It took me a couple days to warm up to Rio, but I LOVE it now. It really is one of the most beautiful cities in the world (based on what I've seen of the world so far, anyhow): white sand beaches, forests, cool-lookin' rock formations, islands, bays, colonial architecture -- just stunning, especially from the famous tourist-magnet viewpoints (Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf mountain).
It was difficult to get pumped about Rio at first, because when I arrived, I had just spent a long time in transit. I took an overnight bus from Sucre to La Paz, then took a plane from La Paz to Iquique, Chile where we went through Customs (for some reason we did our Customs paperwork there, instead of in Santiago), and then got back on the plane and went to Santiago, Chile, where I had a 10-hour layover. And THEN, I got back on a plane at 7am to fly from Santiago to Rio de Jainero. By the time I reached Brazil, I was physically exhausted from not sleeping in a bed for two nights, and I didn’t know ANY Portuguese or what to do with myself; I was feeling like “okay, new country, here we go again. Just gotta get through this.”
Get through this??? “Get through” Brazil, a country that has been on my list of top 3 destinations for several years now?? (Argentina and the UK are the other two, in case you were wondering.) I’m noticing that one of the downsides to extended travel is that it’s more difficult to give each country the level of anticipation and excitement that it deserves, because you don’t have that build-up time in your “normal” life when you’re counting down the days until you leave. You are too consumed in experiencing where you currently are to think too much about your next destination beyond the logistics of how you’re going to get there and where you’re going to stay. And then, of course, when you do arrive, you may be so sleep deprived that all you want to do is take a 12-hour nap and watch some House. (I'm watching House in my down time now.)
In any case, a part of me wishes that I could be doing separate trips for each of these countries, so that I would have the time to anticipate it more, be more excited, and use that energy to do more things while I am in each place. Even though I’m only in certain cities for a week or two at a time (at most), I can’t approach it with the same “I only have a week – I’m going to do as much / see as much as possible while I can!” attitude, because that stretch one or two weeks is still contextualized within months of travel. There’s no home base to recharge at, so every now and then, some wonderful, exciting city is not going to get the awe from me that it probably would from someone who has made a special trip for that specific destination.
Let me be clear: I am not complaining -- I'm just noticing that traveling to these places in the context of a multi-month travel extravaganza is pretty different energetically (not worse, necessarily, just different) than if I were to visit each country as separate adventures.
A Handful of Miscellaneous Thoughts and Observations
Still no phone. So remember how I lost my phone over a month ago, right before the Amazon tour? Well, as soon as I figured out where I would be staying in Rio for 10-12 days, and confirmed that I would be able to receive mail there, my mom mailed an old iPhone to me at the Rio AirBNB address. However, Brazil is really weird about electronics; they search incoming packages and if there are electronics in there -- especially foreign ones -- they will hold it at Customs for 2-5 weeks (for reasons I still don't quite understand), and then forward it to the local post office, where they make you pay a tax on its retail value before you can have it. So my phone has been stuck in the Sao Paolo Customs office since November 24, and we have no idea if it'll be "liberated," as my AirBNB host Edson would say, from Customs and made available at the local neighborhood post office by the time I get back to Rio for my flight out to Thailand. It may be a moot point; if it isn't there by December 10th, my mom will just bring me a totally new phone in Thailand.
Living without a phone has been surprisingly manageable, aside from missing two key tools: a camera and an alarm. I've tried using internet-based alarm clocks before, but they tend to not work if your computer goes into sleep mode overnight, which I learned the hard way. And I've been lucky finding people to share their photos with me, but it's tough to have to miss some of the more subtle and personal moments that I'd like to capture because I don't have a phone camera handy. You would think that I'd be able to find a disposable or cheap-ish digital camera to use in the meantime, but it is surprisingly challenging, even in electronics stores. I did learn, however, that the word 'camera' in Portuguese is not "camara" -- it's "maquina do fotografia", and "camara" actually refers to video cameras. So maybe the problem with my search was that I've been asking for the wrong thing in the stores I've gone to.... but that still means that no one has video cameras, and that's also weird, right? In any case, this is probably a blessing in disguise -- an exercise in letting things go and accepting the impermanence of these (and all other) experiences.
