Rockin' Rio

I'm writing this right now from exotic (not so exotic) Lansing, Michigan, on a shoot for work.  I have a few more posts to finish up the rest of my trip so I'll try to get those all done soon.

I arrived in Rio de Janeiro by bus from Sao Paulo late in the afternoon on June 3rd.  The bus station wasn't very centrally located so even though the hostel where I was staying had sent instructions for getting there by bus, I decided to take a taxi.  I knew the hostel was located in a favela or slum area, but most of the reviews I had read on-line seemed to indicate that the location was relatively safe so I wasn't too concerned.  However, as we got closer and started to go up the hill, things took a turn for the worse.

My first clue that something was amiss was the torn-up and muddy road that the cab driver had trouble driving on.  At one point he said he couldn't go any further, but when I pointed out that I didn't know where I was and had all my bags with me, he reluctantly agreed to keep going.  Some of the local guys even jumped on the car's hood to help him try to get traction.  Then we got to another spot that was nearly impassible and this time he completely refused to continue uphill.  As I loudly protested and asked where the heck I was supposed to go, he vaguely waved up the road as I grabbed my bags and paid him (without giving a tip.)  I had to trudge the rest of the way on foot along the side of a narrow muddy road with all my belongings on my back.  Luckily I hadn't gone that far when I saw a sign for the hostel and was able to get inside behind the locked gate.

Once inside I found out the cause of the horrendous road conditions.  There was currently no running water.  The water main had broken for the entire favela, which was why construction crews had been digging up the streets and leaving them a mess overnight.  The guy at the front desk told me he was hoping the water would be back on by the next day, but I decided to cancel one night of my three-night stay because the situation still seemed to be pretty dire.  I felt bad about canceling at all so I figured I could stick it out for two nights.  Unfortunately, with the lack of water the hostel was in pretty rough shape.  The kitchen was a mess with dirty dishes piling up and the only available water in the bathrooms was in huge jugs to be used only for "flushing" the toilets.  I had to venture out beyond the hostel walls again just to get bottled water from the bar next door so I could brush my teeth. Washing my face or hands was sadly out of the question.  In my dorm room there were only two other people and one of them was a middle-aged man, which was also slightly awkward.  Then starting very early the next morning, people were out smoking on the balcony right next to the room.  That was the last straw.  No matter how bad I felt for the people running the place, I just couldn't stay there any more.  I booked another hostel on-line and then went downstairs to check out and cancel my second night.

Luckily the woman at the front desk was understanding and even gave me a map to show me how to get down to the main street.  There was probably a way to take a bus, but it seemed like it was just easier to walk to my new hostel so I decided to hoof it.  The favela was much less intimidating in the morning light and the construction crews were already back at work on the roads by the time I walked by.  I made my way down the hill to the main street along Copacabana Beach and then found the new place a few streets back from the beach relatively easily.  The most annoying part was the steep uphill climb right before I got to the entrance.  Once inside I had to leave my bags by the storage lockers until I was able to check in later in the day.  Fortunately, they let me take a shower in one of the bathrooms so I was able to finally get clean.  I then put on my bathing suit and set right off for the beach.  I ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant across the street and then spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the sand.  In retrospect, I'm really glad I did because it turned out to be the best beach day of the week.

Once I got back to my hostel later in the afternoon, I was finally able to check in and move my stuff up to my room.  The room was nice because each bed had a set of privacy curtains, but I was stuck with the one bed that wasn't also up against a wall so only one side was secluded.  While I was getting organized I met two American sisters, one of whom was working on a research project in Brazil for the semester.  Then a bit later I met a Dutch girl named Mana who was also staying in my room.  The other girls had gone out apartment hunting so I invited Mana to go get some dinner.  She had told me about a woman from Alaska named Lisa who was another one of our roommates and when I met her as I was getting ready I invited her to dinner as well.  The three of us went to a local place where we cobbled together enough of our Portuguese/Spanish knowledge to figure out how to order since the waiter didn't speak English.  Mana, who had been in Brazil for a while and in South America as a whole for several months was probably the most proficient of all.

Earlier in the day, I had seen an advertisement for hanggliding (something I had wanted to try since childhood) in the hostel lobby.  The next morning I got up early and tried to organize a trip.  Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and rainy so they weren't flying.  I decided instead to head to downtown Rio.  Armed with just a map from the hostel I took the subway to the Flamengo station and randomly picked a direction to start walking in the hopes of hitting the coastline.  After a few missteps, I did make my way to the Parque do Flamengo.  I walked along the beach for a while and then crossed over to try to go up to the Gloria Church.  It was on the top of a hill, though, and I couldn't figure out how to access the road to get to the top.  Giving up after a few minutes, I walked back across the street, passed a World War II monument and a small boat harbor before getting to the heart of downtown.

Walking down the main Avenida Rio Branco, I passed some municipal buildings, the National Library of Brazil, the beautiful Municipal Theater and the National Museum of Fine Arts.  Then it suddenly started to pour down rain.  I found a place to stop for lunch and then once it let up, continued on my way.  Once I hit Avenida Presidente Vargas I headed west in the hopes of making it to a few more landmarks noted on my map.  Along the way, I wandered into the Praca da Republica where I ran around with these huge guinea pig-like creatures that looked like they could eat me (I think they were capybaras.)  Soon, though, I realized there was no way I was going to get as far as I was hoping.  My feet were aching and it was getting later and later.  I decided to make my way toward the subway to go back to Copacabana.  Unfortunately by this point, I had no idea exactly where I was, so I headed back vaguely in the direction from which I had come.  I went by the parade grounds and through some not-so-great areas until I finally reached the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral.  I didn't really know where the subway was and it was already starting to get dark, but luckily as it was rush hour I was able to just follow the flow of people until I got to a station.

Later that night, back at my hostel, I met up again with Lisa, Mana, their new friend, Tulee from Israel, and a South African guy named Angus.  We stayed up well into the night even get yelled at for making too much noise in the courtyard.  From there on out my time in Rio suddenly became much more interesting.