28.3. - 30.3. Rio - Sao Paulo

We got up quite early as Fabio and Karina both got up at 6. We said good bye, had breakfast and tidied up the place. We left some toilet paper and coffee to replace some more than we had used. We took a bus to the main busterminal Rodavaria and bought tickets for half an hour later. we left around noon and it was a nice journey. Really nice mountaneous landscapes and fields of termite hills. Some times it was also raining a lot. We arrived in Sao Paulo a bit past 18h and bought tickets to move on to Blumenau on the 30th. It is a night bus and we were again amazed how expensive the tickets are. We paid more than 55 Euro pp for a 9h ride. Generally we are still a bit shocked how expensive Brazil is. In the supermarket most things are more expensive than in Austria.
We took the Metro for ten stops south and from there it only took a 5 min. walk to the hostel we had booked the day before. In the hoster were some really nice people and we had some beer with Gerry and Helena from Galway, Irelad and  Borja and Guillermo from San Sebastian, Spain. We had a lot of fun and went to bed around midnight.

The breakfast which was included was really nice! Considdering the high price of the hostel at least something. It was actually the most expensive hostel we ever stayed. 46 Euro for a basic double with shared bathroom. We took the metro to the center and walked around. It took us some time to find the Edeficio Banespa tower because the map in the Rough Guide was wrong. There, we had to queue for 30 min. to get to the observatory, where only 5 people at a time are allowed, but it was for free and a really nice view! Again we had been lucky with the weather. After that we went to the famous mercado municipal and also had lunch there. Radka had some simple but very good pasta for 12,5 Euro! I took one of the famous and enourmous MOrtadella sandwiches. We then went cross the centro to the theater and on to Praca da Republica. There we went up the Italian tower Edificio Italia and were again lucky, because we just arrived at the beginning of the 3pm-4pm period where it is open for the public, otherwise you have to consume in the restaurant which is very expensive. The view was really nice again and this time with out the 5 min. timelimit. We thn even wanted to taka a coffee u there, but they closed because of a model photoshooting. SO we looked for a cafe at the bottom and finally found a nice place. The coffe did not help much so we went back to the hostel, it was alredy getting late anyways. We then wanted to have a beer withthe others but the reception was in it's 1h evening break and so we went to the supermarket to buy it ourselves. We had a lot of beer and later had to switch to the hostels beer again. IN the early stage of the evening a few girls from university came to us because they were doing a survey about hostels in Brazil. As most of us had no other experience exept for the one we were currently staying in, they were not very happy. Meanwhile also Chris from England and a french guy had joined the gang. They were aready pretty drunk and we were getting ther too. After the boss of the hostel came down the second time, because we were too loud in his view, we and Gerry "hit the hay" and Borja, Chris and the french guy went out to a bar.

Again a good start with a nice breakfast. After that we checked out and left the big backpacks there. We went to a park 30 min. walk from there. It was really nice! There was a concert hall by the architect Oscar Niemeyer which is really cool and near by the museum of modern art. It is surrounded by nice sculptures and there is a UFO-like building right next to it. The nuseum was for free and displayed photography. I prefered the exhibition of the older photographs by German Lorca, some of the very modern and recent photos of Tillman were also nice. As we were hungry we had a burger menue in some local fast food (7,5 Euro each!) and went on - via a huge detour - to the Afro-Brazil museum. It was also quite nice and showed African culture and the issue of slvery. After the museum, which was big, we walked for some more and watched some really cool fountains (Wasserspiele). We wathed it for at least half an hour and it didn't repeat. We then took a bus to the metro and  went to Liberdade district, where mostly japanese immigrants are living. We went to a japanese restaurant and had some really nice food. After that we went back to the hostel and packed our stuff. We fianlly said good bye to everyone who was still there and took the metro to the Rodaviaria. I tried to find a supermarked outside but was not lucky. So I had to buy a small bottle of water and coke for 3,5 Euro! at 20:45 we left and now are stuck since 1 hour in a traffic jam.

Rio_2.cast

Vcera jsme byli nejdrive zas na Copacabane, Bernie se vyblbnul ve vlnach, ja jsem si zapomnela plavky, tak jsem se jen divala :) Pak jsme nejakou chvili hledali jeden hostel, ktery provozuji dva bratri surfari z Grazu, nemeli jsme presnou adresu, ale zato znali fotky z netu, takze jsme ho nakonec nasli, chvili pokecali a vyridili pozdravy od naseho kamarada Stefana, taky surfare. Pak jsme jeli k "cukrove homoli". U vstupneho se nam protocili panenky (53 Realu, t.j. ca.26 Euro), ale pesky nahoru se nam v tom vedru taky jit nechtelo. Nahore panoramata na cele mesto a okoli, zustali jsme az do setmeni a dali si caipirinu :)
Dneska bylo vedro. Chteli jsme puvodne s lidma od CouchSurfingu v Riu jit na vylet, ale... jeden dobry muz Japonec nam chtel v autobuse pomoct a nakonec nam zapomnel ukazat, kde jsme meli vystoupit...na sraz jsme dorazili o hodinu pozdeji. Nahradni program: navsteva botanicke zahrady, ktera byla hned naproti od mista, kde jsme se meli sejit, a pak vzhuru k sose Krista, pekne zubackou, nahore zas ta panoramata...pekne! Cesta zpatky autobusem do nasi ctvrti trvala neuveritelnou hodinu a pul...vecerni dopravni spicka.
Dopili jsme pivo a jdem spat, zitra pokracujem autobusem na jih, smer Sao Paulo. Rio je neuveritelne krasne mesto!!! :)

