I won't lie, Rio is scary. I'm pretty sure I witnessed a car jacking, saw a brigadeof 12 police cars (semi-automatic weapons drawn) driving towards the favelas, and met countless people who had been mugged. I some how managed to escape unscathed...and want to go back.
In a way Rio reminds me of San Francisco. Rio is about 20 times the size, but the physical layout (being situated on a bay and an ocean) and the diversity some how made it feel a bit familiar.
I ended up staying in Santa Teresa, which is a district set up into the hills, far from the touristy beaches of ipenema and copacabana. It turned out to be the perfect spot for me and the most fabulous hostel I have ever stayed it. (minus this one douche bag Australian guy)
I arrived on Thursday morning after getting 1 hour of sleep due to the 3am departure of my flight to Rio. I spent close to 6 hours on Thursday walking around town, snapping phots and trying to get the lay of the land. I could hardly resist a thursday night out, even if I was practically falling asleep, so I drank my way slowly to friday morning and took from the hours of 8am - 10am to recover next to the pool.
It's hard to sit still when you know there is so much out there to see. My first venture was to find this semi famous staircase in Lapa (the district below Santa Teresa) that a man had spent 18 years tiling, using tiles from over 60 different countries. The staircase is beautiful and its designer lives in a flat right off the staircase and spends every morning sweeping and cleaning his staircase. I attempted to chat with him, but his Chilean accent mixed with the Portuguese he spoke basically made him impossible to understand. He did however give me an autographed picture of a painting he had done and told me to send him some tiles from Seattle, so he could incorporate them into the staircase. Sometimes it pays to be a tourist.
I took in the two biggest tourist sites, the Christ statue and Sugarloaf mountain, during the next couple of days. From the top of Sugarloaf you can watch the sun set right behind the Christ statue which is absolutely stunning. I took about 1,000 photos of it. The Christ statue itself wasn't that exciting but it's interesting to think about how Rio has changed since the statue was built. How much crime, poverty, violence, partying, fear and lust Christ has seen in the streets of Rio.
I also was able to go to 2 games at the Maracaná. The stadium seats 100,000 but apparently has been known to hold 200,000. The games I went to weren't nearly that packed, but I did see Fluminense play. The rivalry between Fluminense and Flamengo is Rio's biggest football rivalry and therefore has the most die hard fans. These people were definitely die hard, most sporting a tattoo of their team on their back or forearm. For 4 hours straight people chanted, sang, drummed, yelled and never once sat down. There was so much energy there, I could barely sit down either, even though I still hadn't slept for more than a couple hours each night. I would love to see a game between 'Flu' and 'Fla' and the totally insanity that goes along with it.
I spent a good amount of the rest of my time laying on ipanema and taking in the local nightlife. Lapa has a huge street party of friday nights that is just absolutely out of control. Everywhere you look there are people dancing in the streets, people selling drinks, drugs, shots, beers, water...enough to keep you going until 8am when things start wrapping up. I didn't make it to 8am but I made a good effort until 5am dancing to crazy techno music under the Lapa arches with as many homeless people as locals.
So now I am in Foz do Iguaçu recovering from 7 glorious days in Rio and one 23 hour bus ride to get here. I would say I will spend this Friday night resting, but Megan (from Salvador) has come up from Buenos Aires to meet me for the weekend and my days in Brazil are limited. Besides, I'm getting used to this no sleep thing.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Where the wild things are
Flying to Manaus in the Amazon was flawless. After my trip to Salvador I pretty much had no faith in the airline system in Brazil. Their lack of punctuality seems to coincide with Brazilians attitude towards life; I'll get there when I get there. (But not the way they drive that's for sure.)
I met some very nice people on the bus from the airport to the town center and after a bit of misinformation from some locals about the actual location of my hostel, I made it safe and sound.
The next morning it was up early to catch our ride to our jungle lodge. 3 hours of a boat/car combo and there we were, in the middle of Juma lake in the Amazon rainforest.
As I am bringing my backpack to our room, I notice that there is a parrot on our roof. I immediately whip out my camera and start to think about how cool it is to be in the Amazon. Next thing I know the parrot is flying around my head. I let out the loudest scream of terror and freak out because I am now bent at a 90 degree angle with a parrot perched on my back. I try to stand up straight but it just digs its claws into my back to try and get a foothold. I whine to get it off me and as the staff at the lodge is laughing hysterically at, other parrot appear out of no where and start imitating the laughter. I must admit it was pretty funny, but at the time I just really wanted to parrot off my shoulder. After Jocelyn snapped a couple of phots, the bird is taken off my back by a staff member. I now have scratch marks that run the length of one of my shoulder blades. hot.
