Among the books I brough home from my trip to Brazil, is Travessia da Amazônia, by Airton Ortiz. The story tells the writer’s route from Lima to Pucallpa and from there to the Amazonas exit into the ocean. Until now, I’ve only read the first chapters, dedicated to the part of the trip made in Peru. And really, there are a a few things that grabbed my attention.

A couple of days ago, I talked about the need to stop by bookstores before starting a trip. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t seem to be the best example for this. To begin with, the writer finds out, through a brochure he reads on the airplane, that one of Peru’s typical dishes is ceviche. Such information is far from being a secret; he could’ve read it on the least exhaustive travel guide to Peru. When arriving to Lima, he looks for a place to try it, and he heads to the downtown (center of Lima), an area where there are no famous cevicherias (ceviche restaurants). If he had read something about it, he would’ve known that these places can be found easily in Callao or around Aviacion and Canada avenues. Of course, he misses out on eating ceviche. After this failure, he heads for Pucallpa. There, he wants to try a dish he was told to be really good and typical of the amazon. Juane? Tacacho? Fried Paiche? Carne de monte? Majaz? Wrong: lomo saltado. “But that’s also found in Lima”, you might say. Yes, of course. To make things worse, Ortiz also points out that, as he’s going to Pucallpa, he still hasn’t lost hope of … eating ceviche. If you’re aware of the fervor people from Lima to state that this dish must be prepared with fresh sea fish, the sole idea of eating ceviche in the middle of the jungle would put more than one in fear. As you can realize, a minimal research about the peruvian amazon would’ve pointed him what foods were the most traditional there.

Despite this issues, that really could’ve been solved with a simple search and reading of some guides and books about Peru, for now, the book is fun. The representation of Peru is a little surprising for many of us who have visited the area, and talks about how arbitrary our representations sometimes are. Another thing that grasped my attention is that it states that you eat a lot in Peru. It even says “poucas horas após ter chegado ao país já entendia por que os limenhos era tao gorditos” (a few hours after I arrived to the country, I realized why people from Lima are so chubby -gorditos, in spanish, on the original text; the portuguese word for this would be “fofinhos”). Ortiz is gaúcho -south of Brazil native- and there, churrascarias, where you simply eat all the meat you can until you almost explode, are very traditional. Honestly, I don’t understand why is he so surprised to find peruvians eat a lot.

Book reference: Ortiz, Airton (2004) Travessia da Amazônia. Do Pacífico ao Atlântico pelos rios amazônicos. Rio de Janeiro, Record (colección Viagens Radicais).

We’ve talked about travel poscasts before. Now, Reuters, the news agency, is writing about it and condenses in a single article the references of this growing trend, although for now it hasn’t resulted in a very dominant site. Surely, during the following months we’ll see more podcasts coming out for the tourism market, particularly now that mp3 players are getting cheaper. Of course, it’ll be a challenge to enter markets where broadband is still scarce; one thing is to make a technology podcast for geek users, and another to make one for a segment where technical knowledge is only the average user’s (via Gadling).

In many travellers, there’s a conception of travel that recreates it as an instance of personal finding. Everything we’ll see in a destination is part of a search process that should exclusively take place there, in the interaction with local people and our walks and strolls around the place.

While it sounds attractive, I tend to take distance from this “finding” concept that wants to surround the traveller’s concept. Rather, I’m one of those who think bookstores are one of the first destinations one should visit when first arriving to a city. What for? To see what books are available about the destination we’re visiting, to obtain maps, and eventually, to check out some guides that might help us build our trip.

The research stage is a basic one; I know some people will find it boring to stare at travel guides, maps, and other references. But, at least in my case, it’s part of a fascinating process that is accessing to the representations of a place. That is, what things are usually remarked from a specific destination. Of course, later, it’s good to step out of that representation, get lost on the streets, find places that don’t figure in guides. But I don’t believe this process is independent of other sources. The finding takes place from the knowledge we have from these places.

In the case of my last trip, my two hour stay at Saraiva bookstore, at Barra shopping in Barra da Tijuca, was an interesting time to see what had been edited about Rio de Janeiro. In two really big shelves about tourism, I found from the traditional guides to helpbooks for foreigners in Rio, streets guides, city maps, photo books, and several more interesting sources. Furthermore than my personal taste for visiting bookstores, an activity I love, this visit gave me a wider perspective of Rio as a representation object, as a destination to get to know.

Really, travels begin with books, and then their texts meet our own experiences. Wether those who say travel is only our own findings like it or not.

