Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Fresh off the airport tiles and a hellish 3 hour flight, we arrived in Brazil's urban juggernaut, and home of the 2016 Olympic Games - Rio de Janeiro. It was worrying to find rain as we exited the arrivals terminal after hearing it had been 38 degrees for the past few weeks. We convinced ourselves this was only temporary. As it turns out, we were wrong, but that only marginally tainted the experience.

OK, thesis time:

Our hostel was located in Copacabana which, along with Ipanema, makes up the 'tourist district' of Rio. The rest of our first day was spent touring the Copacabana promenade, evaluating the various beach cafes and looking at the products on offer from the abundance of street merchants.

Rio was made for tourists, with seemingly endless amounts of attractions, events etc on offer. We were confident we could see alot in our 9 days, however we didn't really consider that many activities are weather dependent. The rain that set in on our arrival unfortunately stuck around up until our departure, and subsequently hindered a few of our plans. Good times were had regardless, and I think it's fair to say that despite the weather, we could have easily stayed for another week (or three).

We decided to go up to Santa Teresa the next morning with Sam and Emma as they were leaving for Iguacu in a few days. Santa Teresa is a small town (on one of the many mountains surrounding Rio) with a number of private residences, small bars and restaurants. In itself it isn't overly interesting, however our mode of transport was the historic tram that travels from Lapa into the heart of Santa Teresa. The tram is open on both sides and when the seats are filled, passengers hang out the side which provides terrific views of the city, and also some white knuckle moments as you cross the Lapa arches.

That night we returned to Lapa for the unofficial street party that occurs on Friday nights (essentially it's just a spill over of people from te many bars in the area). After finally finding a nightclub that appeared to cater to our gringo tastes, we discovered it was a private party. In the end we settled for a commercial RnB dive that resembled a sauna more than a club - 2/10.

Despite being a high density uban metropolis, Rio boasts expansive parks, gardens and national park adjacent to Ipanema. The botanical gardens served as a retreat from the bustling city on the other side of it's fences, and were so extensive that at many times you forgot you were in a city this size. I won't lie - I'm not one that really gets into tree's, plant species and all that jazz, but I have to admit the Rio gardens were an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

How things change - less than 24 hours later we traded the picturesque gardens for urban chaos in the form of a 'favela'. Essentially they are shanty towns constructed illegally throughout the city by people who simply cannot afford to live anywhere else. Water, electricity etc is obtained for free by blatantly tapping into the infrastructure. The houses are built wherever there is room creating a maze of alleys throughout the favela. When no room remains, houses are built on top of other houses with no structural integrity (our guide told us that during heavy storms, favela's have been known to literally slide down the hill). An overwhelming majority of the favela's in Rio are controlled by drug cartels that operate there, however those involved only constitute a minor percentage of the total residents.

On our tour we were treated to the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of living in a favela. Our tour started with a motorcycle ride from the motorway up to the the top of Rocinhe which was an experience in itself. As we entered there were a number of men walking around with walkie-talkies that monitor those entering/exiting for the drug cartel. Following this we walked via one of the informal pathways back down to the motorway. On the way we visited a graffiti art gallery and local bakery, as well as engaging with locals who wanted photos taken. Interestingly, amidst the poverty those living in the favela were always smiling and there was a real sense of a self-sustaining community. Our tour guide made mention that many that live in favela's work in the more affluent areas of Copacabana and Ipanema in everyday jobs, in fact, often people from a favela were desirable employees due to their proximity to the city (Note: In Brazil an employer has to pay for an employees travel costs to/from work). Overall the tour was an amazing experience that we thought would be straight out depressing. Poverty is a sad reality of big cities around the world, especially in Latin America, and there were certainly parts of the tour which made you question how this was allowed to happen, but there were also a lot of positive aspects as well. A percentage of the money from the tour goes towards funding a child care facility operated by the company, and they also organize for tourists to do volunteer work within the favela to assist with education etc. I'm also certain a percentage also goes to the favela honcho's to ensure gringo's don't get harmed during the tour. The favela's and their inherent problems are now so well established, that even government and law enforcement intervention cannot solve the issues. Interesting, yet disconcerting.

That night we decided to get all cultural and go to a local Capoeira school. For those unaware of this concept, as I was prior to coming to Brazil, it's a combination of music, dance and martial arts. The school puts together a small band playing traditional Capoeira music and the mestre (sp.) of the school take on students within the 'roda'. Although it wasn't as good as we expected (apparently the mestre's only go all-out in major events/competitions), it was great to get involved in a truly Brazillian tradition. As it turns out, none of us were brave enough to give it a shot - maybe next time.

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Next on the gringo checklist was the symbolic Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks the city. Even with poor visibility it can be seen from most parts of the city. On this basis we presumed it must be seriously big when you are up there. We made our way up on the tram and slowly rose above the cloud cover which pretty much ruined our opportunity for good views back down to the city. Furthermore, Jesus was currently under restoration works and had scaffold around his legs. Overall I don't think we really reeled the full benefits of what is one of the seven wonders of the world, however some things have so be done regardless of the weather.

During our stay there was the opportunity to indulge in a local football derby at one o the shrines of world football, and what will be the centrepiece of the 2014 World Cup, Maracana Stadium. On this particular night it was two local Rio teams going head-to-head: Flamengo and Madueira. It was on this basis that we chose this game as we expected a big turn out, and hopefully a good game. Unfortunately this wasn't the case with an attendance of only approximately 3000 people in the stadium that can in excess of 100000 when it feels up to it. I think the photos speak for themselves regarding the crowd. The quality of the football wasn't too bad without being spectacular. In the end Flamengo destroyed them 2-0, however the score could have easily been 10-0.

In addition to the above gringo activties we did, the rest of the time was spent walking the streets of Copacabana and Ipanema, and sampling the many restaurants, juice bars (passionfruit and pineapple are a MUST!) and street vendors on offer. In my opinion it is this that makes Rio such an amazing place to visit, and something I can't really explain with a couple of photos. There were a number of per kilo outlets, but our 'regular' became this luncheonette which for R12, provided a main (usually steak, chicken or fish) on one plate, plus your choice of three sides served on another. Quality food at an absolute bargain price considering there was enough food to feed two people. At the end of the day, in Rio the beach is king and Is usually packed with swimmers, surfers, sun-bakers, volleyballers and footballers till late at night. I don't think any amount of food or juice is going to change this soon.

That was basically it. Now that it's in writing it seems a bit hard to pinpoint what was so good about Rio, but as I said, I could have easily spent another week or three there with no hesitation. While some of the things we did turned out a bit worse than expected (I really wanted to go hang gliding but it just wasn't possible with all the cloud cover), when asking whether Rio is worthy of all the hype, my answer is indefinitely yes. The 9 days we spent there were nothing short of awesome!