A city of contrasts — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Where I stayed
The Maze Inn Rio de Janeiro
The Maze Inn Rio de Janeiro
The highlife in the favela.
I am writing this while watching the early morning cloud still cling to the top of sugar-loaf mountain, the chorus of bird-song is joined by the sound of a jet taking off, in the distance I can see yachts valued in the millions and nearby I am surrounded by buildings of every shape, size, material known to man. Rio is a city of contrasts. It's only been 24 hours.
We arrived after an uneventful and uninteresting flight, and after throwing ourselves on the mercy of some nice looking locals and a bus driver, somehow managed to get off the bus a short walk from the road our hostel is on. Our hostel however is at the far end of that road, what might also be called the high end of that road. Staying in a favela seems to inevitably mean one thing – hills, big steep hills. Luckily there is always some entrepreneurial person in such situations prepared to take you up such hills – all for the bargain price of about a pound – a pound well spent. After following the drivers vague directions to The Maze we eventually stumbled upon our place to be met by a lovely ex-pat telling us to help ourselves to breakfast and there was tea in the pot. Tidy.
Ninety minutes later we were finishing brekkie after learning about Bob’s time hanging out with Arthur C. Clarke on 2001: A Space Odyssey, working as a foreign correspondent in Rio, and his thirty years of building the aptly named Maze (the stranger part is that it’s the first vertical maze I think I’ve been in). After that we braved the outside world for a bit – interestingly negating to take any form of Portuguese instruction with us; picture menus can at times be your friend. Wandering around, as we attempted to cross ten or so lanes of traffic, we found out that Rio is not a particularly pedestrian friendly city.
Time in the supermarket confirmed that it is also not a cheap city – it’s pretty much on a par with the UK. Another minivan ride up the hill was followed by a brief nap which then turned into a lengthy sleep. Dinner was taken on the veranda, and after another chat to Bob (we think we are the only guests here) and an attempt at Scrabble it was time for bed. Now it’s time for brekkie again. Pretty good first twenty-four hours.
Arriving after our flight from Rome I helped a local with her Luis Vuitton suitcases which were no doubt laden with other such designer brands (lots of them judging by the weight...), later that day we saw a man taking a poo on the pavement. City of contrasts.