When in Rio, we stayed at Casa Áurea, a pousada located precisely on Santa Teresa’s Rua Aurea. Its website is available in portuguese, english, spanish, french and german. We found the place through the Internet, and after finding some good references of the place in some pictures, we decided to make a reservation. Besides, we thought it was interesting to stay in an area not so close to the beach zone in Rio, and one that not only seemed quiet but also architectonically original. Later, we’d find this decision had its good and bad sides as well.

The pousada is managed by Cornelius Rohr, but everyone simply calls him Otto. He’s the host, and we have to say he does a pretty good job in this sense. He’s an excellent source of information about Rio and has no issues in borrowing some of his material. A hint: we arrived to Rio on a sunday afternoon and we only had dollars on us. Since it’s kind of hard to find a place to exchange foreign currency on that day, Otto borrowed us 70 reais to go to out to lunch. That is, he didn’t even know us, but had no problem in helping us out on this one. By the way, Otto is quite fluent in english -besides portuguese, obviously- but not in spanish. Other staff members are, though.

We have to say Casa Aurea definitely has what, in an essentialist plan, we’d call a “carioca atmosphere”. That is, everything is done very calmly. No stress, or rush, or nerves. There’s always time to talk, or to lie down on the hammocks and read. Such parsimony can upset more than one fast-paced traveller. In fact, at breakfast time, one has to arrive to the table almost in zen state, willing to wait a little while for food to be served. If for some reason you’re in a hurry to leave early in the morning, I’d recommend to skip the free breakfast and go to a local bar. At Casa Aurea there’s no place for rush. By the way, they don’t serve breakfast too early; they start around 9am, and I’d rather say, show up a little later. Anyways, it’s worth the wait, the breakfast is really nice and includes goiaba jelly. The attention is personalized and warm, far from the usual distant hotel attention. By the way, if you’re lucky, you’ll even get to see the little saguí monkeys hanging on the backyard’s trees. For those who suffer about the mosquitoes issue, there are mosquito bed nets available in the closets, and can be easily placed over the bed -there’s a hook in the roof for this. The rooms have fans.

There are many more characteristics to add to the good side. The place is really nice, and the yard has plenty of room to rest. There are many tables to eat and chat, and most of the time people just hang out in a “no stress” plan. Besides, since the neighborhood is very quiet, it’s an ideal place to relax. There’s free internet 24 hours a day, although unfortunately for us on the days we spent there the connection was down most of the time, so we only got to go online one day and a half out of the five days we stayed. Don’t even ask me the name of their internet provider. You can also make phone calls through Skype, although -of course- it’s only possible if the Internet is up and running.

They have travel guides available for their guests, such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Fodor’s, etc. There’s a fridge with beers and sodas available for the guests all day; every time we pull something out, just have to write down our name on the list and they’ll charge us for everything at the end. There are also magazines, most of them in portuguese, such as Veja. There’s laundry service, but the same rythm issue of breakfast time applies here. If you’re in a hurry because you run out of clean clothes to wear, let them know you need you laundry soon.

Our room was located downstairs, but since the area’s geography is quite complex, it’s located on a hill, we were downstairs and still had access to a balcony facing the rear street. The room had a fridge, although in the case your room doesn’t have one, you can always use the one at the bar area, in the patio.

By the way, sometimes during the day, Otto might not be around, and his absence is noticeable. Sometimes we didn’t know who to ask some question, something that didn’t happen when the host was hanging around. It’s a minor detail, but could be important at some moments of the day.

The cost for a double bedroom with private bathroom is 120 reais, which is just online with other pousadas and hostels in Rio. To stay at Santa Teresa is really interesting. The area is really quiet and attractive. It has its down sides if you really like to go out a lot at night, and have to depend on taxis to return. Many times, taxi drivers will want to overcharge you for a ride to Santa Teresa, since on the way back they don’t find passengers to pick up -something that doesn’t happen when they go towards Ipanema, for example. So if you’re planning to spend most of your time at the beach, the most reasonable thing to do would be to stay around Ipanema, Copacabana or Leblon, since you’ll have quicker access from there. Now, if you’re interested in the Carnival issue, Casa Aurea is located less than 10 minutes away in taxi from the Sambodrome, much closer than Ipanema, Rio’s typical touristic area. Ask for prices at different pousadas and hostels, since around Carnival time you have to reserve a room for many nights and prices go up (the same thing happens around New Years day).

