Copa, Copacabana (what else did you expect?)
After an interesting standoff with the hotel people in São Paulo over their insistence that we did not pay for one of our nights (which we totally had done), we hopped in our getaway cab, who took us to the Metro, São Paulo´s subway that is amazingly clean and efficient. Our timing was almost too impeccable, as the next bus to Rio de Janiero was leaving within minutes of our arrival, causing a bit of a rush in emptying the bladders and buying water to refill them. Due to Brazil´s lack of punctuality with bus departures, we actually had more time than we thought, and were off to Rio without a problem.
The bus ride is something like 6 hours, and was fairly uneventful, mind the medley of “Copacabana”, “Girl from Ipanema”, and some showtune “I go to Rio” that Cali introduced to me swirling in my head. There were some pretty amazing views as we winded down the hills (mountains?) into the city area. For a brief time, though, attention was drawn away from our eyes, to our noses as we drove behind a truck carrying decaying animal carcasses, or some sort of flesh.
Getting into the city, we actually thought it was pretty ugly. Here we had read all these descriptions about “oh, the view from such and such makes Rio undoubtedly the most beautiful city in the world…”, but it really looked pretty dumpy. We passed tons of favelas on the way in…these are slums that are known throughout Brazil and are notorious for being very dangerous and very poor. They were essentially constructed with whatever materials people had on hand, without running water and/or sanitation, though I did read about a project in Rio to provide these things over the coming years. They are generally “governed” by drug lords, who supposedly look over the favela, providing for them what they need. Although I never saw it myself, the movie City of God is about life in the favelas, and I highly recommend watching it.
By the time we got into our hostel that night and got ourselves sorted, it was already dark, but we did go for a little walk in Copacabana, where we were staying. Avenida Atlantica is the main drag along the beach, and it somehow reminds me a little bit of Las Vegas, but yet, doesn´t look like it at all…it´s mostly hotels up the strip, many lit up for the holidays, but not anywhere near the brilliance of Vegas. We ran into a few guys that Vanessa had met elsewhere in Brazil, so we sat down and had a few drinks. One guy asked me if I noticed anything strange about the place, and, well, no I hadn´t. As soon as he pointed it out, though, it was pretty obvious that the place was teeming with prostitutes. Well, at least they´re working for their money and not robbing you, I suggested, though one can´t be sure the fate of the man who concedes to her advances.
Next morning the sun was out, so we grabbed our suits and headed straight for the beach. Within the 4 block walk, the clouds took over, so we just walked around a bit to check it all out. Actually, we walked a lot. The whole Copacabana beach stretches for 4.5 km (about 2 miles), a nice concave curve allowing for views of the whole beach from anywhere. I got really excited about playing some sand volleyball, but what they mostly play is called futevolei, which is 2-on-2 volleyball used without your hands…a combination between soccer and volleyball, and it looks pretty darn hard, but the guys who play it are pretty fabulous, running around in their speedos, sometimes using their toes to tip the ball over the net.
So, yeah, about those speedos and the bathing suits in general…men pretty much all wear speedos, but what is funny is that a lot of them wear t-shirts as well, and they walk around town like this. It rather looks like they´ve got on tighty-whiteys and a loose t-shirt, which is just not flattering. The women, well, I´ve never seen so many asses in my life. And, to debunk a little myth here – not all the women are beautiful. Sure, there are some beautiful ones, and there are ugly ones, but really, most of them are pretty average. The difference, perhaps, is that none of them is ashamed to wear a small bikini with their ass hanging out, which only perhaps makes them more beautiful in the fact that they´re comfortable with themselves to do that.
We also had a Fabio sighting, sitting at the pool at the Copacabana Palace, one of the more plush, famous hotels in Rio. Well, that´s what Vanessa says; I don´t know enough about Fabio to confirm or negate those claims.
Yeah, so the first few days was just a whole bunch of walking around. Through posh Ipanema, the more historical center (which surprisingly had a strong French influence), and some big park that hosted a huge feral cat community, some strange looking rodents that I will post a picture of, and one very conspicuous peacock (anyone know, by the way, where these thing naturally inhabit?) We also walked around one part of town looking for some samba club and we were advised twice not to be there (though we had been suggested to go to this samba club), so we just skipped the whole thing and left.
Our third day it was finally clear so made the obligatory trek up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer, who´s got the best damn view in the city. Going to these sorts of places is always kind of funny…everyone there is a tourist, either taking photos or playing dodge-other-people´s-photos. You go up, take said photos, look around, and then look at each other – OK? Got your photos? Done? OK, let´s go back down. And that´s it. It feels as if something is missing there, like we´re just using the place for its photos.
Tags: Brazil, Tag Index
Tania