More from Rio

A few days ago, we went to a real typical bloco one afternoon. One with a giant dumptruck style truck with a band pumping music from the top, that drives slowly and people follow and dance around. At this bloco, I was suprised that it was all types of people, young and old, despite the massive crowds. We made our way to the front of the truck, and walked and danced with it for about an hour until it was finally over. Of course, the beer & water vendors fill their shopping cards and join the bloco to make sure that nobody goes thirsty during bloco. At the end of the bloco, everyone disperses and the streets are full.

View from bloco:


Video of a Bloco:


The next day, Brian & I tried to go to the Christo (Christ the Redeemer) that you see picures of. We got there at about 10am, and the line was at least 2 hours to get tickets! Mostly in part to Carnival and swarms of people. So, we took a taxi to Sugarloaf, the famous tall rock formation in Rio. All the tour buses go from Christo in the morning to Sugarloaf in the afternoon, so we didn't have to wait. Of course, I wouldn't have known that if I had been on my own...

A view from Sugarloaf:


Having baby coconut at the beach near Sugarloaf:


We took a tram up to the first mountain, took in some amazing views of all of Rio, then took the next tram up all the way to the top. Lets just say the pictures of Rio certainly show the realy beauty, because it is a pretty intense coastline, with mountains in the background, tall islands, great beaches, and multiple bays.

Yesterday was my first real Brazilian steakhouse! What a food coma! They do the same as in the states, bringing cut after cut after cut of piping hot meat out on skewers. The oddest thing they brought out was chicken hearts. They way the barbecued them they tasted pretty good. Maybe it says something about the food culture in South America when I never ate a heart in my life, then within 8 days, had cow and chicken hearts in 2 different countries. Phew.

Chicken hearts at steakhouse:




Another hilarious thing is my conversations with Brians Dad. At first he only would say 'Chicago Bulls', but slowly, there are more words, such as 'Cincinatti Ohio' 'Five' and 'Daytona', and today 'Golden Gate'. Also when I should eat more, he points to my muscles and says 'Piramides Egyptian'. Its hilarious and fun trying to communicate with hand signals. Of course, I know like 10 words of Portuguese now, so we'ere on the same level.

Here is a video from the Sambodromo:


Video of Vasco v. Fluminese Futbol game:

Bloco's, Vasco da Gama Seminfinals

Not sure how to put it more simply, but the last few days have been UNBELIEVABLE. If I was a regular tourist in a hotel/hostel, even couchsurfing, none of the stuff I've done so far in Rio would have happened. But I have have a pretty incredible host here Rio, Brian from a Rotaract club & his family.

The first few days we went to some Blocos... Carnival parties... Basically, they are mostly gigantic street parties in different parts of Rio (there are thousands over 4 or 5 days), there is samba dancing, music, drumming, and generally just thousands of people in the streets in different parts of Rio having a good time. There is always hundreds of beer vendors carrying their beer on wooden slabs with wheels. Brian took me out to several Blocos the first few days, and I met plenty of his friends, most of which speak some English, cause I know like 5 words now in Portuguese. Actually, reading is ok, hearing is impossible. A few of his friends even tried to teach me to Samba dance, haha. Bloco highlight: Leaving a club at 4:15am after meeting Camila up, another Rotaractor, and, while standing outside confronted by a packed street, a guy jumps from the vaulted 2nd story and fall 1 foot away from me... bouncers tug his ear and tell him to get lost for being an idiot. In summary, Carnival is ridiculous.

On Saturday, we went to a futbol game & the Sambodromo. The futbol game was probably the craziest sporting event I have been to. We took the train there. With Carnvial & a futbol game going on, the trains were absolutely mobbed, I was squished and had my face in armpits in various directions, a refreshing experience... All the while people banging the car ceiling ceiling and chanting. Phew.

So we got the the stadium pretty early so I could check it out when it wasn't full. Marcana holds something like 90,000 fans, one of the biggest in the world. The next world cup will be played here. This match was Vasco da Gama vs Fluminse, two of the big teams in Rio. We sat in the section for Vasco fans. Fans of each team always sit together on different sides of the stadium, then there is a neutral zone. The tourists get tickets close to the field (a worse view actually) in the first deck, and not in a team section, so I'm glad I was with Brian to get the real scoop.

Fans filtered in, bringing in tons of various team flags with them. Soon before kickoff, the stadium was pretty full (not 100% being Carnival & all) and 3 or 4 massive sections of Vasco fans wre chanting various songs, waving flags, and trying to get everyone excited. The one cool thing about they stadium is they sell no alcohol in or within 2km of stadium, so most of the fans are totally crazy but not drunk crazy, so everything is under control. Genuine fans.

This was a pretty important match, being a semifinal match for the Rio championship. It went by pretty quick, and after 90 minutes, it was still 0-0, so it went into penalty shots. Each team got their 5 shots apiece, and they still both made all thir shots! Finally, on the 6th shot, Vasco made one and Fluminese missed one, and the Vasco sections went NUTS. We stayed in the seats for a good 20 minutes after the game while they all chanted different club songs and waved flags. I, on the other hand, was totally lost in the chants, and just pretended to look like I knew what I was saying, haha.

