Doing Rio for 14 nights makes it the longest time in one city, and hostel since I left home. In arrived at the airport tired but petrified from all the warnings and stories that I was on the ball regardless, I knew what my taxi should cost me and I made a beeline for the taxi stands.
After a bit of trouble getting a driver to agree to go to Santa Teresa; a hilly cobbled streeted part of of town both beautiful and a hotspot for robberies; I approached another traveller to share the taxi to town. Looking up at the boards backpack on iPhone in hand I thought it best we help each other get out of that airport as soon as possible.
Turns out we were booked at the same hostel and that was that.
Rio was a city with many faces, the beaches, the upmarket parts of town (of those there were many), the poor parts of town, favelas, the touristic Rio and every thing in between that the average carioca lived. Arriving a week before carnival I managed to get a taster of as much of the different sides to the town as possible before the tourist quota went through the roof.
The parties and rehearsals made the first week a surprising pre carnival warm up, we went to blocos which were small parties in the street usually on a corner, with just locals and instrument players getting themselves ready.
These were some of the best, local people thinking that I was Brazilian and talking to me in Portuguese, cracking jokes… I did not understand a word, but you know when you just know someone was being warm and welcoming? This was one of those times.
Carnival week got intense because of the number of people that swarmed into town and the fact that we were a stones throw from Lapa the party district. You could plan a day of partying all around town then once your all partied out you still have to trek through the masses in Lapa, sometimes the road was blocked. Effectively you would have to party your way through to Santa Teresa, so you can’t complain about that…its carrrnivaaal!
