Latest posts from our Rio de Janeiro expert:
Bringing Brazilian culture to life
From the swirling skirts of Bahian carnival costumes to the driving drumbeats of Maracatu, pan-Brazilian culture is brought to life here at the Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro, in central Rio's Catete neighbourhood. To visit the museum is to experience the sights, sounds and smells of Brazil - the dry, dusty interior of the Northeast, the cowboy culture of the south and the cultural diversity that spans this vast country.
Entrance to this fascinating museum is free, and visitors can browse over 80,000 artefacts and audivisuals depicting Brazil's past and present - religious artefacts, carnival costumes, and the traditional dress of Amazonian tribespeople are all present and correct, and painstaking attention to detail has been put into depicting traditional methods of making wine, flour, clothing and - of course - that famous Brazilian firewater, cachaca. With permanent and temporary exhibitions and installations, there's always something new to capture the eye here, and even the most museum-weary of children are bound to be caught up in the colour, energy and sheer other-worldliness of many of the exhibits. The displays are a riot of colour and texture, and provide a fascinating insight into the many different sides of Brazilian culture, history and identity.
Closed on Mondays, the Museum is open Tuesday-Friday from 11am to 6pm, and from 3pm-6pm Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. You'll find it at Rua da Catete 179, bairro do Catete.
Monkeys and meteorites!
Its North Zone location means that Quinta da Boa Vista is little visited by tourists, but it's well worth making the effort to venture out here. Handily located for the Metro, this park lies around three kilometres from the famous Sambodromo, and was formerly the Brazilian Emperor's private park. It's now the location for the Museu Nacional, which, although a little past its prime, houses some interesting exhibits such as the giant meteorite found in Bahia in 1888.
The park is also home to Rio's city zoo - a monkey-lover's paradise! Although the zoo does need work (not least in terms of improving conditions for many of the animals...) the cheap entrance fee (R$6) makes this attraction hard to resist. Here you'll meet all manner of South American primates - from tiny marmosets to lively spider monkeys and howler monkeys. The zoo is on the large side, so set aside a couple of hours to take everything in - you'll need even longer if you're coming here with kids. The native birds can't fail to capture your attention - from the flocks of squawking parrots to the magnificent toucans.
Granted, it's not the Amazon, but the zoo does provide a good opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Brazil's more elusive inhabitants. It's open from 10am-4pm Tuesday to Sunday, and is located at Avenida Dom Pedro II.
The best spot for bargain hunters
Rio is an expensive city, and first time visitors can get a bit of a nasty shock when they take in the prices that stores charge for products such as clothes and toiletries. How then, do Cariocas always manage to look so good? Very often, the mystery can be solved by taking a Metro to the Mercado Popular da Urugaiana. This vast market is home to countless stalls selling cut price clothes, make up, electrical goods, sunblock…you name it, they sell it here. Prices are usually less than half what you’d pay in stores, and this is also the best place to come if you want to pick up a Brazilian football (soccer) shirt – whichever team you want to pledge support for, you’ll find their colours here. A word to the wise – with prices this cheap (around R$35 for a football shirt, compared to around R$180 in stores), you should be aware that while the vendors will swear their shirts are ‘official’, they’re probably not. However, you’d need a pretty sharp eye to tell the difference between these and the real thing, the detail is perfect right down to the labels and tags. Not a fan of football? No problem – you’ll also find good shorts, t-shirts, dresses etc here, and there’s always an opportunity to pick up some bargain jewelry too. To get to the market, just hop on the Metro and get off at the stop Uruguiana – you’ll see the market as soon as you emerge from the subway.
Favela Tour - see the other side of Rio
To some people, the idea of taking an organised tour of Rio's vast favelas (slums) is distasteful. However, as long as you take a tour with a reputable company, the experience is illuminating and educational rather than voyeuristic. For the most insightful experience, make the trip with Favela Tour - expert guide Marcelo Armstrong pioneered the idea of favela tourism and has established an excellent rapport with locals.
Rio is home to some 750 favelas, including Rocinha - the largest favela in South America. With Favela Tour you'll visit Rocinha and Vila Canoas, a much smaller community. As it is not advisable to wander into favelas alone, taking this type of tour offers a unique opportunity to see how the neighbourhoods operate - far from being mere hotbeds of crime, favelas are also the home of Rio's famous samba schools (the dancers in the legendary Carnival almost all hail from favelas) and have complex social infrastructures - Rocinha even has its own branch of McDonalds!
A portion of the proceeds from Favela Tour is invested in social projects within the favelas, and as a result the tours are welcomed with open arms - you should feel free to take pictures of the neighbourhood, but if you want to take pictures of residents make sure you ask first! (It goes without saying that you should never take photographs of anybody carrying a weapon...)
