One small step for Man...
Trip Start
Oct 27, 2004
1
4
Trip End
Nov 07, 2004
Rio, Brazil
Friday, October 29, 2004
after a couple of prodigious southernly plane rides, we have finally made it to the land of Milk and Honies. Yes, Brazil is everything you´ve heard: sultry, sweaty, smokey and sexy. The people are beautiful and the country is breathtaking. Arriving in Rio, one is immediately taken with it´s slim, pointy mountain peaks which sandwich an enormous bustling city that runs right up to the sand of the world´s most famous beaches. Luckily, my good buddy John and I were able to score a room in a small high rise hotel overlooking the beautiful shores of Ipanema beach. With its white sands and turquois waters, it sits peacefully waiting for the hordes of Brazilians to occupy its well formed playground.
After settling in, we set out to find someplace to fill our hungry American Bellies with some heavy Brazilian grub. Upon seeing a highly busy local restaurant, we ducked inside to a meal of many Brazilian dishes which are still resting inside me, unamed. The highlight of the meal was certainly our momentous meeting with the beautiful Alexina, who shared our table and had us eating out of her hands within minutes. Literally. Of course, I must admit that while she was indeed a sweet and single Brazilian babe... she was 82 years old. But we did`t really mind, and merrily chatted with her between receiving loving spoonfuls of her favorite BRazilian desserts. She went on to tell us stories of her children and past husbands...the most recent of which had recently died..´´Thank God, he was a pain in the ass.``
After this memorable meal, we ventured for a walk, covering all of Ipanema and then North onto the famous Copacabana. At both beaches, we witnessed crowds of lovely Brazilians, loads of alcohol and the soon to be familiar smell of hundreds of joints being passed around. We made a memorable stop at the famous Copacabana Palace Hotel, where we sat by the pool sipping Caiparinas, Coconut milk and Brazilian Beer. It was a great way to spend a few jet lagged moments between the bustle of the Brazilian beaches.
AFter another scenic walk back to Ipanema, we headed out with the intention of eating dinner at a very specific restaurant, but failed to move very far beyond our new favorite bar ``Informal``. Here we met a great Irish couple, Colin and Anne Marie, who quickly became our good friends and have inivited us both to Belfast for a visit and some Guiness, which Colin refuses to drink anywhere outside of Ireland. ANother colorful character here was our waiter, Rodriguez, who literally smiled from ear to ear for the entire 5 hours that we were there. Not understanding the menu, we asked him in broken spanish and portugues to bring us his favorite things to eat....which meant we ended up with the most expensive dished on the menu and consumed over 20 glasses of beer between the two of us. In the end, the bill came to a whopping $120 Reals or $40USD.
After that night of Gluttony, we stumbled back to our hotel and crashed for the next 10 hours, sleeping through the alarm, breakfast, and morning on Ipanema. By 1 PM we were well equipped with chairs and an umbrella, relaxing on the most scenic beach I have ever seen. Thousands of young attractive Brazilians armed with soccer balls, skimpy bathing suits and mutliple joints sourrounded us on the sand as we sat back, relaxed and enjoyed this most amazing spot. To one end, the famous Sugar loaf rising sharply into the sky, and behind us, the famous mountaintop statue of christ the redeemer looking over us and no doubt thinking....have fun boys.
After a few hours on the beach, and a birsk swin in the Southern Atlantic, we found lunch and are now back at the hotel enjoying happy hour. We are sure that there will be much adventure to write about in the coming days, but for now I think that I am just happy to report that we made it safe and sound, and are already loving every inch of this wonderful city.
More to come soon!
-Ari
