Welcome to Rio: city of soccer, partying, and more soccer.

When I left Iguasu, I had finally moved on from pants, long sleeve shirts, and a jacket to shorts, tank tops, and flip flops.  As soon as we stepped off the bus in Rio, we were greeted by mid-80 degree heat, a slight breeze, and incredible views.  Yes, Rio was going to be awesome.

On the bus ride there, I had carefully made a list of possible hostels to stay at which included location, price, and reviews.  After spending the bus ride with Sweety and Jamie, I decided to screw my super anal list and just go to Mellow Yellow because that was where they had made reservations.  It was known for being a fun, social party hostel that was also reviewed as not being too clean.

Sadly, the only photo I took of Mellow Yellow.

Sweety, Jamie, Eoghan, the Irish guy we’d met on the bus, and I all piled into a cab and got to Mellow Yellow.  It did not let its reputation down: it was filthy.  When we got into our dorms, we were greeted with thick (and ripped) plastic covers on the mattresses and pillows.  Eoghan noted that this hostel had fantastic protection against bedwetters...

That night we got right into it.  After making our plastic covered beds and taking showers, we all went up to the 6th floor where the bar was.  I tried my first caipirinha, a Brazilian drink made of Cachaça, limes, and sugar.  It mildly resembles and tastes like a margarita for those of you who are curious.  A few drinks later, the 3 boys and I had made friends with about 15 other people staying at Mellow Yellow, including the three girls in my room who after meeting, promptly decided I was their missing piece (and that I needed to continue traveling with them after Rio. *Sigh* If only that was an option...) These 3 were the first single girls I had met so far in my travels that I really bonded with, but I’ll talk about meeting girls vs boys when traveling in another blog post I’m soon to write.

About 20 of us got into taxis and went to a club in Copoacabana and we danced our faces off until 3 or 4am.  I woke up the next morning to reports that I had been snoring quite loudly all night.  I scowled at Eoghan, “Why didn’t you wake me up or throw something at me??”  He said “Because it didn’t really bother me.”  Oh boy, now I was known as the chick who snores?  I blamed Hostel Cough.

My first view at Fifa Fan Fest.

Friday afternoon I was first introduced to Fifa Fan Fest down on Copacabana Beach. Fifa Fan Fest is a massive set-up on the beach for the public to watch the World Cup games.  We all set up shop in the sand, everyone drinking beers and cheering on the teams.  At the end of the match, music was blasted from the speakers and everyone danced until we decided it was time to head back, eat, and get ready to go out to Lapa.  

What is Lapa?  Lapa is an area in Rio where, on Friday nights, it turns into a massive street party where vendors sell food and drinks, groups of people congregate and play music while others dance, and other people look down and people watch from the balconies of the clubs that line the main drag.  Everyone was totally psyched about going.  Eoghan in particular had been told that this would be one of his highlights to Rio and my 3 girls told me it was amazing.  

Feeling hot in Hayley's shirt!

The ladies and I decided to get ready together, trading clothes, shoes, and makeup.  I ended up wearing Hayley’s shirt and Nicola’s makeup and for the first time in a while, I felt really pretty.  It’s funny how good makeup and clothes can make you feel!  

Back upstairs to the bar to preparty.  I was taking it easy to begin with... between my mother asking if I was becoming an alcoholic earlier that week via Instant Messanger and the fact that I had already had some beers on the beach that afternoon, I didn’t want things to get out of control.  

The birthday boy.

1/4 of my way into a beer, Richard, one of the new gang came into the bar wearing a zebra suit. It was Richard’s birthday so someone had lent him his zebra costume.  I didn’t get it either (why was someone traveling with a zebra suit?), but I laughed my ass off and took some photos. 

An hour or so later, we were again piled into cabs and were headed to Lapa.  It was a chaotic mess when we got there.  We first walked around the street vendors and then went into a club where it was packed.  Too packed.  Eoghan and I decided to go back outside to explore some more because that’s where the real party was.  We each got a caipirinha, some grilled meat, and stopped to watch some street music performers.

Eoghan in Lapa.

We ended up splitting up when the rest of the group left the club and I wanted to go home but he decided to stay longer.  I got home at 5am and woke up at 10am, exhausted. The 3 ladies were leaving at noon to go to Iguasu and they asked again if I’d come with them, but sadly I had to tell them that it wasn’t in the cards for me.  They left and the room felt empty and lonely.  That afternoon, to help deal with the slight depression I had over my new friends leaving, I ended up taking a 4 hour nap before checking out another soccer match on the beach.  That night, I think I was in bed asleep by 10pm.

Our view from behind the garbage can.

Sunday was epic.  It was the first Brazil game we were all able to see while in Brazil and we were all psyched.  Most of the guys went to the beach before the game to get some sun while Eoghan and I somehow got left behind.  He and I, knowing Fifa Fan Fest would get totally packed for the 3:30 game, left for the beach around 1pm.  

The boys decked out in yellow and green.

At 1:30, we were both sweating our asses off and ended up taking refuge behind a smelly garbage can.  Nothing but class here!  In good news though, we had a great view for the first half of the game before we located Sweety, Jamie and the rest of the boys and moved over to them for the second half.  It was impossible for anyone watching to not be a Brazil fan when we were all surrounded by such a passionate Brazilian crowd decked out in yellow and green.  When Brazil won, the crowd erupted and, like Friday night, music was played while people danced, hit eachother with the plastic beaters we all had, etc.  

That night, I opted to stay in again, wondering how people drink all day and then go out only to drink all night.  I was happy staying in and sleeping on my plastic covered bed.  

A house in the favela.

Monday was my and Eoghan’s last full day in Rio. He was ending his 6 week trip around South American to go home to Ireland and I was planning a side trip to Ilhe Grande before my friend Nicki was meeting me back in Rio on Friday.

You’ll notice that so far, the only things I had done in Rio were basically partying and watching soccer, but there was a reason for it: I was waiting for Nicki to do those things later that week.  However, there was one thing Nicki didn’t mind not doing, and that was a favela tour, so Eoghan and I scheduled one for that afternoon.  

The favela tour was interesting.  I never did see the movie City of God, so I had no idea what a favela would be like.  I’d imagined that, based on its description of being a Brazilian ghetto, it would not only be dirty but would also have a lot of rifraff and drug addicts living there.  I quickly learned that 25% of Rio’s population lives in favelas and many people actively choose to live there because that way, they can save more money.  Sadly, the favelas are run by drug lords and there are people who patrol the favelas with machine guns patrolling for police officers.  Our guide took us to some rooftop areas so we could see the whole favela and the view was incredible: houses built on other houses, electrical wires strewn in every direction, and garbage everywhere.  Eoghan and I left the tour happy that we had the chance to really get into a favela to experience what it was like.  

View from the roof in the favela.

That night, everyone was taking it easy at the hostel for the first night since we’d gotten there.  I went to bed around 10:30 and as I fell asleep, realized I was ready for a low key side trip... These party hostels are too much for an old lady like me! ;)