After settling into our room (yes, i opted for the more plush ways to visit the amazon, in a hut in the water with a bed and mattress) we were off on our first tour to a locals' house. When we arrived I was literally in shock, what did I sign up for? Not only did the family sell jewelry in their kitchen, they had a TV and about 5 different pets that they brought out to show the tourists. I became to regret my decision with the plush option. I was not pleased with the live petting zoo that was taking place in front of me and decided to walk around out back and see if I could see something more authentic. Once everyone was done inside with the monkey, parrot, turtle, caymen, and some petite anteater looking thing, they joined me out back and the owner of the house, who also happened to be the local protestant pastor, started to talk about the different plants in his 'backyard'.
Turns out his backyard stretches straight into the jungle. He talked of natural remedies for pretty much everything you could think of. It was fascinating that all of this was steps away from their house and that everyone was so educated on all the different plant life and their medicinal uses. He passed around a plant that was supposed to be a natural bug repellant. All you have to do is rub it on your skin, sounds easy enough so I gave it a whirl. No more than five minutes later I had broken out in a rash and start to get frightened that it might get worse. Thankfully as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
The next day was packed with tours of the waters, piranha fishing (of which I caught none) and caymen spotting (of which I got to hold one!) The caymen spotting was really great because we went out late at night in the complete darkness. The jungle is really creepy, and I was glad to have the protection of the boat. I probably would have stroked out if we had been on foot. The caymen the guide caught was only about 2 feet and we were all able to hold it and touch the skin. Apparently caymens are now protected in the amazon, so they are increasing in population because not as many people are hunting them to make into handbags.
Our last full day we went on a jungle walk which was pretty disappointing. I think it all depends on luck, what you see in the jungle. We weren't able to see many animals besides a hoard of monkeys in the trees. I have decided that if I should ever come back to the Amazon I am taking a river boat deep into the Amazon, so I can see all those animals that only exist in the Amazon.
Speaking of animals that only exist in the amazon, I was able to spot both the gray and pink freshwater dolphins. The pink dolphins are total fattys and I am frankly surprised they can get their enormous body out of the water. buoyancy, eh.
I attempted to probe our guide at dinner time about the expansion of the Amazon highway and his thoughts on its impact. He would only go as far to say that yes the highway was bad, but the Amazon was fine. It will still be here for the next generations. It made me wonder if he is not as privy to the information I get from my national geographic subscription, or if his inside knowledge of a life spent entirely in the rainforest, allowed him to look past the politics.
While I am disappointed I wasn't able to see more, the trip was far more rewarding to my other senses then I ever could have imagined. Being in such isolation makes you remember that one or two other times that you were far from civilization. Those times that when they occurred you thought you would never forget, but have somehow been filed in the way back, behind the hustle of day to day life. I'm hoping I won't forget this one.
I met some very nice people on the bus from the airport to the town center and after a bit of misinformation from some locals about the actual location of my hostel, I made it safe and sound.
The next morning it was up early to catch our ride to our jungle lodge. 3 hours of a boat/car combo and there we were, in the middle of Juma lake in the Amazon rainforest.
As I am bringing my backpack to our room, I notice that there is a parrot on our roof. I immediately whip out my camera and start to think about how cool it is to be in the Amazon. Next thing I know the parrot is flying around my head. I let out the loudest scream of terror and freak out because I am now bent at a 90 degree angle with a parrot perched on my back. I try to stand up straight but it just digs its claws into my back to try and get a foothold. I whine to get it off me and as the staff at the lodge is laughing hysterically at, other parrot appear out of no where and start imitating the laughter. I must admit it was pretty funny, but at the time I just really wanted to parrot off my shoulder. After Jocelyn snapped a couple of phots, the bird is taken off my back by a staff member. I now have scratch marks that run the length of one of my shoulder blades. hot.
After settling into our room (yes, i opted for the more plush ways to visit the amazon, in a hut in the water with a bed and mattress) we were off on our first tour to a locals' house. When we arrived I was literally in shock, what did I sign up for? Not only did the family sell jewelry in their kitchen, they had a TV and about 5 different pets that they brought out to show the tourists. I became to regret my decision with the plush option. I was not pleased with the live petting zoo that was taking place in front of me and decided to walk around out back and see if I could see something more authentic. Once everyone was done inside with the monkey, parrot, turtle, caymen, and some petite anteater looking thing, they joined me out back and the owner of the house, who also happened to be the local protestant pastor, started to talk about the different plants in his 'backyard'.
