Vacaciones en Brasil

Toward the end of the IES program, my friends and I took a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I LOVED it. I had never been to such a tropical, beachy city before where people quite literally roam the streets barefoot and in bathing suits, often holding a surfboard, too. We stayed in the Ipanema neighborhood, one of the “nicer” ones since Rio is known to be somewhat dangerous, especially for tourists. Despite the threat of pickpocketing and mugging and whatnot, we were lucky and got to enjoy a wonderful vacation, our hostel being only one block from the beach!

We went to the Botanical Gardens of the city and climbed up to Sugar Loaf, both of which were incredibly impressie. Another very cool thing we did was take a “Favela Tour” which essentially is a guided tour through one of the slums of the city. Though I questioned how ethical this was, I was reassured a little when we found out that 70% of the price we paid to take the tour was donated to a children’s education foundation within the favela. The tour was also fascinating. We were driven around a little bit, but many times we got to walk around within the main roads of the favela along with our guide. We learned a lot about the history of the favelas and the many issues within them. A truly eye-opening and extremely intriguing experience.