I’ve been neglecting the blog again for a long time. The sun gone dim and the sky turned black (’cause I loved her and she didn’t love back). The first time the weather really turned bad and it just rained cats and dogs.
This is almost my last day in Rio, my last day in Brazil and again the time flew by like it was nothing at all. Every day was packed. I mean, think about it. 24 hours is a long time, but if you convert it into minutes or even seconds, it gets seriously crowded.
I contacted Manuela who already arrived a few days earlier. Manuela is a collegue from the good old days of my civil service (“Zivildienst”) and beyond from the MAP e.V. in Munich. It was great seeing her again and we spent a day at the Ipanema beach together.
Drinking coconut water or acai, sun bathing or hiding in the shade under a parasol, swimming or breaking the waves. And the beach has a good surf. And good looking girls.
However, it is really important to know the rules of the game. If you’re in Rio on a beach, this means:
- No towel. Really. Don’t even think about it. Women may use a sarong, but that’s as good as it gets.
- No bottled water, especially not those huge 1.5 liter bottles. You can and should support the local dealers on the beach with the excellent service and not too bad prices.
- No bathing suits, no boxer shorts. People wear bikini’s and trunks. And it looks nicer, especially on the girls.
- And finally: Enjoy the sun, the waves, the surf and especially the beauty of the scenery.
Normally, even the tourists know these, so usually 90% of the people follow these few rules.
Before the sun was setting, we packed our stuff and strolled along the beach in the direction of Copacabana. Everytime we looked back, the view of the mountains and the sugar loaf were just stunning even more.
There was a stupid dog barking at a pipe or piece of metal that stuck out of the sand, becoming submerged by the waves crashing in. Probably the dog was thinking it was hiding.
At the Arpoador Manuela and I took a lot of shots of the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. The light was fantastic. Man, I wished I had my DSLR camera with me.
In the evening we had a few Caipirinhas in different locations along the Copacabana beach and watched various games of beach volley played by the local crowds.
One of the courts was especially interesting because they had a subtle change to the rules: They were playing the ball with all parts of the body EXCEPT the hands. Weird, but very artistic.
Staying on Copacabana by night felt rather safe because there were lots of people around and the beach and esplanade was well lit.
However, only later I read on the internet that one should avoid that beach by night, because there also can be big groups that will surround you and nobody will try to help then. But nothing bad happened to us.
Even though I stayed in the shade most of the time, my skin turned a bit red in the evening. Luckily, the next day it was gone so I felt more adventureous and spent another whole day on the Ipanema beach (but this time I didn’t take any valuables with me).
When Claudia and Patrick who I met on Ilha Grande saw me again a few days later, they were shocked how nicely tanned I got, hehe.
Time passed and I went into the water about every half’n’hour. When the sun was about to set behind the mountains, the crowd on the beach started cheering and clapping. Hippies…
The next day I met again with Manuela and Carla. Carla is a young carioca woman who stayed at Manuela’s place when she was young to study german. And this resulted in a good friendship between the families.
And so she could stay at Carla’s and Dudu’s (her husband) place and also had a perfect guide through Rio, speaking german, english and portoguese perfectly.
T
hey picked me up at the hostel by taxi and we drove to the Santa Theresa neighbourhood. The taxi driver didn’t really know where we wanted to go, nor did we (there was a supposed to be this funky and beautiful stairway).
But rather than go down again, Manuela said we could go to the lookout first and then walk down to the stairs (which, in fact, was the better idea, because man, I’ve been walking up from Lapa a few times and every time I was completely covered in sweat afterwards).
The Parque da Ruidas is actually a run-down house that was retrofitted with some stairways and offers an excellent view around Rio. Close by there is also a beautiful, but small park that we strolled through.
I think I need to mention that the famous tram line does no longer go up to Santa Teresa after that bad accident that killed nine people (I think James posted a link in the comment section of the “The Route” blog entry). So, unfortunately, we could not take this special tram.
We walked past the station where this accident happened and it is covered with posters of a crying tram. I don’t know if it’s because the deaths or because the tram line is no longer running, but maybe it’s both.
Carla and Manuela proposed to go to the sea-food restaurant they visited years back and who was I to disapprove. I had a steak and when I tried the octopus risotto, it was actually very tasty, even for me as somebody who usually does not like sea-food at all. The portions were huge and would easily have satisfied three or four people instead of just two.
After the lovely meal, we continued our way up to Hotel Santa Theresa where celebrities such as Amy Winehouse and Madonna already spent some time in (rooms ranging from 900 R$ to 3300 R$ per night). Carla had phoned them so we could enjoy a Caipi in the bar over there — otherwise we would not be able to get past the four security guys in the front of the entrance.
I had a lovely lychee and strawberry caipirinha, served by Jennifer, a german girl from Munich and enjoyed the lovely view and interior of the hotel. The caipi was actually rather cheap compared to the rest of the prices over there, it was only 20 R$. Try this in the Bayrischer Hof in Munich, haha.
Walking down the roads in Santa Teresa was a bit scary. Usually, there is no-one around and the streets are pretty much deserted. Also, Santa Teresa is surrounded by many favelas so you easily can accidentially walk right into one by taking a wrong turn.
The prospects of moving here after the first four nights in Copacabana did not make my very happy at that time. Gladly, we found the stairway with all the nice mosaic stones sooner than later and it was rather busy (well, more than 10 people at least).
When I went down these stairs a few days later, it was completely deserted. The artist is still working on it every day and you can usually meet him (I saw him whenever I went past) and donate him some more pieces that will be incorporated into the stairway. This is the reason you find some very funky icons there, too.
We continued to the centro and it was very busy, too. There was a sweets and chocolate shop and in addition to a splendid interior and nice looking sweets and cakes, it had some very freaky easter bunnies. Nightmare fuel, kill it with fire! The tart was nice, though.
By the time we reached Cinelandia and the theater, it already was dark. We took a taxi back and met again later to hang out in Lapa also with Dudu this time. Nothing is happening in Lapa during the day, but in the night, this is where the night life boils and all people of Rio (at least the locals) seem to congregate here to have a good time.
And so we had some nice caipirinhas and good life music. However, I got so tired at some point that I almost slept standing on the dance floor. Would have been funny if I just toppled over falling asleep and only waking up the moment I hit the floor (next thing you know, shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low). And so we got back home not as late as you usually expect from a big night out.
So that’s the end of part one. Part two is coming up tomorrow.
BTW: I uploaded photos to two of the older blog entries. I know it’s a big mess, but I really takes ages to do it.
