Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Round 3- Day 1

If you are reading this, please note that some of the stuff I am writing would not be in chronological order. As I am writing this retrospectively, I am going to write about the cool stuff I remembered first :) 

So this episode starts off with the time when I have just flown back from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

As some of you might know, I was supposed to go to Santiago de Chile, but then I did a major mess up with my flight booking. So basically I booked my flight to go to Chile a month ago, and I thought everything was okay. I was waiting for check-in to open at the airport, and I happily went to do my check in and the machine kept saying error when I typed in my booking number. So I went up to the counter, and they said my booking was actually a reservation :O So there I was stuck at the airport at 3-4am in the morning! Anyway very tired, as had just flew in at 10pm from BA to send my mum off, as her flight was leaving from Rio. He asked me if I wanted to rebook my flight and he checked the prices, and as it was last minute of course it was crazy expensive like 300-400 US dollars, sorry can't remember the actual price. So I thought forgot it, I rather spend another week in Rio instead! 

Doesn't this look like the flight booking has been confirmed? 

So the super annoying thing was we (me and my mum) had to leave BA early as we thought we would not make it back in time for her flight in Rio, but it turned out, the same Emirates flight was leaving from BA transiting to Rio to go back to Dubai then Kuala Lumpur. So if I had booked the Emirates flight instead, we could have left BA a lot later and the Emirates flight would be much better and also cheaper! 

Anyway I ended up spending my entire night at the airport :O Yes I was sleeping at the Rio de Janeiro–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Brazil!!!

This is actually the story of my life, sleeping at airports. Hahhaha.

Actually I am not sure how safe sleeping at this airport is, when I first arrived, I was chatting to some guys from Sao Paolo at the airport as I had to borrow an iphone charger!! They told me that they just saw somebody had their stuff stolen at the airport, and I know the airport is quite near to a favela :/

But luckily nothing happened to me, I had quite a nice sleep, even though the chairs had handles on it, so had to sleep in a fairly awkward position, but I guess it's alright since I am petite so I fit anywhere. Hahhaha. 

So I spent most of my morning, pursuing hostelworld trying to find a decent accommodation.

Came down to two choices, a hostel in Santa Theresa and another one a Barra da Tijuca.

Took so long to make my decision, I can be so indecisive sometimes. The one in Santa Theresa was cheaper, but as you know Santa Theresa is on top of a hill and can be quite difficult to get down from especially if it rains and the other thing is it's right next to a dangerous favela. Barra da Tijuca is a relatively 'new area'. Slightly far from the touristy areas of Copacabana, Ipanema, but the beaches are super awesome and clean, and it's far from the favela. 

I finally decided to pick the hostel in Barra da Tijuca, it's called Wolo Hostel.

Main reasons I chose this place:

1. Close to the Barra da Tijuca beach- 5 minutes walk

2. Close to Jardim Oceanico metro station, Line 4- it's a relatively new metro station, they built a new line for the Olympic games

3. Close to so many shops, restaurants, bars etc.

4. Had all the facilities I was looking for: Eg: Air conditioning, free breakfast, wifi, towels provided

5. Good price

6. John my Swiss friend was living in Rocinha, and it's super easy to get there from this place, either with the metro or hopping onto a bus :D 

Basically the location was awesome!

Also the little known fact that, you can get from the airport with the new BRT bus to Barra da tijuca area and it only costs R$ 3.80, but the bus rides takes almost 1.5-2 hours. But even if you take normal transportation, you can end up being stuck in the jam and maybe take the same amount of time. I think it's pretty cool to take the bus as you can see different areas in Rio de Janeiro whilst sitting comfortably in a bus. The BRT station is just located right outside the arrivals terminals. Alternatively you can spend a fortune on taxi or take the bus I think maybe it costs around R$ 16 or so to go to Zona Sul, which is the Copacabana, Ipanema area.

BRT-
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a transport mode that uses exclusive corridors. As a result, it offers faster travel for its users, as it does not suffer from congested streets.

I feel the best thing thing about the Olympics held this year is that they have really improved the transportation system and also the safety in Rio de Janeiro. One of the unfortunate things about Brazil is there is such a huge disparity between the rich and the poor. There is also a high level of corruption in the government as with most third world countries. Otherwise it is an extremely beautiful city with lots of outdoor nature you can experience for free. I also found things there very expensive to purchase, especially imported things. I feel sorry for people here, as their wages are low and basic living costs are pretty high! I can see why there is such a high crime rate in this city.

So the story of this picture is I arrived at the bus station of Jardim Oceanico and as I was going to be staying for an additional week, I had to get a sim card to stay connected!! I passed by a telecommunication company advertising their sim card.

Best decision ever seriously! 

So this Brazillian guy, I feel so bad for him, his English isn't very good but he tried his best to explain to me what the promotion was. At first I thought it was just R$ 10, but then realised it was another R$ 10 for the sim card as well, so a total of R$ 20, which is about 4-5 pounds. At first I wasn't sure if he was trying to cheat me or something, so I almost walked off, but then it was just the way he tried so hard to explain in a different language, I could sense that he was a honest person. Anyway turned out I was right, I googled the price of sim cards after and I did pay about the right price, if not less as it was a very good promotion. So the guy didn't have the small chip for my iphone 5 and he ran off to find one, and he was so afraid I would leave, he had to ask his colleague to keep me company :) He was so nice that he even helped me activate the phone account. I would not have a clue as it was all in Portugese. Anyway here's a picture of us, he's so happy he made the sale of the sim card, he wanted a photo and even gave me a hug! I swear this only happens in Brazil!! 

After I walked to my hostel and checked in and off I went to look for the beach. 

It's only 5 minutes walk away! Yay! !

The beach here is sooo beautiful, I kid you not. It's just miles and miles of clean sand and blue sea. 

There's also this awesome street, 10 minutes walk from the hostel called Avenida Olegário Maciel, and it's full of restaurants, different types of bars, shops, everything you need :) 

Woww How I wish I could be living in one of these apartments facing the beach :O 

Wanted to buy some havaianas slippers, my last one broke at Cinque terre of all places! But the shop was quite expensive and I couldn't decide which one I wanted as there are so many designs. 

This bar 399 apparently is very good and cheap bar on Avenida Olegario Maciel 

I was invited out again for dinner with the lovely Swiss and French doctors including my friend John as I told him I had to come back to Rio and he was doing an attachment for a week at the medical centre in Rocinha- a favela.

Met with the doctors at Copacabana for dinner, was so late!! Didn't realise the bus would take ages to arrive! Took at least 40 minutes journey I reckon. On the map it looks close, but Brazil it so big and everything just takes ages to get to!

Had an awesome dinner, me and John decided to share a feijoada. Feijoada is basically a very typical Brazillian dish, and it consists of black beans and meat stew and they serve it with vegetables and rice. Very yummy. Also had a caiprinhas, which is a Brazil's national cocktail and cahaca (sugar cane liquor), sugar and lime, but sometimes they add fruits as well. They prepare their drinks super strong here, I don't even think they measure the alcohol they pour in when making the cocktail. But it's super delicious and even drinking one glass can make you tipsy ;)

It was their last night in Rio de Janeiro so said my goodbyes to them! They have been super nice to me and invited me out for so many dinners when I was in Rio the week before with my mum for the conference :D

Me and John decided to take the bus back, as we are both on the same route except he stops first at Rocinha! So much cheaper than taking Uber, and also environmentally friendly :)