Rio de Janeiro

After experiencing an amazing Carnaval where I had loads of fun and met some great people, it was sadly time to say goodbye to Olinda, and move on to Rio de Janeiro. Having a time constraint I was unable to slowly meander down the east coast of Brazil and soak in the sun, and instead opted for a flight straight to Rio from Recife. Having booked it in advance, it worked out to be pretty good deal.

Once in Rio, having just got a flight straight after a night out, I just jumped straight in a taxi and headed to downtown Lapa to my hostel. Bit of a dingy place but centrally located: close to the subway for access to the sights and the Lapa nightlife just around the corner.

Rather than rushing anything in the heat, decided to take my time about seeing the sights. I know most people would relish the opportunity to bathe on the Copacabana beach but with my wonderfully pale skin, I was quite happy to walk up and down through the surf, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy a couple beers watching the day go by: volleyball tournaments, ripped up lads and bimbos strutting their stuff, people running up and down the beach (it’s too hot for that lark people) and attempting to ignore vendors selling caps and shades.

Christ the Redeemer being one of the new seven wonders of the world is without question one of the highlights of Rio, if not the centre piece of the city. With Christianity being the religion of choice, it is revered by all and a tourist hot spot to boot. The brain child of  Heitor da Silva Costa, it was originally designed to have Christ holding a cross in one hand (to symbolise Christianity) and a globe in the other (to represent the world). Come Oct 12^th 1931 when it was inaugurated, the design had slightly changed to what we have today, that of Christ in the position of a cross with the city of Rio itself representing the world.

Getting here is easy enough, there are buses from all over town to Cosme Velho, and if you say Corcovado to anyone they know what you are on about. (that's the name of the hill that it is on). Once at the bottom you can either get a shared bus ride to the top, or if you don’t mind waiting, there is the train to the top.

At the top there is minimal space to try and get that all important copy cat photo as the crowds are heaving and everyone is up there for the same thing, The panoramic views of Rio are incredible, there was a little haze up at the top so on an even clearer day the views would be even better.

Sugar Loaf mountain is another popular spot, again it is easy to get to and offers great views of the city, especially at sunset. At 396m it is significantly smaller than Corcovado which stands at 710m but you get better views of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. To get up to the top, you need to get the cable car which stops halfway on one mountain and then carries on up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Around the Lapa area, you have to be a little careful as there are some dodgy characters about but by and large if you keep your wits about you, you’ll be okay. With it being Rio it is possible that you’ll bump into some trouble but if this were to happen I would consider myself unlucky, however it does happen.

Nearby to the hostel are the Lapa Arches, an old viaduct that the train up to Santa Teresa uses. Up here you are privy to one of Rio’s main tourist attractions, Escadaria Selarón. In 1990, a Chilean artist took it upon himself to decorate the steps with tiles from all around the world and after a 30 year period, he could well be still going. Looking up it looks great, however, looking down it just looks like a cobbled set of steps, looks like he has a little more work to do then. 

Although I only had limited time, I was able to see most things I wanted, a derby football game happened to be on the day I left which was a shame though, guess I’ll just have to make sure I fit in a Boca game in Buenos Airies, but before then, my first stop in Argentina will be Puerto Iguazu, the jumping off point to see the mighty Iguazu Falls.

Carnaval in Olinda, Brazil

Once the Carnaval started, it was pretty much impossible to get the views from the previous couple of days again, there was never a moment when the streets were even close to been clear, maybe in the early morning hours, say 5am. The thing that made this Carnaval different from those in Salvador, Rio ad Recife nearby is that it didn't go on into the early hours. The odd night might have had some road where things didn't quieten down until 2am or so, but by and large come midnight, most people were tucked away in the their homes and hostels and getting ready to start again in the morning. Come 8am, horns blaring, fireworks exploding and drums pounding sounded the alarm to get moving and start again.

Having met some great people in the hostel, we tried to arrange it that we'd do our own thing during the day and then meet up later in the afternoon. During the heat of the day, the party never let up, with many of the surrounding roads always packed with blocos streaming through the crowds; some pulling a float, others with a puppet at the front with a flag bearer and brass band behind playing the local frevo music that Olinda, and the Pernambuco region is famous for. It was just up to you whether you joined in their party or carried on chatting/ drinking/ dancing where you were.

Wherever you looked, there was a street vendor selling water and cans of Skol or Brahma, the beers of choice up north. Both watery badness that goes down well in the heat when cold, quite horrific when they are mildly chilled and horrendous at room temp. Best to get them down quickly then. When the beer gets to much, there are always the mixed drinks and when in Brazil, why look any further than the fabled Caipirinha, the most sugary drink on the planet, surely.

