Rio de Janeiro - Carnival

Hey Hey

Now we are finally going to tell you a little bit about Rio! :D

Our trip began, on friday the 8th of February, when we took a bus from Paraty to Rio de Janeiro. It was a nice trip with really comfy seats, and we were able to sleep most of the way. The only downside were the rude Germans sitting both behind and in front of us! All the Germans we have come across in our trip have been very rude and self centered (were not saying all Germans suck, but these did! ;) )

When we arrived in Rio, we had to find our way to the bus stop so we could get to Adrianos house. We had been so lucky to have a home stay in Rio during the carnival and couldnt wait to get there and start partying with the locals!
That night we went to a party with Adriano and his girlfriend Roberta. We were very surprized when we got there, coz this was a pent house party, with a view of the christ the redeemer! It was awesome! They even had a jacuzzi and sauna, to name a few things. Oh, yeah, and they had some marijuana to pass around!! We were very surprized that smoking weed was just a normal thing here. They were also a bit surprized that we didnt smoke, and asked us "Ohh?.. But...? How do you get high? :S " Like not getting "high" is weird... :P  The people we met at this party were super nice :)

The next day we went walking around the neighbourhood and saw a lot of people wearing costumes, or NO costumes :P In the evening we were going to meet with Helga and Marte, but it took us about 2 hours to find them! So when we arrived they were already REALLY drunk ;) so we decided to go out another night, we still had to see the famous Lapa!

When we woke up early on Sunday we bumped in to Adrianos mother, who before this morning didnt speak a word in english. She infromed us that his brother was coming to visit so she needed our room and we had to evacuate as soon as possible! This was rather strange, because it was in the middle of carnival when every hostel and hotel are fully booked! Not nice to throw two foreigners out on the street, not knowing a word in portugese and in mid carnival! Worst case scenario, we could bunk with the homeless people - which were everywhere! ;)

Being thrown out was one of the best things that happened to us at the carnival! We contacted Ronei, a friend we had met in Iceland, and he allowed us to come and stay on his brothers couch (we had already asked them to allow Helga and Marte to stay there so it was super nice to stay with them as well). The house was filled with people, the most amazing people ever! Everyone was so nice and welcoming :)
In the evening we went out with Ronei and the other guys from the apartment. We walked along the beach and they told us stories about Rio and what we could do there. We ended in a Irish pub where they had the biggest tequila shots EVER! And the "true" viking girls were not able to finish them! how embarrassing!

When we woke up on monday we went to the beach, but it was so freakin hot that we had to go inside again! We are not used to the heat here, it went up to 39 degrees that day! The heat was unbearable...
In the afternoon we went to a Block (blocos de carnival), there were thousands of people and everyone was happy and having a good time! :D This reminds us a bit of gaypride, but with a lot more people !

The day after we and the Norwegians (Helga and Marte) went to Lapa to see the famous steps, Escadaria Selarón and the Cathedral. It was pretty cool! But way hot! So we went back home to buy some wine and snacks and went to Ipanema beach to see the sunset. The sun sets behind the Two brother Favela (favela means ghetto/slum). When we got back the guys told us that we were going to a party in the favelas! Of course in the begining we hesitated because we have been told that you should not go in to there if you are a foreigner. But the guys convinced us that this was a save tourist party at some hostel, owned by a danish guy. So we were convinced!
When we got there the tickets to get in to the party were sold out so we went to a party with the locals!! Svanlaug was sooo in to going to the local party (true viking lady!) but Anna was being a pussy at first! ;) But we ended up going, and it was loads of fun!! The guys protected us 4 blondes (or 3 blondes and one Anna) the whole night, and never left our sides, not even when we went to the wc. At this party, which was outside, people were dancing "funky", we recommend you googling it!! here is an example of their dancing tecniques! haha, you can imagine a party outside in the dark with ladies dancing like "sexy" maniacs! ;) also, there were police men with riffles guarding the party! thats why we felt save... having people with guns! :P
The favela is a neighbourhood on a side of the mountain, so the streets are very steep! on our way up we went with one of those volswagen vans, that are everywhere. And on the way down we took a moto taxi, which is sitting in the "backseat" of a motorcycle! that was super fun! :D
So this day, we sat on a rock in Ipanema and saw the sun set behind the favela with wine and crackers, and in the night we were on top of the favela looking down on the rock we sat on earlier and dancing to crazy funky beat! :)

Wednesday was our last day with the Norwegians :( so we decided to have a romantic dinner with them. We all went to a Mexican restaurant with Ronei and Lucas where we had amazing cocktails!! We cant say the same about the food though, Ronei found a larvae on his plate which grossed us all out so we stopped eating! After dinner we finally went to the famous Lapa which was sooo much fun! :D

On valentines day we decided to do something romantic and went to the Sugarloaf mountain and watched the sunset over Corcovado (Chirst the redeemer)! The view was stunning!

The day after our romantic trip to the Sugarloaf we decided to go on two excursions. First we went to see Christ the Redeemer which was very exciting. If you are planning on going to see the Christ or sugarloafs we would recommand that you do that yourselves because having a guide is not really worth your money ;) After saying Hi to Jesus we went on a favela tour which was sooo amazing!! We had the best tourguide EVER. He told us many stories and interesting facts about the favela. For an example many celebrities have been there (Bono had a haircut there once!) and Fast and the furious 5 was partly filmed there. He also told us that a lot of people in the favelas don't have an address :O He took us to see his house to show us how they really live there! And when we walked past a garbage pile he started going through it like he was looking for some treasure!!

Than we had to say good bye to Rio and catch a plain to Manaus.
unfortunately we could not post more photos because our cameras are not working at the moment :/

we'll keep in touch
Anna and Svanlaug