Overwhelming Rio

After a long sleep in, we woke up just in time for dinner: tonight, we tried a ‘per-kilo’ buffet – an entirely new experience for me! The meal was charged at whatever the weight of your plate was once piled with food. I of course took this as a challenge to figure out which types of food would be the lightest, and to eat mostly these foods…

The next morning, we were entertained by the cat before we had even left the hostel. It went absolutely crazy, its eyes were rolling into  the back of its head and it was running into tables and everything. I think It has been drinking the spa water – poor thing. Other than the crazy cat show, our morning was incredibly unsuccessful. We attempted to find a pretty neighbourhood called Sant Theresa to walk around and have lunch at, but unfortunately got a little lost and ended up walking right into the outskirts of a favela (a brazilian slum). In case you did not know this, going anywhere near a slum in Brazil is probably not a good idea. After realising we had no idea how to walk around the favela, we headed into the center of town to visit the museum and art gallery – both of which were closed. At least we got the hang of the transport systems, had a great time seeing the city, and met a very friendly brazilian in a Robin Hood costume!

We spent the afternoon in Ipanema with some friends from the hostel. We visited the gorgeous beach, purchased souvineirs from the hippie market and gawked at the crazy costumed people walking around and the street party going on. I would recommend the neighbourhood of Ipanema to EVERYONE. After having a bit of a boogie and using up the last of our money, we were starving and needed to find an ATM. Unfortunately, this was more difficult than we thought it would be. Luckily, we found one when I was about to faint with starvation, and sat down to eat meat on a stick at a street stall, washed down with a cold beer. Trying to get home was a nightmare due to the street party, there was no way we were getting a taxi or a bus! So we walked home around the lake, which was a gorgeous walk but took us a bit over an hour. Oh well, what did we expect?? ITS CARNIVALE!! (can you tell I’m a tiny bit excited?).

Until next time,
Erika xx