2 posts tagged “rio de janeiro”
The luggage eventually turned up at 6.00 in the evening, so another day without clothes, sunscreen, shampoo etc... W ended up going to a local shop and buying some shorts and sunscreen so we could go to the beach. I tried to convince Tony to buy a pair of tight speedos (which are very fashionable over here) but he wasn´t having any of it. He did get some flip flops though which he swore he would never ever wear. He said it was because he didn´t want to wear his boots in the heat, but even after the luggage arrived, the flip flops were still a very close friend...
Rio is a very scary place at night. We have heard numerous stories of muggings and shootings and that is only from the tourists!!! We walked past a school the other day and the children were basically locked in behind the biggest iron gate you have ever seen, with a security guard on the door. It makes moss side feel like a walk in the park.
Suprisingly despite the backwardness of Brazil with high crime rates and rust bucket vehicles ( which never have any handbrakes... bricks suffice over here), their policy for recycling is much more involved than that in the UK. The Government are trying to convert all cars to LPG gas, and when converted the Gonvernment gives a 75% discount on car tax. Litter bins are labelled, plastic, paper, glass or metal so all rubbish produced, even on the street can be recycled... why is the UK not doing anything like this???
We also walked past the smallest swimming pool in the world today. It was a small shop with a glass front and a swimming pool inside it!!! Bizzarre...
We are staying in a hostel called Stone of A Beach. I would highly reccomend this to anyone going to Rio, although it is nearly 30 pounds a night for a double, internet, laundry and breakfast are free.
Well after a 13 hour flight, we couldn`t wait to collect our luggage and find a hostel so we could go straight to the beach. We waited at the luggage carousel until we had seen various bags go round about ten times and realised our luggage hadn´t come with us. We soon discovered we were in Rio and our luggage was in San Paulo....
Not to worry, San Paulo is only a 30 minute flight from Rio. Our luggage could get on the next plane, and it could be sent straight to our Hostel (so British Airways said!!).
So we caught a taxi to Copacabana. Amazed at the Brazilian driving skills... it was like Sunday drivers on speed!!!! We sat on the beach after looking round for a hostel. We had no look finding anything which looked like a hostel so sat on the beach to contemplate. A list of hostels was in our Lonely Planet book. Our Lonely Planet book was in our luggage. We could´t get our luggage until we rung the airport to tell them where we were staying... mmm... interesting situation!!!
Eventually we found a very nice hostel, got some free breakfast and waited for our luggage.
Meanwhile we went on a trip to see the Statue of Christ which overlooks Rio. It was huge and definitely towered over the city. The most amusing part of seeing Christ on a mountain was how you got up to the mountain. The guy at the hostel where we were staying, bundled us all in a VW campervan and managed to get up the mountain in first gear. When we got to the top, we had to go on to outdoor escalators to reach Christ... now that is what I call a Stairway To Heaven!!!
We watched the sunset and then made our way to bed after a long day... still waiting for luggage...
