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Published: February 24th 2007
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Well it has been sometime since we have updated our blog and we have since had several experiences that we must share with you - the details may be hazy however as the last week has been a blur of samba, sweat, sun, soccer and skin.
We arrived in Rio on the first official day of carinval even though there had been a hype for weeks before. We were met at the airport by wonderful Michael (a collegue from Maribyrnong) who took us to our hotel in Copacabana. The bus ride took longer than usual as we were held up but a block party in our street and our first experience of Copacabana was trying to cross a road with one thousand people and a huge party float between us and the hotel! Once settled in we went out for dinner on the famous strip of beach at Copacabana. After dinner we walked back to the hotel past the Copacabana Palace where the whos who of Brazil were arriving down the red carpet in the most amazing outfits to party the night away at one of the hottest balls in Rio.
The next day we spent walking along the
beach and checking out the scene. We saw what can only be described as the Gold Coast on steriods. Just picture boobs, arse and little teeny weeny bathers on both males and females. It certainly was a jaw dropping sight. If you want a way to quickly develop self esteem issues, sit on the beach in Rio for 15 minutes (the plastic surgery capital of the world!).
That night we met up with some friends and after a few drinks (which ended up being a lot of drinks), headed to a famous block party in Ipanema where there was alcohol for sale on the street every five metres and DJs were set up down the length of the beach. There would have been thousands of people there and it bought back memories of schoolies - except about 10 times more people. We danced the night away on the sand and then befriended some Brazilians who wanted to introduce Bryce to some male friends of theirs (he was hot gay property and was loving it!). We had a late night snack and headed home at about 4am.
Needless to say, the next day we missed our buffet breakfast at
the hotel and didn´t get up until after 12pm and were feeling a little seedy. We walked along the beach again - we did a lot of this but spent basically no time on the beach itself as it was quite polluted and very dangerous. We spent the rest of the day conserving engery for the night as we were heading to the sambadrome to see carnival.
We caught the metro in with a group of about 7 after quite a few drinks (especially for Georgie). The parade itself was out of this world. There are 7 samba schools per night and they each take a full hour to dance the length of the street. We were sitting in a grandstand near the end of the street and had a great view of the parade and the floats. Each of the floats were better than the last. The highlights would have to be the giant gold pyramid and the float with the half pipe skate ramp. Bryce´s favourites were anything where there were girls with no clothes on - which occurred quite frequently much to his delight! 150 photos later, we headed home at about 3pm (even though it
finishes at 7am) because Georgie was tired and emtional after a very exciting night (she was tanked, lets be honest). It was certainly something that you have to do before you die!
We slept in again the next day and again missed our buffet at the hotel, much to our disappointment but our spirits were lifted when our friends took us to the best buffet resturant in Rio complete with all the meat you could eat (for Bryce) and all the sushi you could eat (for Georgie). The difference between buffets here and back home is that the food is damn good and the quality is excellent. It is definitely no Smorgy´s!
On our last day in Rio, we decided that we should actually take some time to do the touristy things. We got up early (and actually made it to breakfast) and hired a van with our friends to go to the famous Christ statue that looks over the city. We had been smart the night before and decided to have a quiet one but not everyone had. Not to name name´s but a certain individual was quite drunk still at about 11.30am and proceeded to vomit
all the way to the top of the mountain out the van window. The highlight for us spectators was when someone accidently opened the van door when his head was still out the window - talk about adding insult to injury! The view of the top, however, was magnificent and up close, the statue is a lot bigger than we had given it credit for.
That night we went to a local soccer game. To fit in, Bryce bought a singlet of the team that we had to support if we wanted to stay alive. The security guard had actaully warned us that we HAD to barrack for this team and we took his word for it. We arrived an hour early and got to witness the crowd slowly getting bigger and louder until we realised that we were sitting in the ´bay 13´ of the stadium with flares frequently going off around us. Everyone partcipated in the chants which held pace with supporting drums. Each time a goal was scored the crowd went absolutly wild! The final score was 3-0 (our team won). The scene on the metro back to Copacabana was much the same with the chanting
and jumping continuing the whole way.
After this amazing and full on time in Rio, we have spent the last two days relaxing on the beach in Florianopolis. Tonight we hop on a night bus to Iguazu.
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campbell
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CARNIVAL!!!
love the soccar pic with the Flamengo shirt!! Right in the action