Rio: Part 1

Everyone kept telling me I have to visit Rio and I knew it was true. My grandmother Lola was disappointed that I hadn't been there and recorded it on the blog. "It's one of my most fabulous areas - actually stunning!" she urged. And a great time to go came along during the Sept. 7 Independence Day holiday. I took off by car with Katia and Ligia from work and it took about 6 hours. The vast green countryside reminded me just how incredibly huge this country is.

When we drove through most of Rio, it wasn't pretty. In fact a large majority of the city is very poor and the infamous favelas (slums) are everywhere. It's sad to think about living in such meager, cramped quarters. I did see lots of soccer playing in fields and courts. In fact, wherever there was grass, there were people playing soccer, usually barefoot (the grass sometimes wasn't the fluffiest looking greenery so I imagine this would scrape up my own feet). But then we hit the lake, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, which is beautiful. I wanted to run around it, but never got the chance. It borders the Botanical Gardens, which I also didn't get to do. The beauty of Rio lies in the green-covered mountains surrounding such a large city, which give it a surreal feel.

We stayed in between Copacabana and Ipanema. Because of the 3-day weekend, already-expensive hotel rates were even higher, so we stayed at the nicest one we could find that was still close to the main beach at Ipanema. The view from the top was gorgeous. These were taken from our roof...

Favela on a hill

The nice lobby wasn't very representative of the rooms, which were basic at best, but we weren't planning on spending much time there. We were ready to explore!

So we hit the beach, naturally.

And there I realized that Rio must be the wedgie capital of the world. The bikinis are like the underwear here - not things, but they're so narrow that they quickly become like thongs. The back is pretty much the same size as the front.

This was the first time I'd laid out in Brazil, and I can safely say I was the whitest person on the beach in a quarter mile radius, although many of them were naturally dark. This included a LOT of people considering the beach was so packed for the holidays that you couldn't even find a spot. This photo gives you some idea of the population on the sand:

Here's us.

Half the men wear tight little Speedo-style shorts, which looked dorky at first, conjuring up long-forgotten memories of the first guy I ever kissed, a French biker in Spain. But then they started to grow on me. It depends on the guy.

Tattoos are huge here, and everywhere in Brazil. I'd say about 70% of the people under age 35 have at least one piece of ink. I saw a lot of generic ones - butterflies and Japanese symbols and the like. If you're going to get one, get one that's unique, that says something interesting about you personally.

At night we hit up OO, an ultra-cool bar/club that's half outdoors, half indoors. There was a dance floor with hip-hop but the songs weren't so great. I talked a lot with Alex, which was my first extended conversation in Portuguese with someone new. He speaks some English, but I wanted to practice. I was holding my own. I was proud. And Alex was my main experience with what I hear is a typical Brazilian male practice: the ancient art of not calling.

Ligia, Me & Katia

The next day we enjoyed the beach again, and did a little shopping at the boutiques in Ipanema. We also stopped in Mil Frutas, a must-visit homemade, all-natural ice-cream shop, They carry delicious exotic fruit flavors from the Amazon. I had a scrumptious combo of ginger-cinnamon and caramelized banana. Mmmmmm.

After a necessary nap (although naps make Ligia cranky when she wakes up) we headed to Melt, a club that my trusty Fodor's guidebook claimed is the spot for many celebs. Maybe it was an off-night, but I didn't see anyone who looked could be a model or one of the famous soap opera stars. We waited three full hours in line to get in, and made friends with the group in front of us, João from Portugal and his crew. After talking with them, I noticed that the language in Portugal is much slower and easier to understand.

When we finally got in, the boys were grabby, and one guy in particular really annoyed me. He was quite the close talker, and I had to physically push him an arms-length away, saying "Stay." He said ok, and then tried to nuzzle back in when we talked. Ligia got a kick of the charade. Another guy got all his friends to surround me on the dance floor, trapping me in for a few seconds, which actually was kind of funny because it reminded me of a kid's playground game. The music was better than at 00, but mixed; some songs were good and some made for getting another drink at the bar.

The next day we had to leave. In typical vacation fashion, the day of departure came much too soon. We went to the weekly Sunday hippie market and I bought some great gifts and clothes. Highly recommended. Overall it was a great trip - got our minds off work for a bit and our bodies out of São Paulo and on the beach.