Hi all this is sadly our final blog entry!
We arrived in Rio excited but a little bit apprehensive as Rio is one of the world’s most violent cities! Stepping off the bus we made friends with MORE Israeli boys (They all travel SA after their 3 year army stint). It was the perfect opportunity to share a taxi, thus saving money and it is much safer to travel in larger groups. Our EXPENSIVE hostel (they all are during Carnaval) was in the perfect location 200m walk from Ipanema beach.
The hostel seemed like a reasonably nice place. However as more and more people started arriving at the hostel for the Carnaval package (you have to stay 6 nights or at least pay for them) the CRAB started to rear its ugly head. They demanded that you pay on arrival, with no exceptions; of course no one had the cash on them as it was too risky to carry a large bunch of cash around Rio. It fast became obvious that the manager was harsh and inflexible. One Ausi girl didn’t have the money to pay as her card was stolen and they threatened to kick her out! This manager- who was known as the CRAB to all the hostel guests (named after the hostel- Crab hostel) and stories of her inflexible, evil ways grew and became almost comical over the six days we were there. It united all the hostel guests though, so at least something good came out of it!
Our first night in Rio we made friends with the hostel crew, who were a fantastic bunch of people, and headed out for our first street party in Santa Teresa. Unfortunately we arrived at the party just as it was winding down. This was surprising, after being in Buenos Aires where the party normally doesn’t start until 3am! We soon discovered that the festivities had moved to a near by suburb- Lapa. We followed a bunch of Aussi's (they are everywhere in Rio!) and locals to a pumping street party (Don’t worry they were safe streets in non dodgy areas). The party was crazy, extending for several km's with people standing and dancing shoulder to shoulder. It was a very amusing night, most of our crew were pick pocketed. We were particularly amused to discover the group losses for the night amounted to 2 hostel security cards, a pack of tissues and a disposable camera. We would have loved to see the look on the thieves faces when they realised that fat, juicy wallet was infact a bunch of snotty tissues!!!
We were awoken at 10.05 and realised we may have missed breakfast (considering it was served between 8-10am not many people made it!!!). Determined to nail the free breaki Kate ran down stairs and managed to load up a large plate before the spread was whisked away by the CRAB. At lunch time we returned to the cafe we had sampled the day before (Yes we are creatures of habit!!!). Deciding this would be our meal for the day, we ordered up big time. It was delicious food, we soon realised that this cafe may turn out like the one in LaPaz which we frequented 3 meals/day. During lunch we were treated to a continuous view of tight, revealing Speedos. It soon became obvious that these men were only hanging around with other men in tight Speedos. So it came as not surprise when we found out this very street was the setting for the gay street parades and parties.
That night saw us hanging out with the hostel crew again. We were keen to hit up the gay street party as this is all part of the experience of Rio, Ipanema and Carnaval. However our new found friends were not so keen. We suspect this was because they were all single and desperately wanted to pick up during this festive season. Instead we wandered around Ipanema beach looking for all the Carnaval action. We found a decent beach party and had a few beers and a dance. At this point we were a little disappointed as we had not yet seen the Carnaval spirit we had imagined, but luckily that was all about to change.
Tired and weary (having had a total of 6 hours sleep in 2 nights), the next morning we headed to the beach to take some photos and watch the street parades. We were soon engulfed by heaving masses of party goers following large groups of drummers, singers and dancers. Now this was the kind of atmosphere we had expected. It was a fantastic arvo. We obtained a million pictures of hilarious g-strings, Speedos and less being flaunted on the beach. Yes we know this kind of photography is illegal in Australia, but they love the attention here!!!!
Here started out exhaustive search for the gelo (ice), we needed something to cool our drinks as the CRAB had locked the freezer for the week (told you she was evil!!). We ended back at the hostel at 9pm with no time for our planned naps.
