Stoned
Monday, February 20th, 2006This is my last day in Rio, and while I don´t feel that I´m finished here yet, it is time to move on before carnival. This city is quite unique and certainly somewhere I´d like to return, but as carnival is coming the prices get extortionate so I´m heading down the coast to a smaller beach resort called Florianopolis, which will make my escape to Argentina easier after carnival (and before the bank account bottoms out).
Saturday was the day of the Rolling Stones gig on Copacabana beach – what can I say? I´ve been to more concerts and festivals than I can remember, but this was something else! The atmosphere of the city was buzzing from the moment I woke up, and just got more frenzied as the gig approached. Apart from a pretty scarey moment when we got caught in a massive panicking crowd, we eventually got down the beach and were still reasonably close, but with space to enjoy it. I can´t really rattle on about it anymore, but here´s a link to the BBC site which has a few pictures to give you an idea.
Sunday was obviously a little more chilled so we spent some time on Ipanema beach watching the peaches – I didn´t pick up my book once 🙂
After the beach there was smaller festivities going on all around, with street parades, a band playing outside a music shop and bars overflowing as the city prepares itself for the run up to carnival. The vibe here is incredible, but escape I must, so more later.
Ed