Not speaking any of the local language is new and hard. Knowing basically zero Portuguese has been a bit more embarrassing and problematic than I anticipated. For a while there, I didn't even know how to say "please" or "thank you" (turns out "please" is still por favor, and "thank you" is obrigada when spoken by the ladies and obrigado for the dude men.) On the plus side, this has made me appreciate how much Spanish I did actually know before. I may not have been able to engage in long, meaningful, interesting conversations in Spanish, but I could at least ask for basic information, like "where is this place," "how much does this cost," "where are you from," etc. Starting from scratch with a different language is quite intimidating. I have a few lessons of Pimsleur Portuguese downloaded but I’ve only made it through Lesson One and Two because 1) it's a little tedious and 2) I'm not that motivated because I doubt that knowing even a little bit will help me very much. I'm wrong about that second part -- I already know that. Every little bit helps. I'll try to get more disciplined about it for my remaining time in Brazil.
I didn't plan my itinerary to work out this way, but I've noticed that there's a progression from familiar culture and language to more foreign culture and language; I started in 3 countries with a language and prominent religious tradition that I am familiar with (Spanish and Catholicism, which makes sense, as the Spaniards brought both when they colonized those areas), transitioning from the relatively more developed Colombia to less developed Bolivia. Now I'm in Brazil, still noticing Catholic iconography and immersed in a language that is basically half-Spanish, so that helps ease the linguistic transition from the semi-familiar to the completely new-to-me languages of SE Asia.
I anticipate some intense culture shock going from South America to SE Asia, but I think that overall, Japan will feel the most foreign of all the countries I'll visit, so I'm glad I'll have 7 months of traveller experience (i.e. 7 months of getting comfy with unfamiliar territory and feelings of confusion, intimidation, cluelessness, vulnerability, and ignorance) behind me by the time I get there.
Why does Brazil get cars we don't? I passed a Peugeot car dealership as I was walking around Rio, and I realized we don't have those in the U.S.A... right? Why don't we import cars from this French car manufacturer? We can have their fries, toast, doors, and kissing methods but not their cars? What's that about?
Soccer game at Maracana stadium: In my Bonderman application essay, I gave two reasons for wanting to come to Brazil:
1) To be surrounded by Portuguese, a language I fell in love with when I heard someone sing "Aguas de Marco" at Teatro Zinzanni many years ago. (As it turns out, Portuguese charms me a little less when spoken than when it is sung; something about songs in Portuguese just melt me).
2) To experience a stadium soccer game in one of the most soccer-crazed countries (and now the country holding the men's soccer 2016 Olympic gold medal!)
I got to see a live performance of a Brazilian singer, Flavia Dantas (more on that later), but the soccer game plan tragically fell through. A thread on Trip Advisor said that if you want game tickets in Rio, contact Sergio (and provided Sergio's email). So I arranged with Sergio to meet him at the Copacabana Palace Hotel on Wednesday at 2:30pm to get tickets to a game that afternoon at 5:30pm. However, I have to write down directions in my little moleskin notebook before i go anywhere (no phone to help me navigate once I leave the house/hostel), and I'd written down directions to the wrong place. By the time I got to the right hotel, it was 2:50 and Sergio had already left. I figured I could get tickets for another day, but there were no more games between Wednesday and the day I had to leave Rio. On the bright side, I saved $60 USD by not going to the game, so that's good news for my budget at least.
The Rio Metro: As usual, I was hesitant to try public transportation, but once I did, a sense of mastery over the city soon followed. One interesting thing I noticed about the subway was that certain cars are reserved for women only during rush hours. I was really curious about why they do that, so I asked Google and here's what I found:
In April 2006 the Rio de Janeiro Metro implemented the mandate established by state law passed the previous month, to have dedicated passenger cars for women to avoid sexual harassment. For trains with six passenger cars, one subway car is marked with pink colors as exclusive for women, and the women-only restriction applies from Monday through Friday during the rush hours, between 6:00 and 9:00 and between 17:00 and 20:00. There is metro police enforcement to prevent men from boarding the dedicated passenger car, and the platform has a sign on the floor indicating the boarding point for women-only cars.
A similar policy was implemented at São Paulo Metro between October 1995 and September 1997, but the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) decided not to continue after some complaints by married couples and to avoid any possible contravention of article 5 of the Brazilian Constitution, that guarantees equality among citizens.
Such a bummer when a few creepers ruin it for everyone, isn't it? And interesting how having women-only subway cars was deemed unconstitutional in Sao Paolo but not in Rio....
My mosquito bites here are monstrous. I have been using a lot of the anti-itch cream my mom packed in my first-aid kit, and yet I don't feel compelled to wear my mosquito repellent. When I'm already wearing sunscreen, it's just too much greasy chemical gunk to put on my skin. What I'm trying to say is that I probably have Zika.
