Downtime Then Downtown (Feb 23rd- March 4th)

The exhaustion hit hard following the apocalyptic week of carnival, so Bee and I decided to head south to a very relaxed beach town called Itacare. (We are slowly realising here that everybody does the same route around Brazil or in reverse, so the friends we made in Salvador had been there before carnival, and the people we met in Itacare had been in Salvador previously. It sometimes feels like there is no such thing as originality or individuality!) We spent three days on the most beautiful beaches- the description ´picture postcard´ doesn´t even come close- which are all laid out next to the other like perfectly manicured fingernails on a hand, each one favoured for different reasons- surfing, bar/food, beach sports. We were lucky enough on our last night to see a capoeira show. Capoeira is a kind of fusion of martial arts and dance which was (we were told) developed by African slaves in Brazil who wanted to maintain a standard of strength and agility for fighting without making it obvious. The fighters/dancers all wear white and spin about at ridiculous speeds, launching high kicks which look terrifying at such close proximity! The show was performed by a school, so it was also very cute to see little children trying in their own way to mimic the movements. 

It was hard to leave such a beautiful and charmingly relaxed town, but our two friends were flying into Rio in two days and time was of the essence! Onwards south. 

Our first long-distance bus journey was horrific, putting it mildly. We had half-reclining seats right at the back by the toilets, so quite smelly after a while, we were right over the engine, so the tainted air and heat were awful and the windows wouldn't open. We were slowly cooked alive for  24 hours. But after all that complaining, we had reached Rio! Coming out of the bus station we could see a tiny pin-sized statue of Christ the Redeemer in the far distance which was just a little underwhelming but regardless, photos were taken like the tourists we are.   Found a hostel in Ipanema (IPANEMA!) three blocks from that little-known beach, in an off-street called Hostel Row, where there are about ten hostels packed side by side in this one little alley, so a great atmosphere and lots of lovely people from all over the world. Finally Lily and Elle arrived! There was a moment of sheer blinding excitement to have them here with us at long last, but also very strange to have such a large group of four after only being a twosome for four weeks. Girls being girls there was much giggling and shrieking but we did eventually manage to calm down....

Ipanema Beach is a stretch of sand for strutting and exercising, of epic proportions. There is a very shallow bank at the edge of the water, meaning the waves crash high and thunder downwards, making it very hard to swim- Elle bravely attempted and lost her bikini bottoms in the process. Just a note for fans of skinny dipping- it is very strongly frowned upon here and most beaches in Brazil and we even heard a story of a group of Brits being beaten with sticks by locals after being discovered! It seems very strange that complete nudity is forbidden whilst the tiniest thread-like bikinis and speedos are paraded with such pride everywhere. 

We decided to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and did a tour of all of Rio´s most famous sights in one day. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end! 

The tour started at the Christ the Redeemer statue, where we took lots of airplane-pose photos and also the stunning landscape all around. The statue itself had been undergoing restoration work a few years before and looked absolutely pristine and gleaming in the sun. Next stop was the neighbourhood of Santa Tereza where we would spend our last night in Rio- very pretty architecture coexisting in surprising harmony with the graffiti (actually like artwork) adorning the streets. Next stop, Sugarloaf, thus named after the Portuguese thought the shape of the hill looked like bread that the locals baked. There we watched the sun set over Rio and it was beautiful, if not slightly marred by the number of people crammed up against the railings trying to take the perfect photo. 

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Still Alive!

Sorry for such a long gap between posts, no excuse really so instead I will try and make up with an incredibly informative and interesting whiste-stop tour of the last few weeks and our activities!

So. Carnival. Salvador. Where to begin?! It was an incredible week that seemed like a lifetime- had the most amazing experiences and met incredible people and if we got the chance to do it again, we would and do it in exactly the same way. Enough gushing! We arrived on a bus with no clue where Pelourinho (the area of Salvador where we were staying) was- we asked a few people but the best we heard was ´´Upstairs!´´. Thinking that something was being lost in translation, we kept asking about until one helpful man literally pointed upwards where we could see a huge elevator and lights that seemed to be floating in the sky! Magical. Found the hostel very easily, just off the main square- nice location but after 6 nights of incessant drumming and mike testing at 5am and music blaring, it was wearing us down. It was also pleasing to discover that our 16 bed mixed dorm really wasn´t that bad- two points of silver lining: making friends required very little when living so close (very important to go out in a big group so no chance of getting lost in the crowds) and no sight of cockroaches! (Since they were hidden so well....)

The first night ended with a bit of downer- Bee fell down some stairs and ended up needing six stitches in her chin and tongue, so maybe not the best start but definitely an experience! There also just so happened to be two Canadian medics in the dorm who were on hand to give lots of helpful advice, so all was fine, especially since the on-site hospital was just around the corner and Bee got said stitches within minutes.
The following days were spent in a whirlwind of drum corps, samba beats, colourful costumes and relentless loud music playing 24 hours a day, so very little sleep was had. On top of that a man in our dorm insisted on playing the guitar in the afternoon which was designated nap time, and it was almost too tempting to cut the wires of his guitar. Or better still throw it off the balcony...Highlights included getting into a ´bloco´ ( a roped off area around a huge truck with speakers and samba dancers which drove along the main street in Barra by the beach) for free, spending hours dancing alongside people who had payed hundreds), meat on a stick- chicken, beef, sausage, all juicy and sizzling and perfect for the meat munchies, plentiful hamburgers everyday and night, engaging in a water fight of epic proportions with a parade of transvestites dressed as Cleopatra, all of them shouting ´GRINGOOOO´at us and drenching us with their huge water guns...there was also of course the fact that we were not once pickpocketed, mugged or molested which was the icing on the cake!

Will continue as soon as possible (internet session timing out) but stay tuned!

xxxxxxxJen