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Published: December 11th 2006
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After seeing the touristy sights of Rio, Copacabana, Ipanema, Barra, Parque Nacional da Tijuca, The arches of Lapa, Corcovado (The Christ statue) and of course the Pao de Acucar (Sugar loaf mountainm, which we didn't go up as it was bloody expensive at about 40 Reals each!!!!!) we nearly left this place with slightly dissapointed feelings. Don´t get me wrong, I agree that the City is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world - forest covered moutains, little islands all around, long white beaches and even a lake in the middle of it make it very diverse and something for everyone. However, we were missing the vibe, that something that makes it special.
We have also seen the favelas here whilst driving around, which you hear so much about. We havn't been to one, as we have been warned that they can be extremely dangerous. I have to say when I was taught about them in school, you were showed pictures of iron huts and a really mishmash of poor materials used. In reality, or at least the ones I have seen, they are built of bricks and more solid materials. Don't get me wrong, they still
look quite poor and probably wouldn't stand the same punishment as a regular dwelling, but I had kinda expected them to look worse. They are everywhere in the city and tend to cluster on the steep mountansides or nestled in industrial areas. The sheer size and number of the communities just shows how poor the place is, and explains why Rio can be such a sketchy place. I find it quite interesting to see such things and how these areas are gradually being legitimised and worked into the permenant fabric of the city. I am told that rents here arn't exactly cheap anymore and favelas are not as slumy as you would think. They are, however, still run by druglords and other criminal types and it really is not recommended for a gringo to venture there.
The best beach we have seen here was Barra, which also seems to be where all the rich and the beautiful hang. Copacabana and Ipanema are both very nice and all, but have been spoilt by the scurge of concrete and the beach hut. I know it is the same the world over, but do they really have to do this to every
beautiful beach in the world??? Barra was a surf spot and there was some real talent on show there (in the water and elsewhere ;-) ). Andy would love to stay down there and get some lessons, to show them how the gringo does it. Sadly it is a bit far away from Ruama's place, so that probably won't happen, but we may well go somewhere else and get some surfing lessons.
Finally we found the vibe on Saturday night in the Salgueiro Samba School. First off, we got there at 10 only to be told that it didn't kick off till 12 so there was no point going in yet. We went and chilled at a bar down the road, ate some Pastel and drank some booze. The tipple of choice around these parts is the Caipirinha ; lime crushed with ice and sugar, then Cachasa (firewater) is added. The beer of choice is Skol, which I find a little bizzare, as I am pretty sure that it int Brazilian, SKOL SKOL SKOL SKOL! We headed down there at about 11 after we had fuled up, 10 Reals on the door to get in, which makes it a
real bargin. Samba is a music for the poor and this was no tourist attraction, so local flavour was all around us. Don´t even know how to describe it, you have to see it. It is like a massive hall decked out in the colours of the school (red and white in this case), with a balcony around the top and a huge stage lit by neon. The sounds come courtesy of a live samba band, and a ton of insaine percusion guys up on one of the balconys. Their soundsystem had some real power and was cranked right to the max, resulting in deafening all round and lots of shouting. Those brasilian butts shake to the catchy rhythm like there is no tomorrow. No matter if old or young, male or female, everybody is going crazy to the rehersal of the school and the parade members are stars of the evening. The ladies dress to impress here, with their asses shaking and some really fast footwork. The men dress a bit more casual, but display equally fast feet. The fact this is called Samba School, did not mean that we had any lessons or anything, so trying to match
their skills with no help and being hindered with rhytmnless European genes wasn't easy. I would love to say that we made a good stab at it, and we did dance all night long, but Andy doesn't exactly have the brazilian rhytmn coursing through his veins (or his stiff legs) and Komail (our new friend from Newcastle) did a kinda chicken dance, with some wild hand movements but fun was had all round. This didn't really matter though as not everone had the skills, and also no-one cares. Samba has this beat which makes you dance, if you want to or not. Add to this the fact that everone was going for it everywhere, and you have the makings of a really top evening. There was the obligatory scrap towards the end of the night which was swifty dealt with by the security, but it was no worse than a Saturday night down town, anywhere in England, if anything they were much better behaved. Also, I feel, the fighting was a little more acomplished, so not only do the Brazilians have us on the football field, but they would also take us in a Saturday night brawl 😞 Obviously, the
englishman would win a non-drunken fight , either that or we would find a way to cheat and win; we didn't conquor half the world all those years ago without a fight I am sure 😊
We would definitly recomend that if you come to Rio then you MUST go to a samba school if at all possible. If you are here around carnival time, even better as the vibe hots up and you will get a display of what they will do at carnival. We were taken there by a Carioca (local) which is a must really. Some of these schools are in/by the favelas, as we said Samba is for the poor, and hence could be an extremely dangerous experience if you don't know what is going on and the area. It is well worth it though, and you will have an unforgettable experience.
Even more local atmosphere was found at an another samba/Brazilian Funk (basically house)/ and híp/beats, place which was also serving the famous Feijoada dish on the Sunday evening. Feijoada being basically black beans, and a meat stew, served with sides of some green cabbagy thing, rice and farofa (a ground root fried,
which is really dry). The club was called Casa Rosa, and was an old brothel so I am told. The place was full of little párts to explore and enjoy with 3 areas on offer with different music and atmosphere. Once again a night on the caipirinha, the ones served in this place were especially good, so muchos were consumed. The drink of brazil sure is refreshing in the heat and very very addictive. That night Gabi from Santiago Chile was celebrating her birthday and all Hospitality members were invited. We were a nice crowd of about 20 people and again danced the night away. These places are very different to normal clubs as they always seem to have classy life bands playing great samba music all in portugese of course. We met great and very helpful people who already offered us help on the way through South America. Once you know some locals your number of contacts seem to explode rapidly. It is amazing to see how warm and how helpful people are, even when you know them just for 10 minutes. So after just one evening we have a great offer to stay in Santiago with the well
travelled Pauli and also to join few other Hospitality Club members in the new years party in Buenos Aires. Thank you all sooo much for making our trip so special 😊
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fletch
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wicked
Sounds fucking awesome mate! You're syndicated on fletch.cx too! Top work!