FUN NEW STREET FOOD - Acaraje: On the way to the nearest metro station, I keep passing a food cart that smells of spiciness, and I keep meaning to try it... finally, I did, and the spicy street food was a fritter covered in shrimp and hot sauce concoction called acaraje; I haven't really had local dishes since ajiaco (the Colombian chicken-potato-capers-and corn on the cob soup) that felt exotic and fun, but this one was definitely memorable and if I have an opportunity to try it again, I definitely will.
Saturday, Sunday, 2nd, 3rd, 4th...: Raul, my buddy from Etnikas, warned me that in Brazil, they do not have names for the days of the week Monday through Friday. They just refer to them by number. Saturday and Sunday are still sabado and domingo (same as in Spanish), but then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are simply segunda, terca, quarta, quinta, sexta (second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth). That's kind of a fun fact, right?
Thanksgiving Dinner: Brazilian Steakhouse-Style
I ate Thanksgiving dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse called Churrascaria Palace near Copacabana beach. It was incredible.
You start with a buffet of salads, fruits, nuts, pickled vegetables, smoked herring, smoked anchovies, sushi, other seafood, cheese and bread. Then, various meats are brought to the table and cut right onto your plate: chicken, pork ribs, beef ribs, sirloin steak, sausage, other cuts of steak, little octopuses, prawns, calamari, mussels, cod, and “Amazon fish.” All of this is included in the price of the meal. You just pay extra for drinks and dessert.
But what is Thanksgiving dinner without drinks and dessert??
I had a half bottle of La Linda Malbec from Argentina (2013) and a shot of some Brazilian liquor called cachacha during dinner. For dessert: cheesecake with raspberry topping and coffee.
This is the meal it took to ease the pain of missing this wonderful holiday with my family. You should know that the decadence and quantity of food consumed during my Thanksgiving dinner is directly and positively correlated with how much I miss you all.
The Symphony
I don’t remember where I read it, but some online source about Rio had recommended checking out the Theatro Municipal, where you can see fancy-schmancy things like the ballet, opera, or symphony. Once I saw photos of the theater online, I was determined to go to the symphony there, and their last show of the year was on Friday, November 25. Good timing!
However, getting tickets was a bit of a hassle; their website required me to enter a “CFP” (the Brazilian identity number, basically their equivalent to a social security number), so I had to get Edson (the AirBNB host) to make an account with his info so I could buy a ticket. Then, the only way to pay for the ticket was using Paypal, but I forgot my password and the only way I could reset it was by confirming a code that PayPal sent to my phone… which of course I do not have. THEN, I figured out how to pay with my normal credit card info without using PayPal – whew! – but the ticket confirmation noted that, in order to pick up my ticket from the box office the night of the show, I would need the ID document specified in the account through which the ticket was bought. In other words, I needed Edson’s ID card to pick up my ticket.
The ticket was only $8 (I had bought a seat in the 5th to last row in the highest balcony section of the theater), and the shoes I bought to wear were only $10, so missing the symphony due to Edson not being able to come with me to get the ticket wouldn’t have been a big financial loss, but I really wanted to get dressed up and go to a fancy theater and listen to pretty music! So I asked Edson if he could come with me to just get the ticket – acknowledging what an inconvenience it would be and how I was probably fast becoming his most high-maintenance AirBNB guest ever – but he had a better idea that fixed everything. He just wrote a note for the person at the box office, explaining that I was a foreigner so we had to purchase the ticket with his information, but the ticket was for me. He also included a photocopy scan of his ID card as proof that he was the one to send me. I was a little nervous it wouldn’t be enough, but my back-up plan was to just buy another ticket at the door if I had to. In any case, it worked like a charm and I got into the theater just fine without having to buy a second ticket.
The music itself was glorious. It’s not as though I listen to classical music on a regular basis or that I even appreciate the skill involved in it more than the average person, but there is something about going to an old, beautiful theater and listening to old, beautiful music that just stirs up a lot of strong emotions and makes me feel elevated.
Also, it was nice to share an experience with everyone else free of linguistic challenges. I wasn’t missing out on any part of the performance because I didn’t speak Portuguese; we could all enjoy the wordless language of music together on the same level.
At one point, there was a five-note progression that sounded very familiar and my ears perked up, thinking I might know the song, but it turned out that those five notes just reminded me of another song. You know that song from Phantom of the Opera, “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”? Well the notes for the “some-how-here-a-gain” part made their way into one of the songs from this symphony, and that’s what I’d recognized. And then that song was stuck in my head for days after (which was fine with me, cuz it's one of my faves).
The Beaches
IPANEMA
The first beach I checked out was Ipanema. The day was overcast, but still warm, and I knew I could still get my tan on even with the clouds. I rented a beach chair for less than $2 USD, tucked my sandals and my mini backpack underneath it, and read some of The Book of Joy until I got sleepy. It was nice, but sun-bathing at the beach isn't actually that interesting, is it? It is perfect for when you want to take a nap in a very pleasant and exotic place, though.
