Beach and the 28 hour bus ride......

So last day in Rio, we headed to the beach not just any beach, but Copacobana beach. Now you'll have to excuse the lack of photos of the wonderful white sand and the many fine ladies that were on the beach as I forgot my camera. But you can Google for some nice ones and imagine me there amount the people I'm sure. The waves were quite good and we ended up getting wiped out as we got caught in two waves at the same time andi ended up doing a handstand In the shallows as I tried vainly to right myself. As we were leaving I decided that I would head out to the beach gym that I had heard off between copacobana and ipenenama beach. I only know this from googling but it was a 5km beach walk there and back. Needless to say my legs were killing me just after that torment. Let alone a beach gym workout :) after which i headed back to arrange the next part of the trip, having been recommended a hostel called galleria 13. So I expect great things.

So now to book the bus to Salvador in the morning, one catch, you need Brazilian ID to book a bus online, even on the foreigner tab. So I have to be at the bus station in the morning before the bus leaves at 915 and get a space of which only 2 remain. Luckily there is another company, also have to buy at the station but this one leaves at 11 but takes 28 hours, decided on the latter. The bus its self was not uncomfortable, but due to a lack of any timekeeping in Brazil the trip took a total of 33 hours so now a full 39 hours later I'm safely in the hostel.

First days in rio

So headed out to a street party with some folks from another hostel. Everyone is painted or dressed up in crazy ways, I even have a mask from Elena with bright yellow feathers, don't have any pictures as I was advised not to take anything in my pockets. So on the way we grabbed beers from street sellers with polystyrene boxes full ofid ice. The costumes are either very well done or just enough to give you an idea of what they are meant to be, captain america with a face mask and shield, men in fancy dresses and high heels, people decked out as mushrooms from Mario, devils, fairies all dancing to the samba beat and having a good time. We finally get to the float with a live band and a big samba band behind them, driving slowly through the streets. It gives me a taste of what carnival is going to be like and its going to be great fun. We carried on following the float till about 1, that's 1pm not early in the morning.

Me and Elena then decided to try to see Christ the redeemer, we did not fair so well. We tried to take the metro, once we had fought our way through the crowds the station we wanted was closed, we headed to the next nearest station but that had extra barriers up and made Paddington at rush hour look like a piece of cake. The walking alone had taken about 2 hours because of the number of people on the streets. Back to the hostel for a nap, I didn't wake up till the morning, whoops.

Second day, much better we walked most of the way to the train station for the redeemer after getting off the bus rather too early. There is a tram to the top of the mountain but it was having issues so we got on a minibus, which felt like a bit of a scam as they picked us up and took us to pay the fare, then dropped us off and we paid another fare to get on another minibus to take us into the national park in which the redeemer stands. Awesome views from the top :)

Time to head back to the hostel and get ready for carnival tonight.