RIO DE JANEIRO

The first morning in Rio I woke up early and the first people I saw on the streets were wearing pink tutu’s and having glitter all over their bodies. It made me laugh and I got excited to join the carnival so I put on my carnival outfit. People don’t wear a lot of clothes in Rio during the carnival so I decided to go with the flow and just wear colorfull swimshorts and put some glitter on my face and body. I felt pretty naked and awkward at first but when I mixed myself in the crowd I blended in just perfect.

I had never really traveled alone before so I was a bit apprehensive to arrive in Rio all by myself. Luckily I already talked to some dutchies who were also in Rio. One of the dutchies: Loes, who’s been living in Rio for a couple months, took me under her wings and showed me how amazing Rio is. The next two days were all about the carnival, which is an amazing event so if you ever have the chance to experience it in Rio you really should! Everyone’s happy and people are looking beautiful in these amazing and creative outfits. There are these party’s on the street which are called “Bloco’s” and they vary from a couple dozen party animals to hundreds of thousends people partying.

I made a short video to give you an impression:

My last full day in rio was about sightseeing. In the morning I went to Selaron Stairs and had a perfect Pao de Queijo and Açai breakfast at Cultivar in Santa Teresa. After that I took an Uber to Christ the Redeemer and met some other Dutchies there. To get to the top of the mountain and see the statue, we had to wait for more than 2 hours so we decided to hike to the top. It was very warm but we met some other crazy's who joined us so the hike was actually quite fun.

After hiking back down we took a taxi together to visit Copacabana Beach. I wish I had some more time in Rio to explore the city but in the afternoon I met with the Overland group I’ll be traveling with for the next couple of months....but I’ll tell you more about that later!

Pao de Queijo and Açai breakfast

On the way to the Selaron Stairs

Selaron Stairs / Escadaria Selarón

The view during the hike to Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer / Cristo Redentor