I peed in the water twice despite very strong back currents and uneven water levels; the water would only be up to my waist/appropriate peeing height for like two to three seconds before it either dipped down to my ankles or threatened to knock the sunglasses off my head. So I’m sure it was obvious what I was doing, but I didn't see any bathrooms nearby, and no one else was in the water so why should they care? The ocean can handle it.
PARQUE DO FLAMENGO
I took a walk through Parque do Flamengo expecting it to be mostly a green park with trees and picnic benches and things like that because I'd heard it compared to Central Park in NYC -- and there were -- but it also included another long stretch of beautiful white sand beach with several volleyball courts and a paved path for people to bike/walk/run along with a view of the water. The weather was lovely: about 75 degrees with a constant breeze. Between all the beaches and the perfect sunny weather, Brazil is definitely the "vacation" portion of this trip.
Oh -- and it is true what they say about Brazilian bikinis: they are very skimpy in terms of butt cheek coverage. A Brazilian wax truly is a must for anyone who wants to sport this style, and to my surprise and delight, EVERYONE was sporting that style. Maybe it's weird, but I love seeing women of all shapes and ages rocking the same skimpy swimsuits, because I just think it's important to wear what you want without worrying about whether you're the right age or body type to "pull it off". All butt cheeks deserve some fresh air and sunshine. Or plenty of coverage. Whatever they want, this is the point.
COPACABANA
The day I set aside for hanging out at Copacabana was much sunnier than the Ipanema day, which was great. I sat belly-up in my beach chair for about 90 minutes, and then flipped over to tan the other side for about an hour. I guess my SPF 70 did not bring its A-game that day, because I overcooked a bit.
As I strolled along the Copacabana beach walk, there was a lot more activity going on than there had been during the week; tons of beach volleyball games, live music performers at the beach bars, and street food vendors selling popcorn and churros or coconut milk sipped straight out of the coconut (these were by far the most popular street foods offered).
Someone claiming to be from the BBC stopped me to ask if I would be interviewed about Fidel Castro (he had died that morning), and his status as a historical-political icon. This was somewhat embarrassing; I thought I remembered him being a socialist/communist but then I thought maybe I was getting him mixed up with Che Guevara... and I also remember learning that Cuba had awesome health care and basically eradicated AIDS on their island... and I wasn't sure how much to talk about either of those things without being able to fact-check first. So I insisted I didn't have much to say on the matter, but I ended up agreeing to let my dubious rambling be filmed anyway. In any case, there may be some footage of me speaking very vaguely about how "Fidel Castro is definitely an important political-historical figure, because I'm not well informed when it comes to international politics, but he's been on my radar as a recognizable world leader for a long time, so that must mean he was a big deal." Nailed it. Will definitely use this exposure to leverage the launch of my very own political news show someday.
LAGOA RODRIGO DE FREITAS
So this wasn't exactly a beach, but I thought it would be worth mentioning, because I had fun renting a bicycle and cycling around this man-made lake for an hour. It only took half an hour to make a lap, but you rent the bike by the hour, so I just went for a second lap. Good story, yes? You can see the lake in the background of the photo below.
Museum of Tomorrow
There is a museum in Rio that features exhibits related to the future of the planet: the future of technology, of the human population, of the natural environment, and how all these things are likely to impact the others for the next 50-100 years and beyond.
In most of the exhibits, there are short videos or interactive screens, which have a little rectangular sensor below them. At the front desk, as you enter the museum, they ask what language you speak (Portuguese, Spanish, or English are the only options -- if you don't speak any of those, then you do not get to see tomorrow). Once you're inside, you can tap your card on the sensor below the videos and interactive screens to change the language to the one you specified. Pretty awesome.
For one of the interactive screens, you can answer questions about your ecological footprint and then it tells you how many planets it would take to sustain human life if everyone lived the way you did. I thought I lived a fairly eco-conscious life (I use my own water bottle, I take public transportation, I cut way back on my meat consumption), but even so, it would take 5.25 to sustain humanity if we all lived as I do. I think the fact that I've been flying a lot recently is responsible for that...
The overall vibe of the museum was "scary yet empowering." One fact that stuck in my brain is that the human impact on the planet has been greater in the past 50 years than in all of human history before then. And this seems incredible, but it also makes sense when you consider that we are simply more numerous now, and consuming more of everything, than we ever have been. So that's the scary part. The empowering part is that we have lots of choices we get to make about how to move forward. For example, we can all choose to consume less meat, to use public transportation or carpool more, to re-use things or re-purpose things instead of throwing them away; we can use technology to clean bodies of water of garbage, redistribute food and natural resources to places they are desperately needed, use solar panel roofing to power our homes, etc.
