A cidade maravilhosa

Or, the marvellous city

I've been putting off writing/finishing this post for more than two months now, and I'm a bit ashamed, but I still really want to share my amazing time in Rio with you. This post also brings my series of Brazil posts to an end. So here goes!

Glorious

Rio de Janeiro is nicknamed a cidade maravilhosa - and not without reason. I spent about five days there, flying from Salvador on Friday the 5th of June (I know... ancient history...) and back again on Wednesday the 10th. Although it was only quite a short visit, I fell in love with the city, and would love to go back again. I fitted in a lot, so this is a rather condensed version of what I did in those few days.

After arriving at the airport, I made my way by bus and taxi to the hostel where I was staying in the district of Gloria, called Santa Terê. One of my Oxford Portuguese friends, Cameron, was working there, so I knew I would be well looked after (although he was travelling when I arrived). Coincidentally, another one of us, Lise, was also visiting Rio at the time, from her job in São Paulo. It was great to meet up with her at the hostel soon after I arrived, and since we both wanted to do the same sort of things in Rio, we made the most of each other's company over the next couple of days.

That afternoon, Lise and I went for a hike up the Morro da Urca, which is a hill next to and about half the size of the famous Pão de Açúcar. We got up there in time to watch the sunset, which was fabulous. I'd already decided on my bus trip through Rio that I loved the look of the city, and the gorgeous light and spectacular views from the hill only confirmed my first impressions.

Christ the Redeemer peeking out for the sunset, as seen from the Morro da Urca

We walked back down the hill (slightly exciting in the dark!) and returned by bus to the hostel for a while, then went out again to the Copacabana district to meet another Oxford friend, Charlie. It was great to meet up and share our opinions of Brazil so far. The three of us have all had very different experiences. Lise and I also brought along a Brazilian girl called Anne, who Lise had made friends with earlier at the hostel. We had a very pleasant evening eating pizza, then listening to some traditional chorinho music at a tiny bar called Bip Bip, which apparently is quite famous, and returned home on the very efficient and easy to use metro.

With Lise at the Escadaria Selarón

We spent a peaceful night at the hostel, then Lise, Anne and I had a busy day exploring the city on Saturday - starting, of course, with a plentiful breakfast. We began with the Escadaria Selarón, a fantastically decorated outdoor staircase, created in the 1990s and early 2000s by Jorge Selarón, an artist originally from Chile. After walking up and down, and taking lots of photos, we moved on through a huge street market, past the iconic São Sebastião cathedral and the viaduct, and eventually got to the Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace), where we cooled down while looking at a modern art exhibition. Still the same morning, we went on a guided tour of the Palácio Tiradentes, which used to be Brazil's main parliament (when Rio was the capital), but is now only the state parliament. It was very interesting, and the tour guide was full of information.

São Sebastião cathedral

Inside the Palácio Tiradentes

We found lunch at an Italian restaurant, then got a bus across town to the botanical gardens, which various people had recommended us. It proved to be a relaxing way to spend an hour or so, enjoying the shade and admiring the impressive palm trees, and even we caught sight of some capuchin monkeys. Continuing as planned, we went to Ipanema beach, and walked all the way along it to the Arpoador rock, which juts out into the sea between Ipanema and Copacabana. From there I had a swim in the sea (which was a lovely temperature, if a little cooler than in Salvador) then we enjoyed another beautiful sunset. We bought some groceries - from a very modern-feeling supermarket, with much more variety than the one I'd been going to in Salvador - and headed back to the hostel, on the metro again, then cooked a large dinner and sat up chatting for a while.

At the botanical gardens

Another perfect sunset, this time seen from the Arpoador

Sunday was full of interest again, starting with breakfast time, when Cameron arrived back from his travels. Naturally the three of us Oxford people had a long chat over our food. Lise was due to leave in the late morning, but we managed to fit in a trip to buy souvenirs, and a swim at the hostel's pool, before saying goodbye. In the afternoon I went exploring, and visited the memorial to the second world war and the Museum of Modern Art. My favourite exhibition, organised by Damián Ortega and called O Fim da Matéria (the end of matter), was created entirely out of an enormous block of polystyrene, which various artists had been (and were still) carving into different shapes.

O Fim da Matéria at the Rio MAM

I had a look round another art gallery, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, then grabbed a snack and headed to Cobacabana beach. Sadly I'd just missed the sunset (even though I arrived at about 4.20!) but I still had a dip in the warm evening light before getting the metro back to the hostel. I had another quiet evening chatting to Cameron and eating lots of food.

The Museu Nacional de Belas Artes

Brazilians do love their selfies, but there will be no selfie sticks here!

A new day - and indeed a new week - brought more excitement. Lise had advised me to make an early start to get the best out of a trip to the iconic Cristo Redentor statue at the top of Corcovado. So after a good breakfast I walked down to the Praça de Machado, bought my ticket, and got on the minibus up to the top. It was a speedy and easy way to get there, and definitely worth it. The views were far too good to describe adequately - so rather than trying, here are a few photos.