Turns out his backyard stretches straight into the jungle. He talked of natural remedies for pretty much everything you could think of. It was fascinating that all of this was steps away from their house and that everyone was so educated on all the different plant life and their medicinal uses. He passed around a plant that was supposed to be a natural bug repellant. All you have to do is rub it on your skin, sounds easy enough so I gave it a whirl. No more than five minutes later I had broken out in a rash and start to get frightened that it might get worse. Thankfully as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
The next day was packed with tours of the waters, piranha fishing (of which I caught none) and caymen spotting (of which I got to hold one!) The caymen spotting was really great because we went out late at night in the complete darkness. The jungle is really creepy, and I was glad to have the protection of the boat. I probably would have stroked out if we had been on foot. The caymen the guide caught was only about 2 feet and we were all able to hold it and touch the skin. Apparently caymens are now protected in the amazon, so they are increasing in population because not as many people are hunting them to make into handbags.
Our last full day we went on a jungle walk which was pretty disappointing. I think it all depends on luck, what you see in the jungle. We weren't able to see many animals besides a hoard of monkeys in the trees. I have decided that if I should ever come back to the Amazon I am taking a river boat deep into the Amazon, so I can see all those animals that only exist in the Amazon.
Speaking of animals that only exist in the amazon, I was able to spot both the gray and pink freshwater dolphins. The pink dolphins are total fattys and I am frankly surprised they can get their enormous body out of the water. buoyancy, eh.
I attempted to probe our guide at dinner time about the expansion of the Amazon highway and his thoughts on its impact. He would only go as far to say that yes the highway was bad, but the Amazon was fine. It will still be here for the next generations. It made me wonder if he is not as privy to the information I get from my national geographic subscription, or if his inside knowledge of a life spent entirely in the rainforest, allowed him to look past the politics.
While I am disappointed I wasn't able to see more, the trip was far more rewarding to my other senses then I ever could have imagined. Being in such isolation makes you remember that one or two other times that you were far from civilization. Those times that when they occurred you thought you would never forget, but have somehow been filed in the way back, behind the hustle of day to day life. I'm hoping I won't forget this one.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Boa Viagem
As I sit here and type this my hours left in Salvador tick away. I had my going away dinner last night at Habibs, and besides a few people who found plastic in their food, it was fabulous.
My last day at work was bittersweet. The kids are too young to understand that I am not coming back, so it was tchau as usual for them. I am going to miss them all terribly. Being with them everyday for the last 2 months has opened my eyes to a lot of things and taught me some important lessons in patience and discipline. They are all such jems.
The nuns wished me a boa viagem, and gave me the addresses of a few other Mother Teresa's in South America. I would like to visit the one in La Paz when I meet up with Lexi, and when I inquired as to the safety of the area it is in, the nuns said it was very dangerous and 'people would make me have nothing.' Then one of the nuns reached into her pocket and took out a Mother Teresa, Virgin Mary necklace, placed it around my neck and told me the Lord would always watch over me. Coming from her, I believe it.
I can't believe it's time to pack up and go. I am meeting my friend Jocelyn in the Amazon. It will be nice to see a familiar face and explore together. I am assuming they don't have the internet in the Amazon, so see you in Rio!
My last day at work was bittersweet. The kids are too young to understand that I am not coming back, so it was tchau as usual for them. I am going to miss them all terribly. Being with them everyday for the last 2 months has opened my eyes to a lot of things and taught me some important lessons in patience and discipline. They are all such jems.
The nuns wished me a boa viagem, and gave me the addresses of a few other Mother Teresa's in South America. I would like to visit the one in La Paz when I meet up with Lexi, and when I inquired as to the safety of the area it is in, the nuns said it was very dangerous and 'people would make me have nothing.' Then one of the nuns reached into her pocket and took out a Mother Teresa, Virgin Mary necklace, placed it around my neck and told me the Lord would always watch over me. Coming from her, I believe it.
I can't believe it's time to pack up and go. I am meeting my friend Jocelyn in the Amazon. It will be nice to see a familiar face and explore together. I am assuming they don't have the internet in the Amazon, so see you in Rio!
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