The other thing that you are absolutely aware of when you arrive, is its reputation – big, grimey and dangerous. So, upon entering the city, on the bus from Paraty, there was a little nervousness – but, as I sailed into this ridiculous town, I hung my elbow out of the coach window, soaked up the sunshine and blue skies, and submitted to the attitude it was necessary to adopt in South America: that if something terrible is going to happen to you can't stop it, so you may as well enjoy the ride.
It was just as well that I was in that required state of mind - I got the shudders upon seeing the hostel I had booked myself into (12 people in a 12 x 12 ft room – triple bunks – clambering up and down, your face 6 inches from the ceiling – the worst!).
The next day things got a LOT better - I was based in the heart of Copacabana beach – and it was a national holiday. The cities identity is, I guess, more closely linked to the beach lifestyle than any other on earth, and Copacabana and Ipanema are the places to be. It all used to be about Copacabana, but the trends change and now the place to be seen is Ipanema, posto 9 – this patch of sand surely contains the most intense concentration of raw, sassy beauty on the planet - I fitted right in. Obviously. It was very cool – the beaches are absolutely huge...I've never been anywhere like it. Copacabana itself is 5km long, and 70m deep, and Ipanema would be about the same – the sand is perfectly white, and the waves are huge. For the national holiday, all of the beaches were absolutely absolutely packed - 37 degrees, beer / prawn / corn / acai sellers, footvolleyball going on everywhere. Pretty cool.
The beaches aside, Rio is different to say, Buenos Aires, in that there isn't a lot else to do – that said, I went upto Sugar Loaf mountain, which is so high that the clouds are below your feet and the planes fly around you. We picked a good day and the views were amazing – Rio is a stunning place. Unfortunately, that was the best look I got at Christ the Redeemer, as for the rest of the week the weather changed and the city was covered with cloud.
I suppose the other thing about Rio is the nightlife – everybody goes out to Lapa, a grimier version of East London, for the weekly street party. You wander along the pavement, from vendor to vendor, with different music pumping out of the 100's of bars and clubs. Lapa's rough, to the point where everybody was told to remove their jewellry, hide their money in your shoe, and absolutely not to take a camera – thats why there are so few photos of Rio nightlife. It's a shame, because it is completely unique – in the clubs the people move differently, the girls certainly do – I went to a night called 'Favella Funk', not in a favella, but in a warehouse in a poor part of northern Rio – the same warehouse infact that Benny was shot, in City of God. One of the best nights I have ever been too – the music was cool, the atmosphere was very friendly, and like I say...the girls just move differently. Good times!
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