Hikes in Rio and more

Hi everyone!

So I am sad to say that my trusty HP laptop that I've had since freshman year at UCSB has finally decided to call it quits...which has made updating my blog even harder than it already is considering I always forget or feel too lazy to update it. Honestly I believe it is just a matter of replacing the battery, but the problem is finding the battery I need in Rio. I have e-mailed various computer stores in the city and they have all told me to go to the HP store to solve my problem. The only thing is that the only HP store in the city is all the way in Barra, the newest part of the city that is an hour and a half by bus from where I live, and also happens to be the location of Brazil's biggest music festival, Rock in Rio, that started Friday night. All of this is to say that my computer will be out of commission for a little while longer at the least, because there is no way I am going anywhere near the Rock in Rio festivities and the inevitable traffic and crowds they generate. As I am typing this, my housemate Blair is at Rock in Rio to see Kimbra, Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake. I am EXTREMELY jealous, but at the same time, the crowds there are insanely big (which I am not a fan of), and I am getting over a cold so I really should just stay home and blog....on his laptop haha!

How I spent my saturday :) I still can't believe I get to live here...

So laptop and sickness issues aside, I have been dealing with other highs and lows of study abroad. But, I must say, that at the end of the day I do love it here in Rio and I feel extremely grateful to study in this amazing city.  One of my favorite things about Rio is the abundance of hiking there is to do within the city itself. Since school has started I have done two hikes in Rio: Pedra da Gavea and Dois Irmaos. Yesterday was a perfect day in Rio, and I think I truly fell in love with the city as I gazed out from the peak of Dois Irmaos, the iconic mountains on the western edge of Ipanema and Leblon beaches. I hiked Dois Irmaos with three friends: Louie, also a fifth-year Cal student, Andrea, a UCSC student, and Diana from Bogota, Colombia. 

To get up to Dois Irmaos is quite the adventure. First you have to go to Vidigal, a pacified favela sandwiched in between the very chic neighborhoods of Leblon and Sao Conrado. The favela is actually getting quite gentrified and I know various exchange students who have even moved there. From the entrance of Vidigal you have to take a mototaxi up to the tippy top of the favela. From there, you are dropped off to a small staircase that looks like it leads up to someone's backyard and then you have to walk along the yard on a sketchy cement wall up to a small trail (with no sign) and then from there you just follow the trail (and hope you're going the right way when there's a fork in the road haha!!). The first lookout from there is a view of Pedra da Gavea, Sao Conrado, and Rocinha, one of the largest slums in Latin America. 

If you feel like you're trespassing, that means you're going the right way! We had to climb onto this wall and continue walking up it until we reached the unmarked trailhead.

Me and Louie at the first clearing with Pedra da Gavea behind us and Rocinha on our right

Rocinha is a sight to behold. It extends much further than what you can see in the above picture and although I have yet to go there myself, I have heard it is a city in itself (due to its sheer size) complete with banks, grocery stores and even sushi restaurants with flat screen TVs! The favela was in the news quite a bit when I first arrived to Rio as one of its inhabitants, a man named Amarildo, disappeared in July and the pacifying police units' cameras that monitor the entrances to the favela were mysteriously broken the day he went missing. Riots ensued for several days in front of the entrance as residents demanded information from corrupt authorities about where he was. Many groups from around the country also protested in front of their local governments in solidarity. I remember seeing banners that said "Onde está o Amarildo?" (Where is Amarildo?) even in Salvador during my trip there. Yet as of yesterday, his wife is still searching for answers. See the article below (in Portuguese) for more on the Amarildo case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2013/09/130914_amarildo_2meses_jd_dg.shtml 

Rocinha. Just to the right of this is the neighborhood of Gavea and PUC (my school)

After looking out at the vastness of Rocinha, we continued up to the top of Dois Irmaos, where we were greeted with one of the best views I have ever seen (see the first picture in this post)! I could see the entire Zona Sul of Rio with Christ the Redeemer and Botafogo on my left, the Lagoa and Gavea Jockey Club in the middle, and Leblon, Ipanema, and Copacabana and their respective beaches on the right. We hung out there in the relative peace above the city for a good hour before hiking back down for some well-deserved açaí from a small store right next to the trailhead which was highly recommended to me by two friends for being the best in Rio. I don't know if it was because I was so hot from hiking but it was definitely the most refreshing açaí I've had and the best part was how cheap it was (less than two dollars for 400 mL and toppings!). When I told the woman at the store that i had heard her açaí was the best in Rio she blushed and giggled that everyone told her that! After the açaí break we took a kombi down to the lower portion of Vidigal where I stopped by my friends' new apartment. Vidigal is known to have some of the best views in Rio and my friend Chloe's apartment was no exception! The only catch was that on the rooftop balcony area her neighbors' dogs, who were clearly being raised to fight (a chewed up mannequin on the ground was one of their "toys"), were barking up a storm and killing the mood!

The legend Dona Ana herself serving up some delicious and filling açaí. I had mine with granola and paçoca (powdered peanuts) on top. Yum!

The view from Chloe's roof! Totally charming minus the extremely aggressive and barking rottweilers kept away by a flimsy-looking fence :/

So I still want to talk about my previous hike up Pedra da Gavea which was much more intense than the Dois Irmaos hike but this blogpost has already been so long and I don't want to bore you all to tears! I will save my Pedra da Gavea post for later =) In the meantime I wish you all a wonderful week and as always thank you for reading!

Beijos

Marie