China. Maybe One Day #2: Her name was Rio, she was a showgirl – Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Her name was Rio, she was a showgirl
Saturday, September 7th

Or something like that anyway. Ah, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. Home of
Samba, THE carnival and fake breast spotting on the beach. It was actually a
girl that pointed out to me how to tell if they are fake. Apparently it’s
all down to the way they hold their shape when covered by only a small
triangle of material. After spending a day on the beach I can tell you that
once you know what to look for it is really easy to tell the difference.
Anyway, enough of that.

Another thing that I got up to in Rio was going to a football match. With a
capacity of 110,000 the Maracan� stadium dwarfs anything in the UK. The day
I went it was a local derby between Flamengo and Fluminense. The atmosphere was electric. There was singing
and dancing, flag waving and huge banners, Mexican waves, drums and brass
horns, a couple of fireworks and even a bit of a fight after the match. To
top it all off the score was 5-2 to the team we had chosen to support. When
we got back to the hostel 12 of us bundled into a taxi and went out drinking
in Ipanema to celebrate someone’s birthday. Although it wasn’t the greatest
pub in the world I didn’t manage to drag myself home until 4:30 in the
morning.

The rest of Rio is pretty good as well. I could quite easily have spent a
couple of weeks there. The buses make it easy to get around town, there is
lots to see and do. Going up the Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer mountains
definitely rank as a must do. I only met three people who were mugged so it’s
not at all as dangerous as the guidebooks make out!

After Rio it was a quick plane journey up to Iguazu falls. Actually, I have
just spent the day wandering around the place on the Argentine side. Make
sure you get to spend a whole day there as there is loads to do. I took a
truck safari (which admittedly was a bit crap) but it connected up to a boat
which took you up some rapids and then right up to, then under, the falls
themselves. Got soaking wet. There are loads of walks to do as well and the
falls themselves look awesome from any angle. To be honest I have seen so
much of the waterfalls and from so many angles I don’t think I can be
bothered to go and view the Brazilian side tomorrow. Might treat myself to a
lie in before I catch the plane down to Buenos Aires.

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