Salvador: 1 - Rio: 0

Landed in Salvador de Bahia last night, after 12h travelling. Wow, what a shock!

From the airport I decided to take the local bus instead of a taxi into town. The bus took almost 2h to my destination (when I expected a maximum of 1h) and drove through some pretty dodgy neighbourhoods. I spent the last 20mn alone in the bus with a policewomen who had just got on: was it to protect me (Salvador is full of policemen everywhere), to extort money out of me (I have heard some good stories about the police in Brazil, but that´s for another post) or was she just taking a ride?


When I got off at my stop I was not where I expected to be. So here I was, in the street with my bags, completely lost and with some guys already following me and asking for some money. I finally got my bearings and walked to my hostel.

The atmosphere in the streets was phenomenal : fireworks, firecrackers, drumbands, reggae music blowing out of clubs, people talking to you...and the heat, the humidity. Wow!


After settling down and a quick beer in the hostel I went out with a newfound German friend. Salvador´s main square was buzzing with life. It was the way I imagine some parts of Africa to be. A band was playing loud Samba music, people were dancing, shouting, drinking, other people were trying to sell you bracelets, collars, peanuts, clothes, more bracelets, beach towels, kids would not let you go without getting something out of you. What a rush. An annoying rush a time, but a rush anyway!

Apart from the nightlife the city is really beautiful as you can see on the pix. But it´s hot man, so hot and humid.

Paraty

The Costa Verde is one of Brazil´s most beautiful coast (as my guide book says). The Costa Verde´s main attraction is Paraty, an unaltered colonial town 300km South of Rio. The town remains out of the beaten track and should not be missed, I think.


To me, Paraty is a mix between Vinales and Trinidad in Cuba. Vinales because inhabitants still go about their own businesses without paying attention to the few tourists around, children stroll to school, farmers and fishermen sit on the pavement drinking beer... people seem to have kept their authenticity. Paraty also reminds me of Trinidad because of its colonial architecture: houses built around courtyards, windows and doors painted in bright colours (where in Trinidad the whole houses were painted in bright colours, here walls are white and only doors and windows are flashing out in red, blue, green or yellow), cobbled streets making you feel like you have a leg shorter than the other all the time.


Anyway, very nice, very beautiful, very cute...

Tomorrow I have an early start (5h30) to take my bus to Rio. I will then fly to Salvador de Bahia, more than 2000km North. I am super excited: I will discover what people say is the true face of Brazil, the Nord-Este where African influence is still very strong. These words come to mind: heat, black, African cuisine, reggae street parties, forro, desert, wonderful beaches..... I can´t wait.

Why should I leave?

The boat dropped me off right by my bedroom. That was a good sign. The view from the bedroom was great: another very good sign (see pix below). The view from the hostel bar where I met my fellw travellers already playing drinking games was even better: the Abraaos bay to the left, the sea 2m away and the mainland on the horizon; the jungle mountains of the island in the back.


What do you do in Ilha Grande where cars, motorcycles and buses are forbidden (the only motor vehicule I came across was a police car with no front wheels!). Well...you chill out.

You go for day walks through the jungle and access a paradise beach on the other side of the Island; you jump on a boat in the morning and jump off at the ´blue lagoon´; you go snorkling or scuba diving and try to befriend with turtles; you play with friendly wild dogs who hang out on the beach (last night, a fight between 2 wild dogs got started under our dinner table and bottles and glasses fell down on the floor; that was quiet funny); you chill out the hostel hammocks with a caipirina in your hand; and at night you try not to step on huge crabs having their daily stroll in the village street.



My original plan was to stay 2 days in Ilha Grande. I ended up staying 4.5 days, too much stress on the mainland.

I am now back to civilisation, waiting for my bus taking me to Paraty.

Why did I leave?

6 days in Rio

My 6 days in Rio are over. I am now in Ilha Grande, a paradise island with no cars. Nature, nature, nature... Rio has been great:
- Ipanema beach house: the hotel was excellent. 3 blocks from the beach in the heart of trendy Ipanema. The interior patio including a bar and swimming pool were the best things to meet new people and start the night with a caipirina or two.
- Corcovado: no comments, you all have see the pix. Maybe the best view in the world.
- Copacabana: a bit seedy, a real tourist area now with prostitutes walking around looking for customers. Was very disappointed by this part of town.
- Leblon: one of the richest area in Rio, where Francoise and Yannick live. An expatriate hang out with a real village feel. The Guanabara pizza is where you should have a pizza around 5AM after a good night out.
- Lapa: the area for a night out. Walking around the streets of Lapa at night is a bit dodgy but that´s where you get a real feel of the city buzz. Samba, forro and other Brazilain sounds, it is all in Lapa. The samba club we went to, Carioca da Gama is highly recommended: great singing and dancing.
- Feira de Sao Cristavao: a weekly festival set inside a sport arena where immigrants from Northern Brazil relive their culture and feel at home. Entering the feria is like changing country: forro, forro, forro everywhere, food and craft from Northern Brazil. A lot of noise, dancing, eating, drinking. I liked the sign outside the arena: 'people carrying firearms will not be allowed in'.

On my return to Rio in 3 weeks I should not miss the following: the Sugar Loaf mountain and the favela tour which I heard was wonderfull.