Everyone at the hostel had bought tickets to the Samba drome (where the official samba parade is held) so everybody bar us headed of to the festivities. After all our shopping the tickets seemed a little too expensive and having heard a rumour that you can get cheap tix at the door we decided to go for that option. So at about 12am we headed off to the Samba drome with another Ausi gal. After overcoming the language barrier we finally found the entrance and found ourselves tickets for 40 reais, everyone else had payed 100 reais, we were STOKED!!!
The Samba drome was like nothing we have ever seen. The atmosphere was incredible. The dancing was incredible, even the people in the crowd could samba amazingly. Our early attempts to samba received a fair bit of laughter from the people around us. Some kind women nearby came to our rescue. Their samba school was just starting and the music was pumping so they were more than happy to teach us their intense dance moves. Turns out it is much easy to shake your booty if you are moving your feet in samba style. After this everybody around us was keen to let us know which school was theirs and make sure we were dancing and cheering when they came on! By the end of the night we (almost) had our booty in rhythm with the music and we danced until 6am when we had to head home as we were low on fuel.
Once again having minimal sleep (we were now up to 10hrs in 3 nights!) we awoke craving lunch from our new favourite cafe 
We managed to sneak in a brief arvo nap before heading out to another street parade, the one before had greatly impressed. It turned out that this was a family orientated parade. This saw us gooing and garing over the gorgeous little children all dressed up in their Carnaval costumes. With the parade pretty much over, we headed to the beach for a stroll and some market shopping. We found some street food and decided to try it, a first for us. It was a tapioca and cheese pancake it was amazing and we didn’t even get gastro!!!
Due to our amazing experience the night before and the really cheap tickets, we decided to head back to the Samba drome again. We headed out with a Perth couple from our hostel. We were determined to get even cheaper tickets this time as we had heard rumour people got them for 20 reais. After MUCH haggling we bought 4 tickets for 20 reais each. As we walked towards the gate with our newly purchased tickets the seller chased us and insisted we had given him a back 50 reais note. At first we were drawn in and thought that the ATM must have given us a fake note. However we quickly realised that this was a big fat scam, as the notes could have been switched at any time after we walked away from him. He became quite aggressive trying to give us our money back and then throwing most of it on the ground in a hissy fit. A security guard stepped in to help and we managed to escape with 10 extra reais that he had handed to us during the fuss. Now amused by this dodgy character and how we ended up scamming him, we headed in to enjoy the show.
Once again the night was a spectacular show of dancing, colours and enormous floats. Monique did have a nap during one of the less exciting schools parades (a serious lack of sleep is blamed, not old age!!!). We returned exhausted to the hostel at 7am and crashed only to once again wake up a couple of hours later to do the touristy thing as we were running out of time in Rio (and SA).
Along with the other Ausi girl we jumped in a taxi and headed up to the Corvodora (large statue of Jesus) to get the best view of the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro. It was an amazing view and also gave new meaning to the phrase DRIPPING with sweat!!
That night, after another brief nap, we got dressed up and headed out to Copacabana for our last supper! In true South American style it was a cheesy bonanza of death accompanied with a fine red, a fitting last meal. We walked along Copacabana beach and shopped at the art markets, while it was a great night it was a little sad 
We headed home at 2am and CRASHED, our earliest night yet!!
Our last day in Rio and in South America was very sad but we had little time to mourn. WE were in a panicked frenzy, doing last minute shopping and sight-seeing. Our itinerary included a quick dip in Ipanema beach (timed at 15 minutes!), final breakfast at the CRAB, shopping but the shops were closed so we came back to pack, then went back to shop but the shops were STILL closed! Rio really shuts down for Carnaval!
We made it to the airport with a little time to spare. Once again it was a quick and easy process, we expected border crossing and customs to be much more difficult in South America. But they were much easier than Australia (don’t even get Monique started on that, she had a hard time in Sydney at customs and is considering filing a complaint!!!). We are now writing this tired and stinky on the 4th leg of a 30hr plane trip but we will touch down in Aus in 30mins!!!
See you all VERY soon!!!!!!!