During our stay in Rio, we stayed in a hostel in Santa Teresa, a neighborhood with a “bohemian” reputation. The area, located on a hill, is quite different from the most touristic neighborhoods such as Copacabana and Ipanema. It’s a lot greener, there are beautiful houses -a heritage of a past full of rich and famous people at the beginning of XX century- highly recommended bars and nice views to the rest of the city. Part of this identity is kept thanks to edil restrictions that avoid the construction of buildings higher than 11 meters in the area. Its streets are quite steep and serpented. Most taxi drivers aren’t even familiar with them. The result: you have to learn to guide them, and take as reference some more popular street names, such as Monte Alegre and Almirante Alexandrino.

A good part of Santa Teresa’s popularity comes from its most traditional transport media: the bondinho. It’s the last electric tramway functioning in Rio de Janeiro and it has been running along the steep streets of Santa Teresa since the ends of XIX century.

With the passing of the years, the bondinho has become a real symbol of the neighborhood, to the point that neighbors and tram’s employees have managed to stop all attempts to shut it down. Its detractors have enough reasons: the tram is in bad shape and its functioning in the middle of Santa Teresa’s narrow streets difficults the traffic of cars and buses that ride around in high speed. On top of it all, its electric feeding disconnects very often and the drivers have to get off the tram to put things back into place. But, at the same time, there’s something quite endearing in a transport running around since XIX century, despite all the attempts to remove it. Besides, the bondinho is a quite efficient way to get to the center of the city in just a few minutes for a low cost -only R$ 0,60, the cheapest transport fare in Rio- and with a great view of the rest of the city. The ride includes passing above the Lapa Archs, nowadays one of Rio’s most popular postcards.

With the passing of time, the bonde has become a touristic attraction, and in the mornings is full of people who don’t speak portuguese, camcorders in hand -which has caused that the tram always has a couple of policeman on board, since it rides around not so safe areas. At least for now, they don’t charge tourists more than they charge natives . But there’s also one interesting thing to remark: it’s not so hard to find empty seats in the bonde, even at peak hours. If you have the chance to ride it often, you’ll see there’s many people travelling on the train’s footboards, even women. When we approach the train, thinking “oh no, it’s full” we realize there’s many empty seats, and even standing up women let us pass and take a seat. The latin american perception that bond us quickly make us figure there has to be some sort of economic advantage of travelling standing up. Indeed, those who ride on the footboards don’t pay. Only when the bondinho leaves the center station, around Carioca metrô station, you have to pay inevitably. Of course, once you reach the second station, around Lapa Arches, there’s a group of people waiting …to jump up the footboards.

Currently, there’s two bondinho lines. Both depart from Carioca station, next to a Petrobras building and two blocks away from the metrô Carioca station. Look carefully, since the entrance is poorly signaled. One line goes to Paula Mattos, and the other one, to Dois Irmaos. Since they go separate ways on Largo de Guimaraes, where most of the bars are located, most tourists don’t care much to find out which line to take. There are departures every half hour, approximately. On rainy days, the service can be suspended -in fact, I found out this myself on a rainy day, where I had to go find a taxi and convince him to drive us by telling him he only had to go straight up by Monte Alegre…

Of course, there’s a series a bus lines that go up to Santa Teresa, and some of them do the integraçao thing with the metrô. One of them is the 206 line to Silvestre and the 214 to Paula Mattos, but there are others. You can take them on Largo de Machado metrô station.

We couldn’t resist to slip into some tourist behavior, and we bought a mini wooden replica of the bondinho at one of Santa Teresa’s crafts stores. See the picture below.

The most famous bar of the Largo de Guimaraes area in Santa Teresa is the Bar do Mineiro, located one block away from the tram’s stop. Its most famous dish is the traditional feijoada, which costs around R$ 28, the platter for two. It’s quite aboundant and you’ll surely be satisfied. Be aware that on weekends the bar fica lotado (is packed), and to get a table you’ll have to wait awhile. If you’re staying at Santa Teresa, our case, you’re better off going for lunch on a weekday, except on mondays, when they close.

Of course, the area has some other interesting bars and restaurants, such as Sobrenatural, specializing in seafood. It’s a little pricey, but worth it. The neighborhood has more tourists, anyways, which has interesting consequences -more pousadas and bars- and not so interesting ones -higher prices, particularly in bars. Around Esquina do Santa, at Monte Alegre and Rua Aurea, there’s another bar I liked a lot, Armazem de Thiago. They have an excellent black beer draft, in chope, that I emphatically recommend. And it’s not expensive at all.