To make a Caipirinha you need:

Crushed Ice,
Cachaça (Brazilian sugar cane based alcohol)
Lime
Sugar

Simply put some sliced lime in a canister, add 2 heaped table spoons of sugar (some of them had even more, it's a sweet drink in case you hadn't noticed). Use a crusher to mix the two together. Add some Cachaça, a couple of shots or so depending on how strong you want it, then add some crushed ice. Cover the canister and shake the living daylights out of it. Pour, drink, wince, get used to it, repeat.




There are other drinks of choice, but this would be the one I would go for. There's the chocolaty Capeta (not my favourite) or a Caprioska (think Caipirinha but with vodka instead). You can also mix up the fruit too, it doesn't always have to be limes. If you can handle the seeds, the passion fruit one is delicious.

Various squares throughout the town were set up with stages and at varying times throughout the day, there would be performances by different bands all pretty much playing the same music. It's not often you hear the same six or seven songs and like them even more at the end than at the start, something about them just makes you want to stamp you feet, raise your glass and dance. Of course the problem here is you look  a total gringo, as even the most ungifted Brazilian native can dance the samba and beyond and make it look easy. It's not, I just ended up stamping myself so I'll carry on with my generic clubbing moves. 

Down the bottom end of town, there is an area reserved for stalls selling drinks and food. It's also a decent place to rendezvous with lost friends, have a breather and prepare for another dance party or bloco. The food is pretty basic but who doesn't love beans and rice, and then there's the old family classic, Macaxeira (ma-ca-she-ra), meat and stodge, perfect to prepare for the next round of celebrating.

When you aren't dancing in a plaza by the stage or following a bloco and tapping away to the rhythm of the drums, you can quite happily stand to the side and watch as the revelry passes you by. This is one of the many reasons I chose this Carnaval as you can just watch a sea of colour pass you by and as it is so small and intimate, it was safe too, so taking pictures couldn't be easier. The people are also super friendly, so if you see someone in the parade who you think looks awesome, or you want to join in with them and dance, it isn't a problem, they are only too happy to accommodate you and dance and pose with you.

A genuinely pleasurable experience and one I would only be too happy to do again. However, if that were the case, next time I would bring an array of costumes and accessories. The amount of people dressed up in random regalia and genuinely original costumes was incredible. Besides that, there's not much more I would change about the way I celebrated Carnaval here in Olinda. A real treat and something I would recommend to anyone.

Preparing for Carnaval in Olinda, Brazil

Leaving the dank, miserable weather of Germany behind, I left the plane and entered the terminal in Recife, Brazil and immediately regretted my choice of clothing; jeans, hoody and my gilet (yes, I brought a gilet). Standing in the immigration queue was quite the treat and immediately you got the idea that things move slowly around here. For example, when the immigration officials had finished stamping the Brazilian passports, rather than lightening the load on the non-residents, they just shut up shop and scarpered.

Finally at the counter, I was pleasantly surprised to find the official spoke great English, wasn't bothered about onward travel out of the country at all and was all smiles as he couldn't wait to get off work so he could get ready for Carnaval with his family. That's more like it.

About 10km north of the city of Recife lies the town of Olinda, the place where the next eight days were to be spent celebrating the Carnaval. There are the obvious choices of Rio and Salvador to experience the Carnaval but rather than a big, expansive gathering, I was looking forward to the more intimate surroundings of Olinda. That and I was looking forward to meeting Joel, Robin and Frances here too, friends from back home.

The first three nights were spend in Albergue do Olinda, a hostel on Rua do Sol which was a really great place to hang out, meet people and get in the Carnaval spirit with lazy days by the pool and late nights out with early morning finishes to prepare the body for the carnage that was about to ensue in the following five days of Carnaval.

This was also the time to take the opportunity to walk around the cobbled streets of the town itself and take in the views of the ocean and Recife from the main view point at the top of a steep road by one of the many churches in the town. Unfortunately you couldn't go into any of the churches as they were all boarded up in preparation for Carnaval, a smart move really as the last thing you want is your church to get wrecked during the party hours.

Walking along the streets you saw the vendors preparing for the next five days, setting up their stalls, which basically varied between a booze stand selling any and all cocktails and ice cold beers or good old stodgy food which is always going to be a best seller during times like these. Non-descript meat/ chicken on a stick is a real favourite.

As you walk around, even through the hustle and bustle you can still appreciate how chilled out this little town is out of Carnaval season. People were friendly, houses quaint and colourfully painted or decorated with artful graffiti and miraculously built amongst one another whilst somehow retaining some form of privacy from the one next door. Not quite a beach town as there's no beach as such but you still get that feeling as you look out from the main vantage point and look out on to the turquoise ocean populated with small paddle and motor boats closer to shore and tankers further afield, all illuminated by a brilliant sun with not a cloud in the sky.

Basically, the perfect place to have a party. Let the fun start and the Carnaval begin.