Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Hey. It's Jen again. For a person who doesn't like to write online journal entries, I write a lot, right? I'm surprised that Amanda hasn't posted anything up for this blog yet. She's probably busy with writing for her editors and other work.

Anyways, we officially left Peru! Now, we're starting another journey onto Brazil.

August 2007
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Holly, Amanda, and I were sitting in the bar of the Copacabana Palace Hotel. We were trying to think of ways to stay here in this luxurious hotel.

Amanda, with her connections and all, had grabbed us two free nights at this luxurious hotel. After two days though, we had to find another place to stay.

After hours of me looking up online for hostels and Amanda and Holly looking through the city, Holly and Amanda finally found the hostel we could stay in. It was called the Mellow Yellow hostel.

Since we had already wasted two days at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, we forced ourselves to wake up early that morning to explore the city.

We went shopping in Feira Hippie de Ipanema outdoor market. There were sunglasses, dresses, bracelets, and a lot of other cool things you would find at an outdoor market.

When we saw the famous Christ the Redeemer, we took a lot of pictures. It was such an amazing statue. People went to such lengths to express their faith.

After that, we took a gondola up to the Sugarloaf Mountain. We sat in one of the tables and watched the scenery around us.

It was so beautiful that we stayed until night time. We decided to go back to the Mellow Yellow hostel when it started to get dark.

Later that night, fellow backpackers urged us to go to the favela parties. We were a bit skeptical, because the parties were in favelas. Favelas were practically the ghetto neighborhoods in Brazil. Wouldn't it be dangerous?

We asked a lot of backpackers around, but they said it was totally safe. A taxi took the party-goers directly to the place where the party was held, so they wouldn't have to walk through the favela and risk their lives. That reassured our safety. Holly decided she wanted to stay in our hostel, so only Amanda and I decided to go.

We rode in the taxi that took us and other backpackers to the favela party. I looked out the window and saw the dilapidated homes and run-down stores. I was starting to doubt the direction in which the taxi was going. Before I could ask the driver to turn back, the driver had stopped in front of the place where the party was held.

Amanda and I got off the taxi and entered the party. It was crazy. Everybody was dancing everywhere. Our doubts had left us and we merged into the crowd of party-goers. We danced all night until we couldn't move anymore.

Christ the Redeemer Statue