I am the girl from Ipanema.....

---

Another blog update...another country! This time I am in Brazil. 8.5 million sq kms of country covering almost half of the continent of South America. Its big. Its big and at the moment it is very very hot. Too hot…even for me.

If you want to see my pics so far, here is the link.....http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=329775&id=691995235&l=51e203d5d9

Rio was scorched yesterday under sunshine that took the mercury to 46 degrees celcius. Even the cariocas (the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro) are struggling in temperatures this high. Its not just the heat it’s the humidity as well which leaches your will to live. No sooner do you step out of a cold shower feeling refreshed then your body acclimatizes back to the inferno and you start to sweat again. Im averaging 3 to 4 showers a day simply to stay remotely human. Hell knows how people actually lead a normal life in these climes. The city is well accommodated with air conditioning in most shops, banks and even on the subway (London Underground…take note!) but it is draining to go from an air conditioned environment into the heat, back and forth. As you step back into the oven, the hot air hits you full frontal engulfing you in its entirety. I have been working my way through the offerings at the local cinema in a bid to stay in a fully air conditioned bubble protecting me from the wrath of the sun.

That said, Rio is beautifully located on the shores of the Atlantic surrounded by verdant rainforest and the jagged mountains of Pao de Azuçar and Corcovado. Down on the beaches, the breeze off the ocean makes it more bearable so already I am acquainted with the brown and the beautiful on the vast tracts of white sand that make up Copacabana Beach and of course Ipanema where the plucked, waxed, surgically enhanced, buffed, toned, bronzed young and rich hang out… as you can imagine.. I blend in perfectly! ;-)

Ive been in Rio one week and aside from contending with the heat I have done little else. I realize that when I have the luxury of time in a place when travelling I like to spend a while settling in…. There is no need for me to race around (ha…as if you could in this weather!) ticking off the attractions. However, its also partly because Cris, the friend I am staying with has another friend arriving from the UK´later today. It makes sense for us to visit the ´sites´ together. Unfortunately, Mark like me can’t speak Portuguese which is hugely disabling here. All my travelling in the past 3 months has been in Spanish speaking countries and although I am by no means fluent, I can get by (with a lot of guesswork and gesticulation) muddling through. With merely a small handful of Portuguese I am incredibly inhibited here. The most basic thing becomes a momentous task to try and communicate and believe it or not, it’s quite tiring. However, my lack with the language has yielded some amusing moments. For example, I tried to buy some popcorn the other day (for one of the air conditioned cinema escapes) and ended up with the Brazilian equivalent of Sugar Puffs. Ok, puffed corn…puffed wheat. No great hardship but sitting there, trying to watch Back Swan, I half expected the Honey Monster to appear. On another occasion, I thought I had agreed to the bill in a café but ended up with another glass of the deliciously dark ale that is brewed here. I ended up mildly intoxicated.

From my experience so far, neither English nor Spanish is wildly spoken here so I am desperately trying to get a grip on the basics of Portuguese. It’s really hard. The pronunciation is alien to me and listening to cariocas chattering away it some times sounds to me like they are gargling phlegm! Occasionally there is the slight lilt, reminiscent of Italian but much of it sounds like Russian gone wrong.

Cris threw me in at the deep end when I arrived last Friday having travelled for 41 hours on the bus from Buenos Aires, a journey of over 3000 kms. Cris, like Pepe, is a writer and spends a lot of time at the local cultural centre in Flamengo – the part of town she lives. This is a vibrant place which comes alive in the evenings filing with music and sambaring locals…. The centre is currently running free programs of dance and I got stuck in to first an Arabic Dance class followed by a Samba lesson. I was exhausted. However, the atmosphere was so joyous and welcoming it would have been churlish to remain terribly British and refrain. Then of course, there is the fact that you don’t need to be able to speak Portuguese to sway your hips! ´

On another evening, Cris was running a drama class there which she asked me to participate in. Now that was a bit insane… she was trying to teach something called the Meisner Technique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meisner_technique ) which i would have difficultly absorbing and comprehending in English, let alone in Portugese.

