Party party

23/jan2008Well let me introduce the characters here:
Alex, whom I´m travelling with.

Ricardo, Brazilian Air flight attendant who lives in Dubai and is over on hols. Cute and sort of knows it and is on heat. A predatory shark but a nice one. Has taken care of us over the last few days and introduced us to a few things Brazilian style. A very nice introduction.

Ricardo`s american friend who is a bit of a tosser, don't know his name don't want to and neither does anyone else.

Jeremiah: one of the coolest americans I have ever met. Loves his music, DJ`s in Philadelphia, Tropicalia (kind of psychedelic 60`s Brazilian music I hadn't heard of it either but...). Sports a bushy, almost afro hairstyle and a goatee which apparently is getting fashionable again. (like when did this happen???). On the pull but in a nice way. Speaks pretty good Portuguese as has been studying anthropology in Salvador in Brazil for 6 months. Doesn't want to leave but has to go back to uni in the US.

Catherine, Essex girl, who has been travelling around S. America for 14 months and still hasn`t had enough of it. Lovely, cool and funny. Has to go home after carnival. But is teasing her mum that she has found a Brazilian boyfriend and is going to stay here. A slim possibility, as she loves the place. Oh yeah she is blond and blue eyed and attracts a lot of Brazlian male attention.

Pascale, Lovely French girl, who has suffered speaking in French with me, It was so nice to have a conversation in French. She just found a job here and is now going to live in Rio, for a while.

Piotr/Peter: Krakow, Poland. Piotr came for 5 days on his way to the US and is still here 2 months later. He has lived in New York and London. An interesting chap and cool to talk to and works part time for the hostel, we are staying in and er attracts the ladies in a subtle way...

Lauren: Lancashire, UK. Studied with Jeremiah above in Salvador. Studying Brazilian studies, so gets to study here, jammy girl. What a fab course. She will be staying here for the next 6 months and already has a Brazilian boyfriend.

I guess you might get the picture from the above that the Brazilian men don't waste much time... whereas the Brazilian women, unless you are a Brazilian man...

Ricardo, Alex and I wandered into town and got the bus to Copacabana, with the intention to walk along the beach take in the atmosphere. It then rained rather heavily. I had my raincoat the boys had only t-shirts. but we got there. Everything was miserable and empty. Ricardo being the mad Brazilian he is, dived into the water clothes and all. He then had to dry off in the nearest shopping mall, where we had some hot chocolate. We went to Lapa again, hit the local kilo restaurant (restaurants where you pile what you want onto a plate and pay by the weight of the plate. COOL!). Hit the bars then wandered home.

24/jan2008
Today Alex and I walked for miles around St Therese district, a bohemian, arty place. There are loads of old colonial buildings around here. Mostly old society houses. There is a tram that goes around this district. You can choose to sit on the seat or hang off the sides. Apparently there are a lot of causalities, as people get knocked off by passing busses etc. We then headed to the centre of Rio, to take the walking tour. We took the tram down to the centre, but sat inside, as we were to be on it for 30 minutes and it also goes over this huge viaduct. We are going to hang off it in the next few days, as you do...Ended up going out in St Theresa, for some food and drink but I came in about 12. as wrecked from the night before.

25Jan2008Alex, Catherine and I wandered back to the shopping mall and Copacabana and Ipanema. The weather was a lot better for a while. Then it rained. Lapa, which is the district just below St Theresa (where we are). Mad mad mad. It is THE place to be on a friday night. Place was absolutely full of people, all sauntering, dancing, sharking and smooching around this block filled with bars, stalls and small clubs. and of course the pre-requisite samba bands stationed under the arches of the viaduct. I just can´t believe, how much energy is in the samba. I saw a gentleman of 70+ blasting away at a small drum and just keeping that energy up for hours. I just get tired watching. Being 2 females with blue eyes and pale skin, Cathering and I got chatted up as we wandered and had to shrug off a few hands that grabbed ours, as they tried to seduce us. It was a laugh and very flattering most of the time... We stayed there til 4 am. Phew, what a night. Wrecked.