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.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Rio bound
22Jan2008
Well my adventures so far: Last week I went to the storage unit, where I keep everything including my rucksack and travelling gear. On Saturday, I was merrily packing for S. America and realised it was close to 6pm, which is closing time for the storage unit... By the time I was finished it was 6.05pm. When I went downstairs to reception I was flabbergasted. Everything was locked up. I then realised that the alarms were blasting all over the place. A few seconds later I realised the receptionist was not doing her rounds but had gone home. I was locked in. I could hear police sirens outside so thought /Id better ring the police to let them know I was inside and to not leave. After ringing the storage unit number (no emergency contact no), and local police (who did not answer). I rang 999 to get hold of the police who said there was no call out for any police at the storage address. So I broke out using the emergency exit and set the alarms off again (they had just stopped). Luckily I found the security guard, who hobbled up to the door, at about a quarter of the pace I normally would take, which didn´t inspire confidence in the unit. So at least someone was able to sort the door out.
Saturday I went back to the unit, to find my boxes dripping and my bags smelling and damp. They have been fine for a year and now this is going wrong. Monday I returned but all had dried up. Typical as I was trying to show the receptionist the problem. Anyway I managed to pack everything into my bag, rush around london with said bag, buy my light raincoat, gaiters and thermals and still get to the airport 2.5 hours in advance. Phew. The relief and finally having got through check-in and customs and be on time. /i could finally relax. I thought!
The flight took off late. I was in the last seat but got it to my self so cool, except for everyone going into the loo but I fell asleep and awoke to one of the flight attendants putting the blanket, I requested over me. Ah sweet AND he was cute.
I was one of last to get off plane in São Paolo, my place of connection to Rio. It was absolutely choka. 100´s of people everywhere. I made my way to gate I was told to go to but missed the steps,I think I was supposed to go to but I went to where it said connections and queued. I asked the lady there but she told me to stay where I was I think. She didn't speak English and my Portuguese is limited to Obrigado, which I learned watching the movie on the plane. Anyway, no one else seemed to be going to RIO. So then I found the steps, queued for another while, was left through one check and then stopped. My flight had gone. Oh joy. I was then told to go back to my original queue to change to get the next flight, which I missed too. I then was escorted to immigration, where I queued for 2 hours. I then searched for my bag, which appears to have caught the right flight. And queued another 30 min to escape through customs. To queue again and be told to go to another desk which sent me to another where I queued again. Finally after 3.5 hours of queuing, I was given my boarding pass for a flight that was 8 hours after I was originally to fly. I could have gone earlier but that meant changing airports and my bag I´m sure would prefer to see me at the same place, where I hope it resides. Please let it not be like Israel where I had to wait 8 days for my bag.
I finally got To Rio Airport that is. I tried to call the cab number the hostel gave me but of course it didn’t work. I tried about 10 times. Then went to buy a Brazilian sim card and credits. I tried to ring the taxi number again and praise be but it worked. However, bizarrely I had to speak French to be understood.. I was told the taxi would take 30 min so when it didn’t arrive, I rang again, then between texting Alex etc. It turned out there was a mix up. When I rang, I got through to the French boyfriend of the hostel manager, who got confused and thought I had already booked the cab. Alex sorted it, so it got called. However then I was in departures and it was arriving at arrivals. Oh woe. I saw it passing and waved but it ran off. Another few texts and he was back and again drove past me. By this time I was voicing some colourful expletives. But he finally picked me up and I got to the hostel. Al3x had met 2 others and we all went out for food and a drink. Phew I could finally calm relax. As knackered as I was, we ended up staying out til 4am. The next few nights I came home early but we went around Rio and saw Copacabana and Ipanema, went on a walking tour of the city. It is pretty amazing. We also went around the neighbourhood where we are living. It´s a very bohemian, arty place with magnificent old colonial buildings. Some dilapidated but mostly ok. So many bars have such a lively atmosphere.
