Rio de Janeiro

---

I mean, I always err on the side of optimism.

I am writing this from the Rio de Janeiro bus terminal, the Rodoviaria Nova Rio, rather unsure what to do with myself. My last few days have turned out like this:

Since I wrote last, after a lovely day lying on the beach, I really haven´t done much. Last night I was feeling rather tired after my whole four hours of shut eye, though it was a Saturday night, and I was in Rio, so I thought I might put up the good fight and head on out. A bunch of people were going to a bar around the corner from the youth hostel, so I joined, only to find myself a little bored, very sober and rather squished for space. So I bounced, out onto the street, and walked down the main road that goes through Ipanema by myself.

Ipanema is a lovely area, with a great beach which is framed on one end by a beautiful mountain/rock, which is home on the ocean-side to a favela, and on the other to the start of the highrises that stretch from one end of the beach to the other. The area is rather safe, especially compared to other parts of Rio, and has many Louis Vuitton shops for all us backpackers with lots of money.

So there I was walking along the road, tired and bored, until I got talking to two Brazilian girls that I had a beer with. Thats the end of that story. I got 8 hours of sleep (miracle!) and jumped on down the beach in the morning feeling rather spritely. I had a splash and some sand, before thinking that I was leaving Rio today, and thinking 1)what should I do today and 2) where should I go. The first question was rather easy. Today there is/was a football match being played at the famous Maracanã stadium, a semi final match between two very good Rio de Janeiro teams. So I thought yes! Let´s do that! To the second question, I was originally thinking about going to Iguaçu Falls, but then I realised that after the football match I would be getting there tomorrow at dark, and I´d much rather arrive during the day and not have to spend money for a bus and then to stay somewhere, that sleeping on the bus would be the better option. So I decided that perhaps I should go to Curitiba, somewhere where Marcos would have liked to have taken me if he had the time. Curitiba is a 10 hour bus trip south from Rio de Janeiro, overlapping São Paulo.

The reason that I have forced myself to remember that I´m an optimist, though, came after I had my lovely swim on the beach this morn. As Ipanema is a one hour bus ride from the city, I decided that the best plan would be to take my bags to the bus station, where I would put them in a locker before going to the football, then after football come back, get the bags, and take a bus. I realised though that this plan relied on too many factors. One factor was that I didn´t leave Ipanema soon enough, I should have left probably an hour before I eventually did, as I was too busy chatting to people and slowly getting my luggage together. Another factor was that the bus that I hoped would take me from Ipanema to the bus station took me to the city centre, from where I had to take a second bus to the bus station. The third is that I thought that I would be able to take a bus from the bus station to Maracanã - which I´ve been told I should be able to do - if the bus showed up. The area that the bus station is in is not particularly safe either, as it is on the northern side of the city where most of the favelas start. I mean, the favelas aren´t next door, but its got a totally different atmosphere to the south where I´ve been staying in Ipanema.

So I´ve decided that it just wasn´t to be, and that I´ll come back another day to go to Maracanã. As for football games, I´m now thinking that I should go to a game in Curitiba - it would probably be more fun anyway!

So yeah, I was feeling a little down before I wrote this whinge, but I´m now looking forward to some spag in a bag (yummmmm) and decisions about what time to get to Curitiba to avoid getting there at 3am.

____


Well, I was thinking about writing a new blog entry, but I´m worried about my average blog word length. So this is how I spent a few hours in the bus station in Rio de Janeiro.

1) I went a wandering around the tourist shop - which didn´t seem to sell flag patches (maybe I should sew it on with floss - floss is doing a remarkable job holding the button in my black pants, and keeps me feeling fresh), which would be kinda nice to put on my pack, instead of tattoed on my chest.
2)I watched the football match that I missed out on at a lanchonette, and wrote on napkins with the lady that worked there - who didn´t speak any english at all. Botofoga won against Flamengo, and everyone seemed happy (except the Flamengos), the fans throwing around their flares, chanting and clapping with their Botofogo jerseys over one shoulder. I know right, I missed out big time.
3) I came on the internet and paid amazingly high prices to write this blog - just for you.

I guess it has been decided though, I´m catching the bus to Coritiba in 45 minutes time, arriving at 8:15 in the morning. The guy and I had a good time getting some meaning across - but for $105 Reais I guess thats all part of the service (Brazil is probably one of the most expensive countries in South America - I´ve been told, and apparently the buses are even better in Argentina)

So yeah, all is once again well in Mark land. I´m gonna get my stuff out of cloaking, have a bag of spag and jump on a bus to happiness.

---