Just to prove I was there!

I spent a good couple of hours at the top before catching a minibus back down and meandering back at the hostel. I had some lunch and cooled down in the pool, then Cameron took me sight-seeing around Santa Teresa. It was nice to get a feel for one of the more traditional districts, since I'd already spent a bit of time in the more modern areas like Copacabana and the centre. We ate some excellent pão de queijo (amazingly cheesy bready balls) and açaí (sorbet made from the famous berries), then walked down to Flamengo. Cameron introduced me to his favourite supermarket, which had more varieties of fruit and veg than I'd ever seen in my life. It was fabulous.

Cameron in Santa Teresa 

After another calm evening and night, I woke up bright and early, and hopped out of bed to watch the sunrise, then caught another hour's sleep. Cameron was off duty in the morning so we had breakfast together then went touristing again, this time to Parque Lage, which I loved. It was smaller and quieter than the botanical garden, and had a charmingly overgrown touch. We had a drink in the chic café (and I discovered I don't like maté, a kind of cold tea-like beverage), then walked down to the edge of the Lagoa de Freitas (large lagoon right in the city). I was really happy that we went past the Vasco da Gama rowing club - it made me feel right at home! I'm more than slightly envious of everyone who'll be rowing and volunteering in such beautiful surroundings during the Olympics and Paralympics next year.

Sunrise from outside my dorm - what a view!

Cameron at the café in Parque Lage

Outside the rowing club

Back at the hostel we enjoyed a huge and delicious lunch in honour of the owner's birthday, with plenty of beans, rice, meat, farofa, and brigadeiro cake. I ventured out again to see the Biblioteca Nacional - the national library, housed in a rather impressive building in the centre of town - and the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, which was originally set up by Portuguese immigrants to Brazil, and houses a large collection of Portuguese books. Out of these two visits, the first was much more interesting, as the national library had a few interesting exhibitions, including one about immigration to Brazil during WW2, whereas the Real Gabinete trip took the form of 'walk in, gawp for five minutes, walk out again'. Still, it was worth seeing. 

This photo of the interior of the Biblioteca Nacional doesn't really do it justice

This pretty much captures the feeling of the Real Gabinete

I made one final visit before going back to the hostel - this was to Rio's Central Station. Since I was there during the rush hour, it was very reminiscent of the scenes of the station in the famous film (Central do Brasil/Central Station), which is one of my favourites. I managed to catch the metro back to Glória then had a refreshing swim, a good dinner and a fun time chatting to some other hostel guests and to Cameron before bed.

Cameron at his desk in the hostel

The next morning was my last in Rio, and since I was flying out around lunchtime, I didn't have much time to do anything. I made the most of the hotel breakfast, had a swim, packed up, and began the journey back to Salvador. It all went smoothly and by 6 I was back at the pousada, sad to have left Rio and very conscious that I would soon be leaving Brazil completely. Malika and I went out in the evening with her friend Djalma to a nearby-ish bar where the speciality is lambreta, a kind of large clam that's very popular in Bahia. We tried two types - one cooked traditionally in broth with loads of onion, and one called lambreta gratinada which was deliciously cheesy. There's a picture of the same dish here.

Thursday was my last full day, and Malika made sure I did a few interesting things as well as getting my packing done. We went to my favourite lycra shop, and some other clothes shops, and I ended up buying a ball dress ready for a ball in Oxford at the end of June. We also had an excellent buffet lunch at Roma, another branch of the natural food restaurant we'd been to before. In the afternoon I skyped Stephen, packed, and ate a bit. I met Malika after her drum class, and we went out for a drink with Djalma and Maria, who'd also been at the class. It was a fun way to spend my final night in Salvador.

Maria, Malika, Djalma and me

By the time Friday arrived I was very excited to be going home to England. The morning passed in a flash. I did some last bits of packing and enjoyed eating a super vegetable curry made by Malika. Soon it was time to go into the airport. Malika and I said our goodbyes then I set off. The landlady, Gildete, and her husband Carvalho kindly took me all the way there at a pre-arranged rate. I arrived spectacularly early (more than four hours before the flight) and managed to have my hair cut, do some transcription and read quite a lot before takeoff. Apart from the fact that I didn't sleep at all, the flight was fine, and at 5am Portuguese time/1am Salvador time I arrived at Lisbon, with two hours until the flight to London.

And with that, my Brazil trip came to an end. I'm so glad I had the chance to do something so different from my life both in England and in Portugal. Maybe the circumstances weren't always what I would have expected or hoped for, but in many ways that's what made the trip such a valuable experience. I met many wonderful people, learnt a lot about linguistics, improved my Portuguese, got to know two very different cities - both with their charms - and all in all, had a great time.

Goodbye, Salvador

I don't want to make promises I won't keep, but I hope to add more posts to the blog at some stage. My year abroad proper may have ended in mid-June, but my adventures in Portuguese are still continuing.

To all my lovely readers - thank you!