26.3. - 27.3. Two more fantastic days in Rio!

Yesterday we first took a bus to Copacabana and wandered along the beach. I also did a bit of body surfing which was nice except for the hard shore break which once hit me hard ... We then tried to find the Chill and Surf Camp, which is run by two brothers from Graz. We had a rough idea where it is and searched along a street going high up in the favelas. We found the camp and it was a funny feeling meeting the guys and talking about friends in Graz. We had lunch across the street of the camp and then went down and took a bus to Pao the Acucar, the sugar loaf. We invested the 26 euros to get up there by the nice cable car and it was defenitely worth it! Amazing view! It makes you realize what a beautifully located city Rio is! We spend enough time to also experience the nice night view form up there and had a caipirinha. :) After that we went home and had 2 beers while watching the pope visiting Cuba on TV

Today we wanted to join a CouchSurf event. At the bus stop we met a nice japanese guy who was helping us with the bus who later unfortunately failed to tell us where to change the bus. So we made a big detour and finally arrived at the meetingpoint one hour late. So we went to the botanical garden instead which was also very nice! After the garden we took a bus to the Corcovado train which brought us to the famous Christ statue. It is quite a long and steep ride and up there we had a spectacular view! We also saw a gay twin couple who was really very entertaining doing interviews with random people up there. We had a drink and went down. We had to queue for quite a while and so we went straight home from there. Straight meant 1 and a half hours on one bus in the rush hour ... At home we had a beer and now we soon will go to bed.

Rio_cesky

Tak jsme vcera vecer dorazili do Ria. Spime u Fabia, na matracich, nasli jsme ho pres couch surfing, coz je sit lidi, kteri z dobre vule nabizeji ubytovani. Na oplatku pak u nas v Grazu, jestli tam nekdy budou mit cestu, taky muzou prespat, az tam zase budeme :) Dneska jsme byli v centru, navstivili par uzasnych vystav (vicemene nahodou, jeden dobry muz na ulici rozpoznal, ze jsme autobusem dorazili nekam, kam jsme uplne nechteli, a ujal se nas, resp. nas provedl par peknymi ulicemi az ke galerii a prosel s nama jednu vystavu, moc fajne potkani hned zkraje vyletu...) Pak jsme si dali obed, kafe a uz si to sinuli autobusem na Copacabanu, juhuu :) Nedele, vedro, takze vsude plno lidi, uzasne obrovske vlny, tak velke, ze byl ale zakazan vstup do vody, nevadi, dali jsme si kokosove mliko a pak dve mistni piva. Pak jsme jeli autobusem zpatky. Prijdem do bytu a Fabio byl poradne nastvany, ze jsme po sobe neuklidili matrace a spacaky stranou. Ale uz s nama opet mluvi :) Dobra lekce pro priste, poradek u couch surfaru predevsim! Pouceni pro priste jdem spat. Zitra nas ceka vylet ke Kristu, tak at to nepodcenime :)

24.3. - 25.3. Rio de Janeiro

Finally our big America trip has begun! :)
Yesterday we arrived after a long journey in Rio de Janeiro. It was a mystic welcome with thunderstorms and very little light just after sunset. We managed to catch the bus to the national Airport where we had to change to another bus to Grajau, each 45min. We even managed to find the house of our host. We tried CouchSurfing for the first time. :) Fabio is a nice guy, and a crazy swimmer who holds a record of south america in wild water swimming. He suggested to go to a mustache party but actually we were very tired and went to sleep soon.

Today, we got up well before our host and went downtown after breakfast. We took a bus to the Centro, or at least near it. The bus system is quite chaotic here, but we usually manage to get the rough direction. We met a nice guy who showed us around a little bit and went to exhebitions in the CCBB and another galery right besides the Casa Franca-Brazil. Really cool electronic sound installations! :) We continued down to Cinelancia where we had lunch, prato feito, a ready made dish. It was with meat, rice, fries and frijoles. Very nice and ok price. After that we went to Copacabana and strolled along to Ipanema. We had a coconut and some beer there. After that we took a bus home which took more than an hour of crazy driving.