Sunday, 08 September 2019 - Rio de Janeiro

Dear Travel Diary,

our first day in Brazil is already over and we have been struggling with jet lag.

After landing at 5:50 a.m. this morning, I immediately activated our SIM card, while Thorsten waited for our luggage. It paid off that we had printed out all the registration emails beforehand. A few minutes later, we had a working phone with internet and our backpacks. Being overly cautious, we found a "safe place" in the middle of the airport arrival hall to order an Uber, "well protected" from pickpockets. Since we didn't want to become victims of a crime on the first day, we booked a "luxury Uber".

Note: That was totally unnecessary. The Ubers in Brazil are (almost) all great and safe

Thanks to the app, we knew where we had to go, the driver's name, vehicle, and license plate number. The driver placed our luggage in the trunk and the very silent ride began. The driver (as well as all our Uber drivers in Brazil) didn't speak a word of English and we knew at most three words of Portuguese. Within 5 minutes, we passed the first large and truly poor and dangerous-looking favela. It made our stomach turn. On the one hand, because of the cruelty of the prevailing poverty, and on the other hand, because of the many horrible stories we had read about car robberies beforehand.

Our ride took us further, all the way across the city, to our accommodation "Sant Matre" in the Santa Teresa district.

Since it was only about 06:30 a.m., our room, which was ready for occupancy at 12:00 p.m., was of course not yet available.

Armed with Google Maps and a good portion of courage, we set out to explore the area.

Uphill and downhill, we admired the colorful houses and mosaic pictures on the street walls, and whenever a ravine appeared between the houses, we could catch a glimpse of this so diverse city. We could hardly believe how favelas were recognizable in the middle of the city. Above all, the red stone of the mostly unpainted houses stood out distinctly. We continued down a very steep street until we finally arrived at the Escaderia Selarón. The wonderfully colorful mosaic staircase designed by the artist Jorge Selarón was still deserted; no wonder, it was only about 07:30 a.m.

The staircase connects the artist district of Santa Teresa with the party district of Lapa. At the foot of the staircase, we found ourselves literally in the remains of last night's party...

Our room was available a little later, which was more or less okay... in the high season, this is certainly a good accommodation, but now in the low season, everything is a bit loveless. It seems that the rooms next to us were rented only to long-term guests.

Anyway, no matter, we wanted to make the best of it. So we set out once again to discover as much as possible. Our destination was the famous yellow tram of Santa Teresa. Arriving at the main stop, with the help of a very helpful Brazilian policewoman, we bought two tickets for 20 Real each (about 3.70 €) with the credit card and a few seconds later, the tram arrived. The tram goes up the hill to a favela monitored by the police

and then back towards the city center over an adventurous bridge secured only with wire mesh, which used to be an aqueduct.

Now it has become late. We will end the evening with some 'Pao de Queijo' on the terrace of the Poussada and say good night and see you tomorrow.