How to pull in a favela

Well, the receipe is simple. You need to be at least 12. You should have been to the gym for the previous 5 years and not shy about showing your muscles. Being topless to show how strong and mean you are is a must. You should additionally wear a big gold chain around your neck and preferrably being tattooed all around. This all sounds like a cliche, like a snoop doggy dog video, but that´s the way it is.

So once you find a target in the favela club you should move straight to it, not loose time by asking any question or even talk (who cares for the name or the age of the target anyway?) and go straight for the mouth. If the target is a bit shy or unwilling try a bit a talking, but don´t push it: 1mn is more than enough. If you have followed the above recommendation you will be successful. If you are not successful, read the beginning of this post again. Next phase of the process (i.e. 5mn later, when you are done with target No. 1), find another target and repeat the above.

Well, all this to say that people in Brazil are pretty straightforward, and are more straightforward in a favela. I know all this because I went to a favela party last night. The favela (a favela standing next to the ´city of god´ favela, remember the movie?) is pretty safe as it has no drug lords and is mainly controlled by the police (mind you, I am not sure who is the worse in Brazil, the police or the drug lords. I have heard such stories about the police here).

So basically the night went OK, apart from the music (Brazilian hip hop) being really shit. We were a bit worried as we got there but the organiser kept saying there was absolutely no problems. We left around 5AM. On the way back our mini bus had to stop at the entrance of a tunnel: the tunnel was blocked as the police had apparently encountered some drog lords inside and serious action was going on in there. We were finally allowed through after a 15mn wait.

Every occurencies in Rio...

Ipanema

My youth hostel is in the center of Ipanema. Ipanema is an exclusive neighbourhood located in the Rio's Zona Sur, between Copacabana and Leblon. Ipanema is again, really exclusive. The youth hostel stands between Luis Vuiton and and Mont Blanc. Streets are packed with interior design and designers clothes shops. You could be in the Paris 16th districts or in Chelsea, London.

People here are beautiful. There are no beggars in the street, where are they? Maybe they get kicked out by the police when they show up. Valet parking attendants are everywhere. People here do not park their cars themselves you see.

Buildings around here are very posh, protected with high gates, security guards and security cameras. In that respect it reminds me of the Beverly Hills neighbourhood in L.A. This is weird: it feels safe and very unsafe at the same time. All this protection has been implemented for some reason.

Ipanema stands next to the beach. From the beach you turn your head to the right and discover one of the sugar loaf kind of mountain peaks which make Rio so beautiful and unique. The mountain is covered with unstable contructions; a huge favela.


From within the apparent wealth and order of Ipanema you are easily reminded of the two sides of Brazil: the richest and the poorest live side by side in a constant struggle.

A Nato index measures inequalities within a country, comparing the richest and the poorest people. Brazil comes in at number 1 (or 2, can't exactly remember) in the list; Brazil is the country where the gap between the richest and the poorest is the highest in the world.

Hand gliding over Rio

Woke up this morning on my 2nd day and felt a bit crazy: today I am going hand gliding. The instructor picked us up at 1PM and drove us West through the richest neighbourhoods of Rio and the always adjacent favelas. We then drove up through the wonderful national parc of Tijuca (the largest urban forest in the world) and up to the top of the sugar loaf type of mountain from where we were gonna jump, 800m above the city.

The view from the top was absolutely amazing, a different angle on Rio from the day before. The sky today was a perfect blue, super clear, you could see all the islands surrounding Rio far, far away out at sea.

The islands were a good trick: when you start running down the ramp before the jump, focus on the islands and the islands only: 'If you look down you will get scared and stop running and it will be too late...'

1, 2, 3....off you go, stare at the islands on the horizon, run as fast as you can down the ramp... and relax. The first second was the scariest thing: the handglider has not caught the wind yet and you just fall down the mountain. But the moment the wind is caught the fun starts: no noise, complete silence and the beauty of Rio and the nearby beaches unfolding below. What a kick!

13mn later we landed smoothly on the wonderfull beach surrounded with gorgeous mountains. An experience not to forget. What best place to handglide than over the beautiful city of Rio.

Welcome...

My cab driver set the tone after picking me up from the airport. It was 6AM, I had just landed in Rio and we were driving down the motorway leading to Rio: 'on the right here you can see favelas; Can you see? I would not drive down here at night, I have seen so many shootings and armed roberies on this part of the motorway...' Welcome to Rio!!


3h after landing I was already up the Corcovado where the view over Rio is flabergasting: on one side you can see Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana; on the other side Sugar Loaf mountain, Flamengo, Centro and Niteroi bridge can be admired. Behing you, the huge 36m statue of Christ watches over the city. I will need to get back up there at sunset to see the city lights appearing. A girl I was up there with and who was finishing her world tour told me nothing see had seen could quiet beat the view (the view of Cape town from Table mountain in South Africa was coming in 2nd position only).


Ended up the day walking Santa Theresa, a set of hills where rich Cariocas (as Rio's inhabitants are called) used to build houses back in the 19th century. Walking around this area is pretty safe and well protected by the police. An exotic ride on the 'Bonde' full of school kids holding on to the outside of the tram took us back to the city centre.

Don't worry mum, I only travel around the city by taxi, so I am safe from muggings!