We arrived in Rio two days ago and, after unsuccessfully attempting to convert the rest of my Paraguay money (anyone need any?), we made our way to the hostel. That evening we promptly decided to get out while we could.

We arrived in our hostel in Leme (a neighborhood in Rio) around 3:30pm and saw a sizable contingent of policemen with large automatic weapons. We didn’t think too much of this. Perhaps it was normal.

After getting to the hostel, we took a nice walk on the famed Copacabana beach. It was wonderful, despite the fact that I got splashed with a giant wave which left me with a splotch that made it look like I wet my pants. Oh well. We were also offered weed by no fewer than ten budding entrepreneurs (pun slightly intended), but we politely declined.

After our stroll, we walked back up the hill to our hostel. The hill was not my favorite place. It seemed a little sketch, replete with more police officers and what appeared to be some sort of biker gang. Nevertheless, we trudged upwards carrying our groceries for dinner. As we ate that evening, we were informed that there had been a shooting outside our hostel earlier that day. We had unwittingly located ourselves in a favela. That would explain the flocks of law enforcement. I suppose Hostelworld location rankings should be taken with a grain of salt.

Not much more was said about this until the guy who told us about the shooting left the dinner table. Immediately, Brett and I looked at each other and synchronized immediately: “So….we should probably get out of here, yeah?” We decided the $50 we already paid to the hostel for our remaining nights could be considered our entrance fee to an immersive favela tour. The next morning we made the transition from hostel to four-star hotel (still only about $20 per night for each of us). It’s the first time I’ve stayed at a hotel on my trip and I feel very luxurious.

At night we met some locals and decided to partake in a luau, which is what they call going to the beach after sunset. Between the four of us we spoke three languages. However, unfortunately there was no crossover between ourselves and our Brazilian friends. Shout-out to Google Translate, wild gesticulations, and smiling. We learned enough Portuguese to play vermelho ou preto, which was our Brazilian version of smoke or fire (a card game that relies less on skill and more on consumption of adult beverages).

The air was perfect and the beach was beautiful. Despite Brett erroneously instructing Jessica to drink after she had correctly determined that the number 8 is in fact between a 5 and a king, the night was a resounding success.

While traveling solo was great, it’s been fantastic to have a travel buddy.

After staying up past my bedtime, this morning I decided to make the most of the “free’ breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to have a feast that would put Thanksgiving to shame. Perhaps I can make up the lost $50 through coffee and papayas. We then made our way to the roof to play some cards. The view was ideal. Our pilgiramge to Ipanema has been a glorious success.