After about 17 hours of travel, we finally arrived at Rio-the Marvelous city in Brazil. What was the first impression? Super super hot and humid! It was cloudy and hazy when we arrived. The airport seemed old and is located at "poor" areas ( north of Rio). Rio is a town of unusual urban diversity, with beaches, mountains. It 's divided into two zones: north zone (working-class neighborhoods ) and south zone (middle-and upper class and well-known beaches). Most of tourists hang out in south zone. On the way to our hostel in Aconcabana beach, we went thru north to south. We saw the tremendous difference between both--from shacks and bums to highrise beach apartments and five star hotels. There was no AC in the taxi and the ride was not quite pleasant. The driver barely speaks English and he managed to tell us that Copacabana beach has a lot of bitches (Copacabana is one of the major beaches, the other one is Ipanema) which we were just laughing about but later was proved he's absolutely correct.
Che Lagarto is the hostel at Copacabana beach we booked for the first night. It's popular with backpackers. The condition was aweful with a holiday package deal (the rate is trippled during new year with a minimum 4 days' stay). Again, no AC! We decided to only stay one night and then move out. It's hard to get around without speaking a word of Portugees at Rio! It's very frustrating! We strolled around the beach town to check out a couple of hostels and travel agents till dusk (sun goes down around 9:00pm). It was still very hot even after sunset! We had dinner at Aipo & Aipim where the food is charged by weight. All the food is at the same rate whether meat or fruit. Very interesting.
The first day at Rio ended with a sleepless night at the steamy and stuffy hostel room. I've never sweated so much in my entire life!
Che Lagarto is the hostel at Copacabana beach we booked for the first night. It's popular with backpackers. The condition was aweful with a holiday package deal (the rate is trippled during new year with a minimum 4 days' stay). Again, no AC! We decided to only stay one night and then move out. It's hard to get around without speaking a word of Portugees at Rio! It's very frustrating! We strolled around the beach town to check out a couple of hostels and travel agents till dusk (sun goes down around 9:00pm). It was still very hot even after sunset! We had dinner at Aipo & Aipim where the food is charged by weight. All the food is at the same rate whether meat or fruit. Very interesting.
The first day at Rio ended with a sleepless night at the steamy and stuffy hostel room. I've never sweated so much in my entire life!
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