Rio, Rio, Rio I can’t believe I was in Rio!

How incredible! Less then 48 hours ago I was in Rio De Janerio. Rio is a crazy beautiful city. The people are gorgeous, the beaches are gorgeous, and the mountains are gorgeous. It definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I will go back for carnival someday…

Day One

I went to a carnival school. It was amazing. It is a kind of like a community center where any one is welcomed to learn and worship (there was a temple of sorts there to- candomble) Their aim is to get kids off the streets and channel there energy into performing in the carnival. I got to do a carnival dancers workout with the kids. The warm-up was like any other dancer’s warm up (stretching and Pilates-like exercises) and then they taught us some carnival-moves. It was so fun! After that, they taught how to drum the samba beats and actually played some pieces. It was absolutely amazing.

That night I went to the welcome reception at the local university. I sampled the local cuisine and beer (which was extremely bitter and gross). Some Capoeiristas (dancer/fighters) performed their fight dances… its absolutely amazing to watch then move with such skill and precision as then punch, kick, flip, and cartwheel over each other without touching.

Day Two

…actually an extension of day one, since I couldn’t go to bed. Jesse (el jefe), Richard (Q), and I headed to the airport at 1:30am. The flight to Rio was departed at 4am and arrived at 7am. I did my best to sleep in the middle seat but I felt absolutely horrible when I woke up in Rio. I wasn’t quite sure what I had gotten my self into when we got off the plane, b/c it was gloomy and overcast, plus we had to find someplace to stay. To make a long story short we got on the bus, priced a couple of different hotels, and choose one so we could go to bed. The Ducasse Rio Hotel was located right next to a street that goes up a hill into a favela (shanty town=ghetto). The upside was that we armed-police stationed on that corner 24 hours a day.

After a nap we walked to sugar loaf (about 3 or 4 miles away), and took the cable car to the top. Amazing. Beautiful. Sugar loaf was formed from a volcanic eruption and then some bad weathering b/c of the chemical composition of the rock. No matter however it got there, it is beautiful. I got my first great view of the city on the first day, plus I saw Jesus.

On our walk to Sugar Loaf we passed a theatre, and randomly decided to buy tickets for that night’s performance. I have no idea what exactly the plot was but it was musical based around a night club. I did catch that the story moved from decade to decade starting in the 1920s with the flappers and ending in the 70s (with all the characters old and gray) with disco. The dancing was amazing and kept me tuned in for the duration of the show.

After that we headed to next beach down, Impanema (ie “The girl from Impanema”) to find out there was a ‘dress code’, so we couldn’t check out the club we had planned on. We still had a great time observing the Brazilians in their element.

Day Three

Nothing too exciting happened since we slept-in. When we awoke we went to breakfast/lunch at a restaurant along the beach. I order chicken-lasguana. I received a thin layer of noodles followed by ground up chicken (had the same consistence of ground beef) mixed with a red sauce, smothered (and I mean smothered) in a white creamy sauce and their ‘salt cheese.’ Interesting? Yes. Good? You bet! Jesse ordered a Portuguese pizza which was mostly cheese but also had many random ingredients including fried egg. When we got back to the hotel we found out that the (Tijuca) national park closed at five and we wouldn’t have time to get there before it closed. We had found out about a tour to a carnival-group practice that evening. We signed up and were taken to the practice arena. It was amazing to watch these people practice their samba dance. They’re so fast and good. I couldn’t believe people could move that fast. It most reminded me of jig-ing when they free-style.

Day Four

Even though we got back really late to the hotel the night before we got up very early to check out everything we had meant to do the day before. So at 9am we headed out to go hang gliding. We were going to a cliff in the Tijuca National Forest (this rainforest is the largest urban forest in the world) . We arrived, we were instructed on how to do it, and then we pretty much ran down a platform until we ran off and the wind caught the wings. Running was the only slightly scary/thrilling part. But oh man the views! Absolutely gorgeous. I had them take pictures while in the air but I have to get the film developed. It was surreal to look down at the rainforest on the mountain sides and seeing these huge houses with swimming pools and tennis courts all within a mile of the beach and the ocean . I saw the statue of Christ and sugar loaf in the distance. Seeing the mansions in the forest was a stark reminder of the income inequality as I looked off into the distance and saw the favelas littering the sides of the distant mountains.

Next we went to the Christ statue. It (he?) was really cool. It was huge! I am glad I got to stand at Jesus’ feet.

And after a quick stop at the Contemporary Arts Museum we head to the airport a few hours early. We had absolutely no money left on us after the cabbie cleaned us out and for some reason my debit card wasn’t working. At the airport, we met up with a lot of other SASers who were on their way back also from Rio. Everyone looked so tired! But the general consensus was “Everyone loved Rio”

Last Day

Back in Salvador: I definitely did not get the same vibe from Salvador as Rio. I felt awkward in Salvador, maybe in part b/c they (deans and security advisors and the doctor) had me convinced that I was going to get mugged or get malaria or dengue fever. I just didn’t like it. I know many people who did and had a great time but it just intimidated the hell out of me. I went to the beach in the morning with my roommate, Sarah, and my other friend Danielle. We took at ferry over to Itaparica Island (which even people in Rio raved about). It was absolutely gorgeous (even prettier then Copacabana). After frying on the beach and observing the locals (Sunday is beach day) we headed back to get ready for the soccer game. The soccer game was cool. It totally reminded me of a football Sunday with die hard football fans. They got so into it. I was extremely disappointed to see men everywhere peeing in the corners on the walls. By the end of the game there were huge puddles everywhere and it reeked. It definitely turned off some the excitement I had felt about Brazil. Plus there was trash everywhere. I felt so angry (not only b/c I had to walk through people’s urine) but b/c Brazilians don’t seem to have a sense of social responsibility to keep their environment clean. Even in Rio, there was trash everywhere and I had seen numerous people throw garbage into the ocean and streets. It was really disappointing.

But on a last note, Brazil was incredible. I only wish I knew Portuguese, so I could have communicated with many more Brazilians.