Sao Paulo! All the way into Rio the bus kept stopping off at secret drop-off points where white vans were waiting. There would be a flurry of activity as masses of bags and boxes were transferred, the vans then sped off in various directions and we headed to the next drop off point. Naturally we got off each time to make sure our bags didn’t disappear also, much to the chagrin of the smugglers who tried to force us back on the bus – too many unwelcome eye’s etc! Along with another English guy who spoke Portuguese and a few locals, we all started to complain to the driver, we even tried to contact the police when the driver went straight past Rodovario station, one of the traders had bribed him to go out of Rio with his goods. We’d been hijacked!!! At Niteroi station, we spotted a police box and tried to get some help, the driver panicked and began to drive off with us all still on the station, I had to jump back on the bus and jam the door open with my body or he would have just left us all. With all the smugglers now gone, the driver was confronted with some very angry Brazilians and travelers which left him in a bit of a pickle. We made him take us back to Rio Rodoviaria station. Our journey had taken us a mammoth 28 hours, but at least we were here now and could finally relax and get into the Christmas spirit, plus it had been nice to see the true Brazilian economy in action!
Rio, described by many as the worlds most beautiful city setting is a truly incredible place. Nowhere on our travels have we seen so many contrasts actually within a city itself. From the modern centro to the trendy beaches of Cobacabana to the urban jungle of the Tijuca forest. Amongst all this live seven million 'Cariocas' as the locals call themselves, some of them in the desperately poor 'Favelas' clinging precariously to the granite escarpment surrounding the city. Rio is a dangerous city (In the late 90's there were an average 700 murders a month between here and Sao Paulo), and is something you are constantly aware of as you travel the city . However, it is easy to be paranoid, and we found that a little common sense is all it takes to have a great time safely. We used the cheap local buses, drank in local bars and even did a lot of walking (in day-light!) around the city and had no problems whatsoever. If you walk around with your big flash camera waving cash around you're going to get turned over - period. But if anything the average Brazilian will go out of his/her way to ensure you have a good time, they constantly remind you to be aware of pickpockets and be careful as soon as they hear you're a tourist. They're a really friendly bunch.
We'd booked ahead to stay at a small guest house 20 mins outside Rio called Casa Carioca, which was a little beyond our budget but Carol & Bert kindly forwarded us some money to stay somewhere a little better over Christmas and New Year (thank you so much it was greatly appreciated). After catching a taxi to Freguesia we got settled in and wound down. Christmas eve we spent with Carlos the Belgian owner and his Brazilian wife Ivete. Bless them, they gave us a free upgrade to a better room as they were quiet and even cooked us a Turkey for Christmas dinner! It did feel a little strange celebrating Christmas away from home though, it's just not the same without all that freezing weather plus family and friends! Between Christmas and New Year Carlos took us around Rio on various daytrips to the famous landmarks, such as the Corcovado where Christo Redentor stands arms outstretched over the city, also Pau do Açucar (sugar loaf mountain) where we got spectacular 360 degree views of the city round to Copacabana and Ipanema, and to the left the harbour with its enormous road bridge leading to Niteroi. Carlos also took us to some fantastic restaurants off the beaten track, where we ate traditional seafood and North Eastern cuisine. We also tried some great dishes at Casa Carioca cooked by Ivete, who also showed us how to make Caiprainha and introduced us to 'Romeo & Juliet' (we're not going to tell you what either of these things are as we intend to make them for everybody when we get home - you lucky devils!), not to mention giving us the odd Samba lesson to boot! I also took a hanglider flight over the beaches which was amazing (sorry, no pictures for the website yet as we have to have them developed). The flight launched from high up a mountain in the Tijuca forest (the worlds largest urban forest) and you literally run off the mountain side - it's a real buzz as you just can't see the hanglider holding the weight! Sarah stayed safely on the beach and managed to shoot a beer-assisted video of the completely wrong person who landed a few moments before I did! Carlos also tried to catch my landing on digital camera but forgot to use the 'on' button first. A fine effort between the photography team! Before New Year we also managed to queue for ages with loads of other Brazilians to get 'Lord of the Rings' tickets. We saw the film at Barra de Tijuca (the 'new' Rio), well worth the wait!
Our main reason for heading to Rio had been to spend New Year there. Most people head to Copacabana beach and the media we're already hyping up the event well before we arrived on the 23rd, so we expected a big turn out. I don't think either of us were prepared for the estimated 2.5 million people who flooded onto the beach though. It was awesome, live music, hundreds of food stalls, even a cruise liner pulled off beach as a backdrop. Plus there were 200 tonnes of fireworks that were set off from barges just offshore at midnight - totally mind blowing. The finale though was the lighting up of the Meridian hotel with a huge firework shower which rained down every side of the building from the roof and was simply incredible. It's difficult to put the evening into the words - you simply had to be there (again sorry but no photos yet, as we had to buy a cheap throw-away camera, it's just way too dangerous to walk around Copacabana with a camera at night, we will however get them developed and scanned in asap). We soon came down to earth with a bump though after midnight, it took us five hours to get a taxi back to Freguesia! Laid in bed next morning we were watching BBC world service where it showed New Year celebrations around the world. I couldn't beleive it when it showed Copacabana beach and described it as the "mother of all New Years parties", apparently the biggest New Years celebration anywhere in the world, even Times Square only drew a measly 750,000! Understandably for us New Year was a bit of an emotional time, not only did we both miss family and friends, but it also meant that we had entered our final month of travelling. At that moment stood there on the beach I don't think either of us could imagine actually going back to England in only a few weeks. However, we were cheered up no end though by phone calls from everybody later on New Years day - thanks everybody.
Our loose plan from here on, was to head north east of Rio to dive at Arraial do Cabo, so after new year we booked our tickets and made preparations to head off once again.
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