Stay tuned for the update on me being in the official Carnival. Ta ta.

Carnival Ad:


On the Rio subway going to a Bloco with Brian:


At a bloco with Brian & friends:


Beer (Cerveja) vendors:


The crowd in just one small part of this Bloco in the neighborhood Lapa:


Outside Marcana statdium for the futbol game. We met this guy (err Brian did), at the train station. He was on vacation with his family from northern Brazil for Carnival & a big Vasco fan.


View of part of the stadium:


Before the game:


Vasco fans starting to get pumped up:


Fans really going crazy now, lighting fireworks:


Lined up for Penalty kicks:


Vasco wins, fans go crazy, good thing were in the Vasco Section!


Video of my first bloco, a smaller one, showing the drummers:

Here is a video from a Bloco, starring Brian & Company:

Lima-Rio

Well, still alive and made it to Rio in one peice. Thought I'd recap my last 2 days in Lima.

Tuesday we ate ceviche yet again. Delicious, too much seafood now though, I think my bowels are not liking me for that, for all those curious people...haha... Anyhow, my host in Lima Marco had 2 more couchsurfers arrive Tuesday from Ohio, and after ceviche we went to Marco's parents house. For some reason, garage doors are really intricately carved, I don't get it, must be because there are walls or gates on most houses so it's the only thing you see...Needless to say, the inside was really nice, felt like a grandparents or great grandparents house with all the nice things...ha.

We walked around central Lima later, and visited Iglesia San Francisco. Our tour was in Spanish...I needed to be 2 feet away from the guy to catch half of what he was saying haha. Nonetheless, I didnt learn a whole lot, but there were thousands and thousands of bones in the catacombs below the church, something similar to a cemetary.

Then, somehow, we managed to meet up with Luz, a Rotaractor, in the Plaza de Armas. She is 23 and doing some sort of pharmacy/medical thing. She didnt speak a lick of English and was incredibly chatty, so that was a bit of a trip. Marco wanted to take the Ohio'ans for Anticuchos (grilled heart), so I had that for the second night in a row. Renzo, president of rotaract valle escondido, met us up at the anticucho place, so then there were six of us. So Luz & Renzo had a suprise for me they said, which was they took me to a Rotary meeting. We took two combis to get there, one of them half broken, a total riot.

The Rotary meeting was at a CHIFA (Chinese) Restaurant. A combination of chinese & peruvian food, haha. Tasted like US chinese to me. I explained to the group in Spanish what I was doing, where I was going, and tried to talk about Rotaract in Chicago, etc, in Spanish. In the end, they presented me with a gift of a bottle of Pisco, a liquor used in making Pisco Sours. Awesome!

Wednesday I walked around the neighborhood Barranco with Marco, nothing spectacular, but relaxing. Then we went to a mercado to buy the ingredients to make Pisco Sours that evening :Limes, Eggs, Syrup, and Bitters. Two more couchsurfers showed up from Germany, so we made Pisco Sours for all that evening. One of the Germans had been travelling all over S. America for months, so she gave me so good advice on Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and even Easter Island!

So today I flew from Lima-Sao Paulo-Rio. Had to change airports in Sao Paulo, a bit of an adventure. There was a free airport transfer that I found after talking to about 3 different people. After I finally found it, the line was massive, and they said there was only 1 bus every hour! Great. I had a long layover, but the line was crazy. The girl in front of me had a huge backpack, and she looked like a bit of a gringo, so I asked her if she spoke English (she was from England & had been travelling for 4 months). There was a definite yes, and I asked her if she wanted to split a cab. Her flight was leaving in less than 2 hours, and it takes about an hour to go between airports. We went in to get some Brazilian Reals and hopped in a cab and got stuck in the great Sao Paulo traffic. Had some good travel conversations, and she got to the check in counter about 30 minutes before her flight left, I think she made it, but I had a good few hours, so I was ok. We exchanged info because she is going to be in Buenos Aires while I am there.

Finally I made it to Rio, my host Brian picked me up. We spent 20 minutes trying to ge this car out of the parking lot. Like a game where you have a car stuck between two parallel walls the width of the car, yeah that was fun, in 37C weather, so we were dripping wet. Brian lives in Flameco in a 1st floor high rise near the beach, a great area. Within 10 minutes they asked me if I wanted to be in the Carnival Parade in the Samodromo in the Rotary float on Saturday & Sunday. I said heck yea!!! Wow, that was a stunner for me, once in a lifetime chance. His mom actually speaks some Spanish, so that's how I have to communicate with her.

On the horizon: Futbol game at Marcana Stadium Saturday, and some blocos and meeting Brians friends. Should be an entertaining 7 days here in Rio. I'd upload pics, but I gotta take a nap, running on 4ish hours from the two flights today.

Oh, I forgot, I had a 45 minute conversation in Spanish with the taxi driver to the Lima airport last night! It was awesome! His son is a mechanical engineer so he gave me his card and I gave him my email address, and he said his son is also studying English, so he may email me for practice. Really nice taxi driver.

Phew, I am pooped, but someones gotta do all this. It's hard, I know.

Here are my photos from Lima: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?id=31400194&aid=2117000