On our first morning in Rio de Janeiro we took a walk and got lost, only to end up in a sort of Saturday market of filth and junk. There were piles of every sort of rubbish imaginable, squished along a highway underbridge. The smells were awful and I felt so unsafe amongst the deformed people and street kids that all I could think was 'get me out of here'.We stumbled up a nearly deserted road where the only people we saw looked dejected and homeless, though we figured they were probably down from the favelas. Occasionally there would be someone trying to sell us cold drinks from makeshift polystyrene boxes, as all the Rio shops were boarded up for Carnaval, something which added to the strange feeling that we were part of the movie 28 Days Later.
After a wee walk I was beginning to wonder what on earth we'd done starting off our trip of a lifetime in a city like this when we heard some sort of scratchy music coming from a loudspeaker. We turned into Rio Branco, the city's version of Auckland's Queen Street, and there right in front of us was the biggest street party I´ve ever seen.It was 10am, the beer was flowing freely, the limes were being sliced up for Brazil's favourite cocktail the caipirinha, the women had their size 14 butts squished into their size 10 hotpants and the men were proudly dressed as ladies, fairies, babies, anything you could imagine. Carnaval had begun and it would be a party which wouldn't stop for our five-day stay in Rio de Janeiro - there would be a constant samba beat in the background of our first visit to Brazil.
its cousin Rebecca saying hi hope you are having a good time. I love the photos and will keep checking them. Mum got out the atlas to show me where you are.