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Published: February 17th 2014
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2014-02-15 18.15.51
Ipanema beach with a coconut water. Touched down in Rio on Saturday afternoon after a surprisingly pleasant 33-hour commute from Brisbane. The beautiful Andreia met me at the airport and navigated me through the labyrinth of cab drivers to find a taxi to take us to Botofogo - my home for the next 6 weeks.
Initial reflection on the drive in to Rio; the Favelas occupy what must be some of the most beautiful locations on Earth.
Dr. Google reports that Brazilian favelas largely came into being when huge masses of people left regional Brazil to converge on the major cities. Which resulted in a collection of very poor people with nowhere to live, and the development of shantytowns to house them. For a stylized Hollywood depiction, check out the movie City of God.
From my initial perspective, a lot of the favelas seem to be sprawling up the mountains surrounding Rio, and consequently they must have the most beautiful scenic views – if a beautiful scenic view matters at all to someone who is not sure where their next meal is coming from. Andreia told me that the favelas, typically run by drug lords, are becoming more safe for groups
2014-02-15 18.16.52
The beautiful Andreia... to enter, and that some companies run favela tours. I am not sure about touring a favela, aside from the safety aspect, it feels wrong to gather and gawk at people living in poverty – as though they are in a zoo. Despite there being obvious benefits of introducing economic activity into the region, it feels kind of wrong to me, so I don’t think I’ll do one – but each to their own.
Botofogo is an upper-middle class neighbourhood in Rio that is just north of Copacabana and Ipanema. There is a beach here (which is too polluted for swimming) and a running track. You actually have a beautiful view of Sugar Loaf Mountain from the beach and the track is about 4 km. I tried to do it today and almost died – it’s been a while between gym visits. From what I can see, most people live here in apartments in buildings manned by guards at the front door. To get in my place, there are guards who operate electronic gates and doors to give you access to the building. Yasmine (my host) says that they are there morning and night, but the latest I’ve been
2014-02-15 19.10.24
My first ever caipirinha... home so far is about 9pm (because Slozza is here to grow up – not party).
I’m renting a room from Yasmine here for 6 weeks. It’s a lot cheaper than a hotel (about $19 per night) plus I can use the kitchen, laundry facilities, Wi-Fi and as much filtered water as I can drink. My room is small (think shoebox) but the bed is comfortable and there is a huge fan in here keeping me cool (so far anyway). I’ve been to the supermarket and stocked up on essentials (bread, tea, fruit and honey) so that I can survive here within my budget…it’s just easier having breakfast and snacks catered for without having to go out for every meal, and a bit healthier too…
Yasmine lives here with her son, Caynan who is 15 years old. They both have excellent English (Yasmine says its from having foreign guests stay with AirBnB) and are super helpful with advice about navigating Rio. There are two cats here (we don’t get along) and a dog (who is sitting next to me now). I’m not sure of his name, but he is soft and cuddly and speaks Portuguese so probably wont understand me anyway.
Yasmine is a journalist and works with the Department of Health. Last night, she told me that it costs about R400 ($200) to see a doctor in Rio; she was surprised when I told her how it works in Australia. She said that the government pays Cuban doctors to visit regional Brazil and provide medical treatment to people living there. The Government can’t pay Brazilian doctors because they demand too much money…
From what I have seen here, looks are very important. Women are all slim and there are diet products everywhere. I have not seen any sugar in my time here, only those fat free sweeteners. I went looking for a gym today, but the cheapest one I could find which offered a daily rate charged $50…way over my budget (hence the beach run). Yasmine was telling me last night that many movie stars and famous people live in Rio, which has caused everyone else to develop an unrealistic expectation about physical appearance. Everyone is slim (yet curvy) has long beautiful hair; they are all tanned and have gorgeous teeth. It’s not the best for one’s ego. At the same time, people aren’t shy about stripping off at the beach and there does not seem to be any judgment over us ‘more curvaceous’ women stripping off to bikinis.
Speaking English appears to be a status symbol here too. If I could turn back time, I think I would have taken some basic Portuguese classes before coming here…. I had thought that English would be more prevalent than it is but my basic grasp of Spanish is coming in handy in a big way. I can’t understand people when they speak Portuguese (obviously) but I can make out some written words (for instance, when I was buying groceries at the supermarket,) that are very similar to Spanish. It’s been interesting navigating through the language gap (I mimed ‘beach’ with great difficulty to someone this morning) and quite isolating too. Andreia has been the quintessential host and spent all her free time showing me this beautiful town, but she works during the week and during business hours, I’m on my own.
One highlights of my trip so far stems from the fact that Brazil is one of the highest fruit producing countries in the world. Juice bars are EVERYWHERE, and really cheap. This morning I had a fresh caju juice (which I managed to order in Portuguese (!)) for $3.50. Caju is a Brazilian fruit which tastes a little like pawpaw, its delicious and I am hooked. I was going to try to keep to one juice a day – but I now feel that goal is unrealistic.
Wow, I actually thought I hadn’t seen much here yet, but I’ve managed to fill two pages and haven’t even started talking about things I’ve done so far. I better go, and hope this hasn’t been too boring for everyone…please pardon the poor grammar and spelling…till next time…
L
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Sarah
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I loved it!
Thank you for sharing! I read all the way to the end and enjoyed every part of it. I can't wait for the next installment ?