Serenity: Random Rio

Rio is a pretty cool city. We came in the off-season, so things were a little subdued but we still had a great time wandering its streets and soaking in the culture. Our hotel was right on the Copacabana (currently voted one of the top city beaches http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/best-city-beaches-209050) and we were in a really good spot to walk about. Copacabana is a really expensive neighbourhood, tiny apartments here costs millions of real (one real is about 4 rand, very inflated if you ask me) and the whole of the beachfront strip is covered with hotels and apartment blocks. Up the road from Copacabana is the Ipanema strip, which is the most expensive neighbourhood in Rio. The people here are the more affluent Brazilians and the beachfront area is covered with pretty buildings, nice stores and is super-clean.

We caught a game of beach soccer whilst chilling on the strip. Incidentally, the Copacabana was named after a Bolivian sacred site after a statue of the Virgin of Copacabana was built here, and there are plenty of Copacabana's all over the world. This, however, is surely the most famous.

The Brazilians here love their dogs as well, and we saw plenty of them picking up their dog's poo off the streets. There was a real sense that the residents took pride in their city. There was no litter, beautiful, well maintained buildings and a general sense of peace and order. The city was colourful and organised, with trees decorated with paint and colourful street signs. Here is one out of interest. It is the Baden Powell Theatre, named after Roberto Baden Powell ( Brazilian guitarist). Apparently Roberto's dad was a scouting enthusiast and named his son after Robert Baden-Powell.

Samba is huge in Rio, and there are several samba schools and samba stadia for dancers to practice for the carnival. We were told that schools have tests and give different kinds of shows. Some shows are small allow each school to perform for 30min, whilst some are parades that stretch for several kilometres.

We did catch a glimpse of the less affluent parts of Rio. The favelas, or slums, are parts of the city where millions of inhabitants live on top of each other in poverty. The are tours going into them, but after I had watched the movie "City of God" (brilliant, a must-see!) it put me off visiting them for fear of being shot by coked-out, gun toting, pre-pubescent gangsters. Here is a shot from our tour bus.