Well my adventures so far: Last week I went to the storage unit, where I keep everything including my rucksack and travelling gear. On Saturday, I was merrily packing for S. America and realised it was close to 6pm, which is closing time for the storage unit... By the time I was finished it was 6.05pm. When I went downstairs to reception I was flabbergasted. Everything was locked up. I then realised that the alarms were blasting all over the place. A few seconds later I realised the receptionist was not doing her rounds but had gone home. I was locked in. I could hear police sirens outside so thought /Id better ring the police to let them know I was inside and to not leave. After ringing the storage unit number (no emergency contact no), and local police (who did not answer). I rang 999 to get hold of the police who said there was no call out for any police at the storage address. So I broke out using the emergency exit and set the alarms off again (they had just stopped). Luckily I found the security guard, who hobbled up to the door, at about a quarter of the pace I normally would take, which didn´t inspire confidence in the unit. So at least someone was able to sort the door out.
Saturday I went back to the unit, to find my boxes dripping and my bags smelling and damp. They have been fine for a year and now this is going wrong. Monday I returned but all had dried up. Typical as I was trying to show the receptionist the problem. Anyway I managed to pack everything into my bag, rush around london with said bag, buy my light raincoat, gaiters and thermals and still get to the airport 2.5 hours in advance. Phew. The relief and finally having got through check-in and customs and be on time. /i could finally relax. I thought!
The flight took off late. I was in the last seat but got it to my self so cool, except for everyone going into the loo but I fell asleep and awoke to one of the flight attendants putting the blanket, I requested over me. Ah sweet AND he was cute.
I was one of last to get off plane in São Paolo, my place of connection to Rio. It was absolutely choka. 100´s of people everywhere. I made my way to gate I was told to go to but missed the steps,I think I was supposed to go to but I went to where it said connections and queued. I asked the lady there but she told me to stay where I was I think. She didn't speak English and my Portuguese is limited to Obrigado, which I learned watching the movie on the plane. Anyway, no one else seemed to be going to RIO. So then I found the steps, queued for another while, was left through one check and then stopped. My flight had gone. Oh joy. I was then told to go back to my original queue to change to get the next flight, which I missed too. I then was escorted to immigration, where I queued for 2 hours. I then searched for my bag, which appears to have caught the right flight. And queued another 30 min to escape through customs. To queue again and be told to go to another desk which sent me to another where I queued again. Finally after 3.5 hours of queuing, I was given my boarding pass for a flight that was 8 hours after I was originally to fly. I could have gone earlier but that meant changing airports and my bag I´m sure would prefer to see me at the same place, where I hope it resides. Please let it not be like Israel where I had to wait 8 days for my bag.
I finally got To Rio Airport that is. I tried to call the cab number the hostel gave me but of course it didn’t work. I tried about 10 times. Then went to buy a Brazilian sim card and credits. I tried to ring the taxi number again and praise be but it worked. However, bizarrely I had to speak French to be understood.. I was told the taxi would take 30 min so when it didn’t arrive, I rang again, then between texting Alex etc. It turned out there was a mix up. When I rang, I got through to the French boyfriend of the hostel manager, who got confused and thought I had already booked the cab. Alex sorted it, so it got called. However then I was in departures and it was arriving at arrivals. Oh woe. I saw it passing and waved but it ran off. Another few texts and he was back and again drove past me. By this time I was voicing some colourful expletives. But he finally picked me up and I got to the hostel. Al3x had met 2 others and we all went out for food and a drink. Phew I could finally calm relax. As knackered as I was, we ended up staying out til 4am. The next few nights I came home early but we went around Rio and saw Copacabana and Ipanema, went on a walking tour of the city. It is pretty amazing. We also went around the neighbourhood where we are living. It´s a very bohemian, arty place with magnificent old colonial buildings. Some dilapidated but mostly ok. So many bars have such a lively atmosphere.
Friday, January 11, 2008
New beginnings: Prep begins
Am preparing to go to S. America. Panic is now striking badly. It is Rio de Janeiro first for the Carnival. Whey hey... and then a tour of Brazil after that Venuezuela... and Margarita for some windsurfing. Cant wait. It has been 2 years since I've been on a board. Could be dodgy.
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