Rio de Janeiro!

We woke up Sunday morning and took a bus to Rio de Janeiro. Pretty uneventful day, since we spent 6 hours in a bus. The kids in the bus kept running around and laughing SO LOUD, so we didn´t sleep that well. I wanted to punch them in the faces. When we got to Rio, we were trying to find the Metro to take from the bus station to the hostel, but it was getting dark and we were having some trouble finding it. The bus station is in a really shady area and it smelled like pee everywhere. One guy just randomly started yelling and cussing at us. It was kinda scary. We walked around for a while, and ended up going up to this guy to ask for directions. We talked in a mix of English and Portuguese, and not very effectively. We managed to understand that he was an African spiritualist and he had been "warned" about two lost travelers who would come to him for directions. He got up from his spot where he´d been waiting and led us to the Metro, dropped us off, and then just left. Kinda freaky. We got to our hostel, got the cheapest rooms with triple bunk beds and no warm water, hand-washed some clothes, ate, killed time, and went to sleep.

The next day was a very epic day. On Monday, August 3, 2009, we climbed up Corcovado. Rio is home to the largest statue of Jesus in the world, and Corcovado is the mountain it sits on. Most people take buses or trains to climb it, but Yoontae and I decided to go on foot. Not because we´re active or because we´re cool, but because we´re cheap. Buses and trains are too expensive.

So, we took a public bus (R$2.80 per person, roughly a buck and a half) to the base of the mountain and started walking. 9 kilometers and 2 gallons of sweat later, we were at the top. On the way, we enjoyed great views of the city, spotted a wild monkey, met kids from a favela, and took lots of pictures. On the top of Corcovado, the view was amazing, and the huge Jesus was really cool. There were so many tourists, though, that getting a clear shot of the statue was sometimes a bit tough. We spent a while at the top resting and discussing our plans for the next few hours, and then we got up and walked back down. We got down the mountain in an hour and half and went to Copacabana to find some Brazilian barbecue. By now, we had walked about 20 kilometers and were starving, so we found a churrascaria (where you eat Brazilian barbecue) but left right away after seeing that it was R$58 per person. We found another place though, that was around R$35, and we ate there. We ate SOOOO much beef. We really ate like 10 different parts of a cow. We went all out on this meal and got dessert too, and it came out to be... much more than we would have liked to spend. But it was worth it and we left with our bellies full of high quality beef. We tried to walk around Copacabana, since it´s a really nice beach area, but we felt too full. So, we went inside the extremely luxurious Marriott to take dumps. I finished in a few minutes and came out and waited until Yoontae came out. Apparently he wasn´t getting enough fiber.

We headed back to the hostel, hand washed more clothes (seriously, don´t take your washer, dryer, and detergent for granted), and slept.

Although I didn´t make it sound that great, climbing Corcovado was amazing. Also, it was very strenuous, so be proud of us. Climbing up, we were sort of afraid since people kept warning us about the danger. Going up, we kind of cut through a favela (the slums of Brazil) and at one point this one guy started shouting at us and ran towards us. I got kinda scared (Yoontae probably did too, I´m not a pansy) but we just stood there anyway because we´re stupid. The guy was actually just yelling to tell us that Corcovado was the other way. I felt very ashamed. People in Brazil are seriously so nice, even in the slums, and I still had this hidden prejudice and this fear, probably because everything that my mom and Yoontae´s mom tells us is negative. They tell us horror stories about people getting mugged or pick-pocketed, but we´ve met only amazing people who surprise us with how nice and helpful they are.

Moral of the story: don´t listen to your moms.