I think global warming is real, but even if it isn't, the exponential increasing of the global population is going to put pressure on us to figure out how to ethically handle the sustenance of human life. I think I would actually really enjoy leveraging my public health degree into a career developing innovative ideas and policies that could help nudge people into more sustainable habits and preserve the earth's natural resources. Anyone know of organizations who do that kind of thing?
Anyhow, if you find yourself in Rio at some point, I highly recommend this museum. A couple tips: you gotta get your tickets online (not available at the door), and if you book it for a Tuesday, it's free. :)
Flavia Dantas at Rio Scenarium
A live music restaurant/bar called Rio Scenarium was recommended to me by a German traveler, Andreas, who I met in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The first time I tried going, it was a Sunday and the band must have been very popular because I had to be seated on the third floor and couldn't see the band (the stage was on the first floor) at all. Once I noticed how expensive the food was, I decided it wasn't worth it to stay. I would come back another night, after I'd made a reservation for a table near the stage.
So when I did come back, I was able to get a table RIGHT next to the stage (yay!), and the performer was a female vocalist named Flavia Dantas, and I loved her music. In fact, I bought one of her CDs afterward, and she signed it. I found out afterward that her album is on Spotify, so I could have easily saved myself the $10, but hey -- at least I was supporting local music.
A group of her friends and family were sitting at a table right next to me, and I asked one of them if Flavia knew "Aguas de Marco." Her friend wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Flavia while she was in the middle of a song. Flavia opened it, read it, and smiled, but shook her head (the band hadn't learned that song yet). Oh well. Worth a shot, right? I wonder how often they get requests like that... they aren't a cover band, so I'm guessing it doesn't happen ever.
Botanical Garden
Rio kinda reminds me of Medellin in certain ways. For one, both cities have a similarly wonderful, easy-to-use Metro subway system. Secondly, they both have reputations for being dangerous, which they are working to get past. Thirdly, they both have huge botanical gardens.
Because I loved the botanical garden in Medellin so much, I figured I should check out the one in Rio too. To get to the Botanical Garden, I had to take one of the city buses, which was a new mode of public transportation for me since I've gotten to Rio (super comfortable with the Metro system + walking around, but no buses yet). The stop for the Botanical Garden was obvious, fortunately, so I had no problem getting there.
Pretty early on in my meandering around the garden, I met a man from Poland named Michael. I pointed out some monkeys in the trees above us and he was like, "oh, yeah. I don't care about the monkeys." And even though I find it hard to relate to someone who doesn't care about monkeys, he and I ended up walking around together the whole time we were there. He also offered to take photos of me and forward those, as well as some of his other ones, to my email address. And here they are!
Christ the Redeemer & Sugar Loaf Mountain
When I was walking along Copacabana on Sunday, a man named Fernando asked me if i was interested in doing hang gliding. I said no (although I have thought about it more, and I think that could be pretty amazing... if the opportunity comes up again, I will seriously consider it). Then he offered a tour and private transportation to Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain. I told him I wanted to wait until I had a phone so I could take pictures (at this point I foolishly thought my phone would be arriving the next day), and he said we could use his phone and he'd email them to me. I still wasn't convinced; I was already on my way to find a restaurant that had been recommended by Andreas, the same guy who had told me about Rio Scenarium (the name of the place was Bar Urca). Even though I could have gone to the restaurant another day, I had become kind of attached to my plans. But, I did want to go to the Christ and Sugar Loaf eventually, so I kept the guy's card.
(Bar Urca turned out to be too expensive, so I got some street food and a beer and sat on a stone wall overlooking the Urca bay.)
In any case, I arranged a private tour with Fernando to go to Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf on Thursday, which is my last full day in Rio (until I come back for my flight to Bangkok). It was awesome to have a guide and private transportation, and he gave me a great deal for the whole morning of site-seeing. I ended up paying him more than what he asked -- as a thank you for the photos and the fact that I'd promised him a second tourist who ended up bailing -- but still, an excellent deal, and I would highly recommend him. Not that any of you are going to Rio in the near future (or maybe you are? I don't know everything about the lives of my readership), but his email is fgtour@gmail.com.
He caught me making some odd faces in a few of the photos, but I actually kinda love how it helps mix these up a little, cuz they are a bit redundant.
Photos from Christ the Redeemer:
That pointy rock in the background is Sugar Loaf ....
Photos from Sugar Loaf:
