Rio Redeemed

The charming fantasies of Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Carmen Miranda, Mike Nesmith and Duran Duran notwithstanding, from people we talked to in South America we had heard nothing but bad news about Rio de Janeiro: we would be mugged at gunpoint, have an urchin run off with our valuables at the beach and become involved in riots or gang violence in a slum neighbourhood.

Instead, we had a fantastic time, seeing great stuff with more nice people.  

I took far too many photos, so for this post please just sit back with a caipirinha and have a look at the gallery before (or instead of) reading on:

Rio: The Album

Casa Sid

On a steep back street in the shadow of the Lapa arches, behind a worryingly graffitied and squat-like door, was our perfectly-located and very boutique middle class guesthouse Global Rio, run by Eliza and Sid, a cute Brazilian couple who, with equally-cute two year old Hermes, made us very welcome to their city.

Sid gave us his (professional) city tour of our neighbourhood and beyond, the supposedly rough area of Lapa.

Colonial squares and shopping parades  blended with Art Deco cafes, hotels and arcades, churches and palaces vied for our attention, an awe-inspiring library, a weird Spiritualist hall, a Deco cinema remodelled as a bookshop, this was Rio as I had not expected it. At home we only seem to be shown the carnival and ladies' beach volleyball.

Slightly Boho and not dangerous as billed, Lapa was more like Shoreditch with sunshine, less hipsters, more interesting bars and incredibly (sickeningly, to some of us) talented musicians. Relatively quiet most of the time, it suddenly came alive on May Day, with packed bars and restaurants, music and dancing spilling onto the pavements.
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Here's a whistlestop version of four busy days of highlights...

Copacabana beach - underwhelming, long and busy. A lively sea for surfing, but a dangerous-looking undertow.

Ipanema beach - better, more character, lots of gay body-builders, tightrope walkers, skateboarders and beach bars. We caught up with lovely Lorna again, out with her three kids from their apartment across the road!

Sugarloaf Mountain - overpriced cable car ride with gift shop. It did have monkeys, though.

Christ the Redeemer - much better, and cheaper. A picturesque train ride up to great views in the company of the not-as-big-as-expected Andy Carroll lookalike (though big enough to be seen from all over Rio, and less injury prone).

Lapa Steps - urban art extraordinaire. Kim had ill-advisedly asked for directions from a wired-looking local gentleman preparing a line of cocaine on a shoe box. His sidekick, a wiry, pasty young ginger hipster, translated for him in a refined Doncaster accent.

It would be interesting to hear how those two became acquainted...

We also visited the beautiful and tranquil Jardim Botanical, navigated the bustling downtown shops and plazas, got lost in sleepy Santa Teresa with a crap map (no street signs we saw were on the map and nothing on the map appeared as a street sign!) and took loads of crazy bus rides around a city which showed us so much more than our rubbish fellow travellers had promised, especially about the gun-toting child criminals.

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