the most unique city yet

📍Rio De Janeiro📍

Wednesday, April 28th I went to Casa Holden, my university, for the last time to have one final asado and load up the bus, except I didn’t get on the bus. For the past month, I have been planning an extravagant tour-de-south America. I packed up my green backpack and left my apartment at 3 AM to catch the cheapest flight to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Somehow I went to sleep in Buenos Aires and I ended up in the most famed city in the world.

As soon as we got off the plane we realized that Portuguese was going to challenge us. I realized at this moment that my Spanish is better than I let on because every time someone tried to speak to me I would default to Spanish, which they couldn’t even understand. The taxi ride into town was magical, it was hotter than I imagined, but from every angle, we saw the sparkling water, colorful towns, and the infamous Christ the Redeemer. We immediately went to Sugar Loaf mountain, known to have one of the best panoramic views of Rio. We took the gondola up both mountains and the views lived up to the hype. On one side you could see all the boats anchored in the port over the glistening water. I also was mesmerized watching the planes land, I was shocked to see how close they were to the water and to us. On the other side, you could see the beach line up with the buildings that are built into the side of the mountains. I have never seen a city as unique as this.

We dropped our stuff off at our hostel in Ipanema beach and quickly changed into bikinis to head to the ocean. Ipanema is perfect. There were vendors selling food, bracelets, hats, towels, and so much more. The beach is covered by people playing soccer, tanning, working out, going for a swim, and absolutely vibing. This beach was so lively yet so peaceful, there isn't a great way to describe the feeling I got from being on this beach but I loved every second spent there. We took a nap after going for a long swim only to wake up to the sun setting behind the city. The sky was turning pink over the ocean and the large hills on the right side. Once it got dark we walked back to our hostel and fell asleep at 6:30 PM I guess we really needed the sleep because we were brutally awakened by the rest of our friends arriving at 8:30 AM.

After 14 hours of sleep, we started off our day by deciding to go on a hike. We head to Parque Lage, the largest urbanized rainforest because we want to hike to Christ the Redeemer, yes, I know a train will take you there… We get to the beautiful urban rainforest and start our trek only to be stopped by a park ranger informing us that we can’t go any further because there was “a crazy man on the tail with a knife.” With little intent to get robbed, we decided to go to the beach instead, this time, Copacabana beach. This is a special place to me because my Papa was born in Rio and learned to surf in Copacabana. He recalls being towed around the large rock by his dad where there were tidal pools in which he learned to swim. It was so neat to visit the place that my papa has such fond memories of as a child. We spent all day in Copacabana, eating from the street vendors, enjoying fresh seafood, getting drinks brought to us on the beach, and a personal favorite was the fresh açaí cart and mobile shell-jewelry man.

Copacabana Tips:

• buy acai from the vendors, it's fresh and heavenly.

• buy bracelets or swimsuits from the vendors on the beach as well, you won't regret spending the few dollars, I promise.

• drink from coconuts

• drink the fruit caprivodkas served on the beach!

Once we got back to our hostel we made friends in the lobby who shared the best places to go out in Rio, obviously, we had to go out in the city most famed for its parties. We went to LAPA which tends to be described as a "zoo."

We were determined to hike to the Christ the Redeemer so we tried again on Saturday. It was a cloudy day in Rio but we didn't expect rain, and neither did the park rangers because they let us start the hike. We had read reviews online and expected this to be an easy hike, we were fooled. This 3.8 kilometer hike named Cordova was super challenging especially once it started to downpour on us. We hiked through the thick of the jungle with bugs, snakes, and rain. We would occasionally come upon waterfalls or small lookouts of the city. When we go to the last kilometer we were faced with solid rock at an 90-degree incline. We knew that since we made it this far we couldn’t turn back now, so we hauled ourselves up this rock. The rock had metal bars bolted in every few feet that we struggled to climb up since it was wet. We finally made it to the road that leads to the Cristo. After the rain, the cloudy day turned into a thick fog that we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us. We continued on the road, only to get to the National Monument to hear that they are closed, and regardless we wouldn't be able to see anything because of the weather. At first, I felt pretty defeated but soon I became so proud of us for finishing that hike regardless of the circumstances. Luckily, a bus took us back down the mountain, we got food, then we went back to our hostel to get ready for Carnival.

Carnival? Yes, I know it’s not the holiday but due to covid, the parades have been postponed and just so happen to be presented while we’re here, so we had to buy tickets. I can't believe I got to go to the "real" carnival. We didn't really know what to expect other than the pictures we've seen online but the colors are just as you would imagine them to be, or maybe unimaginable is a better word. The presentation of the floats goes on all night and into the morning, each float being so unique from the rest. We watched the parade for a few hours and chanted in the crowd with the rest of the packed stands.

Rio has been a dream. I have to admit that I didn't allocate enough time in Brazil but it gives me a good excuse to come back and visit one day.