A good source to read about Santa Teresa is to buy the Bairros do Rio title dedicated to Santa Teresa and Urca, easy to find in the city’s libraries. They cost around R$20. A little expensive considering its size, but worth it.

There are a few more things left to say about Santa Teresa, such as the place we stayed at, but I’m trying not to write mile long entries. So I’ll leave the rest for next monday.

Moving around in public transportation in any city has its challenges. An important point is that these services were conceived to be used by natives, not tourists. That is: much of the necessary knowledge to use them are almost implicit, and it’s assumed that their passengers know the rules. But then, there we are, the tourists (or travellers, you name it) who are always trying to move around the city without depending on taxis or tours. And this learning process in Rio is shown in this entry.

The bus fare is approximately, R$ 1.80, although some others are higher. (At the present time, the US$ exchange rate is R$ 2.13 and falling). Every bus has a collector, who will give you change for bills up to R$ 20. There’s a big number of bus lines all over the city. If we take as reference the downtown center, Rio Branco avenue -one of the main avenues- is where you can catch a bus heading south (Copacabana, Ipanema, Barra da Tijuca). And heading north, the avenue Presidente Antonio Carlos / Rua 1 de março (it changes names somewhere around Rua Asambleia) runs alongside Rio Branco, but closer to the ocean.

An important number of buses have air conditioning, in many cases set at very low temperatures. If you’re going to ride one of these, although it’ll sound ridiculous, carry a light jacket, specially if you’re sensitive to cold temperatures.

Outside Rio it’s easy to find mini buses known as vans, that’ll take you to destinations specified in the windshield, on a handmade sign. I didn’t have much time to explore these, but in areas such as Barra de Tijuca, there are plenty of them. Usually they connect the south with downtown Rio.

The subway (metrô) has two lines. Line 1 connects the center with Copacabana (the south), going through Gloria, Catete and Flamengo. Line 2 goes northwest, towards Tijuca, and rides above ground. The transfer area is located at Estacio station. Line 2 will take you to Maracana stadium, for example. The fare costs R$ 2,20 (a little over US$ 1).

If you use the metrô lines, there’s a chance to combine it with a bus service, something known as Integraçao. If you’re going to Ipanema or Gavea, you have to get a special ticket for the same fare; if you’re going somewhere else, these integraçaco tickets cost R$ 2.60. There’s also a combination with urban trains. All the fares can be found at the Rio Metrô website. There’s also a complete guide of maps and stations. Trains, by the way, have air conditioning at more reasonable temperatures than many bus lines. It’s really confortable to move around in them, but unfortunately they cover a very limited area of the city. The complex carioca geography is an important obstacle for its expansion.

By the way, metrô tickets don’t have funpass kind of fare -one of those that will let you ride the subway as many times as you want in 24 hours.

Urban trains connect Rio’s suburbs with the city, and are of no bigger interest to tourists. It’s hard to find information about them in tourist guides. If you need to use them, ask someone you know in the city.

Rio’s taxis are a whole subject by itself. I didn’t meet anyone who’ll stand up for them; in fact, many people warned me about cab drivers tendency to “drive tourists around” (wandering unnecessarily) and things like that. But since I’ve heard the same thing in many other cities -including Buenos Aires- let’s just say it’s the same old story. Taxis have a system measured by clock, similar to those used in many othere cities of the world. The fare is a little higher on weekends and holidays. A trip from Santa Teresa, where I stayed at, to Ipanema, a trip that takes about 25 minutes, cost me R$ 22. From downtown Rio to Ipanema, about R$ 24. The traffic is complicated, so be prepared to sit a long time in the taxi at rush hours. From downtown to the international airport, R$ 36.

For those staying at Santa Teresa or not so usual areas for tourists (such as Ipanema or Copacabana), it’s quite common for taxis to ask for more money. For example, to make a trip from Lapa to Santa Teresa, one that usually costs R$ 8, a taxi driver asked for R$ 15. Obviously, you can say no and keep on looking. There are many taxis in Rio. The problem is, that if they drive you up to Santa Teresa, uphill, on the way back is usually hard for them to find passengers. Everywhere, there’s always someone who will try to take advantage, anyways.

In areas with a high night life, such as Barra da Tijuca, Ipanema or Lapa, it’s easy to find taxis at the authorized stops. So you won’t have many problems to return home late.

