Cidade Maravihosa

Rio de Janeiro, I believe it is impossible not to romanticized this city, and anyone who disagrees with me only has to come and listen to the samba music streaming out of the local street-side bars, see the beautiful green mountains set against blue ocean and white sands, glimpse the huge statue of Cristo Redemptor and the impoverished felevas looking down on the city from the hillsides, or smell Lapa after any Friday night street party... cachaça, lime, urine, cooking grease... extremes of decadence and human misery... this place is disturbing in the best way possible.

People who live in Rio, especially Lapa- the neighborhood where I have been staying- like to say it takes a lot to walk around the block here, which is a good thing. Between the street art, live music, graffitti, favela kids and old homeless men sleeping under cardboard boxes... there is a lot to take in. I'll do my best to share some insights to the "Cidade Maravihosa" as cariocas (people who live in Rio) like to call it, but one reason why this blog is mostly photos is that in all seriousness, words are insufficient.

Side note: the last 5 or 6 photos are left over from the last entry... Chapada dos Veradeiros, waterfalls, canyons, Joã and his tastey crackers- where we camped before entering the Pantanal, some pics from our road trip down the trans-pantanal highway, and the journey from Cuiaba to Rio. Just because I didnt have them available to upload before.

back to Rio...

Carnaval: We arrived in Rio on Feb 5th, amidst madness of Carnaval. During the first week of Februrary a kind of mental condition takes over the mind, body, and soul of all Brasileros, and especially in Rio de Janeiro which is home of the largest and arguably most famous Carnaval celebration in the world. Carnaval literally means "fairwell to the flesh" is a festival mostly associated with Roman Catholicism that takes place the week leading up to the start of Lent. In Brasil it is characterized by Samba music, street parties, costumes, and an overall state of widespread debauchery. The basic idea is that during Lent partying is not kosher, neither is eating meat, sweets, and other such indulgences, so during Carnaval you get all the partying, music, eating, drunken madness out of your system. We stayed in Lapa which is considdered by most cariocas to be the heart and soul of Rio's live music scene. Everynight the streets of Lapa were filled by people dancing, playing music, drinking caiparinhas, eating greasy street food (one favorite is called the X-Tudo, esentially the fattiest cheeseburger one can imagine: burger, cheese, fried egg, fried ham, little fried potatoe bits, ketchup, mayo, corn, tomate... need I go on?)

I need to use my words more prudently because there is so much to say. Basically Carnaval was our introduction to life in Rio. Many of the photos were taken in the Sambodromo- where the Escolas de Samaba (local samba bands) compete for the honor of being number 1 in Rio. Escolas march through the open air arena with their gigantic floats followed band members, samba dancers, and anyone who wishes to become a member of a particular samba school can join and participate in the parade like performance. Check the photos for an idea of what some of these escolas de samba look like.

When most Brasilians think of Carnaval in Rio they usually think of the Sambodromo but the majority of the Carnaval celebration actually just takes place in the streets of Rio, there is no entrance fee, everyone is invited, and there is nothing else in the world that compares to these "blocos." Sometimes there would be a truck equipped with massive sound system and accompanied by a live band; people gather in the streets, drink, eat, and march along behind this truck and its procession, singing the traditional songs of the particular samba school. Sometimes there were huge stationary sound systems and people danced in the streets all night. Sometimes small samba bands marched around the beach stopping and playing whereever they could attrack a crowd and get some free beers. I loved these blocos and street parties because what else brings together so many people from so many different walks of life. I don't like the idea of paying huge cover-charges to get into Carnaval celebrations because then the people you celebrate with are only those who can afford to pay ridiculous prices to get into some exclusive club. When you go to the streets who knows who you will meet and share a drink or a dance. You could have very little in common with the people around you but all that mattered was that everyone was there to enjoy the music, the food, the dancing, and loose themselevs in Carnaval.

I think I've probably gone on enough about Carnaval and that was actually only about a week of my time in Rio, all together I spent just over a month in the city. I stayed in Lapa during Carnaval then moved south to the infamous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. I stayed about 10 days in the "zona sul" getting sun, watching the local surfers at the Arpoador point, the beach soccer matches, and this ridiculously difficult looking game played on a volley ball court but only using the head, thighs, feet, and chest... like soccer rules. I went back to Lapa because I preferred the alternative music and arts scene and grimey streets. In Lapa I took two weeks of dance classes in Brasilian ballroom dance, Samba, Salsa, and this beautiful sensual dance related to the Lambada and originating in the west indies called Zouk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0BZ8tii43Y

This is a link to a quick video from the "Second International Zouk and Lambada Conference." I did about three hours of dancing a night and Zouk was my favorite- by the end of the two weeks I looked a lot like that girl in the green spandex in the video ( :

and yes, everyone flips their hair that much when dancing Zouk.

Other things I like about Lapa. The church down the street from my hostel held Capoeira classes on Monday and Thursday nights. Capoeira a blend of Brasilian dance and martial arts that was invented by African slaves brought to Brasil. The classes were for anyone in the community, young children learned from older and more experienced students, and the leader of the local church played the string and percussion instruments to which they practiced, I even took part in a few classes.

The street art which I have already mentioned is in a couple of the photos in this entry. Some of the photos are of the Escadaria de Selaron probably my favorite work of art in Rio. Selaron is a Chilean artist who came to live in Rio over 20 years ago his Escadaria, or stairway, is an outdoor stairway leading from Lapa up to Santa Teressa, a neighborhood of Rio perched up on a hill above Lapa. He has completely tiled the stairs themselves and the walls around the stairway, with colored tiles making a sort of huge mossaic in the middle of Lapa. It is a living work of art, meaning he is constantly changing the tiles on the Escadaria. He has been working on this piece of art basically since his arrival in Rio 20 years ago. His signature design is the pregnant black women accompanied with the quote: "Viver na favela..."

"Living in a favela is an ART. Nobody robs. Nobody hears. Nothing is lost.

Those who are wise obey those who gove the orders."

-Escadaria de Selaron
Lapa, Rio de Janeiro

This woman actually appears on walls all over Lapa, not just the Escadaria, along with many other graffitti and painted works by Selaron. In addition to the street art Lapa is home to the Escola Nacional de Musica, an alternative theater company, Capoeria (Brasilian dance/ martial arts) schools, and dozens of dance studios.

I could obviously go on for a while about this city, which in all honestly I am just beginning to understand myself. Rio is a place of extremes, contrats, freedom, truth, and beauty. Think extravagent apartment buildings next to extreme poverty of the favelas, women walking their miniture poodles dressed in sweaters and booties next to children sleeping in the streets. The setting is moving, the ocean, the hills, Cristo overlooking the city. And the culture so thick you can cut through it with a knife... music everywhere, dancing and works of art in the streets for anyone to see. Rio is real, it is grimey, and beautiful, and honest... no-one is trying to hide what reality is in this city. Although not many Cariocas want to talk to you about the obvious and pressing social issues that are so painfully apparent everywhere you look.

Anyways, for now I hope the pics and insights were interesting. Soon I'll be crossing the frontera into Uruguay, although just passing through really on my way to Argentina and Patagonia. More updates soon!

---

---