Exploring a rainy Rio

I'd seen a million photos of the "Marvellous City", a million depictions of Sugarloaf mountain, a million photos of the famous Ipanema beach, uniformly against a backdrop of glorious sunshine. Rio is the city of sun, the city of beaches and bronzed bodies. Or so I thought.

The first time I arrived in Rio, it was dark and stormy. I clambered out of my Uber in the pouring rain to a hostel with pounding music playing and cramped rooms. Nope.

I left and tried again a few days later. Having spent a glorious weekend in an equally cloudy and rainy Paraty, I braved Rio once again. This time my Uber from the bus terminal took me past Sugarloaf mountain and Copacabana beach at sunset. Much better. I decided to trust in the pathetic fallacy and give Rio a chance. I ended up spending 5 nights in the city and had a mixed experience.

The places

After running away to Paraty the first time I arrived in Rio, I only stayed in the city. I was based in Ipanema, in a hostel called Mango Tree, which I really enjoyed. Reasonably priced, reasonably clean, reasonably social and with a kitchen.

Honestly, the miserable weather combined with my ever-present paranoia about being anywhere as a solo female, means there wasn't as much wandering around as I liked. I traipsed around a couple of neighbourhoods, like Santa Teresa and did a walking tour around the centre, but mostly kept aimless strolling to a minimum.

Pão de Açucar

One cloudy, rainy evening, I looked up at the mist swirling Pao de Acucar and decided it was the perfect time to drop my daily budget on a trip up there. I was rewarded with these fantastic views.

For my German friends, that was sarcasm.

Forte de Copacabana

On my one day of sun in Rio, I had a really lovely stroll along Ipanema and then Copacabana and Arpoador beaches. I went towards the end of the day when the light was especially beautiful and the beaches were pretty packed.

I ended up at the Copacabana Fort, which is now home to militaty museum. As entry turned out to be free on that day, I didn't bother with the museum and just wandered around the complex. My intention was to head up to Sugarloaf mountain, but it was so beautiful just looking at this iconic scene that I decided to grab a Diet Coke (the saga of me ruining my teeth every day continues...) and just stay there.

Where's Wally, Rio edition

I ended up chatting to (or rather being chatted at by) the couple on the next table. An aspiring actress with lots to say and a husband who didn't open his mouth. She finished her monologue by telling me that she's not her husband's type but that she ended up with the ring on her finger. Her husband's smile did not meet his eyes.

The activities

Museu do Arte do Rio

Thank GOD for my tour guide who recommended this exhibition to us. At the Museu, there is currently an exhibition on the evolution of funk music! To the unitiated, I'm not talking about the soft funk of the US, but the funk music of Rio and now, Brazil. This exhibition was amazing, detailing the history, the US cultural influence, up until the importance of the dance and dress nowadaways. There were also listening stations, which led to a lot of new music in my Brasiu playlist (for example, Maria fumaca and Garota recalcada).

Dancing

Now, I am no Dancing Queen, but one of the things I really wanted to do was a samba class. And I did it. The teacher was so good that he really had me thinking that I'd mastered the steps. I was swifty humbled a few days later.

The same teacher also mentioned that he was giving a free forró (a partner dance from the Northeast) class the following night, which I also went to. This one was in Portuguese, but I think I managed to get a couple of steps down and really enjoyed it.

Checking out the Brazilian healthcare system

This wasn't on my list of planned activities, but wow did I feel like a local when I ended up in the A&E equivalent on Friday morning! I know what you're thinking Dad, but no I didn't fall over drunk. Don't worry. I'm **mature** now.

For those of you concerned, all is well. Just a case of some antibiotics needed for some nasty mosquito bites and the Brazilian health system got me sorted out in no time. Even picking up my prescriptions was free from the clinic next door. If only there was a trip advisor page, I would give this activity a glowing review.

Cycling

As I'd ended up staying an extra day, just to get myself sorted, I was left with some time on my hands. I had a think about what had been really missing from my Rio experience and decided that the beach time had been distinctly lacking. The weather was still pretty grey, so I decided to rent a city bike and cycling from Ipanema beach all the way down to Copacabana beach. And it was really fab. And flat!

The food and the drinks

Agua de Coca

10/10

It's honestly embarrassing that this is the first time that I'd drunk water from a coconut. Having realised this utter shame, on my last day I sought out an overpriced beach hut on a cloudy day on Copacabana beach and slurped away. Super refreshing, super cool, I truly felt like a beach babe, whilst neither really beaching, nor babing.

Different flavour caipirinhas

12/10

These absolutely slap. So hard it can hurt the next day. I tried with strawberry and then again with dragon fruit. I saw the amount of Cachaca poured into the dragon fruit one (spoiler; it was literally half the cup) and yet I sip and taste... juice?? If I hadn't been in Rio, feeling mildly paranoid that I was gonna get robbed at any point, I'd've happily cycled through all the flavours on offer.

Tapioca (pancake)

8/10

For my gringo friends - imagine the construction of an omelette. But now replace the egg with tapioca. You have a tapioca pancake thing. I got one from a street food stall with cheese from Minas Gerais and mmmmmm, it was really tasty. And super filling! A bit more seasoning wouldn't have gone amiss, but I'm guessing the vendor took one look at my white gringo face and figured he would play it safe!

Jiló

10/10

Stunning, yum, surprising! I've already shared my feelings on this on my insta and honestly I'm too lazy to type them out again. So click here if you're curious.

Feijoada

6/10

I KNOW what my Brazilian friends reading this are going to say. I'm just gonna apologise in advance, but this was dish was kinda... underwhelming? I'd heard so much about Feijoada (like a bean stew, with meat in it), but the one I ate was pretty flavourless and it was in a restaurant is recommended for this.

Feijoada in Santa Teresa

Overall, Rio was not my favourite city...

I definitely need to come back, preferably at a time with bluer skies and maybe within a group. Everywhere else in Brazil I have felt entirely safe as a woman travelling alone, but Rio really had me on edge and it was the first time I really missed being in a group setting.

I loved the vibrancy at night, with live music spilling out everywhere and dancing in almost every bar, but during the day I found Rio to be a city past it's better days, where the inequality and issue of safety are prevalent on every street.

But I will be back! Not least because I missed the National History Museum which I am still kicking myself for.