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Brazil is such a big place
(take off Alaska and it’s bigger than the whole of the USA) and
because we did the Amazon in Peru and visited the Iguazu Falls
in Argentina, we had planned the short time here to catch some
rays before the cold of Chile, do the local sights to Rio and
stay put for more than two nights. So plenty of running along
the sea front in the mornings, eating great fruits with the odd
cake thrown in and a start to the tanning, which seemed to be
good for my bed bug bites…
It may be winter here but we’ve
seen the temperature signs about, reaching late twenties at 9am
in the morning, so god knows what it’s like in the summer!
Typical, the day we had planned
to do a day trip to see the Rio sights we woke up to rain. We
waited for our pick up only for them to not turn up. We were
glad in a way as it was now pouring down with heavy rain. First
time since we have been away we have had to use our waterproofs
as well.
We re-scheduled our trip for
the next day with our fingers crossed for some more sun. Well
we were the only two on the trip for the morning session. We
had a mixture of rain with the odd clear spell thrown in as
well. We got to go up the Sugar Loaf Mountain and we saw the
bizarre shaped cathedral and the amazing Christ Statue that Rio
is famous for. It stands 2330M up and the statue itself is 30M
tall. We were lucky at both high points in that the rain
stopped and the clouds cleared enough for us to take some
photo’s.
Lunch on this trip was a
Brazilian Bar-B-Q. We had heard about them. Again vegetarians
don’t read. They come to your table with skewers of bar-b-q’ed
meat. You use a card which is green on one side if you want
more or turn it over to red if you want them to stop for a
while… Great food!
We visited the Embassy on
Friday morning to see if our bank cards had been delivered.
They wouldn’t tell us that sort of info over the phone, so we
went there with everything crossed. Hooray, they where there
and they even worked!
The Friday, Saturday and Monday
nights were nights you sure wouldn’t get if being a back packer
in a hostel or found in a guide book.
The guy we rented the apartment
from (Lucio) is married to Zulema, a mad crazy woman who is full
of energy. To think she’s a doctor as well. She does the
Brazilian Martial Art dancing of Capoira and asked if we wanted
to go along with her to a festival night.
Her driving there was scary
enough, but then we headed into a favela (slum). She’s been
doing this class for years and knows all the locals really well,
thank god! It was great to watch; very acrobatic and graceful
with a martial art feel all done to an African drum beat
background. Being a festival there were schools from all over
the world there doing their stuff. Then they had a bit of a
knees up in the hall afterwards.
Next night we went out with
Numy who did all the walking around with us to find an
apartment. Well he is a guy that loves the night. He may be 61
but he knows all the bars ‘n’ people that go with them… He’s
also known as the Sheik as he was raised in Egypt!!! He just
says “don’t worry leave it to me.”
He picked us up in a cab with a
work colleague who lived in our block and whisked us off to the
centre of Rio to a great Samba bar/restaurant. Lots of great
locals in there all smiling, dancing, eating and drinking. We
practised our moves, ate and drank. Then he whisked us all off
in a cab to another local bar of his where the drinks just kept
coming. Then off in a cab again to a place to see the show
girls after they had finished the big local Brazilian dance
show. He introduced us to lots of people that night. He
dropped us off at 2am for him to still keep going, to have
something to eat then onto another club!!!
Well, still keen to show us
more of Rio, Numy said we should all go to the Plataforma dance
show, which is held nightly and gives displays of all the
different types of Brazilian dancing from the different
regions. He picked us up in a cab again and whisked us off to
the show. Even being a Monday night it was still quite busy
with plenty of tourist coaches there. The show was a bit of a
very small taste of what the carnival would be like with all the
glamorous costumes and a variety of dance being displayed. A
great show! We even had our names mentioned. The compare
recognised us with Numy in the audience and when he did the big
country welcomes, he had remembered our names from meeting him
on Saturday night.
Afterwards we went over the
road to meet some of the cast like on the Saturday night for a
drink or two. Even though this was a school night for Numy he
insisted on keep showing us more. Well he phoned ahead one of
his favourite late restaurants to cook a lump of fillet the way
he likes it. Now it’s about 01:00 in the morning and we are
eating a melt in your mouth steak and chips. Still keen to show
more of Rio and that area’s mix, he took us to the strip club
round the corner, to show that a normal bar can be quite bizarre
in what goes on. After seeing plenty of tits and arse we left
him to it! We said our goodbyes and he paid for the cab to
takes us back to our apartment…
From all these nights we met
some great Brazilian people from all walks of life, who are
really friendly and just seem to smile at everything and enjoy
what’s going on. These people have made us very welcome in
Brazil and have said we have to come back to see them again…
Must admit we would love to
come back when it’s carnival time now knowing how much time and
effort they put into it!!! |
