Well, we’ve been in Rio for three full days now and have not been mugged or had anything stolen. Yay!
We left Natal on a true red eye flight at 2:40am and arrived in Rio around 6am. Seriously. We took a cab from the airport to Copacabana and got to see some of the favelas from the freeway. Rio’s infamous wealth gap is certainly well deserved.
We went straight to our hostel, Che Lagarto, only to find out that we couldn’t check in until 2pm. Fuck! We were exhausted and only wanted to lie down and sleep. Nothing more, really… so we did what any sensible traveling duo in a foreign city renowned for its crime would do. We bought a blanket and slept on the beach. Copacabana beach, in fact. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and we managed to snag a spot of shade under some palm trees. However, the shade moved at some point because I awoke with a nice farmer’s tan on my left arm and a tan line running down my face from where I had used my hat to cover my eyes. Nice.
We finally did get checked in and were able to start our relaxing and sightseeing. Monday night we stayed in at the hostel and ate at a pescia churrasco (fish bbq) and talked with some of the other guests. Hostel Che Lagarto has a bar so that helps to keep people around for conversation.
We’ve done a good bit of shopping and exploring of Copacabana. My Portuguese has improved greatly in the past few days, though it still sounds horrible. I’m able to communicate most thoughts though and complete many verbal exchanges. Though, more people speak english or at least some english than I had originally been led to believe.
Today we took the Trem de Corcovado up to see Cristo Redentor up close and to view the cidade maravilhoso from the top. The views were indeed marvelous.
Finally, we went to the beach! I think it goes without saying that the beaches are very beautiful here. The sun is bright, sand is soft, and the water is a perfect temperature. The waves here break very close to the shore and the current is very strong, making swimming a little more dangerous and surfing a little easier. I’ve never surfed before but I think I’ll try before I leave.
I love that all of the beaches have vendors that sell anything you could ever want while relaxing. Caipirinhas, cerveja, coconut milk, oysters, and even full meals. It’s also nice that you don’t have to rent tables, chairs, and umbrellas. Simply order something and you can sit in the shade to enjoy it while watching the surf.
Praia de Ponta Negra
Praia de Forte Reis Magos
Praia de Genipabu
Praia de Pirangi do Norte
Tomorrow morning Jade and I will be in Rio de Janeiro!
One notable cultural difference between Brazil and the United States is the method of campaigning during election time. Right now is the time to elect city councilmen and mayors throughout the country. Here in Natal/Parnamirim there are hired cars with the politicians name on them that drive around all day blasting music and political propaganda from speakers strapped to the roof of the car. “Carros de som.” I’ve asked and this is true all over Brazil. They play the same music-propaganda-combo track VERY loud over and over and over again. Seriously, I know the lyrics and jingle for at least two candidates by heart. When they pass near the house you cannot continue a conversation until they´re down the block, and keep in mind that we´re behind a thick rock wall and inside a stone house. I will have to get a picture of one of these cars.
From what I can tell, these tactics seem to be regarded as more of an annoyance than anything else. Yet, the politicians obviously must do it because they think it increases their chances to be elected. I asked do people vote for the most loud or most quite last night at dinner and that garnered a lot of laughs.
The other thing about their election is that the candidate´s name is not promoted so much as their number. Each candidate has a 6-digit number and it´s plastered everywhere and promoted in the same manner as we would see ringtones being sold. “Votação 61253 para a cambiar!”
Update 08.30.08 7:00pm -
After sleeping for what seemed like an eternity, we awoke to a gorgeous day here in Parnamirim. Parnamirim (´little river´) is a town just outside of Natal. We´re actually just down the street from the local airport/military airbase. As Jade noted in my previous post, Parnamirim appears to be a very poor municipality though our host´s house and grounds would be considered well off in most parts of the world. The house is very nice and reminds me of a Spanish villa. Many areas of the house are open air or are covered by the roof, but have ironwork open air designs in the walls. Almost all of the common areas are like this.
For breakfast we had the typical Brazilian fare of coffee, bread, cake, juice, ham, cheese, and many different types of fruit. Afterwards Jade and I went to the market to purchase a few items, including ingredients to make caipirinhas later (cachaça, limes, and sugar). I also bought some havaianas, or flip-flops, and a nice t-shirt.
Pretty much as soon as we got back the maid was preparing lunch which was yet another feast featuring chicken with chiles, beef stew, rice, beans, egg & cucumber salad, suco da goiaba (fresh guava juice), and much, much more fruit. Then it is nap time. I think it is like this most days. :-)
Oh, and check out these photos of Rio de Janeiro posted at Boston.com´s Big Picture - http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/scenes_from_rio_de_janeiro.html. We´ll be there in 3 days!
We made it to Brazil! This, despite a couple of missed connections in both the U.S. and Brazil. Jade provides the details below:
So first flight left on time, or maybe just a few minutes late, but as we got to Charlotte (our connection to Miami) there were bad storms or maybe just communication issues so our landing was delayed. Once we got there we RAN to our next gate, which was the complete opposite side of a HUGE airport and missed the flight. We got on the next flight luckily and made it to Miami. Bienvenidos a Miami!
In Miami we took a bus down to Mami Beach, drank a bottle of wine and walked barefoot in the sand. Miami was cool, too bad we didn´t get to experience the nightlife there.
In the morning, we left to the airport to catch the flight with TAM airlines (Brazilian airline notorious for running late), boarded slightly late, and somehow just took more time getting there than was planned. The flight was nice though. We had an interactive touch screen computer with movies, tv shows, music, and games. I watched a few episodes of Friends in Portuguese, studied a lot, and watched a movie. We bought a bottle of vodka duty-free at $16 US and had shot time on the plane.
So we get to the Sao Paulo Airport, get throught the 1st part of customs no problem. We had to check the bag and it took over 30 mins to get it. We get stuck at the second part of customs and miss the flight to Natal. We were so frustrated but they hooked us up with a hotel, transportation, free breakfast, and a new flight today and we didn´t even have to bitch or complain!
We made it to Natal and Jacob´s parents and brother picked us up. The area they live in is poor and kind of reminds me of Mexico, but their house is HUGE. I keep finding new rooms here. They have multiple guest bedrooms and living areas, a garden, a pool, open air atrium, 2nd story with an open air hammock room, workout room, and I could seriously go on. Jacob´s dad speaks pretty good English and we are doing our best to communicate with our Portuganglish! His mom made us a huge meal with 6 dishes most of which included fresh veggies from the garden and fresh guava juice (suco de goibo, I think).
Even the keyboards are different!
I actually just woke up from a nap after our meal and thought I´d slept a whole day. Now I´m fully rested and it´s 11pm… :-\
You can see more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/atxryan/tags/brazil2008/.
Boa noite!
Tomorrow Jade and I head out for our vacation to Brazil! We’ll be gone for two weeks and without mobile phone or computer or Internet or Twitter for the entire trip. I’m kind of freaking out about that whole lack of connectivity thing, but I’m sure I’ll get over it quickly. ;-)
I’ll pop into an Internet Cafe whenever I am able to upload pics to my Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atxryan/tags/brazil2008/.
Our rough itinerary includes:
Zoom in to explore more, especially around Rio, or visit this link: Brazil 2008 Trip.
Até mais! (translation: See you later!)
