It's Getting Hot in "H-io"

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You can easily tell that "H-io" (as the locals pronounce Rio) is a beach town. Even if you're not strolling across the miles of beach-side promenade in neighborhoods like Copacabana and Ipanema that are nearly synonymous with exotic locale, people take their time making it from point A to B, and there is a hint of sea air across the city. In general, the city's vibe can be summed up as "why rush, why worry?"

Rio was actually a pleasant surprise for me in many ways. I'd been told that the city was dirty and extremely unsafe, and movies like City of G-d had fed into that preconception. Although we were mostly in touristy areas, the city appeared very clean and actually quite safe. We did drive by many favelas, the Brazilian slums, and they are integrated into more upscale areas of the city, but even the poor areas didn't look all that destitute compared to what I'd seen in other countries.

Another surprise was the beach in Brazil. It's ferocious! Every day we were there, the waves were huge - to the point of being unsafe. When I ventured out a bit too far, I could feel a strong under-tow pulling me in and hastily made it back to a safer area. There didn't seem to be any lifeguards when we were out there either, although from our hectic schedule, we would make it there around 1700-1800 when they had likely wrapped up their day, if had been any patrolling at all.

Rio from an infrastructure perspective looked to be in surprisingly good shape. Everything was in good repair, the cars all looked new and in good condition, and even the buildings seemed clean and modern. If Rio is any indicator, Brazil is definitely on the rise economically.

I visited Rio as part of a whirlwind Spring Break trip manned by two classmates who were Brazilian natives. The trip was great! We spent 4 days in Rio and fit in nearly a week's worth of tourism in that time. Luckily, my visa is good for another 5 years. I'd love to go back soon. After visiting, I could see why my Brazilian classmates get so wistful when they talk about their home country.

Food

Our culinary experience began right after we got off the plane. We went straight to a very well known churrasqueria (steakhouse) called Porcau (means big pork) for lunch. Everything we ate in Brazil tasted amazing. Seriously, I don't know what they did to the food, but it was delicious.

Another staple (at least of the places that we went to) was that "all you can eat" is big in Brazil. Even when we went to an upscale Italian restaurant, the wait staff kept on replenishing plates of liver pate and beef carpaccio as we wolfed it down while we waited for our food. The churrasqueria's are Rodizio-style, which means that after getting a bit of an intro salad, waiters will come around with swords full of grilled meat. You have a token next to your plate which you turn to green if you want a cut of the meat, or red if you're done for the moment. The selection of meat is plentiful, and I made a point of trying at least one of everything at every churrasqueria we went to: chicken, sausage, chicken hearts, pork, ribs, lamb, goat, several cuts of beef including filet mignon, suckling pig.... the list goes on.

Another popular option are cafeteria-style weigh cafes that offer all kinds of food. We discovered also that sushi is widely available, and Brazil actually has a very large Japanese population. Pound for pound, food was actually very cheap, relative to the US. Comparatively, we get extremely ripped off here (in the States) - lesser quality food in smaller portions for almost twice the price. The desserts were also amazing, but hard to fit in after having pigged out on the main course.

Adventures

Rio offered many opportunities to do things that were a bit "out of the ordinary" that we capitalized on.

Helicopter

While making our way to the "Sugar Loaf", we stopped off for a helicopter ride through Rio. This was my first time on a helicopter, and I was impressed, the ride was super-smooth. The mobility was impressive too, and we were treated to two nose dives which felt like roller coaster dips during the ~8 minutes ride. We flew from the Sugar Loaf to the Christ the Redeemer, and circled the monument, coming face to face with the CTR, then turning out over the city into the ocean. It was impressive to see how spread out Rio is. With each mountain we would fly over, more city would appear in the valleys.... What an unlikely city of 7 Million - on one side is the sea, and as far as the eye can see, tropical forest laying on sharp mountain peaks.

Videos:
Helicopter Take-Off In the Helicopter
Helicopter Take-Off From the Outside
Circling Christ The Redeemer
Circling The Beach

Hang-Gliding

I highly recommend this to anyone making it out to Rio. This was also my first time hang gliding. One afternoon, we made it out to a corner of one of the beaches, and were assigned instructors, possibly to balance out all of our heights and weights. The instructors then each took out a car, each one of us jumped in, and they hurtled at ridiculous speeds up a jungle mountain. I was gripping the car so hard that my knuckles turned white.... We narrowly missed hitting some hikers at a few points, and I didn't know enough Portuguese to ask why we were driving at a 45 degree incline so damn fast.

Once we got to the staging area, the hang gliding company was really good at suiting you up so fast, that you didn't have time to get nervous. I was outfitted in a suspension suit and hard helmet, and then practiced coordinated running with my instructor a few times. Before I knew it, I was strapped into a hang-glider, looking off a mountain so high that we were above the clouds.... I realized I was the first one from my group to jump off the mountain. The instructor barked in broken English:"Look up, don't look down.... Now run!" and we were off!

