My flight to Rio de Janeiro took most of the day because I had to fly from Manaus to Sao Paulo and then to Rio de Janeiro. I arrived in the early evening and got myself settled at El Misto rooms (www.elmistirooms.com) in Copacabana. This place was great! It had a cool atmosphere, really friendly staff and a cool bar with cheap drinks. You also got a free Caipirinha on arrival. In the evening they serve dinner, which you put your name down for, for only R$20, or R$25 with a Caipirinha.
I headed to Christ Redeemer the next day for the sunset. The ticket was R$68 to go up in the tram. I was surprised that you couldn’t pay for the ticket with cash; you had to go down the road for that. The tram ride up is not that impressive; I wish I had just walked up and saved myself some money. Luckily the view is worth the money. I also met an Italian girl up there called Vicky who gave me some advice about what to do in Rio.We talked for a bit, took some pictures and then headed down. We parted after we had arrived in Copacabana and I went back to the hostel for Mexican. WOW the food was good!
The following day I got up early to head out for a free walking tour around downtown, which Vicky had recommended. It was a very interesting tour and our guide gave us some interesting information about the city and the people. The only disappointing part of the tour was how she put the guilt trip on about a tip, going on about how much most people usually tip her and how much tours usually cost. The tour finished at about 13.30.
I headed to Sugar Loaf Mountain for the sunset. Again it was expensive, R$76, but you can’t climb it yourself, so you have to pay the price if you want to go up. It was very windy up there but again a wonderful view. I stayed for a while, just admiring the view while the sun went down.
That evening we had all you can eat pizza at the hostel and then headed out in Lapa for drinks with a group of Americans who were studying Portugese in Sao Paulo for their degree.
It was a good night. My friends knew of a bar/ stall which sold large Caipifruits for R$8. Then we headed onto a Samba bar and had a good dance.
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