Rio de Janeiro

Got some bananas and soy milk for the bus ride. Soy milk might feel a bit controversial since it’s definitely grown on land that used to be forest … but if all people turned vegans

Breakfast at the hotel!
Goodbye Belo!
Tried to take a picture of all the people, but this doesn’t look too crowded :p
Bananas for the bus ride!
And soy milk.

Got some bananas and soy milk for the bus ride. Soy milk might feel a bit controversial since it’s definitely grown on land that used to be forest … but if all people turned vegans and ate the beans themselves instead of feeding it to animals, we’d need so little land that a lot of forest could grow back (unless we make furniture or car fuel of all of it!). Now, most meat grown in Brazil are eaten in Brazil or exported to China. BUT it all comes down to prizes. All meat markets are linked. The high meat prices that makes Brazilians waste their forests are kept high by meat consumption in the US or Europe, so please just make beans for dinner. It’s so cheap!

Haven’t you got enough of bus stations? I have not!
How the rest of the world outside Sweden solve their runoff water problems. Awesome!
Random picture.

I unpack my hamak and use it as a sleeping mat on the bus, covered from the AC cold with my Swedish sweater. I fall asleep and dream about my sister getting a new job as a wine importer. She is not only an expert on the tastes, but also at the looks of the bottles. Which sells and which doesn’t? NOTE: this is a dream I had, and not in all a recommendation. I also dreamt that people made pizzas out of blood, while she claimed it was not blood at all, but fancy Italian tomato sauce. That is also not a recommendation.

Random industry.
Where is the K? I’ve been thinking about this for many minutes now. The mystery!
Random picture.
I’m more of a tiger person, but they’re all unique in their personalities so you never know.
OMG, what happened to the forest on this mountain?
Cows! You don’t see them on this picture unless you zoom in on the right. But there are cows.
Cows instead of forest!
Your Friday dinner instead of forest.
Random village.

I wrote earlier that northeast Brazil got a lot of praise from Brazilians. But actually, it’s tied with Rio! Rio is the perfect city if you ask the Jose on the street. “People are so easy, so friendly, speak English” etc. So I’m arriving packed with expectations!

The road gets very curvy at the end. You really feel that Rio is in a very mountainous area. Curves, curves, and then stop. Long stop. We pass a car that is lying on its roof. I hope everyone survived!

Here is the map of NE Rio. I’m in the circle at the upper left and need to go to my hostel in Copacabana that is south of the image. But the machine takes no cash and does not accept my card, and there is no one to sell you a ticket. But a man working there tells me to just get the train to the next stop, Equador, and buy my card there.

But in Equador, the machine does not take cash. And there is only me. And one man trying to talk to me, something about money. It feels so … abandoned. From what I’ve heard about Rio (which, btw, is far from the most dangerous place in Brazil) is that you’re safe when you’re surrounded by people, and unsafe when you’re not. And one single person simply does not surround me. I’m so sorry to tell you that if you’re reading this! And this train goes like every 20 minutes, so stopping at every single station would make this take a looong time to go home and sleep. So I stop a taxi and off we go. Nine euros. A Uber would have been six (I check with THE INTERNET later) so I guess it’s OK.

I arrive at this hostel that doesn’t feel any safe at all. No keys to your room etc. But it’s still so nice to let your legs rest, and feel the body just … relax. I’m not going out or nothing. I give 179 USD to Give Directly and then play games until my eyes locks down.

Someone suddenly survives in decency for half a year! The magic.

One thought on “Rio de Janeiro

  1. Harald är Du nöjd med ditt liv, trivs Du med Dina planer.
    Får Du uppgifter från Universitet vad Du ska åstadkomma.
    Jag mormor är nyfiken på hur det går till.
    Önskar Dig allt gott
    Mormor

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