I ventured into the city centre yesterday, embarrassingly looking like such a tourist. Clutching my rucksack on my front (as is advised) and my South America on a Shoestring guidebook, I wandered the noisy streets negotiating the traffic and the traders. I know that Rio has a terrible reputation but like anywhere, if one takes care not to stand out (note to self!) and avoids trouble spots, it doesn’t strike me as dangerous as its reputation. Back in the 1990´s murders apparently, were running at 700 a month and it was considered one of the most violent cities on the planet. Now, things have eased up and although there are parts of the city one would be stupid to venture into, from my wanderings I didn’t feel in danger. Just hot.

It has struck me as an incredibly cosmopolitan city with a whole rainbow of skin colour…Whites, Blacks, Indians, Africans and of course Portuguese have all cross bred to create a giant melting pot of browns. With my ever darkening tan I have been told I look very Brazilian(provided I keep my mouth shut). Im happy to accept this observation but you’ll never see me in one of the itsy-bitsy bikini’s the ´ladies´ barely wear on the beach. Apart from the ´boob support issues´ I would face (lets be honest), why would I want a piece of dental floss up my bum? It looks so darn uncomfortable.

The men, on the other hand, wear these large Speedos which renders them all (in my eyes) very ´camp´ looking. I tried to explain that in the UK, the only respectable attire when swimming for men are large boxers – down to just above the knee at least. Anything covering less flesh than that is ridiculed. Unfortunately, ´budgie smugglers´ are de rigueur here but they do give the opportunity to expose all the perfectly tanned hewn bodies contained therein. There is the occasional bloated wallowing seal shape on the beache but I am quite taken by the ´beautiful people´. The men that jog along the sands every day… who play foot volleyball…or games of bat n ball…. my god…bodies, to die for. We are talking total physical perfection here…. And I am more than happy to watch…ogle even. I´ve become a bit of a regular on Flamengo beach, sitting in the shade sipping icy cold coco water juice through a staw direct from the green coconut, and enjoying the visual delights of the beach activities.

What is interesting is that food and drink is enjoyed in great abundance here so there must be a continual conflict between the need to ´look good´ and to enjoy one´s dinner. Food prices seem extremely high to me. The £GBP is really down against the Brazilian real compared with a few years ago so im quite astonished at the cost of living here. It is much more expensive than Argentina. One of the great food staples is Feijoada (pronounced ´´furjong´´ I think) which is essentially boiled up black beans served with rice (very reminiscent of Cuba), a kind of meat and sprinkled with cassava flour. Its wholesome and tasty but as the main meal eaten by Brazilians is lunch, it kind of renders you comatose for an afternoon siesta.

The buffet by kilo restaurants are very popular here. Kind of pic ´n´ mix for dinner but one can rack up huge bills as they are not cheap. A little bit of this, ohh a little bit of that and suddenly you’ve filled your plate and emptied your wallet. I’m beginning to understand why my Tucan Travel trip (which starts on 8 March) recommends a budget of $30US a day on top of the fees I have already paid. Money is like the coco water…..easily drinkable.

In the Centro of Rio I was quite amazed by the great skyscrapers that have been built alongside dessicating colonial buildings with the most beautiful wrought ironwork and cravings but the big difference between Rio and say, Montevideo or BA is the type of vegetation and greenery that brings texture to the streets. Here the plants and trees are truly tropical. I have stumbled across the most luxuriant trees in parks and streets, growing like ossified limbs. Creepers entwine themselves round the skeletal looking branches, strangulated and suffocating. One particular tree which has caught my eye (and you’ll see from the photos) has orchid looking flowers growing out of its trunk alongside bulbous beige fruits. Id love to know what it is….. answers on a postcard please.

So, there you have my Rio experiences to date. On Sunday evening, I am flying 3hrs away to Campo Grande in the South West Mato Grosso de Sol province for 10 days to explore The Pantanal (http://www.google.com.br/images?hl=pt-br&q=pantanal&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1897&bih=819 ). It is considered the world’s largest natural reservation where thousands of animals and birds live in wetlands that cover 230,000 sq kms. I am booked on a 4 day excursion which includes boat trips along the river tributaries, horse riding, piranha fishing, alligator spotting and my favourite…river tubing (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4629285&l=0013be3e4f&id=691995235 ) but god help me, I am camping….and not only is it the wet season it is also going to be HOT. From The Pantanal, its on to the eco-tourist hub of Bonito for a couple of days and then im flying back to Rio on 23 Feb in time to see the sights of Rio with Mark and get ready for Carnival which kicks off on 5th March. I can only imagine what hedonism awaits….

Love
Hannah x

---