By the way, if you ever get lost, don’t be afraid to ask someone on the streets. Cariocas are usually extremely kind, and don’t have a problem with helping us find our path. One thing: cariocas portuguese is one of the hardest, so you better pay attention. Learning some portuguese before travel is much more important than many people think.

There are many important tips about moving around the city. One of them is to get a streets city guide. There are many of them, but the easiest to find is the Quatro Rodas, that costs around R$ 20 at most newstands and libraries. More guides, at the official Quatro Rodas website. But an excellent alternative is to get the Nomad Guide, free at some hotels and RioTur offices (Rio’s official tourist information center). They have good maps and useful tables with bus and subway lines. It’s slim so it’s easy to carry around. It’s not easy to get; in case you can’t find them at the hotel or RioTur, there’s a R$ 10 version, sold at libraries (although you can get them for R$ 5).

I still have to talk about two more transport media: the ferry, going from dowtown Rio to Niteroi, across the Guanabara Bay, and the bondinho, a tram that goes from downtown to Santa Teresa bairro, and that deserves an entry of its own, since we’ve become very fond of it .

The first time we visit a city, it’s all about stress. We don’t want to miss anything, so we build a horrifyingly busy agenda for every day. The result is not the happiest; we enda up missing many of the places we wanted to see, and in many cases we take longer than planned to arrive anywhere. Since we’re unfamiliar with the local public tranportation, we might even end up lost and desoriented at some corner.

The first time we visit a city we’re just there. Period. To know a place is rather a task we can do when we visit the city on a second chance (or third or fourth). By that time, our hurry might probably be gone, and our knowledge of the environment might have improved, particularly in the management of time and local transportation. Then, we can relax, stop obsessing over maps, and finally dedicate to enjoy the trip.

A good part of the vertigo for knowing cities is due to our way of travelling. For example, latin american backpackers usually dedicate few days to every city and move around them in public transportation, which is cheaper, but also harder to use for the just arrived. This vertigo is the one travel guides foresee. For instance, Lonely Planet has begun to make small titles on big cities, stating what places to visit if you have one, three or five days to spend in that location.

Time and, of course, money is what we’re always short on. The combination “little time + little cash” is the most dreadful when travelling. If we were in a hurry and had more money, we’d take taxis to go anywhere and period. Or if we bought a tour package, they’d drive us everywhere. But since most of us are not members of the wealthy people club, we have to struggle with time only with our maps and our willingness to get anywhere in town, on board of a local bus.

The first time we’re in a city we realize what we really should have done to know it. And the second visit is the opportunity to carry on with these plans. To return is to know the place in a more detailed way, not just having been there.

The top of the Corcovado is probably the most visited place in Rio de Janeiro. Everyday thousands of tourists arrive, gathering in a relatively wide space, but with a narrow end: the area facing Christ the Redemeer. Of course, everyone wants to take their picture there, and you can see how there’s a constant struggle to earn the right to pose there. In fact, it’s one of the places where I’ve seen the biggest number of all kinds of digital cameras and videocams. Everyone is using them at the same time; and the scene is almost one of a neurotic and obsessive ballet that photographs everything up tp the last centimeter. But, of course, it’s just simple tourists, doing what tourists always do: take pictures. The same thing we do when we travel.

The video above especifically shows the area in front of the Christ the Redemeer and the kind struggle to get their picture taken there without having 20 people hovering over. It was filmed on the last days of january. The second video is a walk around the top of the Corcovado area. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, and the views are not the best, particularly the one of Ipanema. About how to get to Corcovado in public transportation, we already talked about it in a previous entry.

To watch the videos, hosted in DailyMotion, just click on the play button. If you have a slow internet connection, be patient, since it can take a while to load.

There’s two forms to see Rio from top, and both of them are touristically quite famous. We’re talking about going up the Corcovado hill -where the famous Christ with open arms is- and the Sugarloaf. In both cases, it’s not difficult to get there, even in public transportation and without using taxis. The Corcovado hill is located southwest from the center of Rio, in a not quite touristic area -most of the visitors usually stay further south, at Ipanema and Copacabana. To get to the top, you have to take a train ride that takes around 15 minutes. Despite some travel guides recommend to sit in the right side of the train wagon, don’t give it too much relevance; frankly, there’s quite a little view of the city along the trail. What you will see is the abounding vegetation of the zone. The big show, of course, is at the top. The view of the city is spectacular, although unfortunately I got to see it on a foggy day. January is a bad month to visit Rio, since it’s quite rainy. The winter is dryer, and there’s a good chance of better views. There’s also the statue of Christ the Redeemer, surely the most photographed object in the entire city.

