I arrived in Copacabana at 2am after a short flight from Sao Paulo and an expensive cab ride from the Rio de Janeiro airport. Taxi fares are the most expensive part of travelling and the one thing I didn’t consider enough in my budget planning. Grabbing my bag from the conveyor at the airport I noticed it had been tampered with as the strap had been cut. I figured they must of removed the bottle of Vodka I had stashed but decided to check it when I got to the hostel.

 

The hostel receptionist didn’t speak a word of English and was confused by my claims that I had made a reservation. He flipped though the notepad but couldn’t find anything. I showed him my online reservation but that didn’t solve anything either. Eventually he found me a bed. Opening the door to the small four bed dorm I was greeted with a pungent stench of BO. Putting my bags down I decided to go back to the common area and watch TV until I was tired enough to pass out without having to worry about the stench of the room.

 

In the morning after only a few hours sleep I spoke with a girl at reception who spoke some English but was still confused by my suggestion that I had made a previous reservation, but ensured me that I would have a bed for the duration of my stay.

 

I decided to go for a walk down to the beach and see what it is that makes Copacabana so famous. I chilled out for a while, slightly worried about my stay here as it was off to a dodgy start. Taking a seat at one of the many beachfront cafe huts I ordered a hamburger and Caiprhinia for R$5 or roughly A$3.50. It was worth the price, tasty but not fantastic, it hit the spot :)

 

The beachfront of Copacabana is very nicely set out. From the waves there is about 50m of sand then a raised footpath that has a food and drink stall about every 20m or so. The stalls offer everything from burgers and chips to beer, cool drinks and coconuts! Just before the footpath is where you can get a beach chair and umbrella or rinse off under one of the many fresh water showers. I got into a bit of a routine where each day I would start with a coconut, grab some sunshine while drinking the coconut water, catch a few waves then rinse under a shower before finishing off the rest of the coconut and bathing in more sunshine.

 

Back at the hostel I met Khanal a fellow Australian backpacking around this crazy country. I also found someone sleeping in my bed so went back to reception. Thankfully Riccardo another of the hostel staff was on the ball and set me up in a 6 bed dorm which was what I had originally reserved online. The room was slightly more spacious and much brighter. The sunlight pouring in through the open window combined with a slight breeze that made the curtain sway had the room smelling fresh. To make things even better I had two lovely Danish roommates, Amalie and Mette, who were quietly reading or in Amalie’s case trying to get some rest. I put my bags down and found a locker then camped on the top bunk and read my book for an hour or two. Things were looking up.

 

For dinner I went to the local supermarket and bought some veges, pasta and two thin steaks, all up about A$6 for a tasty tasty dinner. later I sat outside and was asked if I had a power adapter,´why yes I do´I replied and went to my bag to get the adapter. Ah thats what they stole, the charger for my camera! and my sunglasses too!! Bastards!