Author Archives: james150682

Inside Santa Marta Favela

Posted on by under Travel

Favelas (slums in Brazilian urban areas) are synonymous with Rio. And despite at least one favela being visible from most points in the city a tourist has no real need to visit or even go through one such as they are positioned high up on the hills overlooking the offices, homes and beaches below.

IMG_5702

View of Santa Marta favela from its base

That said and in a similar way to the slums of Mumbai some favelas are now open to tours to give outsiders the opportunity to witness first hand what life is like for the residents who live there. With our knowledge of favelas limited to watching City of God (also set in Rio) this was an opportunity we wanted to take and would further round our experience of this city as our time here drew to a close.

Continue reading →

Our first week in numbers

Posted on by under Travel

I love numbers. And so what better way to mark our first week than a run down of some of the key facts and figures from our time in Rio so far. So in no particular order:

Twenty
The number of minutes spent at Christ the Redeemer where cloud cover meant we only saw a fraction of the famous views. Also the number of times we got annoyed by tourists pushing and shoving to get their perfect photo. Not that we’re bitter.

image2

Christ not doing much to redeem the view. Out of shot are a million tourists lying on the ground taking photos.

Continue reading →

First impressions

Posted on by under Travel

With 48 hours in Rio now behind us here’s some of our first impressions:

1. Natural beauty. To state the obvious the geographical setting of this city is absolutely majestic. Mountains, lagoons and beaches merge seamlessly with the city which wraps itself around its landscape in a natural, unimposing way.

Continue reading →