The favelas are a far cry from the plush beachside apartments of Ipanema and Leblon, but are as integral a part of life in Rio as the beaches and the nightlife. If you want to understand how Rio's working classes live, taking Marcelo's Favela Tour is a must.
To find out more, or to book a place on Favela Tour, visit the company's site at http://www.favelatour.com.br/rio_de_janeiro_tours.htm
Ilha da Paquetá
As you cycle along traffic-free dust tracks, past bobbing boats, tranquil storks and plodding horses, it’s hard to believe you are less than an hour’s ferry ride away from a city of more than 7 million people. Yet this is the scene that greets you at Ilha da Paquetá – an unassuming little island that lies across the bay from Rio de Janeiro city.Almost entirely free of foreign tourists, Ilha da Paquetá is sleepy during the week, but busy with visitors from Rio at weekends. Cars are banned from the island, and with bikes available to rent for next to nothing, the best way to see the place is to get pedalling along those dusty tracks. A circuit of the island takes less than an hour, but take the time to appreciate the picture-perfect whitewashed churches, the colourful (if slightly down at heel) colonial houses, and the flocks of vultures, storks and condors that feed at the water’s edge.Getting here is easy – feries depart from the ferry terminal opposite Praca 15 de Novembro in central Rio at 10.30am and 1.30pm each day, and tickets cost R$4 (the price rises by a couple of reais at weekends and during holidays). For a few reais more, you can buy a ticket for the faster, more comfortable catamaran, but the ferry trip is a pleasant experience in itself- offering wonderful views back to Rio as you leave the city, and across to Paquetá as you approach the island. Keep an eye out for the giant pebble-shaped boulders that dot the waters surrounding Paquetá. There are plenty of places to grab a cheap, if unspectacular, meal, and a pleasant way to end a day here is to order some bar snacks and beers to share at one of the beachside cafes. There’s not really enough to see here to warrant an overnight stay, but should you choose to stop over there are several decent pousadas (guest houses) on the island.
Football Mecca!
Brazil’s passion for football (or soccer, for North American readers…) is famous world-wide, and a visit to the legendary Maracaná stadium should be right at the top of any Rio itinerary. Even if you’re not a fan of the ‘beautiful game’, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the atmosphere – drumming, singing, dancing and flag-waving are all part of the Maracaná experience. The giant stadium may no longer be the world’s biggest, but it’s still a major source of national pride for Brazilians, and its spectacular setting beneath jagged mountains certainly adds to the appeal. Hotels and hostels will often arrange group trips to a game, but it’s perfectly easy (and much cheaper) to get here by yourself. The Maracaná metro station sits right next to the stadium itself, and tickets can be bought at the gate (note that for big matches such as local derbies, tickets will sell out and those available from touts will be pricey – if you’re thinking of attending such a game it’s worth buying tickets in advance). The cheapest seats are the cadeiras azuis, or blue seats, that surround the pitch itself. You’ll get a good view of the play from here, but for a livelier atmosphere it’s worth paying the extra to sit or stand in the tier above.Be careful during big derby games (such as Flamengo/Botafogo, Flamengo/Vasco or Flamengo/Fluminense) – the atmosphere can get heated so don’t risk aggression by wearing team colours! Flamengo are the most famous and, historically, the most succesful of the Rio teams, but those who support other teams often bear a grudge towards ‘Flamengistas’, as supporters of the team are known.Ticket prices start at around R$20 for the cadeiras azuis, but can double or even triple for cup finals or Carioca derbies.
Escape the city swelter at Parque da Catacumba
There’s no question that the sticky heat and frantic pace of life in Rio de Janeiro can be exhausting for locals and visitors alike. It’s a blessing then, that the city boasts city parks in abundance - from the (justly) famous botanical gardens to the hidden trails of Parque da Catacumba.
The latter has to be one of the city’s best-kept secrets - as well as boasting trails up to a vantage point with spectacular views over the Lagoa, it serves as an open-air art gallery, with impressive sculptures from local artists dotted around the place. Monkeys and tropical birds can be spotted overhead and, after taking the well-marked short hike up to the viewing point, you’ll see condors swooping past you as you take in the breathtaking views.
Although the park sits directly behind the Lagoa - itself a major tourist attraction - it is little visited by tourists. When I visited, I found that my only company was the little monkeys sunning themselves on the park’s benches.
But while the peace and quiet today provide a welcome respite from the heat and the pace of city life, less than 40 years ago the scene here would have been very different. The site was once home to one of Rio’s notorious favelas (shanty towns). At one stage, up to 15,000 people lived here with in self-built homes, but an urban renovation program saw the favela demolished in 1970. The residents were shipped out to various sites in the suburbs - most famously Cidade de Deus (City of God) - the setting for the film of the same name.
Entrance to the park is free, and this is the perfect place to unwind and recharge your batteries after a few days in a city that can be exhausting as it is exhilarating.