Samba Capital!

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O Rio e DEMAAAAAAAAIS, LEGAO, MARAVILHOSO!!!

Rio is FANTASTIC!!!

Backtracking to Belo Horizonte: evenings spent chilling at Claudio´s funky sushi restaurant (and trying the different varieties of caipirinha - strawberry, mango, pineapple... YUM!), making great contacts (among whom - a lift to Rio!!), and a crazy dancing evening (all night... morning... etc) at a trans nightclub... which, incidently, resulted in my lift (Claudio) sleeping through our agreed meeting time to go check out the apparently fabulous mining town of Ouro Preto (Oh well, got to leave something for next time!)...

I did go to the hairdresser though. My nails will have to wait for another day (year.. lifetime?!) as it was full... but it did give them something to talk about at the hairdresser that I´d NEVER in my life had them done!!! Everyone was very interested in me as one of the rare foreigners they meet. At first they asked if I had a hearing impediment given the slow, pronounced portuguese my girlfriend was speaking to me!!! Then, I felt queezy mid-way through the haircut and had a hard job trying to explain in my stilted portuguese(head spinning, stomach churning) that I needed to find a bathroom quick! My throwing up led to more speculation - this time that I was PREGNANT!! Ahhhh....

They also discussed my reaction to the Tele-novelas (Soap operas) we spent our days watching (perfectly made up women with long straight perfect hair...). My friend described it as being in the government´s interest to keep the population ignorant, so that the 90% of Brazil´s population would not revolt against the 10% that are earning bucketloads at the top. The disparity is apparent everywhere - eg. a stunning house with a million dollar view overlooking a slum that is falling to pieces...

What brings the mix of poor and rich, black and white, indian and european together is the spirit. SAMBA! CARNIVAL!

So Vitor, Claudio´s friend dropped me off in Rio at Bruno´s appartment late Friday night. Saturday we went to lunch at his G´ma´s place with his girlfriend and daughter, and then headed to his friend´s place - around 10 of us chilling in his tiny room of a 3 bedroom appartment on Copocabana shared by his G´ma, mum, 2 brothers... and any friends who need a place to sleep!

Hotdogs and a few beers later and we proceded (slowly... the streets were packed!!) to COPACABANA FOR THE ROLLING STONES CONCERT!!! FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! WHAT a location!!! The beach was packed, including people swimming who watched from the water, and the concert was amazing! Unfortunately I didn´t have my camera (too risky for theft) to take photos, but I waved at all the helecopters passing just in case! I would definitely come back to Copacabana for another live concert!!

Sunday I met up with Vitor and his friends on Ipanema beach where we whiled away the afternoon. A perfect Sunday! While Vitor returned with half the crowd to Belo Horizonte, I stayed with his 3 DEMAIS (=great, pronounced ´gee´ ´mice´ ) friends -HeMan, Pretinho and Micuin -
who took me to a pre-carnival SAMBA concert... FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! What a spirit!! (Oh, but I must say, the guys are CRAZY!! Kisses left right and center seem to be accepted as a part of the fiesta... )Samba samba samba-ing until the early hours. First we followed a float along where the main parade will be held(aye.. high heels should be banned!), and then we moved on to samba in the street... Guess who we saw there - MICK JAGGAR!!!! He was at arms length before being whisked away by a consort of cars! Wow!

AND, one of Bruno´s friends managed to get me a place participating in Saturday´s Carnival parade (costume and all)!!! FANTASTIC!!!! ))

Today (zzzz!!) Bruno took me up the Sugar Loaf - one of the landmark mountains of Rio where there was even a James Bond film shot - for a spectacular view over this amazing city... I think I´m swaying toward agreement with Bruno´s judgment of Rio as the most beautiful city in the world!

I´m staying in Rio until the end of Carnival (Saturday - Tuesday), and then am planning to head to the NE beaches before my flight leaving Rio on 10 March!

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