Ah Rio...makes me think of "The girl from Ipanema" and "At the Copa...Copacabanaaaaa!" :)
Anyways, I had a great time in Rio, my last stop of my journey. I was alone just one night before Alon got there. And I went to bed that night simply so excited to see him the next day :)
We first stayed in Copacabana at Stone of a Beach hostel. I HATED it. They turned the music on at the bar at 10 am which sounded like a concert right outside my window. I slept awful the night before with doors constantly slamming and an upset stomach. Anyways, once I met up with Alon, all was great! We ventured to Ipanema our first day to find his friend. While in Ipanema, we booked a hostel and decided to move there in a day or two since it's known to be safer and nicer.
However, our last night at Stone of a Beach was very MEMORABLE! We went to sleep that night and around 5 am I woke up to the sound of someone throwing up and a splash noise. I thought maybe it was outside and then heard it again. Then some guy in our 8 person dorm said "Man, go to the bathroom, you can't be vomiting all over the dorm." I was angry...I turned the lights on and it was a guy on the top bunk who threw up on himself and also on the the lower bed, someone else's. GROSS! Anyways, I tried to wake him up and make him go to the bathroom but he was beyond drunk. In the meantime, some other guy in the room is asking me my name, where I'm from...I wasn't in the mood to make friends. So alas, what did I do? I went down to reception and no one was there to help! Sometimes, you just gotta love South America. I saw the kid whose bed was thrown up on and told him, however he seemed less bothered than me. HA! So what did I do? I gave up and went back to sleep. Like a good little backpacker. The funniest part of the story...Alon slept through this entire scene!
Luckily, from there on, my dorm days were O-V-E-R! Alon and I got our own room in Ipanema--yay!!
Our first day there we went to the second biggest "futbol" (American soccer) stadium in the world-Maracana-and went to a game. It was fun-lots of energy-bands, drums, lots of big flags. We had a good time. :)
The next day we went on a favela tour-a tour of the slums of Rio. This was made popular by the movie "City of Gods" which focused on the most dangerous slums in Rio. We learned about the infastructure of t
he favelas, education, transportation, violence, guns. It was a little akward touring people's homes in the slums...a bit scary too. There was a lot of sewage, trash, and filth around. It was sad to see how others truly live. We also took a motorbike ride through the favelas to get back to the top...and at some point I thought "Right now I am driving through the slums of Rio on a motorbike." Can't tell you how many times I've been in that situation before. :)The following day we visited the Christ the Redeemer statue. Eh. WAY too touristy. I
love how as a backpacker you kind of feel "above" regular tourists. I know, not fair, but oh well. Anyways, we had to sit around in the HEAT waiting for a train to get up there and I was tired and cranky. Four months of traveling does that to you sometimes. Anyways, it was cool to see the statue and the amazing views but tough to get pictures without any tourists in them. Hot + crowded, not a good combination.My last day in South America. We had a great lunch at a kabob place...SO good! Spent the day at the beach..swimming, playing, sunning...picturing the weather at home in Boston and just SOAKING UP THAT SUN! At some point Alon said "There's Dor!" and he was in the water like slow motion waving to us and coming to say hi. Dor and I were both in Rio for a few days at the same time but were having a hard time meeting up because of staying in different hostels and having different plans. Unfortunately, he was just about to leave the beach. But we got to chat for a few minutes and have a proper goodbye. :( It was just so nice to see him before I left. But I felt like...wow, I just said goodbye to Dor. I've said bye to Teja, Nadja, Tom, Irit, Nicola....so many friends. And Dor was a major part of my trip. But like I said, we had a proper hug goodbye.
Lastly, Alon and I went to have dinner together. We had a great conversation about becoming an adult, the trip, being independent, and making dreams come true. After our great dinner & dessert, we went to watch the sunset on Ipanema. The last event of my trip. Pretty symbolic, like the sun was setting on my trip. At this point some anxiety started to set in that my trip was really coming to an end. All that thinking, planning, worrying, researching that went into the trip...all the time and money.
But what can I say? It was simply the BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. Following my dreams was such an amazinf feeling-I am so proud of myself for trusting my instincts and desires and overcoming the opposition and trusting myself. What a good feeling.
So, Alon and I left the hostel and soon my taxi came. We had our goodbye...Alon still had more adventures to make. But he planned to come visit me in March, so we only said a temporary goodbye. :)
And I was alone again. I felt so pensive during my cab ride to the airport. The taxi driver and I didn't talk much and I was fine with that. Gave me a good atmosphere to think, think, think! About my trip and my experience and life.
ABOUT MY FOUR MONTHS, SIX COUNTRIES:
And from there I was at the airport in the process of coming home...
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