Tourists taking pictures are a whole show by itself, but I’m planning to talk about that in the next entry -I even filmed a short video with my digital camera for you to see the interesting “dance” of tourists trying to get their picture in front of the Christ, and competing the whole time for that small space. I believe every inch of the place is photographed; there are good views of the center, at the right hand from where you enter, and of Ipanema, at the left side.

Once the train reaches the top of the hill, you have to take an elevator that will take you to the very top. There, you can stay all the time you want, although you’ll have to pay attention to the train schedule if you went by train, that’s it. They stop going at 19:00 during summer, and 18:00 at winter.

Someone might ask: is it worth going to a place every tourist who arrives to Rio visits? The truth is, the view is really spectacular, and it’s worth visiting. One thing to consider is costs. To go up by train costs R$ 30 the round trip (at this time, the US$ exchange rate is around R$ 2.27 with a tendency to drop). To get there with public transportation from the center or Copacabana, you can combine the Metrô (subway) and the bus service -if you’re coming from Ipanema, you’ll have to take a bus first. You have to ride the linha 1 (line 1), get down at Largo do Machado station and catch the 422A or 584A bus to Cosme Velho -ask the driver, he’s used to see tourists.

If you prefer to take a single bus from downtown (the center), take the 180 bus. From Ipanema, it’s the 583 bus. Costs: the metrô-ónibus integration costs R$2.6; the bus alone, costs approximately R$1.9 -the bus fare can vary 10 cents up or down-

The other point is, of course, Sugarloaf, which despite being lower than Corcovado, is famous for having the best views of the city for its privileged location. It’s placed at Urca, close to Copacabana, and therefore closer to tourists that stay at the southern area. Behind the Sugarloaf, there’s the ocean.

I have to admit I didn’t go up; the reason: along the five days I stayed at Rio, the Sugarloaf was always surrounded by clouds, thus ruining the viewing. In fact, when I arrived to the base of the funicular, the vehicle that takes you to the top, wasn’t even working. The cost is almost the same of Corcovado’s: R$35. Since the most famous sights from the Sugarloaf are at nightime, the schedule to stay at the top is much generous than at Corcovado, and extends up to 22:00 hours.

To get there by public transportation, the best way to go is to do the metro-onibus integration. You’ll have to take the line 1 and get down at Botafogo station, then take the 511A bus. From the center, you can take a single bus, the 107. The costs are similar to those detailed at the Corcovado part. I will update this entry later with approximate costs of using taxis.

Cities and their planners always look for a determined angle to show themselves to the rest of the world. And Rio de Janeiro has chosen to be seen from top, from the heights of Corcovado or Sugarloaf. And the sight, of course, is usually spectacular, even when fog conspires against the view and turns everything a little greyish. The “view from the top” allows us to see one of the city’s most spectacular features: its huge number of green spaces, distributed everywhere we see. And that physical space, spattered with morros (hills), impresses anyone who dares to see it under the shadow of the huge Christ and his famous open arms.

Of course, choosing a view point to represent oneself implies to eliminate others, at least as generalized representations. Because, when seen up close, Rio loses spectacularity but gains a much richer view in a human sense. This look is not, necessarily, touristically relevant. Rather, it’s the empoverished side that can be seen, for example, when we arrive to Rio by bus. The city’s bus terminal -Rodoviaria, as they call it in Brazil- it’s almost chaotic, particularly on weekends. As soon as we arrived, we found hundreds of people staring at us from the second floor, behind bars, while we struggled to find our luggage. And the surroundings are definitely not quite attractive. Abandoned sheds, dark streets covered by highways and a local bus terminal in poor conditions. I don’t think anyone who sees that area will have an splendorous image of Rio. But it’s a side one has to see.

To choose between two views, from under and from top, is nothing but an attempt to classify a city. In between, there’s many other views, places, details that might help us form an image of a city. An image that, of course, will be as arbitrary as other ones. An image that will be not only the result of our own direct experiences, but will also be clearly influenced by other sources, such as tv shows, travel guides, third parties stories, among many options.

To put some order here, the next entries about Rio will begin from the top; that is, how to get to the different viewpoints of the city, such as Corcovado and Sugarloaf, and will then lower to the surface, towards bairros (towns) such as Ipanema, copacabana or Santa Teresa -where, by the way, we stayed at. Finally, there’ll be references to the topic of public transportation, because it’s always good to learn how to move around the city without depending on taxis.