The view was spectacular - we started flying over jungle, smoothly, and then turned into the city, and then flew over the ocean. The hang glider was remarkably maneuverable. It felt like we could have stayed in the air forever. Finally, at one point, we started to nose-dive into the beach, and I felt my stomach go into my mouth. The instructor told me to start running as fast as I could when I felt like my feet could touch the sand - we were going to land like an airplane. Sure enough, I started to run, but after a few steps, I tripped over the instructors legs, and we went nose first into a beach-side crash. I flew over the steering handle, and hit one of the bars with my head. I just ended up with a bruise on my temple thanks to the helmet, but I think my instructors ego was injured. He looked at me disdainfully as I was dusting myself off and said "I don't crash". For some reason, I seemed to have been assigned the daredevil instructor as nearly everyone else landed by going nearly all the way down to the ground and then nose up, landing square on their feet - instead of trying the "runway approach". Despite it all, I'd hang glide again in a heart beat!

Soccer Game

I would also highly recommend making it to a soccer game. We were able to see a rivalry game between the two largest soccer teams out of the 4 that represent Rio: Flamengo vs Vasco at the Maracana soccer stadium, which will be one of the venues for the 2014 World Cup. This was like no sporting event I'd ever been to, and even made a high stakes ACC basketball game with fans camping out for days to get good seats seem like amateur hour. There were people everywhere that were going to the game within a quarter mile of the stadium. It seemed like pandemonium outside with people of all ages trying to make their way to the game, all decked out in jerseys, and carrying fans. At one point, we saw a gaggle of people being horded into the stadium by police waving nightsticks on horses. It looked like sheepdog leading sheep - apparently, one of the trains from the outsides of the city had just pulled in, and this was how they did crowd control. We also learned that they needed to have separate trains per team, or all hell would break loose between rival fans on a train.

We rushed to our seats... It was hard getting a group of 30 through the throngs of people. The stadium was already rocking a half hour before the game - flags a-waving from both sides of fans, and fans on both sides collectively taunting each other. Brazilian fans are passionate! The arena sounded like a rock concert from fan noise at all times, there was even a guy with the team name tattooed on his back. The stands were patrolled by armed police with dogs! My personal favorite fan expression was the section-wide flags that had somehow made it into the stadium, and would be unfurled from time to time (see video).

We were sitting in the Flamengo section, and when the game started to turn against them, people started kicking the seats off of the stands. We decided to wait 30 minutes for the place to clear out before getting back on the bus.

Videos:
Scene before the game began
The Flamengo flag is unfurled

Christ the Redeemer and the Sugar Loaf

We went to the two most famous peaks in Rio on two consecutive days. First, we started at the Sugar Loaf - apparently the aboriginal name for that mountain sounded like the word for sugar bread in Portuguese, and thus came the name. After taking a cable-car to the lower peak, we walked around and admired the small monkeys hopping from tree to tree. It was quite relaxing up on the mountain, and a nice breeze was blowing. We then took a second cablecar to the peak of the mountain, and explored a great view of the city.

The next day was rainy and foggy, but it add mystique to the Christ the Redeemer statue. I was surprised to find out that it had only been finished in the 1930's. The funicular car ride up was also interesting in that as you climb straight up the mountain, you can feel the weather change. There is also habitation all the way up the mountain to the statue... I'm not sure who would want to live up there.

Video:
Christ The Redeemer Panoramic

Nightlife

We were quite busy, and didn't get to make it out quite as much as we had hoped, but still, I feel that I got a taste of many nightlight options. The first night out, we made it to Lapa, the new hip area that had recently been one of the most dangerous parts of the city. Lapa looked old - and seemed to have some original buildings and cobble-stone streets from the colonial era. Lapa is also the home of the resurgence of samba in Brazil, and we started the night off at a samba club. It was a pretty interesting place, with a live samba band that could be heard on all three floors, and old technology featured tastefully around the bars.

There is an interesting system that we were introduced to at this bar where you are given a card or a piece of paper and then get marked off at the bar with each drink you get. If you drink more than the required cover, the paper covers you, otherwise, you pay on top of the cover when you leave. It's a good step to reduce congestion around the bar as the bar-tenders only serve, and don't have to worry about making transactions.

After leaving the samba bar, we enjoyed the bohemian environment in Lapa at a sidewalk bar.

Another night, we made it to a glitzy club. Interestingly, the average age must have been 18, and, after seeing some patrons with braces, there must have been people as young as 15 there. That didn't stop any of these youngsters from ordering bottle service though! There's clearly money coming out of somewhere. The club didn't open until 11, and didn't get going until 1AM. One interesting note was the "Brazilianized" versions of some American hip hop tunes that sounded samba-esque with a house beat super-imposed.

Probably, the greatest scene I experienced in Rio was the set of restaurant-bars with outdoor seating. There are a ton of these near the beach where we were. I guess that with year-round hot weather, you don't need to worry about windows too much. I loved the vibe in these places, and wish that there was an equivalent scene in Boston.


Alas, that's probably too much to wish for. As mentioned before, I can't wait to go back.... Soon hopefully!

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Comments

[Dave090]

GREAT
Looks like a lot of fun!!