More sugar

After hearing about the Finnish couple getting robbed we were a bit wary the next day. Luckily for them they didn't have much taken, Hannu's glasses being the most important and most useless to the thief. Saying that I doubt a Brazilian mugger will find much use with an autobiography of Fidel Castro written in Finnish! They also told us how much of a joke the police were. They knew there was nothing they could do but it was comical nontheless. When they found out the couple were from Finland they instantly brought up pictures of Finnish chicks on the internet to show Hannu. Amusing but not greatly helpful.
That day we walked half an hour or so to the Sugar Loaf mountain with the Aussie we'd met, Kai. After the Finnish incident we were a bit spooked so left our cameras at the hostel. When we got there of course everyone had really expensive cameras out. Ah well.
Great views from the top, once we took two high cable cars to get there. Not my favourite mode of transport. Down at the bottom was a nice small beach but unfortunately the water had rubbish in it so we didn't venture in. The other day at Ipanema the water was absolutely freezing anyway.
We strolled around a nice area looking for a beach we'd seen on the map. After shortly visiting a grotty looking one we moved on and soon realised that the good looking beach was within an army base. An army base with a beach, that's Brazil for you. One thing of note about Brazilian beaches is that they're not topless like in Spain, for instance. The Brazilians seem to counter this by wearing swimsuits that resemble pieces of illuminous string and nothing more. There really should be a law in place, or somekind of judge, to determine who is allowed to wear such garments though.
Another good meal at one of the popular weigh food places was had with the Finns and Kai that night. The next day we spent mainly on the local buses. Getting to the bus station to buy Sao Paulo tickets, situated right near a favella, was a bit dodgy but ok. Some areas in Rio are plain disgusting. Most areas are just simply run down.
We'd heard about a favella tour that tourists go on, we didn't but was told about it. They have electricity and even internet cafes in the favellas, mainly because they tap into the electric cables running above. There also used to be a Macdonalds in one favella but it got looted soo badly that they pulled out. It's now a Bob's Burger, a Brazilian chain. The whole favella in question is run by one drug baron. The Police don't enter, they just sit around the edge with machine guns in hand. Inside the favella drug markets are common. A woman at our hostel told us of drug stalls selling bags of cocaine the size of pillows. Tourists instantly get busted once they leave apparently.
In the afternoon us and Kai went to a tremendously long beach an hour out from Botofogo, where we were staying. It was more upmarket and a lot tidier than Ipanema or Copacabana. The rip was ferocious though. We swam in the slightly warmer water but it was an immense struggle just to try and get back to shore, about 5 metres away. Ridiculous. Needless to say after that a life guard put up danger signs. Nice.
A caiphrinia by the beach as the sun went down finished off the day nicely. But we still had to get back. The bus driving in Rio is the worst I've ever experienced. Horrendous does't even come close. They floor it on the open road overtaking pretty much everything and yanking the bus round bends like they're driving a Mini. When we hit very heavy traffic they constantly rev the engine and lurch forward every few seconds at full pelt just to get a few metres further down the road. And gears, well, I really don't know if anyone showed these guys how they work. After about 2 and a half hours we got back feeling sick and with neck ache!
Rio was made good because of the good people we met, making it much safer to get out and about. The Brazilians are fairly friendly and the beaches are quite decent and a good respite from the grime of the city. The main centro is quite flash, mainly business and shops orientated but it's not far from the contrast of the ramshackle favellas. The gap between living standards is enormous. Where we stayed felt safe enough but other areas had an air of something bad could happen and I didn't like it at all. I don't want to feel like I need to be thinking about my posessions or cash all the time, you can't relax.
All in all Rio is a very beautiful and a very ugly place. I'm glad I've been but I can't see me being in a rush to return. There are far better places to be that are far safer and more enjoyable, Buenos Aires beats it hands down. Out of Brazil we go, after another longish bus ride to Sao Paulo. About 8 hours or so, made slower due to a couple of accidents. We had no time to visit Sao Paulo as our flight left the day after we arrived so I decided to live in comfort that evening at a Best Western near the airport. Costly but worth it now and again.
Next day we misjudged our flight time horrendously meaning we got to the airport at 13:00 for a 21:30 flight! A horrible concrete airport didn't help. Luckily we did have time to sort out a mix up which stopped our bags being moved onto a plane bound for Los Angeles. Still it was odd that there was no mention of our connecting flight to La Paz, Bolivia. After a long day of waiting around we finally flew into Lima, Peru, to get our connecting flight to La Paz. What flight? It didn't exist. Luckily LAN Peru put us on the equally late flight, to land in La Paz at 3am, the next day and put us up a hotel for the evening and next day in Lima. The five star Sheraton, all expenses paid. Lovely.